Can you Modify programs?

[luke82817]

Does anyone know how to open up and modify programs? Like since most of these programs (tube increaser, etc.) are written in C++, can you open up the .cpp file and edit it? This would also be cool if I could do this to my computer games and change em around to my liking. Possible?

 

[Allie Albatross]

Does anyone know how to open up and modify programs? Like since most of these programs (tube increaser, etc.) are written in C++, can you open up the .cpp file and edit it? This would also be cool if I could do this to my computer games and change em around to my liking. Possible?

If you have the original source code, sure. But if it's pre-compiled already, then no.

 

[luke82817]

If you have the original source code, sure. But if it's pre-compiled already, then no.

Well for computer games I thought they compiled slightly different on different machines. So does it compile when you install it, or do they just compile the code ahead of time for every common type of CPU?

 

[WickednDivine]

Well for computer games I thought they compiled slightly different on different machines. So does it compile when you install it, or do they just compile the code ahead of time for every common type of CPU?

Code is not compiled when you install it, it's basically just copied to the correct place, and if windows, the registry values set, etc.

You cannot get the source code. You could try decompiling it..but it's not very effective

 

[albertb]

Well for computer games I thought they compiled slightly different on different machines. So does it compile when you install it, or do they just compile the code ahead of time for every common type of CPU?

Commercial software doesn't generally come with source code. They are precompiled. Most CPU's we use have similar architecture so code can run on them without needing to be compiled differently.
Programs can be modified without source code though. Its known as reverse engineering. But its not easy.

 

[luke82817]

hmmm. In order to convert backwards what do you have to do? Are you saying that the machine code is what you are given, or is it binary or hex? If it's machine code then I could probably do it, but I donno about binary or hex. Not yet anyway..

If it's binary or hex, isn't there a program that convert it to machine code? Since it's a one-to-one translation it'd be easy and then all I'd have to do is change the machine code I guess..

Am I close or am I way off?? Thanks!

 

[WickednDivine]

hmmm. In order to convert backwards what do you have to do? Are you saying that the machine code is what you are given, or is it binary or hex? If it's machine code then I could probably do it, but I donno about binary or hex. Not yet anyway..

If it's binary or hex, isn't there a program that convert it to machine code? Since it's a one-to-one translation it'd be easy and then all I'd have to do is change the machine code I guess..

Am I close or am I way off?? Thanks!

machine code IS binary, i'm not sure what you're trying to say.

 

[luke82817]

machine code IS binary, i'm not sure what you're trying to say.

I meant Assembly sorry, not machine code. Assembly is a 1to1 translation from machine code. I meant that if it is binary then I can probably convert it to assembly and then modify that? Because I can kinda work with assembly is that's the case.

 

[*poohbear*]

You can try Hex Editors for editing binary content, but you need to have a good understanding of what you are doing. Back in the day on AOL, people use to change email addresses in keyloggers to where the logs would be emailed by using Hex Editors

 

[asteroth]

27648 decimal is 6C00 hexadecimal. 0101 binary is 5 decimal.
So what do you want to do? You could look at memory after
game is loaded. You could dump memory to a file. What kind
of modifications are you wanting to do?

 

[asteroth]

27648 decimal is 6C00 hexadecimal. 0101 binary is 5 decimal.
So what do you want to do? You could look at memory after
game is loaded. You could dump memory to a file. What kind
of modifications are you wanting to do?

 

[luke82817]

27648 decimal is 6C00 hexadecimal. 0101 binary is 5 decimal.
So what do you want to do? You could look at memory after
game is loaded. You could dump memory to a file. What kind
of modifications are you wanting to do?

yeah I know binary and hex (I am cpsc major). What I am wanting to do is several programs. Maybe modify some internet programs (like youTube programs) also I think it would be very cool if I could say open up a game like Final Fantasy VII and modify it for example. Or you know open up an rts game and make some awesome changes. Basically anything that pisses you off in a game you could change (probably not graphics). You know, change Madden 09 so that I can have a fiend quarterback that can bash through 3 defenders at once (by increasing stats to 150 or something). That'd be fun

 

[asteroth]

Google woodmann, for serious programming discussions. Reverse engineering, game programming. There are many ways to change
programs, just takes time, and patience. Knowledge is not what
you carry around in your head or credentials. It is knowing where
to get the answers when you need them. For example... PHD....
Post Hole Digger.

 

[albertb]

Yeah, you can view the assembly code of a compiled program. Assembly code is nothing but binary thats why a compiled program can be decompiled into Assembly. Use a debugger like SoftICE or Ollydbg and attach it to the process you want to modify. You can then set breakpoints, modify the code, memory etc. Its not as easy as writing a program in assembly. Takes some time to understand what a piece of code is doing.