PC/CD Gamer UK 6/PCGAMER06.bin/bits/cheet/2_pool.txt

Text File | 1995-01-06 | 7KB | 150 lines

~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.