File: Save file editing guide for Shining Force 3, Scenario 1 (or English version) Author: James Ferguson (Fergybug) Email: shiningforce@btopenworld.com Date: 5/8/03 Version: 0.8 This is a guide to editing the save file for Shining Force 3 in the SSF v 0.06 saturn emulator. It may be compatible with later versions other emulators as well. It has been made for Scenario 1. It has been tested with the UK version of Shining Force 3 and the Japanese version of shining Force 3 Scenario 1. A Scenario 1 Offsets B Character Section Offsets C Scenario 1 Values D Instructions Although I have put the instructions at the end it is important to read them first. It is at the end so it doesn't get in the way when you are looking up things quickly once you're familiar with the system. The above titles are written in capital letters at the start of each section. Try a word earch to find a section more quickly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================A SCENARIO 1 OFFSETS=============================== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the meanings of #,%,+ see instructions. Checksum: %AE,%B0,%B2 Range: start at %B7, select #6600 bytes. So, for SSF files, subtract 6600*FF/2 from checksum 16. For the last four digits only, this is equivalent to adding #3300 to checksum 16. Location: %DE Inventory: Starts at %80C. To use Scenario 1's inventory. Double the item number of the item you're interested in. Add this to the above number. The byte this takes you to holds the number of that item you have stored. This works differently from scenario 3. Team Roster ----------- Synbios/Dantares: %404 Masqurin/Grace: %406 Hayward/Obright: %408 Irene/Julian: %40A Cybel/Eldar: %40c Kahn/Noon: %40E Justin/Horst: %410 Penn/Ratchet: %412 Frank/Hagane: %414 Murasame/Fynnding: %416 The first character in each pair uses the second digit and vice versa. In scenario 1 the options for each digit are: 0=Not found 1=In active team 9=In reserve/Fynnding's team Character sections ------------------ Synbios: %4924 Dantares: %4A84 Masqurin: %4BE4 Grace: %4D4C Hayward: %4EAC Obright: %5014 Irene: %5174 Julian: %52D4 Cybel: %543C Eldar: %559C Kahn: %56FC Noon: %5864 Justin: %59C4 Horst: %5B24 Penn: %5C8C Ratchet: %5DEC Frank: %5F4C Hagane: %60B4 Murasame: %6214 Fynnding: %6374 Medion: %64DC (Medion's file actually has some information in it, such as a steel sword he has equipped, but all of this is abandoned by Scenario 2. Only his name is preserved.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================B CHARACTER SECTION OFFSETS============================ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All scenarios actually use exactly the same layout for their character sections, but I've included this information at the end of every file map. Start of name: +0 (up to twelve characters) Gender: +1E (Male=1, Female=2) Max HP: +22 Max MP: +24 Level: +26 (this is level number,it does not affect promoted/unpromoted, that's +F0) Attack: +28 Defence: +2A Agility: +2C Speed: +2E Luck: +30 Magical resistances (numbers below #80 are positve, above are negative): Fire: +3A Ice: +3C Lightning: +3E Wind: +40 Light: +42 Dark: +44 Spell 1: Type: +48 Level: +4A Spell 2: Type: +4C Level: +4E Spell 3 Type: +50 Level: +52 Bonus spell: Type: +54 Level: +56 Equipped weapon: +58, +5A Equipped accessory: +5C, +5E Item slot 1: +60, +62 Item slot 2: +64, +66 Item slot 3: +68, +6A Item slot 4: +6C, +6E Weapon 1 special atacks: Level 1: +70 Level 2: +72 Level 3: +74 Weapon 2 special atacks: Level 1: +76 Level 2: +78 Level 3: +7A Weapon 3 special atacks: Level 1: +7C Level 2: +7E Level 3: +80 Weapon 4 special atacks: Level 1: +82 Level 2: +84 Level 3: +86 Weapon 1 type: +B4 and +C4 (they should have the same value) Weapon 2 type: +B6 and +CC Weapon 3 type: +B8 and +D4 Weapon 4 type: +BA and +DC Weapon 1 level: +c6 (i.e after the second of the two weapon 1 types) Weapon 2 level: +CE Weapon 3 level: +D6 Weapon 4 level: +DE Class: +F0 Current HP: +106 Current MP: +108 Character control type: +12E In battle: #0 Player controlled, #1 Enemy, #3 Passive Enemy (eg Benetram Impostor), #5 uncontrolled friend (eg Garosh on Saraband Pier), #6 uncontrolled Ally (eg Hayward) Character status: #0 character is afflicted by condition; #1 character is not afflicted Alive: +130 (ie 0 is alive, 1 is dead) Sleep: +13C Confusion: +13E Illusion: +140 Silence: +142 Paralysis: +144 Poison: +146 Charm: +148 Missing goes: +14A Cursed: +14C Berserk: +14E Ice Storm (can't move): +150 Bonus special attack: +15C Note 1 ------ Enemy files follow exactly the same pattern except: 1 They do not store their names; instead they all begin #06. 2 They do not have classes. Instead +F0 defines their type: ie Goblin, Mask Monk, Colossus etc. Note 2 (VERY IMPORTANT!!!) ------ Although all characters' sections follow this layout, some have an extra 8 bytes inserted into them somewhere. There doesn't appear to be any pattern to where these extra bytes appear. They are invariably zero, and I suspect they may be a bug in the emulator. Most character have a section #160 bytes long; if a section is #168 bytes long then it has these bytes in it. In such a section, all offsets after the extra bytes need to be increased by eight. To deal with this, if you go to a position you wish to change but the value in it bears no relation to what you think should be in it, simply advance 8 bytes and see if that makes more sense. I've written a piece of code to work all of this out for you, which I've put up on my website. It's only for Scenario 1 and only deals with the main stats. Additionally, it is heavily scripted and will only run on Internet Explorer v4+. Note 3 ------ Although it seems you can change the skills a character can perform with a weapon, this doesn't appear to be the case. Changing the number of the three learned weapons skills only changes their name and their camera angles; the character still performs the same move. Changing the bonus special attack does make a difference, though, and sometimes you can have a swordsman perform mace skills and the like. Note 4 ------ The bytes which determine whether or not characters have joined the team are not in these sections. They are all grouped together earlier in the file. Also, I don't know where friendships are stored. Note 5 ------ The byte after each weapon's level is the weapon experience. With a bit of patience it is now possible for someone to work out how weapon experience works. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================C SCENARIO 1 VALUES================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Location Numbers 2 Item Numbers 3 Spell Numbers 4 Character Classes To find a section quickly, search for the above titles written in capital letters =================================1 LOCATION NUMBERS================================ Order of locations is: Non-game areas (such as Ending) Battles (in order, excluding ruins and Ancient Shrine) Towns & Surrounding areas: Saraband - 2C Balsamo - 44 Map Areas Quonus - 58 Vagabond - 62 (chapter 3) or 63 (chapter 5) Railhead - 6C Train - 6E Flagard - 73 Aspia - 81 Storich - 85 Lookover - 8B Malorie - 95 Ancient Shrine Complete Thief Ruins Extra Areas (removed from game) For each town, the number after it is the location number for its church. In Scenario 1 it's best to make a save file in one church and then change the location number to put yourself in another. This doesn't work with Vagabond's outdoor church, or the Train. Locations which say error are ones that have always caused the emulator to crash when I load the file. I have tried to provide the location name for these nevertheless. Some of the other locations still give errors sometimes. Scenario 1 is by far the most interesting disc in terms of locations because it contains many of the areas seen in the Production Report! Some of the best ones are missing, though, such as the three towns (the prototypes of Saraband, Barrand and Maya I think), but there're even a couple not from the video! Note that if you use the 'Ending' location (05) to make a complete save, and then alter the location of this file to be a battle, you will be able to fight that battle. Even one of the secret battles is coded! NON GAME AREAS -------------- 00 Measurement Test 01 Store Test 02 OP Movie 03 Logo Screen 04 Sleepy Wise Man 05 Ending BATTLES ------- 06 Saraband Streets 07 Saraband Bridge 08 Balsamo East Plains 09 Dwarf Valley 0A Dwarf Hill 0B Luggage Check 0C North Plain Railroad 0D Switching Point 0E Battle Inside Train 0F The Train's Roof 10 Quonus Graveyard 11 Vandal Mansion 12 Border South West Plains 13 Barrand North Plateau 14 Suspension Bridge 15 Aspinia West Plains 16 Aspinia South Desert Area 1A Flagard North Ridge Road 1B Tower of Lookover 1C Great Wall 1D Malorie North Marsh 1E In Malorie Castle 1F Aspia Castle Wall 20 Aspia Catacombs 21 King's City Battle (Colossus) 22 King's City Battle (Arrawnt) 23 Unused Battles (King's City Battle meets General Franz. doesn't work) 24 On Roof of FSS Train (No battle) 25 FSS Suspension Bridge (Works!) 26 Opening 1 (Chapter 1 Title) 27 Opening 2 28 Opening 3 TOWNS ----- SARABAND - 2C 29 Saraband Centre 2A Saraband East 2B Saraband West 2C Saraband Church 2D Saraband Bar 2E Saraband HQ 2F Saraband Indoor Shop (actually it's the Republican base) 30 Saraband Indoor 1 (Republican base) 31 Saraband Indoor 2 (Some houses) 32 Saraband Indoor 3 (Barracks) 33 Saraband Centre 34 Saraband East (Republic side) 35 Saraband Indoor 1 (Republican base) 36 Saraband Pier 37 Saraband East (Republic side) 38 Saraband Indoor 2 (Some houses) 39 Saraband Indoor 3 (Barracks & Trade Centre) BALSAMO - 44 3A Town of Balsamo 3B Balsamo Indoor 1 (Chief's House) 3C Balsamo Indoor 2 (Duncan's House) 3D Balsamo Indoor 3 (Lodge) 3E Balsamo Indoor 4 3F Balsamo Indoor 5 40 Balsamo Indoor 6 (Neurotic girl's house) 41 Balsamo Indoor 7 (Obright's HQ) 42 Balsamo Indoor 8 (Rock & Waltz' HQ) 43 Balsamo Indoor 9 (Shops) 44 Balsamo Church 45 Balsamo Headquarters MAP 46 Switching Point (Start of battle) 47 Switching Point (Start of battle, no enemies) 48 Segale Valley Train (After train has stopped) 49 Balsamo East Plains 4A Dwarf Valley 4B Dwarf Hill (But says Dwarf Valley) 4C North Plain Railroad 4D Border South West Plains 4E Barrand North Plateau 4F Aspinia West Plains 50 Aspinia South Desert Area 51 Aspinia East Plains 52 Flagard North Ridge Road 53 Malorie North Marsh 54 Aspia Castle Wall (After killing Braff) QUONUS - 58 55 Quonus Village (Day) 56 Quonus Village (Night) 57 Quonus Indoor (Shops/Night) 58 Quonus Village Church 59 Quonus HQ 5A Quonus Graveyard (Night) 5B Quonus Graveyard (Day) 5C Quonus Mansion 5D Quonus Mansion 2F 5E Mansion Research (Ratchet's Room) 5F Mansion Kitchen 60 Battle at Bridge (Suspension Bridge battlefield) 61 Over the Border (Bridge scene with Medion) VAGABOND 62 Vagabond (Church) 63 Vagabond 2 (Church) 64 Vagabond Indoors 65 Vagabond HQ RAILHEAD - 6C 66 Railhead Town 67 Railhead station 68 Railhead Terminal (Platform) 69 Railhead Indoor 1 6A Railhead Indoor 2 (Just a blank floor) 6B Railhead HQ 6C Railhead Church TRAIN - 6E 6D Train, 2nd Cart 6E Train, 3rd Cart (use this) 6F Train, 4th Cart 70 Train to Valley (Gives error) FLAGARD 71 Flagard 72 Flagard Indoors 73 Flagard Church 74 Flagard Headquarters 75 In Flagard Castle (Battlefield map, but not battle) 76 In Flagard Castle 77 In Flagard Castle 78 In Flagard Castle ASPIA 79 In Aspia Castle Wall (Before Storich) 7A Over Castle Moat 7B Aspia Village 7C Aspia Castle 7D Aspia Roof (From Epilogue) 7E Aspia Indoor 1 (House) 7F Aspia Indoor 2 (Pub) 80 Aspia Headquarters 81 Aspia Church STORICH 82 Storich 83 Storich Indoor 84 Storich Headqurters 85 Storich Church LOOKOVER 86 Tower of Lookover 87 On Tower Top 88 Lookover Village 89 Lookover Indoor 8A Lookover Headquarters 8B Lookover Church 8C Great Wall MALORIE 8D Malorie 8E In Malorie Castle 8F In Malorie Castle 90 Battle of Malorie 91 Malorie Indoor 92 Malorie Indoor 93 Malorie Bar 94 Malorie Headquaters 95 Malorie Church 96 Catacombs 97 Dam ANCIENT SHRINE 98 Ancient Shrine (1) Battle 99 Ancient Shrine (2) Battle 9A Ancient Shrine (3) Battle 9B Ancient Shrine (4) Battle 9C Ancient Shrine (1) 9D Ancient Shrine (2) 9E Ancient Shrine (3) 9F Ancient Shrine (4) A0 Complete RUINS A1 Thief's Map 1 A2 Thief's Map 2 A3 Thief's Map 3 A4 Thief's Map 4 A5 Tower Ruins A6 Thief's Map 6 EXTRA AREAS ------------ If you have a church save, you will start in the middle of nowhere in these levels. Walk to the left to find them. A7 Aboard Sailing Ship (Seagate & Executor) (Turn off graphic layer 0) A8 Fort (from Production Video) A9 Inside Fort AA Picture Above Ground (Nazca Ship) AB Tree (early Stamp Village) AC Wave ===================================2 ITEM NUMBERS================================== All items in Scenario 1 use only the second of the two bytes devoted to item storage. Changing the first byte (I think) can affect whether or not an item is broken. Scenario 1 contains several items which are not normally found. I've seperated them into three types: Enemy: Weapons only used by enemies. Many of them can be equipped. Unused: Items which cannot be found in the game. Many can be used, but most are just hangers on from Shining the Holy Ark. Early: A lot of items not found until Scenarios 2 or 3 are in this game. Sometimes their abilities change. Their names have been translated. The order is roughly: 01-43 Basic Weapons 44-6E Healing items, power-up items and apparel 6F-DD Mithril (or better) weapons, and all wings, anchors and shurikens DE-EF Other items like maps, keys, Elbesem Orb. Also Volcano Wand, Mitra Ankh 00 Blank (no item) 01 Bronze Knife 02 Steel Knife 03 Hunter Knife 04 Steel Sword 05 Broad Sword 06 Bastard Sword 07 Great Sword 08 Epee 09 Foil 0A Rapier 0B Iron Blade 0C Battle Blade 0D Steel Blade 0E Booty Sword (early) 0F Iron Ninjato (early) 10 Steel Ninjato 11 Bronze Lance 12 Iron Lance 13 Heavy Lance 14 Steel Lance 15 Spear 16 Power Spear 17 Battle Spear 18 Halberd 19 Heavy Halberd 1A Poleaxe 1B Small Axe 1C Power Axe 1D Battle Axe 1E Great Axe 1F Hand Axe 20 Iron Hand Axe 21 Steel Hand Axe 22 Mace 23 Flail 24 Maul 25 Bronze Claw 26 Iron Claw 27 Steel Claw 28 Battle Claw 29 Cloth Glove 2A Iron Glove 2B Steel Glove 2C Cestus 2D Iron Cestus 2E Steel Cestus 2F Wooden Rod 30 Bronze Rod 31 Talisman Rod 32 Small Wand 33 Magic Wand 34 Angel Wand 35 Power Ankh 36 Saint Ankh 37 Misty Ankh 38 Small Bow 39 Short Bow 3A Faerie Bow 3B King's Bow 3C Light Crossbow 3D Heavy Crossbow 3E Arbalest 3F Long Bow 40 Heavy Long Bow 41 Elven Bow 42 Scimitar (enemy sword) 43 Gladius (enemy sword) 44 Power Ring 45 Protect Ring 46 Magic Ring 47 Gale Ring 48 Attack Ring 49 Master Ring 4A Silver Ring 4B Life Ring 4C Nimble Ring 4D White Ring 4E Black Ring 4F Iburu Ring 50 Artemis Pin 51 Apollo Pin 52 Iron Bracer 53 Steel bracer 54 Medical Herb 55 Healing Drop 56 Potion 57 Healing Rain 58 Goddess Tear 59 Hope Light 5A Antidote Herb 5B Fairy Powder 5C Angel's Wing 5D Power Wine 5E Armour Milk 5F Quick Chicken 60 Nimble Onion 61 Happy Cookie 62 Health Bread 63 Brain Food 64 Brave Apple 65 Large Mithril 66 Small Mithril 67 Dark Matter 68 Iron Circlet 69 Steel Tiara 6A Swift Boots 6B Shadow Bowl 6C Dark Bowl 6D Loincloth 6E Power Undies 6F Mithril Dirk 70 Butter Knife 71 Killer Knife 72 Sneaky Knife (unused) 73 Joker Knife (unused) 74 Counter Sword 75 Shiva Sword 76 Leviathan 77 Dark Sword 78 Phoenix Sword 79 Justice Sword 7A Magic Rapier 7B Mist Rapier 7C Shiny Rapier 7D Dark Rapier 7E Luster Blade 7F Rune Blade 80 Photon Blade 81 Venom Blade 82 Force Blade (early, works) 83 Nelson Lance 84 Holy Lance 85 Dragon Lance 86 Ultra Lance 87 Silver Spear 88 Counter Spear 89 Rune Spear 8A Beast Spear (unused) 8B Comet Spear (unused, works) 8C Holy Halberd 8D Star Halberd 8E Arc Halberd 8F Dark Halberd 90 Fire Axe 91 Gigantic Axe 92 Sharp Axe 93 Gaia Axe 94 Sorrow Axe 95 Accurate Axe 96 Super Axe 97 Arrow Axe 98 Ultra Axe (unused, works, looks like Elven Bow) 99 Saint's Mace 9A Revenge Mace 9B Power Hammer 9C Macho Maul 9D Mithril Claw 9E Tiger Claw 9F Berserk Claw A0 Pokey Claw A1 Spiked Glove A2 Muscle Glove A3 Spark Glove A4 Magna Glove A5 Pretty Glove A6 Giant Cestus A7 Mist Cestus A8 Wire Cestus A9 Holy Cestus (unused, works) AA Torture Rod AB Sleepy Rod AC Soul Rod AD Tiamat Rod AE Demon Rod AF Jester Wand B0 Jewel Wand B1 Witch Wand B2 Spark Wand (unused, works) B3 Wendigo Wand B4 Tornado Ankh B5 Silence Ankh B6 Blessed Ankh B7 Holy Ankh B8 Moon Bow B9 Dragon Bow BA Breaker Bow BB Kantar's Bow BC Caylon's Bow BD Hunter Crossbow BE Flame Crossbow BF Sonic Crossbow C0 Needle Crossbow C1 Magnum Bow C2 Storm Bow C3 Meteor Bow C4 Pulsar Bow C5 Wind Cutter C6 Bone Eater C7 Rumbling Sea C8 Kusanagi C9 Muramasa CA Cross Star (early) CB Fox Shuriken (early) CC Shaken CD Deadly Star CE Octagon Star CF Wind Star D0 Metal Wing D1 Silver Wing D2 Battle Wing D3 Silk Wing D4 Sonic Wing D5 Cosmic Wing D6 Zero Wing D7 Stealth Wing (unused, works) D8 Light Anchor (unused) D9 Heavy Anchor DA Power Anchor DB Spin Anchor DC Crash Anchor DD Grav Anchor DE Cut Flowers DF Chicken Feed E0 Volcano Wand E1 Large Egg E2 Ship's Key E3 Statue Gem E4 Mitra Ankh E5 Elbesem Orb E6 Divine Cane E7 Negate Cane E8 Spark Blade E9 Ruin Map EA Ruin Map EB Ruin Map EC Ruin Map ED Ruin Map EE Ruin Map EF Elbesem Orb ===================================3 SPELL NUMBERS================================= Spells are stored in two bytes. The first byte identifies the spell using the numbers below. The second byte determines the spell's level 1-4. There are many unused spells filling in the gaps in this list. Most do not work. I have only included proper spells which you can encounter, and early spells which I know work. 00 Blank 01 Blaze 02 Freeze 03 Spark 04 Tornado 05 Soul Steal 06 Inferno (early version) 07 Support 08 Slow 0A Resist 0B Attack 0C Dispell 0D Confuse 0E Sleep 11 Heal 12 Aura 14 Antidote 15 Return 26 Phoenix 27 Wendigo 28 Tiamat 29 Tanatos ================================4 CHARACTER CLASSES================================ Name of characters which follow the progression 00-1F Unpromoted Class 20-47 Promoted Class ----------------------- Synbios, Julian 00 Soldier 20 Swordsman ----------------------- Dantares, Cybel 01 Knight 21 Cavalier ----------------------- Arthur 01 Knight 21 Cavalier 5A Magic Knight ----------------------- Obright, Horst 02 Warrior 22 Gladiator ----------------------- Grace 03 Priest 23 Cleric ----------------------- Masqurin, Noon 04 Magician 24 Wizard ----------------------- Hayward, Barnard 05 Archer 25 Marksman ----------------------- Irene, Kahn 06 Monk 26 Master Monk ----------------------- Eldar, Fynnding 07 Birdsoldier 27 Birdknight ----------------------- Justin 28 Bow Knight ----------------------- Penn 09 Penguin 29 Emperor Penguin ----------------------- Ratchet 2A Steam Knight ----------------------- Frank 2B Werewolf ----------------------- Hagane, Murasame 2C Ninja ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ===================================D INSTRUCTIONS================================== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The File 2. Checksums 3. Information I Will Give 4. How My system Works The File ======== This is a guide to altering a Saturn emulator's save game file for Shining Force 3 (all parts). The emulator I have used for this is SSF and I don't know if this guide will be helpful for any other saturn emulator. The save file in question is not a windows file, but a file on the emulator's virtual RAM cartridge. In version 0.06 this is called E_Backup.RAM. I will be providing two types of information: the first is the offset of a byte in that game file which stores a particular piece of information, and the second is the meaning of the values which you can put into that byte. Every Shining Force 3 file begins SF. In the SSF emulator it is convenient to search for the string of digits: 53FF46. Offsets: the offset of a byte is how many bytes into the file it is. In order to use this kind of information you will need a hex editor program like Hex Workshop, which is available from www.bpsoft.com, which presents each byte as a pair of hexadecimal digits and tells you the offset of the cursor, or lets you move the cursor to a particular offset. The editor will give you the offset from the start of the windows file, but this will not be the start of the game's file (in fact, you can have more than one game file in the windows file). as a result, I will have to use relative offsets in this guide. I will use the following notation (numbers will always be in hex): %: For example %1B, where 1B is the hexadecimal number twenty-seven. This type of offset is relative to the start of the game file. The start of the game file is taken to be the S in the phrase SFORCE which is the start of every file. Add the number after the % sign to the offset of the 'S' to reach the byte in question. For instance, say Synbios' section in a scenario 1 file starts at %4924, and the 'S' is at offset C09 in the .RAM file. Then the start of Synbios section is at offset 552D in the .RAM file. At this point is the 'S' in 'Synbios'. +: For example +1B, where 1B is the hexadecimal number twenty-seven. Every character gets a section to themselves in the file, which holds their attack power, defence, items, spells etc. Since these are all laid out the same way, I will only describe the layout once. The number after the + sign is how many bytes after the start of the character's section the byte in question is. The start here is taken to be the first letter of their name. For instance, in the above example the 'S' in Synbios was at offset 552D. Suppose that my guide says that in the character section a character's class is stored at +F0. Then Synbios' class is stored at 552D+F0=561D bytes from the start of the windows file. Note: Hex Workshop has a counter which tells you how meny bytes you are selecting if you drag the cursor or move the arrow keys with shift held down. It is often is easier to use this feature to work with relative offsets than to use a calculator to work out the absolute offsets. Not all SF3 saves have the layout I have describedin my guides. NEVER use Gabriel to copy a file; he will insert some extra information at the start, upsetting the offsets. If you want two copies of the data, go to a church. Checksums - aah! Very Important!!!!!!! ================================================================================ These things are a real pain, and made working out how to edit the save file very difficult. Fortunately, they are easy enough to work with once you get used to them. The checksum is a means of testing if the data in a file has degraded over time. It is a defence measure designed to save you from loading up a game file in which the information has been spoilt. However, it also detects if you have edited the file. If the checksum is wrong, Gabriel (or Ishahacut if you like) will not let you load the file. My 'File Map' guides will tell you where the checksum is. It is a 3 byte (that is a six-digit hex) number which stores the sum of a range of bytes in the file. My guides will also tell you the range it counts over. You can then use Hex Workshop to recalculate the checksum after you make some changes. To do this, select the range I specify, and go to the tools menu, and calculate (or generate) checksum. When you calculate it, you will be given a whole host of different checksum. The one you are interested in is Checksum-16, which adds the values of each individual byte together. However, you may have noticed that every other byte in the save file is FF. These FF's are not part of the game's file, and you will need to correct for them. I will explain this in the Map guides. Basically, though, you subtract a number to compensate for them. However, Hex Workshop only calculates four-digit checksums, so this method will only give you the last four digits of the file's six-digit checksum. This shouldn't be too much of a problem, as it is likely the higher two didigtes will not change, and if they do it will only be by plus or minus one. It should be easy to work out if this has happened just be looking at the new and old checksums. (This applies to SSF and the old Satourne. I believe the new Satourne has every other byte as 00, so you don't need to correct for them. I can't test this because Satourne does not work on my computer.) For smaller changes you may find it more convenient to simply keep a calculator handy and keep track of how much you are adding and subtracting from each byte, and when you are done use this tally to modify the checksum by the same amount. Basically, if you add 5 to a byte in the file, you must add 5 to the checksum as well. It's that simple. (You may be unimpressed by me saying how important this is, and that's fair enough. But finding the checksums, and indeed working out that I was even looking for a checksum in the first place, was one of the trickiest parts of workingout how to edit the files. Maybe I'm still traumatised from that...) Information I will give ======================= Location -------- A single byte in the file determines where in the world you will start from when you load up the save file. If you change this you can go anywhere you want in the game! Skip straight to Malorie or go back to Quonus. This is a fun thing to change. Because the game also stores your coordinates in that location, when you change this value you may end up somewhere odd, such as in the black space around a building when you are indoors, or maybe trapped inside a wall. For this reason I find it convenient to make a save in a church, and when I change towns I put myself in the new town's church. This way Synbios (or whoever) will be standing at the altar of that church. If you do end up in the black space, you should know that most 'indoors' areas have more than one building in them. Try to head for the corners of the level to reach them. Walk into the doorway and you will exit the buidling and reach the town. This does not work in Scenario 3 though. If you end up in space, you will be stuck. Inventory --------- By this I mean the huge quantity of stuff King Benetram keeps in his pockets at HQ. Each item has either byte or half a byte which stores how many of that item you have deposited. All that is required is that you add to this byte or half byte to increase the number you have. What do I mean by half a byte? That's just a single hexadecimal digit. Each File Map will explain in more detail. There are many items available in this way which cannot be found just by playing the game - most new weapons! Team Roster ----------- Each character who can join the force has a half-byte devoted to storing their status as a team member. Each file map will explain precisely how it works, but you can have characters in your team before you can normally meet them, or keep Julian and Donhort in after they should leave. You can have both Jade and Garosh as well, for instance. Also, there is an unused character in Scenario 3 and the Premium Disc! Items ----- Each character has bytes which show what they have equipped and what they are carrying. Each item slot has two bytes, and stores the identifying number of an item. (Remember there is an FF between these two bytes.) The two bytes function is a four digit hex number, but the leftmost byte should only by 00 or 01. One byte can distinguish between 256 items; as a result Scenarios 1 and 2 only use the least significant byte; scenario 3 can have 00 or 01 in the higher byte to open up more combinations. Spells ------ Each character has four spells slots. Spells are also stored in two bytes. The first byte determines the type of spell and the second the level. Very simple. There are many hidden spells, but most don't work. Copyright 2003 James Ferguson This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.