Cheat Engine

LongBeardedLion

All i need is a little hint on how to solve this.

I made an awesome script that makes units attack at a specific time. The only problem is, the value does not update until i touch the unit or move the unit.

That makes the whole thing pointless. Sad

Because then even if i automatically update the value that makes them move. They only actually move if i update something in them. Sometimes just clicking them. Which is not good.

So nothing happens until i actually move them somewhere or click them.

I know this is a typical thing because i have also noticed this happening in other games.

In other situations for example for turned based games, i have seen in some games it is needed a end turn for the game to actually update a score or gold. It does not update live.

How do i make it so that it updates live, or refresh without having to select my units manually? Because if this doesnt happen then the whole thing is pointless. Please help me.

Dark Byte · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2020 2:49 am Post subject:

While it doesn't show it has had an effect, it actually does, it's just not being rendered because the game has had to need to render it as it think it hasn't been changed (so saving cpu cycles not redrawing something)

You can go really deep into the game code to find out where the graphical rendering routine is, then find another routine that runs in the same thread as the rendering engine but a lot more often like every second or less. Then when you change something do a hook into that fast running code, let it run the rerender engine (and set the state that it has to re-render the unit values) and afterwards stop to save cpu time.

in short: It is not worth it

LongBeardedLion · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:37 pm Post subject: Video showing the problem

LongBeardedLion · Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 8:50 pm Post subject:

bumpity bump Cool

ParkourPenguin · Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 11:04 pm Post subject:

There's not much other people can easily do besides tell you to figure it out.

I doubt what you're trying to do is as easy as changing a single value. Try scanning for unknown initial value then changed/unchanged (not increased/decreased) for a single unit's stance until you can't narrow it down any further. You'll need to look at every single one of those values and figure out what each value is (pointer? integer? float? when is it accessed? what is done with the value in code?). This won't find any memory reallocated by the game when the stance is changed.

If that doesn't work out, find the code that handles mouse clicks on change stance buttons and figure out what that code does. Ultimap / ultimap 2 / call filter might help with the right hardware. Otherwise, look at accesses to related values (changed / unchanged scans) and work your way up the callstack reverse engineering those functions along the way. (actual reverse engineering, not just knowing what the assembly does)
Some other software more tailored to reverse engineering would be better than CE (e.g. IDA, ghidra...)

LongBeardedLion · Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 11:55 pm Post subject:

Thanks parkourpenguin. I have been coming here to check my post every hour.
It seems it will be a complicated journey. But sure it will pay off. Because im learning.
I did as you said. And i installed OllyDbg.

I found the function that works on the changing stance. Or so i think. I used hardware breakpoints.

But now i dont really now what do. Im still a beginner.
I tried nopping some lines and it crashed Laughing

I post you a screenshot of the function.
All i need to do is how to fire this function, so that it refreshes my value.
How do i fire that function? What tutorials should i watch to master this part?

I need to fire that function. Or at least the part of it that refreshes the one stance that is not getting refreshed when i change the value of the stance address.

The Opcode that changes stance is mov [esi+00000169],cl
The 4 addresses before it, they all pause when making them hardware breakpoint.

Thanks. Please help me.

ParkourPenguin · Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 11:14 am Post subject:

You're asking people to teach you knowledge they've accumulated over years of experience... that's not going to happen in a few forum posts.

Start reading books. Maybe look at some CTFs or crackmes for more practical information. In a few weeks/months/years, you can come back to this.
Some random links I found:
https://github.com/onethawt/reverseengineering-reading-list
Also see guidedhacking on youtube. They sometimes do some things right. In this video they use IDA.

The reason why I recommended scanning for values first is that you could get lucky and have a solution in a few minutes/hours/days.

If you're looking to make a career out of this, then sure, learn it. But if it's just to save a few mouse clicks in a game, DB already gave great advice: