The Ultimate WA Editor Hex-Editing Topic! Take A Look!

jdl · Post by **jdl** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:45 pm

I thought it would act like a Scritter if you did that! Also, I already knew you had the UFO WOP out, I was just using it as an example.

mqdar wrote:
cbloopy wrote:FYI, I do have a way that will one day let you make use of all the new MOFI objects. I just need to write a program, and I don't have a lot of free time right now. Please be patient.
Oh Cbloopy, take your time. You've done more than enough for us all. We should be giving you a break.

Exactly.

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:14 am

cbloopy wrote:FYI, I do have a way that will one day let you make use of all the new MOFI objects. I just need to write a program, and I don't have a lot of free time right now. Please be patient.

I think Cbloopy really wants to use MOFI objects! But yes, it's rarther good and worth waiting for rather than quickly released and too complex for anyone to use apart from yourself.

Do it at your own pace cbloopy.

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:23 am

Ah...

I've been puzzling over all this complicated stuff Cbloopy has figured it for a while today. Now I have something to say about one particular thing he said...

cbloopy wrote:There's a place in editor.exe where all the names of object adjusters are grouped together. "TextureName" is in that group, as are familiar ones like "ID" or "Active". But there's nothing there that has the word "Model" in it. I've tried a couple of obvious possibilities in the WOP file, like "ModelName" for example, but none did anything in the editor. So I don't think there's an adjuster like TextureName that can be used to directly change the object's model in the editor.

Yes, as you know, it is true that no model adjuster exists. However, there is one thing I want to make clear with you.

In the picture below, notice the circled byte "0b" and the three "00" bytes before the start of the bytes for "TextureName". If you renamed "TextureName" to 'hbhaurbfupfp" everything would still work fine in the editor. In the editor, though, it'll still say "TextureName", so I see that point you're making. It's the byte "0b" that defines the 'logic' of the TextureName adjuster, not the name of the adjuster. I think you already know this, but I just want to make it clear, just in case.

I also think I know how you're going to be getting objects from MOFI into our levels. My idea is, when you create levels, you just use normal objects in place of MOFI ones. Then, when you copy the levels over to MOFI, you manually replace normal wops with MOFI ones, and there, you're using a MOFI editor!

cbloopy · Post by **cbloopy** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:38 am

mqdar wrote:In the picture below, notice the circled byte "0b" and the three "00" bytes before the start of the bytes for "TextureName". If you renamed "TextureName" to 'hbhaurbfupfp" everything would still work fine in the editor. In the editor, though, it'll still say "TextureName"

You sure? I suspect if you exit and rerun the Editor, you will see "TextureName" changed to "hbhaurbfupfp".

The "0b" is just the length (in hex) of the text "TextureName". Most textual data in various WA files are stored that way, length followed by the actual text.

You are correct though in that there are other bytes in the WOP data that corresponds to "logic" for an object. (I might've mentioned this already when I posted the "model tweaking" level with the bridge model rising out of water, classic-style teleports, etc.) That's why it is possible to get a working UFO object even though we substituted a scritter model for it.

I also think I know how you're going to be getting objects from MOFI into our levels. My idea is, when you create levels, you just use normal objects in place of MOFI ones. Then, when you copy the levels over to MOFI, you manually replace normal wops with MOFI ones, and there, you're using a MOFI editor!

That's more or less the idea, except a program does the replacements (it would be too tedious to do even with a hex editor).

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:55 am

cbloopy wrote:
mqdar wrote:In the picture below, notice the circled byte "0b" and the three "00" bytes before the start of the bytes for "TextureName". If you renamed "TextureName" to 'hbhaurbfupfp" everything would still work fine in the editor. In the editor, though, it'll still say "TextureName"
You sure? I suspect if you exit and rerun the Editor, you will see "TextureName" changed to "hbhaurbfupfp".

No, I tried it. The editor still says "TextureName". Tell me if yours does change though. I might've erred in the process.

The "0b" is just the length (in hex) of the text "TextureName". Most textual data in various WA files are stored that way, length followed by the actual text.

Oooh, I see. I was pretty much right, but you've explained it more.

You are correct though in that there are other bytes in the WOP data that corresponds to "logic" for an object. (I might've mentioned this already when I posted the "model tweaking" level with the bridge model rising out of water, classic-style teleports, etc.) That's why it is possible to get a working UFO object even though we substituted a scritter model for it.

I never brought up models.

I meant that "0b" defines the logic of "TextureName", but I figured that out too. The very first byte corresponds to the object's logic (perhaps also counted in length?), and the !<name> corresponds to the model, right?

I also think I know how you're going to be getting objects from MOFI into our levels. My idea is, when you create levels, you just use normal objects in place of MOFI ones. Then, when you copy the levels over to MOFI, you manually replace normal wops with MOFI ones, and there, you're using a MOFI editor!
That's more or less the idea, except a program does the replacements (it would be too tedious to do even with a hex editor).

Well, I tried it myself, and yes, it's pretty tedious, but programs don't get tired.

For some reason, the level got extremely glitchy after I did it though. Can you explain this?

Another thing: At the end of MOFI hub level files, you see text. This is used for when you save your game. If you go to the loading screen, you see a title under the save you select which is the same as the text found in that level file. When you write your program, could you include a way to edit this data? Wow, with all this done, everything will really be complete.

cbloopy · Post by **cbloopy** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:38 am

mqdar wrote:For some reason, the level got extremely glitchy after I did it though. Can you explain this?

I can't because I don't know exactly what bytes you've changed.

But I'd guess that some of your changes are incorrect.

Let's continue this technical stuff off in PM, it's of limited use to most people here.

mdqar wrote:Another thing: At the end of MOFI hub level files, you see text. This is used for when you save your game. If you go to the loading screen, you see a title under the save you select which is the same as the text found in that level file. When you write your program, could you include a way to edit this data?

You can already edit this using the Editor. Each time you save a level, the Editor will take the adventure title you've currently set in master.dat, and set it in the level file at the location you're referring to. So to change that text for a level, first change the adventure title, then load the level and save it.

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:18 pm

cbloopy wrote:
mqdar wrote:For some reason, the level got extremely glitchy after I did it though. Can you explain this?
I can't because I don't know exactly what bytes you've changed. But I'd guess that some of your changes are incorrect.

Let's continue this technical stuff off in PM, it's of limited use to most people here.

In your PM, you described everything. I understand everything now.

Complex stuff...

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:58 pm

Cbloopy, or any one out there,

Does anybody know why we can't put Wonderland Adventures .wlv or Mystery Of fire Islands .wlv to take a look?

Cbloopy wrote:You can already edit this using the Editor. Each time you save a level, the Editor will take the adventure title you've currently set in master.dat, and set it in the level file at the location you're referring to. So to change that text for a level, first change the adventure title, then load the level and save it.

*sigh* Oh well then, now all of mine will be called hub.

(You are in hub)

Now, that's going to take up a million adventures!

EDIT: No, they all won't say hub: Take a look below!

cbloopy · Post by **cbloopy** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:30 pm

Clifford wrote:Does anybody know why we can't put Wonderland Adventures .wlv or Mystery Of fire Islands .wlv to take a look?

Basically because there are slight differences in the file format. Adjusters (eg. the text "ID", "Active", etc.) are not stored with the object data in WA1 levels. This throws off WA Editor which expects the extra bytes where adjusters are stored to be there.

As for MOFI levels, they are much closer to WA Editor levels file format. The main difference is 4 extra bytes at the beginning (which confuses the Editor), plus the fact that many MOFI levels have references to models that don't exist in the Editor (and as we know, the Editor MAVs on any models it doesn't know about, unfortunately).

Clifford wrote:*sigh* Oh well then, now all of mine will be called hub.

(You are in hub)

Now, that's going to take up a million adventures!

Perhaps you misunderstood. You don't need a different master.dat for each WLV file in the hub. The title stored in an WLV is updated in the Editor whenever you save the level (and only when you save that particular file).

So let's say you currently have all your hub levels in an adventure titled "WA: Mystery of Awesome Things" in master.dat. You want 1.wlv to be titled "The Beginning" in a save game, and 2.wlv to be titled "The Voyage". Do this:

1) open your "WA: Mystery of Awesome Things" adventure
2) In the master file portion of the Editor, change the adventure title to "The Beginning"
3) load 1.wlv
4) save the level. Level #1's title will now change to "The Beginning" (it won't show as such in the Editor, but it is changed). Level #2's title is unaffected because you haven't yet saved level 2 from the time you changed the adventure title (during step 2).
5) Now change the adventure title to "The Voyage".
6) Now load 2.wlv and save the level. This will change level #2's title to "The Voyage", while leaving level #1 alone (so, that level still has "The Beginning" for the title, until you save that level again).

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:39 pm

cbloopy wrote:1) open your "WA: Mystery of Awesome Things" adventure
2) In the master file portion of the Editor, change the adventure title to "The Beginning"
3) load 1.wlv
4) save the level. Level #1's title will now change to "The Beginning" (it won't show as such in the Editor, but it is changed). Level #2's title is unaffected because you haven't yet saved level 2 from the time you changed the adventure title (during step 2).
5) Now change the adventure title to "The Voyage".
6) Now load 2.wlv and save the level. This will change level #2's title to "The Voyage", while leaving level #1 alone (so, that level still has "The Beginning" for the title, until you save that level again).

Or an alternative would be to do my way, which I very much prefer:

Simply open up any level file you want to edit in a hex editor, change the text at the end, and save!

That would be perfectly alright, right Cbloopy?

cbloopy · Post by **cbloopy** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:44 pm

mqdar wrote:Simply open up any level file you want to edit in a hex editor, change the text at the end, and save!

That would be perfectly alright, right Cbloopy?

Sure! Just don't forget to adjust the length bytes preceding the text.

Now a disclaimer: if anyone uses a hex editor incorrectly and messes up his/her level, please don't come crying to me and ask me to fix it.

You've been warned. (Though in this specific case, you really have to screw up to mess up the level that badly.)

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:27 pm

cbloopy wrote:
mqdar wrote:Simply open up any level file you want to edit in a hex editor, change the text at the end, and save!

That would be perfectly alright, right Cbloopy?
Sure! Just don't forget to adjust the length bytes preceding the text

What bytes are what?

e.g. is 5 checters 05
e.g is 6 characters 06?

You proboly know what i'm trying to say,

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:36 pm

For this MoFI Hub System...

If we save a game in an adventure, the title will work fine.

However, on the hub, the game will still refer to areas as Wonderfalls, etc.

Is there a way to fix this?

cbloopy · Post by **cbloopy** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:33 pm

Qloof234 wrote:For this MoFI Hub System...

If we save a game in an adventure, the title will work fine.

However, on the hub, the game will still refer to areas as Wonderfalls, etc.

Is there a way to fix this?

You're right, looks like MOFI takes savegame titles for hubs from text inside wg.exe, rather than from the level files themselves.

That's too bad. The best I can do at this point is maybe to release a patch to blank out those text in wg.exe, so at least you don't see the incorrect text.

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:49 pm

Dang.

Would it be possible to actually access this data and change it like that, though?

I'd expect that if we can blank it out (Via a program, but still), we'd be able to change the data itself.

cbloopy · Post by **cbloopy** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:30 am

Qloof234 wrote:Would it be possible to actually access this data and change it like that, though?

I'd expect that if we can blank it out (Via a program, but still), we'd be able to change the data itself.

The idea is just to search for those text in wg.exe, and replace each character in the text with a space. So the text is really still there but since it's all blanks, it looks like there's no text. What I don't know how to change (or even where to change) is the data in the game that maps the various hub levels to the text.

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:26 am

Midnight Synergy wrote:I'd also definitely be interested in putting something in the Midnight Post about all this - but this is still so much in motion, maybe let's wait until a first "final" results are out (e.g. a completed custom adventure)?

Well, if you are, I'm taking a look!!!

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:27 pm

cbloopy wrote:FYI, I do have a way that will one day let you make use of all the new MOFI objects. I just need to write a program, and I don't have a lot of free time right now. Please be patient.

Have you started yet? (Just wondering, I can make a few WOPs [unsupported in WA Editor] for it.)

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:42 am

Hey, cbloopy, about this model adjuster...

When do you think you'll release the adjuster? I want to take a look at some... Experiments using it.

If you're not going to, could you PM me on how I should go about model switching? Thanks.

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:58 am

Qloof234 wrote:Hey, cbloopy, about this model adjuster...

When do you think you'll release the adjuster? I want to take a look at some... Experiments using it.

If you're not going to, could you PM me on how I should go about model switching? Thanks.

Why can't cbloopy just release it for the whole forum?

yay! someone says something!
cbloopy, how long will this mofi editor take (just wondering of curiousity.)

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:00 am

I hate to double post but can we somehow add scriiter and turtle to make crab?

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:05 am

Clifford wrote:
Qloof234 wrote:Hey, cbloopy, about this model adjuster...

When do you think you'll release the adjuster? I want to take a look at some... Experiments using it.

If you're not going to, could you PM me on how I should go about model switching? Thanks.
Why can't cbloopy just release it for the whole forum?

Note that I never asked him to send it to me specifically - I asked him to PM me on instructions for an alternate model-switching method, assuming there is another way.

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:11 am

Qloof234 wrote:
Clifford wrote:
Qloof234 wrote:Hey, cbloopy, about this model adjuster...

When do you think you'll release the adjuster? I want to take a look at some... Experiments using it.

If you're not going to, could you PM me on how I should go about model switching? Thanks.
Why can't cbloopy just release it for the whole forum?
Note that I never asked him to send it to me specifically - I asked him to PM me on instructions for an alternate model-switching method, assuming there is another way.

Sorry, you don't understand me, I mean send the instructions to the whole forum but i think I know how to.

See how at the beggining it shows !square ?
Add that and it'll be a square!

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:32 am

!!!

Clifford, I think you got it!!!

I'm going to go test this RIGHT THIS MINUTE, I'm so excited!

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:37 am

Qloof234 wrote:Hey, cbloopy, about this model adjuster...

When do you think you'll release the adjuster? I want to take a look at some... Experiments using it.

If you're not going to, could you PM me on how I should go about model switching? Thanks.

Cbloopy has explained himself that there is no model adjuster available in the editor. He said that there is an adjuster to change a model's logic. To adjust the model, you need to create a new wop file and manually adjust the bytes at the start. It isn't very hard, actually.

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:37 am

Oh, you figured it out, did you? Sure you did?

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:39 am

IT ALMOST WORKS!!!!

I think I know why it didn't work, though.

Notes:

As with everything else in .Wop files, there is a length adjuster right before the model name. It seems that it might be possible to use custom models (!) with this.

As usual, known items start with a "!" right before their name - no spaces.

If done correctly, the .Wop file can be used in the editor.

To make it visible, a TextureName must be set.

What I tried:

Using the Cuboid model (07 characters, model is known as "!Cuboid") on top of a Wee Stinker. I assume the game crashed because the Wee Stinker has animations, while the Cuboid does not (It expands and contracts, which doesn't really count).

Right now I'm trying a cuboid with the sign model - presumably, it should work.

EDIT: Oh the shame...

Clifford · Post by **Clifford** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:41 am

Qloof234 wrote:IT ALMOST WORKS!!!!

I think I know why it didn't work, though.

Notes:

As with everything else in .Wop files, there is a length adjuster right before the model name. It seems that it might be possible to use custom models (!) with this.

As usual, known items start with a "!" right before their name - no spaces.

If done correctly, the .Wop file can be used in the editor.

To make it visible, a TextureName must be set.

What I tried:

Using the Cuboid model (07 characters, model is known as "!Cuboid") on top of a Wee Stinker. I assume the game crashed because the Wee Stinker has animations, while the Cuboid does not (It expands and contracts, which doesn't really count).

Right now I'm trying a cuboid with the sign model - presumably, it should work.

EDIT: Oh the shame...

Do you mean the coboid moved? Like did it act like a wee stinker but still look like a cubiod?

Qloof234 · Post by **Qloof234** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:42 am

No, the game MAV'ed as soon as the level loaded ingame. I assume it's because the game calls upon the animations in question, but since they don't exist for the model...

mqdar · Post by **mqdar** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:45 am

Qloof234 wrote:As with everything else in .Wop files, there is a length adjuster right before the model name. It seems that it might be possible to use custom models (!) with this.

Yup, you do know then.

I think Cbloopy said that he tried using custom models, but that that made the game act really weird.