Emulator Cheats

I am currently using version 0.136u3 and have yet to find a cheat search feature either in the debugger or in game. I have looked around at similar posts of things that were added and they appear to be added in this version. I might be going crazy so please forgive me, however can anyone explain how to bring the cheat search up? From what I've seen in the debugger there is nothing about starting a search for a particular value etc... and just normal debugging stuff (Breakpoints, Step Into, Step Over, etc...). Cheats and Debug are enabled for the game in question along with the newest cheat file in the directory. Pressing tab brings up the list of cheats to toggle on and off with no additional search features. I may have missed the memo on all this, however I did search around before I posted . Thanks.

In the debugger type:
This will give you a list of the commands available like cheatinit.

To get more information about cheatinit for example, type

you can use shortened versions of the commands to reduce the typing

so
cheatinit = ci
cheatnext = cn
cheatnextf = cnf
cheatundo = cu


A simple example of a lives search for a game with a maincpu tag:-

1. When in game open the debugger

2. Start a new search with cheatinit 3. Return to the game with F12 and lose a life
4. Open the debugger and do cheatnext search with a change of -,1 5. if the number of matches is too great goto step 3 snd repeat, else goto step 6
6. List the results to the screen with cheatlist 7. Try each one in turn to find which address is the correct one, either open up a memory editor with ALt+M and modify the data at the suspect addresses manually or type where 1234 is the suspect address and 05 is the number of lives you want, return to the game lose a life and see if it's worked.

8. Once you've got the address make a note of it and output the line you want with the cheatlist command to a file type 9. Open up cheatinitoutput.txt in a text file and copy the appropriate address entry to the appropriate cheat.xml file and SAVE it, you can reload any cheat without restarting MAME simply by selecting "Reload All" at the bottom of the cheat selection list

Thanks a lot pugsy. Was this listed somewhere I did not look or is it just common knowlege now? Also a question about the debugger, I notice when in game I can view the hex editor which is great, however some addresses I cannot modify from the hex editor and some I can. Is there a reason I can't modify all of them? I can say I kinda liked the idea of the in game search screen, however being placed in the debugger will open up many more users getting used to the debugger. This could possibly mean more people performing asm hacks vs normal cheats and that is a good thing. Thanks again for your help.

Abystus wrote:Thanks a lot pugsy. Was this listed somewhere I did not look or is it just common knowlege now?

I know they are somewhere as I've posted simple instructions before...but no matter.

Abystus wrote:Also a question about the debugger, I notice when in game I can view the hex editor which is great, however some addresses I cannot modify from the hex editor and some I can. Is there a reason I can't modify all of them?

You can't modify ROM addresses with the hex editor...just RAM addresses. Of course when you do the first cheatlist (cl) you can do it straight to file and then copy the contents of the output file into the cheat.xml and try all the cheats the old way.

I can say I kinda liked the idea of the in game search screen, however being placed in the debugger will open up many more users getting used to the debugger. This could possibly mean more people performing asm hacks vs normal cheats and that is a good thing. Thanks again for your help.

The debugger search is actually a lot quicker to use once you get used to it and being able to set exact memory addresses to search in is very handy. I miss being able to set memory watches though.

I know they are somewhere as I've posted simple instructions before...but no matter.

I'm sorry I couldn't find them, however thanks for a refresher course.

You can't modify ROM addresses with the hex editor...just RAM addresses

Well thats using your noggin, why didn't that dawn on me...

The debugger search is actually a lot quicker to use once you get used to it and being able to set exact memory addresses to search in is very handy. I miss being able to set memory watches though.

Yes the watch point will be missed, hopefully we will get it back sometime soon. And again thanks for the information, I will be home soon to try your instructions out and hopefully get some more cheats rolling your way.