info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

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Solstar
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info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

hello all.i recently got into cheat engine\art money to look for values for unlocking\use extra character in fighting games ,both bosses,unlockable and unusable ones.i searched the internet for various tutorials but i only found tutorials for energy\money etc.only one,explaining how to unlock characters for castle crashers,helped me somewhat,and it worked on some games.the infamous "cursor training" mode.it worked for some games,it didn't worked for other,though,so i wanted to know if there's a method that lets me find values more easily in games such as mortal kombat 9 or matrimelee matsuri for taito type ex,where the character select screen is not a horizontal "strip",and the values fo character 1,2 etc are basically impossible to find.

this is a video i made using virtua fighter 2as example.i use this method and 90% of the times it works.i already knew that the final boss values was 10,because the normal characters are 9,so i skipped right to it.when i don't know that,i just try all the values from 1 until i get there.i used artmoney for this video but the results and procedure are the same on cheat engine as well




this other video instead show what i'm talkign about,that i'm struggling to understand how the character order is.in cheat engine i use the same procedure,but as you can see after the second value,everything disappears,as i can't understand who's suppsoed to be character 1,2 etc,since there are characters in multiple directions.i try to added all of the values found at the second attempt,but none of them is the one for modifying the characters

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Pugsy
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Pugsy »

For cheat Engine I guess you'd would use a similar method that we use in the MAME cheat engine. Looking at the CE documentation....I'd use these:

First Scan options:
Unknown initial value


Next Scan options:
Changed Value <---when you've moved off the previous character that you searched on
Unchanged Value <---when you've haven't moved off the previous character or have and moved back without doing a search
Same as First Scan <---when you've moved back to the initial character


I've edited your post to include inline youtube.
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Solstar
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

so basically i need to look for an unknown value (without typing anything),then move to next character and set "changed value" each time?
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Pugsy »

Yes pretty much. Though moving back to the first character you started the search on and doing a "Same as First Scan" will help cut down the number faster as will doing a search on character A then moving to C D E F etc without doing a search and then moving back to character A and doing a "Unchanged Value" search.

Looking at the results you can normally expect a character value to be under 0x20 if there are less than 32 game characters which will might be handy for the final whittling down.
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Grab the latest cheat collection:
MAME 0.259 XML cheat collection (6 OCTOBER 2023) from http://www.mamecheat.co.uk or direct from:-
https://mega.nz/file/q4dHGZ6K#i-EUiqIjH ... KMz7hnbTfw (ZIP Archive 3.76MB)
Solstar
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

i tried it and it yields a lot of results..maybe too many :\ after i get back to the starting characters,do i have to keep on going?i took as an example virtual on(on model 2 emu)and the end results are still way too many to find the one that changes the characters. i found it near the end of the list by pure luck,and by watching the value changing as i scrolled the character list.,but i could'nt get it on other games,including that infamous matrimelee matusri for taito type x loader,especially since that emu doesn't have a pause button.
Looking at the results you can normally expect a character value to be under 0x20

how do i look for that particular value,or the one under it?i know that usually 0x00 0x01 etc are the main characters,so i count the visible character slots,or finish the game at least once,to see which could be the value of said characters,but sometimes it just defies this logic :\(example:tekken 1)
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Pugsy »

Yes there will be a lot of results with this method but it will eventually drop, once you've done the final search on the character you play with then keep doing an "Unchanged Value" search during play....it's unlikely this address will get changed if you are playing with the character but other addresses will.

The lack of pause could be bypassed by finding the character select timer and enable infinite character select time.

Note, the other thing is the character select address is likely fairly close to the character selection timer so that will help the narrowing down.
Pugsy

Servicing your cheating needs since 1985 8)

Grab the latest cheat collection:
MAME 0.259 XML cheat collection (6 OCTOBER 2023) from http://www.mamecheat.co.uk or direct from:-
https://mega.nz/file/q4dHGZ6K#i-EUiqIjH ... KMz7hnbTfw (ZIP Archive 3.76MB)
Solstar
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

ok so let's see if i got it right.again i'll take virtua fighter select screen for the sake of simplicity:

i start the game,go to Akira(first character on the left,and choose Unknown value,then go to Pai,next character to the right and choose "changed value",then move to Lau and choose "changed value" and so forth and so on up to the last character to the right.at this point i have to go backward,back to Akira again,but this time going through all of them by choosing "unchanged value" until i reach Akira and select "same as first scan"?
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Pugsy »

Yes, use any valid combinations to get the number of results down - this is the aim of this method.
Pugsy

Servicing your cheating needs since 1985 8)

Grab the latest cheat collection:
MAME 0.259 XML cheat collection (6 OCTOBER 2023) from http://www.mamecheat.co.uk or direct from:-
https://mega.nz/file/q4dHGZ6K#i-EUiqIjH ... KMz7hnbTfw (ZIP Archive 3.76MB)
Solstar
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

what should i i do,if anything,when i find the values,but when i choose the value for the boss,the game chooses a random other character instead? :\ here's an example:the game is virtual on,which has a simple select screen,and two bosses.one is supposedly unplayable,because is very big and has its own stage(unlockable in the ps2 version of the game,and again playable on its own stage)while the other boss,even if being bigger than a regular unit,(and playable on ps2 and saturn as well)should be "useable",but no luck...the character i'm trying to play as is called jarguandi and comes before the huge boss.here's a video.the sub boss should be n.8 and last should be 9.i tried to use the 8 value and as you can see the curosr goes off screen like usually happens when selecting bosses in fighting games using this method,but all i got is the first selectable character on the roster(which is valued 0 ftr)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NPIZ9h ... qOt5L4GxKg
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Pugsy »

One of three things spring to mind:-

1. You've found an address that is not related to the character rather the cursor - it's possible that there are a number of addresses that affect the character selection.

2. If you found the real character selection address it's possible it gets read and written somewhere else for ingame use and is only valid on the selection screen. Try searching for the character and value during play to see if there's an ingame address for the character that you can change instead.

3. Try pressing fire when the cursor is on the character you want rather than letting the character select timer run down - you may get a different effect.
Pugsy

Servicing your cheating needs since 1985 8)

Grab the latest cheat collection:
MAME 0.259 XML cheat collection (6 OCTOBER 2023) from http://www.mamecheat.co.uk or direct from:-
https://mega.nz/file/q4dHGZ6K#i-EUiqIjH ... KMz7hnbTfw (ZIP Archive 3.76MB)
Solstar
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

Pugsy wrote:One of three things spring to mind:-

1. You've found an address that is not related to the character rather the cursor - it's possible that there are a number of addresses that affect the character selection.

2. If you found the real character selection address it's possible it gets read and written somewhere else for ingame use and is only valid on the selection screen. Try searching for the character and value during play to see if there's an ingame address for the character that you can change instead.

3. Try pressing fire when the cursor is on the character you want rather than letting the character select timer run down - you may get a different effect.
you may be right,as many games give me multiple addresses to use for characters change,although this one only yielded one..i'll try doing as you say,and playing the game through the end and see if there's another value...as for #3 i also tried pressing fire button when choosing it but same effect :\
Solstar
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Re: info on how look for values for boss\extra char in games

Post by Solstar »

i did another experiment,this time with dead or alive 2,folllowed the procedure as usual and again i get to select the main characters but not the bosses..the game just crashes

this guy here in this video managed to do it



the address is different than mine ,i tried searching for that result but no success(although he clearly states that it may change from pc to pc).now the values he has for the characters are different than mine.they both work,but how did he discovered those ?how he nknew that he had to start the curso training on zack and not on kasumi who's the first character you start on with the flashing slot?i asked all this and more before but he never replies to his videos.i did a curosr training followed the order of thje character he stated and now i get more values..though when i choose the last boss(which is playable)in my case the game crashes
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