-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | hack4u 1.2a | Copyright (C) 2004-2008 emuWorks | Written by John David Ratliff | http://games.technoplaza.net/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- - Introduction - ---------------- hack4u is a tool for editing save state files for Ultima: Quest of the Avatar on the NES. It was released as Ultima II on the NES, but it is actually the fourth game in the series, hence the program's name. You can take the battery backed RAM files created by Nintendo emulators such as FCEU, Nesten, Nestopia, VirtuaNES, and more and modify them. These files have the extention .SAV and are usually named the same as your ROM file. So if your Ultima IV ROM is named "Ultima - Quest of the Avatar (U).zip", which is the GoodNES name for one of the known Ultima IV dumps, then your SRAM file is probably "Ultima - Quest of the Avatar (U).sav". FCEU adds the ROM checksum value by default to its files, so on FCEU, it might have a long string of extra characters before the .SAV. ---------------- - Installation - ---------------- Binaries are available for Windows (2000 and later), Linux (requires GTK+ >= 2.0), and Mac OS X (Tiger or later). The source is also available if you want to compile it yourself. To compile, you will need a modern C++ compiler and wxWidgets 2.8 or later. On most platforms, compiling is as easy as opening a terminal and running ./configure && make. That should work on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows with mingw/msys. There are also Visual Studio project files in the vstudio directory. For more complete compilation instructions, consult our compiling HOWTO at http://games.technoplaza.net/compile.php. --------- - Usage - --------- Using the program should be fairly straightforward. Start the program hack4u either by double-clicking or from the command line. Load the SRAM .SAV file. For FCEU on Windows, this is in the FCEU directory in the SAV subdirectory. For FCEU on Unix, this is in the ~/.fceu directory. I don't know about other emulators. The program should work on any emulator that uses the battery backed RAM (SRAM). Once the file is open, it will load the first save game it finds. Ultima used three save slots, and you can edit any of the three that are available. I assume in most cases this will be the the first game "Game1". You can choose a different save slot from the Game menu. If any are greyed out, that means they are not valid. You must have at least one save in SRAM to edit, or the program will not be able to edit anything. We can only make changes to existing files. We cannot generate them. There are five tabs, "Hero", "Party", "Inventory", "Transporation", and "Character". They will allow you to edit almost any part of the game. Items you have, your characters stats, magic you know, etc. I have added editing of nearly everything I consider remotely useful. If there is something you want to be able to edit that you cannot, contact me and I'll see what I can do. When you load a .SAV file, it will make a backup in a file named the same as your SRAM file with a .bak on the end. If something goes wrong when you try to start your edited game, just delete the SRAM file and rename the backup to .sav instead of .sav.bak. --------- - Notes - --------- Some important things to be aware of. - This is BETA software. Your use of it is AT YOUR OWN RISK. I take no responsibility if this program screws up your Ultima Data, or any other thing on your or any other computer. I'm pretty sure it won't, but don't blame me if it does! - The program checks for valid values in most cases, but I'm not altogether sure all the ranges I put in are correct. Contact me if you feel a valid value is being ignored by the program. - You can create some invalid combinations. Equipping two weapons, bows, or armors, or duplicating party members (e.g. two Paladins, two Fighters). The program will warn you about these, but will not prevent you from using them. None of these combinations seem to *adversely* affect the game, but I've only tested these for a short time. Duplicating Party Members: Since each member has stats for their class, if you use duplicate party members, all stats are shared, including current HP, and MP. If one member would die, the duplicates may die too. However, since the game has to check for death conditions, depending upon order of death, the one who died may be brought back to life. Duplicate at your own risk. Equipping Multiple Items: I didn't notice any problems with this. The game seems to notice only the first item you equip, but since it was never intended, there may be problems I didn't notice. - I've never heard of the 'Wheel' or the 'Dagger'. Neither seem to be of much use, but maybe I just didn't know what to do with them. - Virtues I don't know exactly what ranges correspond to what "ranks" (very poor, poor, well, very well), but I do know that 0 is bad and 100 is good (partial avatarhood). So 99 is the best you can be without being the avatar. It seems to be broken down as follows (but I haven't tested this reliably): 0-24 Very Poor 25-49 Poor 50-74 Well 75-98 Very Well 99 Worth of Avatarhood 100 Partial Avatarhood -------------------- - Revision History - -------------------- Version 1.2a - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - Updated code to compile under wxWidgets 2.8. - Updated Visual Studio project files for Visual Studio 2008. - Added upx compression to mac version. - Added icons for the mac version. - Updated compilation instructions. Version 1.2 - Friday, February 23, 2007 - Minor code cleanup (now compiles in unicode mode) - Added Visual C++ 2005 project files Version 1.1 - Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - Major code cleanup - Fixed bug where it wouldn't save over the current SAV file - Fixed bug where some games weren't selectable - Removed outdated wxGTK hacks for bugs in wxGTK 2.4.2 - Now requires wxWidgets 2.6 - Removed need for XRC file to be included with executable - Fixed bug where hack4u would restore deleted games - Removed possibility of blanks between characters - Removed certain impossible choices from being selected - Added joined party member editing - Added balloon location editing - Added pirate ship editing - Added whirlpool editing - Synchronized found treasure and treasure inventory offsets - Added common locations menu for boat and balloon Version 1.0 - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - Minor Code Cleanup - Added GTK+ 1.2 Binary for Linux - Added Mac OS X Binary Version 0.92 - Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - Fixed bug that caused files to load even if no valid save data existed - Added file I/O error checking - Resized GUI to fit in 800x600 Version 0.91 - Saturday, December 4, 2004 - Added code comments and API documentation - Minor code cleanup Version 0.90 - Friday, December 3, 2004 - Added hero's name validation (only proper characters are allowed now) - Changed Panel backgrounds to white - Replaced herb/virtue/tool spin controls with sliders - Replaced stat spin controls with text controls - Added validation for stat controls - Added validation for equipment and party members (w/ warnings if invalid) - Changed menu shortcuts to more universal ones - Fixed a bug where the game menu didn't go back to 1 on close/reopen - Added XRC_PREFIX to configure to change the default XRC path - Added argument check to specify XRC file location at runtime Version 0.82 - Wednesday, December 1, 2004 - Added Linux binary version. - Fixed bug that caused crashing (segfault) in Linux - Added resize and maximize options to the frame for greater platform compatability Version 0.81 - Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - Added Drag N Drop support - Added Loading/Saving of All Three Games - Added Save confirmation on exit - Added Save As and Close - First Public Beta Version 0.80 - Monday, November 29, 2004 - Support for Loading/Saving Game 1 - First Private Beta ----------- - License - ----------- hack4u is free software released under the GNU General Public License. For more information, you can visit http://www.gnu.org/. For the terms of the license, you can visit http://resume.technoplaza.net/license/gnu-gpl.html ----------------------- - Contact Information - ----------------------- The latest version of hack4u can always be found at emuWorks http://games.technoplaza.net/ You can contact me at http://www.technoplaza.net/feedback.php