Cheat Engine

Dubstepper · Newbie cheater Reputation: 0 Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 10

So I've used cheat engine to do some of the usual things in games. Teleport, infinite resources, etc.

I play some online games (no this is not a help me cheat <insert game> thread) and there are some things about the games that are annoying.

Take <obfuscate> for example. It doesn't allow you to save your combat log. I'm not looking to hack damage or wall clip, I'm thinking use Cheat Engine to save a combat log as is scrolls.

There are other cosmetic annoyances about the UI. There are maps that all start blotted out, however there are a million maps online, so you just look it up, and away you go. So what about using CE to pull your location and draw you on a static image where you are, circumventing waiting for the map to be revealed. (Not really "cheating" but just an assist to what you do anyway with an 'offline' map.)

These are just a few of the ideas I've had about game 'assists' that aren't outright trying to cheat at an online game, more of a, this is annoying, lets log data, or reveal map (That you've revealed 10000 times before) and other axillary things.

Still more examples include the ability to 'time' in game effects. Wall of fire for example lasts 30 seconds, but there is no in game timer. Launching a timer when the effect goes off would be neat, and easy to do without touching game data. Lots of convenience things.

Has anyone done anything similar to this, is it okay to ask? Even if it wasn't an online game, I could just say the same thing for Borderlands. LOL Get a dps logger. Same idea.

-Me

atom0s · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:24 pm Post subject:

These are common things made for MMOs, external maps with points showing enemies, other players, points of interest, etc. Same with other information the game may not always display.

As long as you don't talk about the game specifically (meaning don't mention the name) its fine to discuss the logic behind making said projects. The map idea is probably the most common with bots.

Dubstepper · Newbie cheater Reputation: 0 Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 10

Dark Byte · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:50 pm Post subject:

It depends on what you wish, but it's possible.
Have you ever played ultima online? It has some 'approved' third party tools to record your actions and replay them, show your inventory in a easier way (checks all bags and shows the total), and can show a map of the whole word and show where you are (and friends you have linked)

This is all allowed by the game developers

I'm sure you could make something like this with CE as well (For te map drawing i recommend a plugin dll making use of a better graphics renderer than tbe Canvas ce provides)

Dubstepper · Newbie cheater Reputation: 0 Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 10

Oh, I've played UO, years of it. Long before UOAssist and other tools were approved. (LAST TARGET COR POR I WIN!)

So focusing in on lets say a combat log. I assume you would have to hook the update function on the writing of the combat log that is scrolling in game and parse out the information you're looking for.

Unfortunately it being an 'online game' I really don't want to inject anything to catch that stuff. So I guess my only option is to just read memory so frequently I don't miss it. Or maybe read on a periodic basis, but load the whole combat scroll, and find where I left off, and pick it up again.

That or maybe watch for actual 'hits' as they are posted to the graphics engine to write the damage scroll. But again, the whole injection issue that makes me uncomfortable. (I doubt any online game maker would take kindly to that.)

So maybe a packet avenue, but then I have to decrypt/decompress the stream, but using the that method would be 'safer' from a getting banned perspective.

But... All I want is a combat log. Sad

I guess I'm not really sure where to start. I'm certainly not the assembly language kung-fu master, but I do understand the systems.

Any pointers? (No coding intended) What to read, where to begin?

I want it 'passive' (Without injecting code)
I don't mind reading memory, or packets.
I need to dump the data so I can spread sheet it later. (For fun really, how much damage did I do?)

--Me

atom0s · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 10:48 am Post subject:

Dubstepper · Newbie cheater Reputation: 0 Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Posts: 10

Well I got around to messing with it some more.

The game chat is all clear text and easy to strip right out of the packets. Non issue for logging chat.

However the combat log is done entirely differently. The packets may be encrypted, or possibly compressed. It is non-trivial to hack them up.

Read a few blogs on another game where people are trying to do something similar, way too advanced for me.

However the combat log is stores clear text in RAM for a brief period... Then it 'magically' disappears. It looks as if they store it clear text when it first gets the message, then some "sweeper" picks up the message clears the pointer and stores it in some other fashion.

So you can still scroll and see the text in the log, as well as copy it one line at a time to the clipboard. However, once the 'sweep' happens you can't find any of the data in RAM clear text anymore.

So, there isn't a single table or data structure that scrolls. Each message is individual, and short lived (a few seconds) before it is cleared, and a new one is posted.

It looks like it stores the messages in 3 or 5 positions per launch, all pointers so it moves every time you load up a different character.

This looks to be beyond my current skill level. Finding pointers has been a bear too. :-/

I did write an LUA to log date/time when I gain XP so I can track my progress in game, that is useful. However, finding the pointer has been a failure.

I've also found the X/Y/Z of my character as well as party members, again finding the 'root' I haven't been successful.

Just thought I'd update this.