[Other] Visual Basic 6.0 HEX Editing Functions - For Hacking ROMs.

[ThuGie]

Darthatron was kind enough to release his functions,
And people are ofcourse using them,

But so far i have seen nobody has even tryed to fix the problems that the functions still have,
They use them and compain about the problems,

For me i dont even use the functions but i thought why not take a look and thought well this could use some fixing and i did,
People should be more kind to share what they know help each other.
I will when i have time try and make functions like the other 2 that he released,
But when that will be i dont know i was bored so i made ReverseHex.
But thats only took a few minutes and the other functions will take probably about the same time..
But when you calculate the time spend on all 3 it will add up in 1 day time.
And to tell the truth i think making functions like this is boring :p,
So thank god it only needs to be done once and the 2e time to see if any fixes/tweaks are posible :D.

But really people try and be a bit more open source .

Well as i still had some time i fixt the function a bit up,
As you where talking about speed it could be because it writes 1 byte at a time..
Not sure why but i kept it that way.
If really intersted i could rewrite it to write multiple byte's at once probably.

Public Function WriteHex(FilePath As String, Offset As Long, HexData As String)
On Error GoTo ErrHandle

Dim FileNum As Integer
Dim i As Integer
Dim Temp As String
Dim HexHold As String
Dim HexValue() As Byte
HexHold = HexData
FileNum = FreeFile

    If InStr(Len(HexHold) / 2, ",") > 0 Then HexHold = "0" & HexHold

    ReDim HexValue((Len(HexHold) / 2) - 1)
    For i = 0 To (Len(HexHold) / 2) - 1

        HexValue(i) = CLng("&H" & Mid(HexHold, 1 + (i * 2), 2))

    Next i

    Open FilePath For Binary As FileNum
        Put FileNum, Offset + 1, HexValue
    Close FileNum

Exit Function
ErrHandle:
    MsgBox Err.Description, vbOKOnly, "Error: " & Err.Number
End Function

As you see i used mostly his code just tweaked it.
But you should be able to call it using Data as many times you want .

edit:
D-Trogh, Pointed me to a mistake what i just fixed i had Offset As integer, It should have been Offset As Long
edit2:
I compared my function and Darthatron's function and it seems his is a bit faster so if you want faster you should go for his version.
edit3:
I noticed that DoEvents was the cause of slowness,
But also i updated it even more it now write's all data to file in 1 go!
And as for speed its faster then Darthatron's now did a test writing 5kb 1000 times,
Mine will take around 8 seconds while his will take around 42 seconds.
I really do like speed dont you ?

[cooley]

Originally Posted by Darthatron

Well, from the picture it looks okay, but I can't really see it due it's small size. :( Perhaps you could upload a larger version? :)
____________________________________________________________

In other news I updated the HEX Editing Module, now the WriteHEX Function will be faster and use less memory. :)

Well The programs in the attachment below...

[Darthatron]

Originally Posted by ThuGie

Darthatron was kind enough to release his functions,
And people are ofcourse using them,

But so far i have seen nobody has even tryed to fix the problems that the functions still have,
They use them and compain about the problems,

For me i dont even use the functions but i thought why not take a look and thought well this could use some fixing and i did,
People should be more kind to share what they know help each other.
I will when i have time try and make functions like the other 2 that he released,
But when that will be i dont know i was bored so i made ReverseHex.
But thats only took a few minutes and the other functions will take probably about the same time..
But when you calculate the time spend on all 3 it will add up in 1 day time.
And to tell the truth i think making functions like this is boring :p,
So thank god it only needs to be done once and the 2e time to see if any fixes/tweaks are posible :D.

But really people try and be a bit more open source .

Well as i still had some time i fixt the function a bit up,
As you where talking about speed it could be because it writes 1 byte at a time..
Not sure why but i kept it that way.
If really intersted i could rewrite it to write multiple byte's at once probably.

Public Function WriteHex(FilePath As String, Offset As Long, HexData As String)
On Error GoTo ErrHandle

Dim FileNum As Integer
Dim i As Integer
Dim Temp As String
Dim HexHold As String
Dim HexValue() As Byte
HexHold = HexData
FileNum = FreeFile

    If InStr(Len(HexHold) / 2, ",") > 0 Then HexHold = "0" & HexHold

    ReDim HexValue((Len(HexHold) / 2) - 1)
    For i = 0 To (Len(HexHold) / 2) - 1

        HexValue(i) = CLng("&H" & Mid(HexHold, 1 + (i * 2), 2))

    Next i

    Open FilePath For Binary As FileNum
        Put FileNum, Offset + 1, HexValue
    Close FileNum

Exit Function
ErrHandle:
    MsgBox Err.Description, vbOKOnly, "Error: " & Err.Number
End Function

As you see i used mostly his code just tweaked it.
But you should be able to call it using Data as many times you want .

edit:
D-Trogh, Pointed me to a mistake what i just fixed i had Offset As integer, It should have been Offset As Long
edit2:
I compared my function and Darthatron's function and it seems his is a bit faster so if you want faster you should go for his version.
edit3:
I noticed that DoEvents was the cause of slowness,
But also i updated it even more it now write's all data to file in 1 go!
And as for speed its faster then Darthatron's now did a test writing 5kb 1000 times,
Mine will take around 8 seconds while his will take around 42 seconds.
I really do like speed dont you ?

Well I feel stupid. Then again I did write the first functions about 4 months ago, I have learned a lot from then. Also I'm sure if I re-wrote them they would be up to standard, then again, I'm too busy right now, if you need a faster function use TheGie's version. For now...

EDIT: You seemed to have Dimmed "Temp" and not used it, removing it could add precious micro-seconds.

EDIT2: After re-writing the WriteHEX Code from scratch I came to realize how bad my old method was. Anyway, I did a Speed Test between my Function and TheGie's. I made each Function run 4000 times. Each 1000 times it would return how fast it was going then at the end it would show the Average, here are the results:

[Darthatron]
First: 921
Second: 938
Third: 906
Forth: 1047

Average: 953

[TheGie]
First: 1047
Second: 1000
Third: 937
Forth: 953

Average: 984.25

As you can see mine is only slightly faster. I'd also like to note my Computer is VERY slow and these speed should be closer to 500 or 600.

I plan to redo my ReadHEX Function, though I don't think it can get much faster, then again it's pretty sloppy too.

[ThuGie]

First its not TheGie but ThuGie :D,
Second for the test are you using your rewriten code or the currect one in the package,
Also what kind of test did you do,
I used a bit of a stress test of 5k writing 1000x times,
As size could slow yours down as your writing byte by byte.

And it could be so that yours is faster for smaller sizes but try to run both tests .

[Darthatron]

Originally Posted by ThuGie

First its not TheGie but ThuGie :D,
Second for the test are you using your rewriten code or the currect one in the package,
Also what kind of test did you do,
I used a bit of a stress test of 5k writing 1000x times,
As size could slow yours down as your writing byte by byte.

And it could be so that yours is faster for smaller sizes but try to run both tests .

Yes, the test is with my new Function. It writes 1 Byte at a time. It writes 4 by 1000x.

Both Function's run after each other.

Also, sorry about the name I was pretty tired when I wrote everything up.

[ThuGie]

Ah try and run them seperate,
But also try to write 5kb per function each time it runs . so 1000x 5kb

[cooley]

Darthatron, I need your help with VB 6

1. What is Len, LenB etc. I always see them everywhere, but I never know what they mean.

2. Every time I Write hex back to the ROM then it puts the data one byte ahaed or behind the actual offset. Do you know why? The code is below:

Option Explicit

Dim sFile As String
___________________________________
Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim iFileNum As Integer

    iFileNum = FreeFile
    sFile = frmMain.CommonDialog1.FileName

If cmbPoke.Text = "" Then
MsgBox ("Pick a Pokemon please")

Else

Open sFile For Binary As #iFileNum
    Put #iFileNum, &H5FDE, cmbPoke.ListIndex
        
    Close #iFileNum
Unload Me
End If
End Sub

3. I put cmbPoke.ListIndex, how does VB know we're talking about hex? For the pokemon numbers that is. When there aren't any hex values assigned to the Pokemon themselves?

Ex. I click Pikachu(&h19 and no. 25) how does it write 19 back to the rom when it's no. 25 on the list?

[ThuGie]

1. What is Len, LenB etc. I always see them everywhere, but I never know what they mean.
Len is used to calculate the lenght of a string, LenB does the same but it seems a bit faster..

2. Every time I Write hex back to the ROM then it puts the data one byte ahaed or behind the actual offset. Do you know why? The code is below:
do +1 by the offset since it begins at 0.

3. I put cmbPoke.ListIndex, how does VB know we're talking about hex? For the pokemon numbers that is. When there aren't any hex values assigned to the Pokemon themselves?
cmbPoke.ListIndex will result in a integer value of the item selected like if you choose the 2e in line it wil result in 2. so nothing to do with hex.

Ex. I click Pikachu(&h19 and no. 25) how does it write 19 back to the rom when it's no. 25 on the list?
And if your talking about the offset here well &H tells it that you are using Hex.

[cooley]

Is this correct to write all these bytes next to each other?

Thanks, by the way!

If opt2.Value = True Then
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD5, &H2
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD6, &H0
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD7, &H1
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD8, &HFF
        If opt3.Value = True Then
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD9, &O3
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADA, &H0
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADB, &H1
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADC, &H2
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADD, &HFF
       If opt4.Value = True Then
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADE, &H4
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADF, &H0
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE0, &H1
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE1, &H2
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE2, &H3
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE3, &HFF
Close #iFileNum

[Darthatron]

Originally Posted by cooley

Is this correct to write all these bytes next to each other?

Thanks, by the way!

If opt2.Value = True Then
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD5, &H2
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD6, &H0
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD7, &H1
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD8, &HFF
        If opt3.Value = True Then
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AD9, &O3
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADA, &H0
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADB, &H1
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADC, &H2
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADD, &HFF
       If opt4.Value = True Then
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADE, &H4
            Put #iFileNum, &H5ADF, &H0
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE0, &H1
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE1, &H2
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE2, &H3
            Put #iFileNum, &H5AE3, &HFF
Close #iFileNum

Yes, but you never opened the File for Editing...

Also, you didn't end your IF Statements.

[interdpth]

I'd like to point out, that while your little HEX module is handing it's easily replaceable.
For dealing with hex values
&H
that reverse hex is just declaring the proper variable
dim byte1 as byte'Handles 1 byte
byte1=&H0C
viewing with a hex editor you'll see 0x
dim integer1 as integer'Handles 2 bytes
integer1=&HFF04
viewing with a hexeditor
04 FF

and the one I guess that reversehex is mainly used for

the long

dim long1 as long'4 bytes usually for a pointer
long1=&h8123456
in a hex editor
56 34 12 08
Get it now?

Readhex is simply reduced to
dim byte1 as byte
open filepath for binary as #1
get #1, offset+1,byte1
or
seek #1, offset+1
get #1, ,byte1
close #1
for integers

just change the byte to integer

for long just change integer or byte to long

to write data to a rom use put instead of get

and to extract the address from a long
just take the 8 off so
offset-&h8000000

make sure if you're pointing a pointer into a rom make sure to add the &H8000000


simple.

And not bloated.

[Darthatron]

Originally Posted by interdpth

I'd like to point out, that while your little HEX module is handing it's easily replaceable.
For dealing with hex values
&H
that reverse hex is just declaring the proper variable
dim byte1 as byte'Handles 1 byte
byte1=&H0C
viewing with a hex editor you'll see 0x
dim integer1 as integer'Handles 2 bytes
integer1=&HFF04
viewing with a hexeditor
04 FF

and the one I guess that reversehex is mainly used for

the long

dim long1 as long'4 bytes usually for a pointer
long1=&h8123456
in a hex editor
56 34 12 08
Get it now?

Readhex is simply reduced to
dim byte1 as byte
open filepath for binary as #1
get #1, offset+1,byte1
or
seek #1, offset+1
get #1, ,byte1
close #1
for integers

just change the byte to integer

for long just change integer or byte to long

to write data to a rom use put instead of get

and to extract the address from a long
just take the 8 off so
offset-&h8000000

make sure if you're pointing a pointer into a rom make sure to add the &H8000000


simple.

And not bloated.

Simple for you and I, but not for people who don't understand Visual Basic, or who are only just learning, this is for those people. Thanks for the lesson though, I had no idea each Variant was meant to hold a different amount of data...

[interdpth]

Honestly you shouldn't even try to program if you don't know variables. If anyone wants i'll teach more

[ℜªℳ]

I just got into porgramming 4 days ago so I'm new but I already have C++ down. I'm trying to learn VB and I just have a simple question about your tools(I will ask questions in the future since I'm new in this area). Do I have to use VB6 for this becuz it is very out dated and there has been many recent VBs like VB 2008 which is known as VB9? Also, its not possible for you to give us a free download of VB6 is it? (little infringement won't hurt any1) just joking.

@all- If any1 contacts me via email I can help them get one painlessly (sorry for simple spamming and cheapAd)

I also have another question (sorry for the double post if it shows as so and doesn't merge)...
In the second step when entering the pokeballs I don't see where "style" is to put in the number 2. can any1 help? My tool has index, shortcut, help contextId, and negotiate position (it say none, middle, left, right) and the 4 chk offs. There's no style to writee the number 2 in. Also I have no idea as where I'm supposed to insert the list for the pokemon. Like I said before I just started with visual basic and my friend Akido said its the best for programming so here I am.

[Darthatron]

Originally Posted by KanouKono

I just got into porgramming 4 days ago so I'm new but I already have C++ down. I'm trying to learn VB and I just have a simple question about your tools(I will ask questions in the future since I'm new in this area). Do I have to use VB6 for this becuz it is very out dated and there has been many recent VBs like VB 2008 which is known as VB9? Also, its not possible for you to give us a free download of VB6 is it? (little infringement won't hurt any1) just joking.

@all- If any1 contacts me via email I can help them get one painlessly (sorry for simple spamming and cheapAd)

I also have another question (sorry for the double post if it shows as so and doesn't merge)...
In the second step when entering the pokeballs I don't see where "style" is to put in the number 2. can any1 help? My tool has index, shortcut, help contextId, and negotiate position (it say none, middle, left, right) and the 4 chk offs. There's no style to writee the number 2 in. Also I have no idea as where I'm supposed to insert the list for the pokemon. Like I said before I just started with visual basic and my friend Akido said its the best for programming so here I am.

Hello. First off let me say, if you know C++ stick with it, as you said VB6 is way outdated, and Vista barely supports it anymore. I'd recommend using the built in File Editing resources for C++.

If you really need help with VB6 I'll help,m but I would seriously recommend sticking with one of the newer versions of the Visual Studio family.

[ThuGie]

I agree with Darthatron,
If you know a higher lvl language then vb6 stick with it.

[ℜªℳ]

ok but unfortanutely there isn't any tutorial on how to create a hack tool with it so I chose to learn VB6 since many ppl use it. wat I now need to know is will the new visual basics work with this same tutorial?

[OM3GA Umbr30n]

Ive recently searched the microsoft download site looking for VB 6.0 and i found the installer!
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...e-5c21436e6f56

[madarawolf]

When I try to run the program it says there is sometinhg wrong with this line
"Private Sub cmdOpen_Click()
Dim cdgOpen As clsCommonDialog"
I'm not sure whats wrong tho.
if this question is noobish forgive my impudence for I have just started in a programing class and haven't learned too much yet.

[Elite Trainer Red]

Finnaly i can make my tools

[SilentCoders]

Originally Posted by D-Trogh

You don't need to credit me.. Next time just try and read, k?
And, to answer on your question: ReverseHEX(HEXString) will
So ReverseHEX(08123456) will return 56341208

Good Night (2:30AM !!)

how do you add the functions in ?

[Aljam]

This seems very interesting, but why would I need the comdlg module? There is already one by default in vb6.

[gamesharkhacker]

Does anybody know how to insert a file that has been opened with the program into a rom that has been also opened with the program using WriteHEX? Is it possible?
If not, is there any other ways of doing it? Can you please get back to me soon on this as this is the only thing keeping me back from releasing my program.

Thanks, GSH.

[ShadowMrk]

Originally Posted by gamesharkhacker

Does anybody know how to insert a file that has been opened with the program into a rom that has been also opened with the program using WriteHEX? Is it possible?
If not, is there any other ways of doing it? Can you please get back to me soon on this as this is the only thing keeping me back from releasing my program.

Thanks, GSH.

Sounds like that is a major part of your program. Anyways, just use a For...Next loop to store the bytes from the source file and then use the writehex function in another For...Next loop to insert the bytes into the target file making sure to use a base address and using your counter variable as an offset of the base address.

[jjf_kira]

Hey can you give me some code for editing the levels of the selected pokemon?

Hey can you tell me the code for the starter levels?
because if i choose a legendary pokemon its weak because it is low level