Chaos Theory Co-op Hacking Options

[BlindGeep]

Hi

I'm new to this hacking lark, so if I make mistakes, go easy on me.

My and my mates regularly attempt to beat Chaos Theoery's co-op mode, often without success. We're not the best players, and we're certainly not the stealthiest, which is why I statrted to read up on how people have hacked Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell.

I'd like to say a big thank you to the people who have done the ground work and investigation of the UMD files.

I simply want to use this thread to discuss the thiungs i've found when trying to 'hack' the co-op settings, and to request help from the community in order to try and extend Splinter Cell's lifespan.

My initial aims when hacking were:
1. Increase the ammo in the guns
2. Add in the various attachments to the loadouts
3. Add the ability to whistle in co-op
4. Increase the number of syringes you get
5. Increase the maps available

Initial Findings:

General...
- As others have said, invest in a good Hex Editor, and use this to edit the dynamicxbox.umd file
- Keep backups...
- Format your cache drives after copying your umd file...

1. Increasing Ammo
Easy... Open the umd, do an ascii search for [Loadout_Host], and change the Ammo, Grenades etc numbers, anywhere from 0 to 9. If you set Sticky Cameras to 9, you get 10... no idea why... I tried testing the numbers to see if they'd accept a hex number, i.e. F for 16, but it doesn't work. However, since you can swap items in game and go beyond 9, i'm guessing that if we can change the file size, we can probably get up to 99.

2. Attachments
I guessed that the 0's and 1's for the Attachments in the Loadout sections where booleans for whether you have it or not. Initial test was to set them all to 1's, to give me them all. No such luck... The loadout part of co-op shows that I have the launcher and foregrip, but when you get into the game you can't switch the attachments (taping white when the sc-20k is in use).
Second test was to only select 2 attachments, I gave the host Launcher and Sniper, and the client Launcher and Shotgun. Again, loadout screen shows them both as being there, but I can't switch in game.
Third test was to only select 1 attachment. I dropped the launchers from the above setup, and the loadout screen showed them correctly, and in game the host had his sniper attachment, and the client the shotgun.

Theres obviously a couple of restrictions here. Even in the main game, you can only have 2 attachments selected, so this
is obviously a setting held elsewhere (or builtin to the engine). The second restriction is that even though it recognises a second attachment, you can't switch to it. Again, i'm guessing that theres another setting/builtin condition saying that you can't switch in co-op.

3. Whistling
I'll admit it, I have no idea about this one. Sure the umd contains key stuff, but i've no idea how the pc style keyboard settings translates to an xbox. Like the attachments, I suspect that the like of whistle is an engine restriction. Ideally, if you can't do a co-op move, it should whistle.

4. Syringes
After increasing my ammo, this is probably the hack I most want. The words Syringe and heal etc, hardly appear in the UMD and never near anything that looks like its a constraint on them, so again, i'm guessing its an engine restriction.

5. Maps
I think that this is probably quite easy to do (relatively speaking).

The settings for each map, i.e. the map, loadouts, and sounds are listed in sequence. At 0049f2a0h, theres a [MAPS] section, which lists the single player maps, then the multiplayer ones.

Why's this important? Each single player map has a line Multiplayer=false. I'm guessing that if we can add to the file, we can add a pointer to the single player maps in the multiplayer section of [MAPS], and change the multiplayer=false to True.


So, there you go, out of the 5 things I wanted, I got 1 to work (ammo), and another to kinda work (i've switched my loadouts in single player to be max ammo, then launcher/foregrip for the recommended, launcher/sniper for the stealth and launcher/shotgun for the assualt).

If anyone wants to help me try and figure out the others then i'd appreciate it.

Yous

BlindGeep

[mrjkwik]

i started messing with this about a month ago, but havent done much in a few weeks. i was able to increase ammo as well. also added in a ghost toggle. basically pressing down on the dpad makes you ghost (can float and pass through walls and the such). kinda cool, but gets boring to play with.

supposedly you can extract the umd and make it easier to work with. i downloaded the extracted files but had no luck. even started from scratch and extracted them myself, but couldnt make it work after transferring the extracted files.

if i could ever get the extracted umd to work, i was going to attempt to turn some sp maps to mp coop maps. not sure it would work well, but wont know unless i can get the extracted version to work.

[ILLusions0fGrander]

i think that would kick ass.. making MP maps into co-op.
how exactly do you open/change the umd file?

[BlindGeep]

how exactly do you open/change the umd file?

Get a good hex editor (I use ultraedit),
Rip a legal copy of the game to your hard drive
Ftp the dynamicxbox.umd file from the default directory to you pc
Open this file in your hex editor
Edit carefully
FTP back to the xbox
Format your cache drives
Test the game
Get fed up of the intro movies

In fact, thats my next task, get rid of the intros...

BlindGeep

[KyesaRRi]

Intro movies are EASY to get around
No Hexing or anything

How To:
Make a copy of the default.xbe

Name it befault.xbe

Copy the SC3.xbe and name it default.xbe

TOO EASY

EDIT: This is NOT for the game intro movie as it is needed during the caching process.

If you want to enter multiplayer easily [ System Link ] Open the SC3_ADV.xbe and no caching is needed.

This post has been edited by KyesaRRi: Jul 16 2005, 08:55 AM

[mrjkwik]

i dont think that a mp (vs) map can be made into a co-op one, because mp and sp/coop run from different engines.

i was referring to making some sp maps into coop maps. not sure it can be done. looking at extracted umd files it looks like maybe it could, but would hard to hex edit to make it happen due to file size. anyone who has gotten the extracted umd way to work would have an easier time, i just havent been able to get it to work, so i'm stuck with hexing (and issues of file size)

[fversteegen]

5. Increase the maps available

Any luck on hacking the maps already? I've played the coop maps for like 20 times now, and I'm dying to play other maps...

[digital71]

5. Increase the maps available

This can be done via Mimesis. If you can create some kind of mod/map, let me know.

[fversteegen]

This can be done via Mimesis.

That's stated a little bit too easy...

I will try to work on it, but first of all I need the DLC of the new maps available, so I can compare them (no, I'm not a programmer or anything, just eager to get new maps...)

[digital71]

That's stated a little bit too easy...

I will try to work on it, but first of all I need the DLC of the new maps available, so I can compare them (no, I'm not a programmer or anything, just eager to get new maps...)

I have some experience when it comes to working with Tom Clancy games (Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, Ghost Recon 2), so don't worry, I can probably handle this (I've taken a look and it's set up similarly to the other Tom Clancly games named above) .

[ILLusions0fGrander]

I have some experience when it comes to working with Tom Clancy games (Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, Ghost Recon 2), so don't worry, I can probably handle this (I've taken a look and it's set up similarly to the other Tom Clancly games named above) .

rock on man.. make it happen.. still got about 5 months before cell 4 comes out.

[fversteegen]

I have some experience when it comes to working with Tom Clancy games (Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, Ghost Recon 2), so don't worry, I can probably handle this (I've taken a look and it's set up similarly to the other Tom Clancly games named above) .

That would be AWESOME!!! I am willing to help you, but I haven't got ANY experience in this... Please also take a look at: http://www.projectmimesis.com/forum/viewto...php?p=4363#4363 That's a topic for extra maps for SCCT through Mimesis (kind of a Live DLC manager...)

Let me know if I can be of any help to you!

[digital71]

I'll get to work as soon as my finals are going to be over (end of next week). I'll probably need some help, but not right away.

[fversteegen]

I'll get to work as soon as my finals are going to be over (end of next week). I'll probably need some help, but not right away.

Ah! I'm also in my exam period... Exams take way too much time

I've already done some very basic research and posted the results on: http://www.projectmimesis.com/forum/viewto...php?p=4363#4363 Just have a look at it... If you need any help, just mail me (my exams also finish by the end of next week...)

[fversteegen]

Did anyone already make some progress??? I still haven't got my hands on the DLC