Comments on: Hacking HoMM IV saved game http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/ source control for my (useless) knowledge Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:44:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: yiming http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5732 yiming Sun, 03 Oct 2010 08:20:10 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-5732 So I've come to the conclusion now that it can't be done. The same thing that made hacking these save files easy also makes converting them very difficult -- for one thing, all of the endian-ness is wrong. A skill store as 00 00 00 04 on the Mac is being stored as 04 00 00 00 on Windows, due to the big-endian PPC and little-endian Intel processors. Furthermore, not all values are stored in reverse order, so I can't just go and reverse every 4-byte block or something. Unless there's an Intel version of HoMM IV, I'm afraid these save game files are just not exchangeable. The highscore.dat and carryover.dat files are exchangeable though. You can still preserve your high scores and your campaign completion status ... just not your campaign, unfortunately. So I’ve come to the conclusion now that it can’t be done. The same thing that made hacking these save files easy also makes converting them very difficult — for one thing, all of the endian-ness is wrong. A skill store as 00 00 00 04 on the Mac is being stored as 04 00 00 00 on Windows, due to the big-endian PPC and little-endian Intel processors. Furthermore, not all values are stored in reverse order, so I can’t just go and reverse every 4-byte block or something. Unless there’s an Intel version of HoMM IV, I’m afraid these save game files are just not exchangeable.

The highscore.dat and carryover.dat files are exchangeable though. You can still preserve your high scores and your campaign completion status … just not your campaign, unfortunately.

]]> By: yiming http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5703 yiming Thu, 30 Sep 2010 05:02:02 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-5703 as far as I can tell, both the Mac version and the Windows version are gzip files (of slightly different flavor). There may be a version number encoded in there that I can change (which would be the easy way). Otherwise, it'll get more difficult to find the closest matching version on the Windows side. as far as I can tell, both the Mac version and the Windows version are gzip files (of slightly different flavor). There may be a version number encoded in there that I can change (which would be the easy way). Otherwise, it’ll get more difficult to find the closest matching version on the Windows side.

]]> By: yiming http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5639 yiming Sun, 26 Sep 2010 03:01:04 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-5639 I've been working on this problem myself on and off for the last year or so. Will post another entry if I figure this out. I’ve been working on this problem myself on and off for the last year or so. Will post another entry if I figure this out.

]]> By: hooby http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5638 hooby Sun, 26 Sep 2010 02:53:57 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-5638 Or, better yet would be to increase the performance of battles. I am trying to run the game on a macbook (intel) with rosetta, and they slow down quite a bit during the AI turn. Or, better yet would be to increase the performance of battles.
I am trying to run the game on a macbook (intel) with rosetta, and they slow down quite a bit during the AI turn.

]]> By: hooby http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5637 hooby Sun, 26 Sep 2010 02:46:34 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-5637 This is great! Any idea how to convert a save file from mac version 2.3 to get it to work on windows version 3.0? Thank you! This is great!

Any idea how to convert a save file from mac version 2.3 to get it to work on windows version 3.0?

Thank you!

]]> By: MeYnA http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5189 MeYnA Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:32:33 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-5189 It works great ! thanks :) It works great ! thanks :)

]]> By: yiming http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-451 yiming Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:31:21 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-451 thanks, friend! That works out well. thanks, friend! That works out well.

]]> By: CanUtility http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-446 CanUtility Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:37:16 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-446 Search for the first occurance of your player name (not your heroes, the name you are playing the game as). The 4-byte integers below that represent... gold wood ore crytal gems mercury sulfur ...to get 65,535 gold and 255 of each resource set them to... 00 00 00 ff ff 00 00 ff 00 00 00 ff 00 00 00 ff 00 00 00 ff 00 00 00 ff 00 00 00 ff Enjoy, CanUtility. Search for the first occurance of your player name (not your heroes, the name you are playing the game as).

The 4-byte integers below that represent…

gold
wood
ore
crytal
gems
mercury
sulfur

…to get 65,535 gold and 255 of each resource set them to…

00 00 00 ff
ff 00 00 ff
00 00 00 ff
00 00 00 ff
00 00 00 ff
00 00 00 ff
00 00 00 ff

Enjoy, CanUtility.

]]> By: yiming http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-33 yiming Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:26:00 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-33 Glad to hear it, anon! Happy to know there are still some of us out there :) Glad to hear it, anon! Happy to know there are still some of us out there :)

]]> By: Anonymous http://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Anonymous Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:37:00 +0000 https://blog.yimingliu.com/2007/02/03/hacking-homm-iv-saved-game/#comment-32 Great, got to try this!! I still keep playing, in fact i do play from HOMM I to HommIV :-) Great, got to try this!! I still keep playing, in fact i do play from HOMM I to HommIV :-)

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