Hack 89. Create a Custom Game Variant

Use a hex editor to create a modded game variant with plenty of grenades.

This hack will explain how to make a game variant such as -Nades Only-.

The First thing you should do is download this file: http://www.avesonline.org/Tutorial%20on%20Hex.zip. Next, open the folder Nades Only/UDATA/4d530064/2A3FB987F1A1. In this directory, you will see a file called slayer. This is the file you will need to edit in a hex editor [Hack #54]. If you have Hex Workshop, you will be able to right-click the file and choose Hex Edit with Hex Workshop (see Figure 11-22).

To create the custom game variant, skip every period and type a letter for the name that you want (see Figure 11-23). In addition, 0404 should be changed to a 0101. This change removes all starting weapons (offsets 0xD6 and 0xD7). The 0404 value sets magnums as the primary and secondary weapons.

11.9.1. Using the Variant

After you have made your hex changes, you need a handy little program called Xbox Game Save Re-Signer (http://www.xbox-saves.com/downloads/XSavSig005.zip). After downloading and unzipping it, add the Halo 2 authentication key to the re-signer (available online). To do this, open resign.ini from the Xbox Game Save Re-Signer folder and add this code to the bottom.

 [4d530064] Title=Halo 2 SigKey=2116D927510F01D19B7EC75CAFE669AC AuthKey=29328FAC19662CD21C92C49936D4A58D DataFile=profile SigOffset=-20 DataLen=-20 

Figure 11-22. Editing the Slayer game variant in hex

Figure 11-23. Editing the hex code

Then simply start up the program, read through the agreement, and type AGREE in all caps on the bottom text field. Next, find Halo 2 from the drop-down menu, and click the … button to browse to the slayer file. Once you find the right file, double-click it and choose Apply. If you did everything correctly, you get a window that reads "File successfully re-signed" (see Figure 11-24).

Figure 11-24. Re-signing the file

Next, open up the Nades Only.zip file with WinRAR (http://www.rarlab.com) and also open the Nade Only folder that contains the file that you have modified (see Figure 11-25). Simply drag the altered UDATA folder from the Nades Only folder into the Nades Only.zip file. This method maintains the same compression ratio as the original file.

Next you can transfer the modified game variant back you your Xbox using the Xbox-Saves Manager [Hack #55] (see Figure 11-26).

If you have an Action Replay, simply drag the Nades Only.zip file to the program field that reads "PC Database" (see Figure 11-27).

Once you have the custom game variant on your Xbox, you can start a Slayer game and choose -Nades Only- from the list of variants (Figure 11-28). Search the Web for lists of Halo 2 offsets; with these lists, you can make all sorts of changes to the hex code.

Figure 11-25. Adding the altered variant to the .ZIP file

Figure 11-26. Transferring the game variant to the Xbox

Figure 11-27. The game variant in Action Replay

Figure 11-28. Running a custom game variant