A question or morality/legality

I was playing around with the rome total war executable and discovered there was a whole load of "cheats" in there that seemed to be locked in the release version.

To cut a long story short, i basically hacked the executable to "enable" these disabled cheats (and while i was at it removed the one cheat per run stupid limit :s )

Not tried most of them, but the ones i have tried all seem to work fine, and some of them look like they might be very useful to mod makers, so i was wondering about releasing a "patch" for others to use.

Now there are a couple of problems with this, i want to try to do it legit if possible (why on earth CA didnt leave this stuff enabled i dont know) however any "patch" i released would have to be a patch on the no-cd version :embarassed: . Now before anyone goes off on one, i have a legiteamtely bought copy, pre-ordered from play thankyou very much, i just dont happen to like hunting around for cds to play a game i have legitimately bought.

Requirement for being based on the no-cd crack as that version has already decrypted the exe, and i'm not about to try reversing the encryption myself (my assembly isnt THAT good..)

So basically do you think i should release it as a patch on the no-cd crack and let enterprising individuals go find the no-cd for themselves.

releasing the fully patched no-cd exe is not an option as far as i'm concerned, not to mention as being completely illegal on several grounds

or just bury it? i'll play around with it but not release it due to legal/moral reasons ?


by the way the full list of cheats including disabled ones is :-

toggle_tow : shows/hides the tabbed output window
add_money : adds an amount of money to a faction's coffers, can be negative, default is player faction
add_population : adds an amount of population to a settlement, can be negative
move_character , : moves named character to position on campaign map
auto_win : the attacker or defender wins the next autoresolved battle
create_unit : creates one or more units of the specified type
toggle_fow : toggles the fog of war on or off
toggle_restrictcam : toggles camera restrictions on or off
give_ancillary : gives the character an ancillary
give_trait : gives the character a trait at level (default = level 1)
process_cq : Completes all (possible) construction pending in queue
character_reset : resets the character back to it's start of turn settings
show_cursorstat : shows the cursor position and region id
bestbuy : sells units cheaper
oliphaunt : the biggest around
jericho : and the walls came a-tumblin' down
write_ui_cache: writes out the ui texture cache to disk
toggle_terrain : toggles the terrain to display various data sets, no param resets to normal
give_trait_points : gives the character points for trait
list_traits : lists all the available traits
list_ancillaries : lists all the available ancillaries
mp : gives the character movement points
list_characters : lists all the characters in the world or those belonging to a faction
show_landings : shows the landing positions available to the ai from a given region, default hides them
filter_coastlines : applies filter to world map coastlines
toggle_coastlines : toggles strategy map coastline display
set_building_health : sets health of a building of the specified type (eg core_building) in a settlement, so that the final health percentage is as specified; for building chains see export_descr_building.txt
ai_turn_speed : sets the maximum speed of turn processing during the ai round
amdb_min : sets aerial map overlay depth bias for min zoom
amdb_max : sets aerial map overlay depth bias for max zoom
amdb_offset : sets aerial map overlay offset towards camera
zoom : zooms to specified aerial map zoom
set_ranking_interval : sets the denominator of the faction ranking graph interval which is calculated as (number_of_turns / denominator). If set to 0, then the denominator will be set to number_of_turns, giving an interval of 1
regenerate_radar: Does what it says on the tin
adjust_sea_bed : adjusts whole sea bed to specified height
reload_shaders : reloads all vertex shaders
reload_textures : reloads all textures
toggle_perfect_spy : toggles everyone's spying ability to perfect and infinite range, and off again
building_debug: toggles building debug mode. TAB to toggle view modes, RIGHT SHIFT-TAB to reset mode, LEFT SHIFT-TAB to go back modes. G damages mouse-over building. P displays plaza.
reset_display: Forces a display_close(); display_open() display reset cycle
toggle_underlay:
toggle_overlay:
process_rq : Completes all (possible) recruitment pending in queue
force_diplomacy : Forces the negotiator to accept or decline a proposition
diplomatic_stance : Set the diplomatic stance between the two factions
shadow
ie
invulnerable_general : makes that named general invulnerable in battle
test_ancillary_localisation: adds all ancillary to the character info display. Ancillaries aren't actually added to the character
perf_times: Toggle display of simple performance times of game update vs display
burn_piggies_burn : ignite all the piggy winks
test_message: Test the event message specified in descr_event_enums.txt
show_terrain_lines : display defensive terrain features
message_collation_set: Set the message collation on or off (sets all factions)',0
show_all_messages: Show all messages to all factions (on/off)
clear_messages: Clear all the current stacked messages
puppify_my_love
reapply_rigid_model_influence
toggle_flowing_water: toggles display of campaign map flowing water
nw_stats: toggles display of network stats.
toggle_pr: toggles pr mode.
list_units : lists all of the units in an army, with details.
victory : show victory message for faction for short or long campaign.
trigger_advice: triggers an advice thread
damage_wall : Damage wall of settlement. Forces 40% damage to a random gatehouse and a nearby straight section. Destroys gatehouse if 'gate' parameter present; breaches wall if 'breach' present'
test_victory_scroll : 'Opens up the victory scroll declaring that the given faction is the victor
date : changes the campaign date to the given year
season : changes the campaign season to the given season
upgrade_effect : triggers unit upgrade effect
force_battle_victory : forces the local player's alliance to win the battle, completely destroying the enemy alliance
force_battle_defeat : forces the local player's alliance to win the battle, completely destroying the enemy alliance
output_unit_positions : output the positions of all units in the battle to the specified file
show_battle_paths : show all valid processed paths in the pathfinder
show_battle_paths_for_unit : show all valid processed paths in the pathfinder for a specific unit given a unit id
show_battle_street_plan : show the street plan for the settlement
show_battle_marker : display a marker at (x, y) for t seconds
show_battle_circle : display a circle at (x, y) of r radius for t seconds
diplomacy_mission : creates a diplomacy mission
event : creates an event at position
kill_character : kills a character with the given name
control : switches player control to specified faction; old faction may not act correctly as ai faction
create_building : creates a building of the specified type in a settlement; for building level id's see export_descr_building.txt
capture_settlement : evicts any resident characters and armies and gives the settlement to the local player
disable_ai : disables the ai, so that it does nothing
halt_ai : halts the turn sequence just before the start of the specified faction's turn, or the current faction if no faction given
run_ai : re-starts an ai turn sequence after disableai or haltai has been triggered

Quote:

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show_all_messages

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... the mind of a guide writer reels ...

you could show how it is done, and it won't be considered nothing illegal.

I'd make the patch to the patch available, but you may want to state the name of the particular no-cd patch you used, because if several are available, your patch may not work for some folks and they may not know who's no-cd patch to get. Just a thought. And another, I agree that you should not need the CD to play these games unless you choose not to install big audio/video files or whatever during installation (some folks don't have enough room on their HD). That's why I never have any moral qualms using no-cd patches, though I would if I let other people install the game from my CD because that would obviously not be fair.

Personally, I don't have a problem with no-cd cracks, the opposite - I strongly object to the cd copy protections and other protection methods that mostly hurt legitimate customers.

But I guess posting the cracked executable (with the cd protection removed) will be mostly frowned upon so one option is indeed to provide a patch and let those who are interested go hunt for the modified executable themselves.

Can’t you write a program that attaches to the rtw process and patch it in memory after the executable is unpacked and loaded? You may be able to cover both versions of the exe this way, just a guess.

- barvaz

Well until i get around to releasing a patch

for anyone who knows their way around a hex editor

on version 1.0 the "reloaded" no cd crack that winRar gives the CRC32 as 55AE300D

at file offset 60894e change the 2 bytes to 90 90
at file offset 60896D change the 4 bytes to 90 90 eb 5b
at file offset 608a08 change the 4 bytes to 90 90 90 90

and i havent tested this but ver 1.1 of the same groups' crack i think the changes are

offset 61524E -> 90 90
offset 61526D -> 90 90 EB 5B
offset 615308 -> 90 90 90 90

Very much a case of use at your own risk, if your pc blows up, dont come running to me. Also while not illegal in the UK (this doesnt circumvent any form of copy protection, you need to have already got the no-cd crack to make these changes) that doesnt mean its legal whereever you are, be warned

FINN,

Is there an update of the "Rome Total War Cheat unlocker"
that works with the new RTW v1.2 patch. How about the Non-Cd executable 1.2?.

Sorry if I missed some information since I did not look in all forums for this information... Love the previous 1.1 files...


Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aquinofrankie

FINN,

Is there an update of the "Rome Total War Cheat unlocker"
that works with the new RTW v1.2 patch. How about the Non-Cd executable 1.2?.

Sorry if I missed some information since I did not look in all forums for this information... Love the previous 1.1 files...


Thanks

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Very much interested in this as well. Don't care about the NO-CD thing, I bought the game. I just want to be able to re-use the cheats.

Strange how two first times posts in a row are in this thread. Closed