Can you change the difficulty of a save using a hex editor?

HI, there!

I've downloaded a save from the site, and everything works fine. I wonder, though, is there a way to change the difficulty of a save using a hex editor?

Please let me know!



P.S. I'm using CS+ bought from Steam.

 

Before we can help you with that, I'd like to make sure that you used the save converter so that you can plug downloaded saves into CS+. Have you?

 

Yes, I've already converted the save.

 

I have no doubt that there is a simple hex value to edit with a hex editor that would allow you to change the difficulty. It's just that nobody's bothered to figure it out the offset of it and which values represent what. It probably wouldn't be too hard to figure out. If you want I can try to figure it out soon, assuming that nobody beats me to it.

 

I would agree, but doesn't Hard Mode also remove all life capsules? That's not really something that would be changed by editing a single hex value, is it?

 

I would agree, but doesn't Hard Mode also remove all life capsules? That's not really something that would be changed by editing a single hex value, is it?

That's a good point. My guess is either that all the flags pertaining to the life capsules are set upon starting a new game in hard mode, or the algorithm for loading maps ignores life capsules if the difficulty is set to hard... I'll have to look into this as well, it should also be fairly easy to test.

 

If it is the latter then it should be a simple matter of changing health values, so long as the puppy in the Plantation is accounted for (for he still gives a +3 health capsule in hard mode).

 

Save Slot 1 Difficulty - Offset 0x610
Save Slot 2 Difficulty - Offset 0xC30
Save Slot 3 Difficulty - Offset 0x1250
Values: 0x00 = Normal; 0x02 = Easy; 0x04 = Hard.

(I think.)

 

Ah, very good! I guess I was wrong that there wasn't any documentation on where the offset is. And I just tested it out, and it seems that life capsules are not a major problem since they're just prevented from being loaded if it's on hard mode, so they'll reappear when you change from hard to another difficulty if you haven't gotten them. The only thing you have to do is set the health values according to what flags are and aren't set if you're messing with hard mode.