File: Save file editing guide for Shining Force 3, Scenario 1 (or English version)
Author: James Ferguson (Fergybug)
Email:
[email protected]
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.
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================================A SCENARIO 1 OFFSETS===============================
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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.)
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============================B CHARACTER SECTION OFFSETS============================
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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.
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================================C SCENARIO 1 VALUES================================
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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
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===================================D INSTRUCTIONS==================================
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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
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