Quick Modding/Hacking Answers Thread

Oh hi. I have another question. Err, less of a question, more of a "WHY IS THIS MAP CAUSING A CRASH" question.

I made a new room by duplicating Arthur's House and modifying it.

For the purpose of testing, its script is simply

(So it shouldn't preform anything other then a fade-in.

The room's number is #97

and the script for entering is

.

...despite all of this, the game crashes upon entering the room. Everything looks fine, but it's not, and I don't understand. I duplicated Arthur's House, so it should work...right? Even if I removed most of the old script.

An almost unneccesary addition on my own part but the error is the dreaded...whatever you call it.

Anyone have any idea what's wrong? If you have any more questions about specifics, ask, and I'll tell, if it'll help me figure out the error.

Oh, and for reference, I'm using Booster's Lab.

 

That error I think means some graphic file is missing on the target map. There should be an error.log in the folder where your exe is, open it up in notepad and see what it says.

 

What in the name of Pixels holy creation did I do?


All I did was rig a TSC command to a random number generator, and push a local variable before calling a function.

 

So my issue resolved itself when I quit Booster's Lab. Huh.
So my issue resolved itself when I quit Booster's Lab. Huh.

 

So my issue resolved itself when I quit Booster's Lab. Huh.
So my issue resolved itself when I quit Booster's Lab. Huh.

might've been a desync between the mapdata in the game and the mapdata in the editor, especially if you weren't doing a force-save (ctrl-shift-s).

@BLink
a buffer overrun is when the program tries to write outside of a pre-allocated memory buffer. Most commonly people encounter it when they make credit scripts that exceed the game's in-built credit script buffer size.
I'm not entirely sure what you did to cause this since most problems with frame misalignment end up in segfaults rather than buffer overruns but maybe you did something weird with the TSC text output

 

might've been a desync between the mapdata in the game and the mapdata in the editor, especially if you weren't doing a force-save (ctrl-shift-s).

@BLink
a buffer overrun is when the program tries to write outside of a pre-allocated memory buffer. Most commonly people encounter it when they make credit scripts that exceed the game's in-built credit script buffer size.
I'm not entirely sure what you did to cause this since most problems with frame misalignment end up in segfaults rather than buffer overruns but maybe you did something weird with the TSC text output

...you can force save? That explains alot. I didn't see the option to force save in the tabs at the top, but I did put 2 and 2 together when Booster's Lab said the executable had unsaved changes.

I just didn't know how to save them without quitting the application, and at the time of the post, I had no idea that saving that was even seperate at all. It's a learning experience I guess. Atleast I know the proper bindings now.

 

Bombchu, did you perhaps not fix esp afterwards?
Also protip: it's easier for us to help you if you post some code.

 

might've been a desync between the mapdata in the game and the mapdata in the editor, especially if you weren't doing a force-save (ctrl-shift-s).
@BLink
a buffer overrun is when the program tries to write outside of a pre-allocated memory buffer. Most commonly people encounter it when they make credit scripts that exceed the game's in-built credit script buffer size.
I'm not entirely sure what you did to cause this since most problems with frame misalignment end up in segfaults rather than buffer overruns but maybe you did something weird with the TSC text output

Bombchu, did you perhaps not fix esp afterwards?
Also protip: it's easier for us to help you if you post some code.

code it is then..



but first, how the command works.



<RNJ0002:EvNT:EvNT



Randomly select to jump to event 1 or 2



<RNJ0004:EvNT:EvNT:EvNT:EvNT



Randomly select to jump to event 1 through 4

offset 46d64c

;46D5D0

;use this offset if you have the IBF patch applied! --> 46d64c
;If you store 0 Or 1 to the first argument, don't be surprised if you have a crash. :/

#define

not_RNJ = 424F33 ; change this to your next custom TSC command (if you have one)

arg_handler  = [EBP-24]
arg1_var     = [EBP-28]
arg2_var     = [EBP-2C]
arg3_var     = [EBP-30]
arg4_var     = [EBP-34]
arg5_var     = [EBP-38]
arg6_var     = [EBP-3C]
arg7_var     = [EBP-40]
arg8_var     = [EBP-44]
arg9_var     = [EBP-48]
arg10_var    = [EBP-4C]

#enddefine


MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[4A5AD8]
ADD EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[4A5AE0]
CMP BYTE PTR DS:[ECX+1],52            ;R
JNE not_RNJ
CMP BYTE PTR DS:[ECX+2],4E            ;N
JNE not_RNJ
CMP BYTE PTR DS:[ECX+3],4A            ;J
JNE not_RNJ

MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[4A5AE0]         ;get Script Position
ADD EAX,4                             ;Add 4 to Script Position
PUSH EAX                              ;PUSH Script position
CALL 00421900                         ;CALL Ascii to number Function
ADD ESP,4                             ;Fix the stack

MOV arg_handeler, EAX          ;EAX holds our first 4 digits set move it to the handler

MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[4A5AE0]         ;get Script Position
ADD EAX,9                             ;Add 9 to Script Position
PUSH EAX                              ;PUSH Script position
CALL 00421900                         ;CALL Ascii to number Function
ADD ESP,4                             ;Fix the stack

MOV arg1_var, EAX                     ;store first event into variable

MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[4A5AE0]         ;get Script Position
ADD EAX,E                             ;Add 14 to Script Position
PUSH EAX                              ;PUSH Script position
CALL 00421900                         ;CALL Ascii to number Function
ADD ESP,4                             ;Fix the stack

MOV arg2_var, EAX                     ;store second event into variable
CMP arg_handeler, 2                   ;are there only 2 events set up?
JE :2_Random_Function

MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[4A5AE0]         ;get Script Position
ADD EAX,E                             ;Add 14 to Script Position
PUSH EAX                              ;PUSH Script position
CALL 00421900                         ;CALL Ascii to number Function
ADD ESP,4                             ;Fix the stack

MOV arg3_var, EAX                     ;store third event into variable
CMP arg_handeler, 3                   ;Are there three events set up?
JE :3_Random_Function



:2_Random_Function
PUSH 1
PUSH 10
CALL Random
ADD ESP 8
CMP EAX, 5
JGE :EVE_2
PUSH arg1_var
JMP :2_RND
:EVE_2
PUSH arg2_var
:2_RND
CALL 00421AF0     ;Call this function to Jump to a TSC Event while the script is running.
ADD ESP,4
JMP 004252A7      ;this part goes back to the beginning of the parser.

:3_Random_Function
PUSH 1
PUSH 9
CALL Random
ADD ESP 8
CMP EAX, 3
JG :3_part2
PUSH arg1_var
JMP :3_RND
:3_part2
CMP EAX, 6
JG :3_part3
PUSH arg2_var
JMP :3_RND
:3_part3
PUSH arg3_Var
:3_RND
CALL 00421AF0     ;Call this function to Jump to a TSC Event while the script is running.
ADD ESP,4
JMP 004252A7         ;this part goes back to the beginning of the parser.

Overall fairly straight forward.



<RNJ0002:XXXX:XXXX doesn't work and I get no response unless I use <RNJ0003:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX (crashes the game)



and the script

#100
<RNJ0003:0200:0300:0400<END
 
#0200
<CNP0600:0001:0000<END
 
#0300
<CNP0600:0015:0000<END
 
#0400
<CNP0600:0016:0000<END

 

I'm about to go read through that, but off the bat I'm noticing that you have arg_handler in the defines and arg_handeler everywhere else. Which may be a source of some difficulties.

I'll edit when I'm finished

e: stuff is in a new post

 

oh, I corrected that on the fly when I posed it so I wouldn't look like an idiot.

*fails*

Anyway, thanks.

 

aaaaaaaand here we are. sorry about that taking a while.
I'm not entirely sure what your exact issue was because I got bored bugchecking and made my own version instead

(omitted: code to check RNJ-ness)

mov eax,[4a5ae0]
add eax,4
push eax
call 421900			; number of choices into eax
add esp,4

push eax			; max value (number of events)
push 1				; min value
call 40f350			; random value into eax
add esp,8

imul eax,eax,5			; number of chars in xxxx:
add eax,4			; number of chars in <RNJ
mov edx,[4a5ae0]
add edx,eax			; get to loc of event#  
push edx  
call 421900			; event# into eax 
add esp,4    

push eax  
call 421af0			; jump to event 
add esp,4    

(omitted: jump to top)

And here's a file where I replaced xx1 with that code.

moral of the story: I'm awful at helping people but at least now you have a version that works ....?
you might also want to read through that code and see what things I did differently than you and why. mostly it's just efficiency stuff, but I also made it so that you can use <RNJ with any number of arguments.

welp. yeah.
tell me if you have any questions.
sorry again for not finding your bug.

e:
oh. you put the arguments in the wrong order for the random function. bigger one first, or else it'll crash. might not be the only error in your code, but it's enough to break it.

 

aaaaaaaand here we are. sorry about that taking a while.
I'm not entirely sure what your exact issue was because I got bored bugchecking and made my own version instead

(omitted: code to check RNJ-ness)

mov eax,[4a5ae0]
add eax,4
push eax
call 421900			; number of choices into eax
add esp,4

push eax			; max value (number of events)
push 1				; min value
call 40f350			; random value into eax
add esp,8

imul eax,eax,5			; number of chars in xxxx:
add eax,4			; number of chars in <RNJ
mov edx,[4a5ae0]
add edx,eax			; get to loc of event#  
push edx  
call 421900			; event# into eax 
add esp,4    

push eax  
call 421af0			; jump to event 
add esp,4    

(omitted: jump to top)

And here's a file where I replaced xx1 with that code.

moral of the story: I'm awful at helping people but at least now you have a version that works ....?
you might also want to read through that code and see what things I did differently than you and why. mostly it's just efficiency stuff, but I also made it so that you can use <RNJ with any number of arguments.

welp. yeah.
tell me if you have any questions.
sorry again for not finding your bug.

e:
oh. you put the arguments in the wrong order for the random function. bigger one first, or else it'll crash. might not be the only error in your code, but it's enough to break it.

Thank you sir, It works perfectly.



YOU are the man.

 

if you're making a command to jump based on random values why not just use the <VAR tsc command pack I wrote

 

Cause I can't get it to work.

E: and last time I checked, you weren't supporting them so I didn't bother.

 

Simple question time! Is it possible to change the Main Menu theme to an existing song without a resource hacker?

 

Simple question time! Is it possible to change the Main Menu theme to an existing song without a resource hacker?

Yes, with Assembly hacking and This guide for finding the value to be edited.

 

^ That, or open up the exe with a hex editor and change the 24 at 0xfe80 to the id of whatever song you want to play

 

Is there anyway to get CS to read .png files?

(No, It's not about file size, it's about transparency)

 

Not really, no.
You'd have to rewrite the graphics functions completely, and that's a bit of an ambitious project.

 

Not really, no.
You'd have to rewrite the graphics functions completely, and that's a bit of an ambitious project.

Actually you'd just have to rewrite the functions that load in the images. When pngs and stuff are loaded in, they are normally decoded into what is basically their BMP format.

It's not really a thing I would recommend you looking into though, since compressed image formats are sort of complicated.

Also if you wanted the alpha (partial transparency) to work from pngs then yeah that would require some rewriting to the graphics/drawing functions, probably.