Cheat Engine

Hotrootsoup · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:55 pm Post subject: WoW macro in C++

Alright, so I'm very new to C++. I'm wondering about some game-hacking related things in it.
First off, I assume that a program can read key-presses even when minimized, correct?
Second off, is there some special way of injecting key-presses into another program? AKA simulating the keyboard?
Third, would injecting keypresses into another program be detectable? Would it have to be "hooked" in to do that?
My goal is a program that you choose a hotkey, and then choose what buttons that hotkey presses in World of Warcraft. Macro's in that game don't allow you to cast multiple spells with one macro. I want it so that you can press F8 or something, and have the program cast a spell, wait for the global cooldown (1 second) then wait a random amount of time between .01 and .25 seconds to prevent server-side detection, and then cast another spell, and repeat for as many spells are in the list.

atom0s · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:01 pm Post subject:

1. If the screen is minimized it is obtaining no input so it has no reason to be sending any type of input. Can you read input while minimized, sure, but it isn't expected since the screen isn't in focus.

2. There are multiple ways of doing it depending on how the application handles input. (SendMessage, PostMessage, SendInput, keybd_event, DirectInput, etc. to name a few.) You have to find out which the application uses before you can simulate things.

3. Yes. Applications can place hooks on known API such as what I listed above to prevent users from 'injecting' key presses and the like. It's fairly common to see preventions to botting and so on. Be hooked, depends on the application and its security. It could be something easy to bypass without hooking, or it could be something complex that may require it. Thats something you'd have to debug to find out.

WoW has Warden. I don't bother with hacking in WoW since the game is easy as is, so I can't say for sure if Warden would detect something like this as a cheat but I wouldn't risk my account on it to even try. You can accomplish similar things like this using a custom keyboard driver, for example all the Logitech G13/15 etc. series keyboards can mimic what you want inside a low level driver.

Hotrootsoup · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:25 pm Post subject:

Thank you very much =)
I wasn't planning on making this to "Bot" WoW, I just want it for party buffing and whatnot.
So theres no way of just simulating a keypress "over the head" of the program? Like I actually would have to send the keyboard call that the program uses? It can't just emulate it, like how macro programs do that move the mice? (AKA Runescape Bots)

GRB · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:30 pm Post subject:

You can use the lua functions inside the game for that!

http://www.wowwiki.com/Lua

Hotrootsoup · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:36 pm Post subject:

You can't use any legit WoW coding to have one click/keypress do multiple things. They purposely block any "wait" event specifically for that purpose, to prevent botting. Maybe I'll just go back to good old (cant post name) hacking =)

atom0s · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:49 pm Post subject:

GRB · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:32 pm Post subject:

He said he didnt wanted to bot, and for the purpose of single click for buffs like he stated he can use the lua for it, theres plenty of addons for it also, u have pallypower, and a few other that with a click u buff ppl. Thats why i told Lua functions.

Hotrootsoup · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:53 am Post subject:

Well, I would like it to have the potential of more though. Such as PvP macro's that can multi-DoT someone, etc. This isn't set in stone, I'm just looking for a cool beginner C++ project.

Polynomial · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:10 am Post subject:

Back when I was writing a WoW bot with some guys, we had to find the internal input buffers. Using SendKeys or firing WM events directly (SendMessage / PostMessage) on the WoW window was detected instantly. I have a feeling they have both DirectInput and standard input handlers so that they can cross reference them - if one is sent but not the other, you're probably botting.

There's plenty of bot wiki/forum pages out there with info on the internals of WoW. For example, to make you move around in the game you can write over the ClickToMove struct and set a certain address to 14 (CTM_MOVING) and your character will just walk to that position in a straight line. The better way to do this though is to inject a DLL into the WoW process and call the ClickToMove function instead of directly modifying the CTM struct, since direct modification might end up being detected with a checksum in a later update. You can achieve keyboard input through other such functions.