~Arcade Pool An edit cheat for 'Survivor Matches' - By Simon Burrows `I've recently been playing all the 3D pool and snooker sims `presently available on the PC market (ie, Jimmy White's, Pool `Shark, Archer Maclean's etc.) and found these both entertaining `and very realistic simulations of the real thing. When I came `across Arcade Pool from Team 17, I was ready for a similar type `of thing, but was surprised to see that the technology had seemed `to have gone backwards, jumping back to the time of top-down `sims. `After playing through the game for a while, looking out for `subjects to go into edit cheats, I soon realised that there were `hardly any. On the brink of giving up, however, I noticed that `with the 'survival matches' option, players have 3 lives, one of `which they lose each time a shot is made which doesn't result in `a ball being pocketed. After playing around with the option for `a while, I sussed out the programmers system, and created the `edit cheat contained in this doc, which shows you how to edit the `amount of lives any player has. `The edit can be used for three main purposes: The first is to `cheat. This seems really pointless to me, because winning `unfairly in this sort of game is boring and unsatisfying. An `example would be to set the number of lives your opponent has `left to 1, and the number you have as 100 - surely you couldn't `fail to win after doing that; The second purpose would be to `extend the length of a match to make it more exciting and last `longer. An example for this would be to change the number of `lives both yourself and your opponent have, to about 10 or 15; `Finally, another purpose would be to use it as a handicapping `system, to even out the differences in skill of the players, so `that each player has an equal chance of winning. For example, if `you have three players: one novice, one of intermediate skill, `and one a bit of a pro, you could set the first one's lives to `10, the second to 5, and the third to 2. `The cheat works by editing the save-game file Arcade Pool creates `when you save your game. Because of this, to get it working you `must first create this save-game file. To do this, load the `game, and then begin a new 'survivor match'. You may start the `match with any amount of players you like, any of which may be `computer or human controlled. However, when you have selected `which players will be in the game (the default being 'Player `One' and 'Daniel Emery'), you must write all the names down on a `piece of paper unless you've got a good memory. When you've done `this, start the match, and wait until it is any of the human `players' turns to take a shot. Now click on the 'Save' button at `the bottom of the screen, and answer 'yes' to the resulting `question. `You have now generated the save-game file, so quit back to DOS `and you'll be ready to make the edits. From the DOS prompt, in `the main Arcade Pool directory, load up a Hex Editor (such as `the one in the Norton Utilities package), and pop-up the file `'SAVE. ' Before making the edits, decide how many lives you `want each of your players to have. This will depend for what `purpose you are using the cheat (see above)). `When you have decided upon the number of lives each player will `have, use the list below to find the location in the save-game `file that the relevant player's lives are stored. To get to `these locations, use the cursor keys, and guide yourself to the `Hex location written by the player's name in the table below. `When you arrive, edit the number there to your new one. The `highest number you can have is 255, but remember that numbers are `stored in hexadecimal mode, so 10 is 0A, 100 is 64 and 255 is FF, `for example. You must only edit those player's which you put `into the match earlier, so leave well alone those that aren't. `(That's why it is a good idea to make a full written list of the `players before saving the match.) `When you've finished editing, save the changes, quit back to DOS, `load Arcade Pool up again, and answer 'yes' to the question about `loading your saved game or not. You should now find that you are `taken back to the match you saved earlier, with everything `exactly the same, except that each of the players will now have `the amount of lives you specified during the editing earlier. Here's the list, then.... ~` Player's Name Hex Location ` Player One - D45 ` Player Two - D79 ` Player Three - DAD ` Player Four - DE1 ` Player Five - E15 ` Player Six - E49 ` Player Seven - E7D ` Player Eight - EB1 ` Mario Savoia - EE5 ` Martyn Brown - F19 ` Marcus Dysan - F4D ` Al Brimble - F81 ` Don Kay - FB5 ` Nick Walkland - FE9 ` Tim Tucker - 101D ` Derek D'Fuente - 1051 ` Max Reynaud - 1085 ` Stefano Petrulo - 10B9 ` Matt Richards - 10ED ` Nik Lawrence - 1121 ` Steve Shields - 1155 ` Alex Simmons - 1189 ` John Davison - 11BD ` Andy Shaw - 11F1 ` Daniel Emery - 1225 ` Ed Ricketts - 1259 ` Dino Boni - 128D ` Dave Westley - 12C1 ` Cal Jones - 12F5 ` Christina Ersk - 1329 ` Dean Evans - 135D ` Dave Upchurch - 1391 ` Chris Buxton - 13C5 ` Ged Start - 13F9 ` Gary Whitta - 142D ` Dan Slingsby - 1461 ` James Binns - 1495 ` Rik Skews - 14C9 ` Kevin Cook - 14FD ` Mark Stamps - 1531 `For example, if you started a match with the three players, `Player 2, Alex Simmons and Dan Slingsby playing, and you wanted `to make the game last longer, you would go to the three locations `in turn (D79, 1189 and 1461) and change the data stored there `to something like 0A, which would give the three players 10 lives `each. `NOTE: If you decide to use custom names for your human players ` (eg, by deleting the name 'Player 1' in the edit players ` menu, and inserting your own name), to edit that player's ` lives-tally you must go to the hex-address for the ` original name. (For example, if you'd inserted your new ` name over the top of Player 2, you would still go to the ` hex location written by Player 2 in the table above.) Good Luck... ~Simon Burrows.