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Anonymous Coward writes:
"Dan Luu, in his blog, suggests that editing binaries is something that we should consider from time to time. From that blog:
Editing binaries is a trick that comes in handy a few times a year. You don't often need to, but when you do, there's no alternative. When I mention patching binaries, I get one of two reactions: complete shock or no reaction at all. As far as I can tell, this is because most people have one of these two models of the world:
- There exists source code. Compilers do something to source code to make it runnable. If you change the source code, different things happen.
- There exists a processor. The processor takes some bits and decodes them to make things happen. If you change the bits, different things happen.
If you have the first view, breaking out a hex editor to modify a program is the action of a deranged lunatic. If you have the second view, editing binaries is the most natural thing in the world. Why wouldn't you just edit the binary?"
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Editing Binaries: Easier Than It Sounds
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(Score: 2) by hybristic on Monday March 24 2014, @09:06PM
I used to do this so I could hack games all the time. after I got to a certain point in most games I found the repetitive parts to be tedious, like collecting currency or travel speeds and I would simply open a hex editor, find the appropriate value and boom done. I also used to play an MMO where you could edit a lot of their files and get things like God Mode or increase monster spawn rates.
I agree with this article though, I have talked about editing binaries with some moderately tech savvy friends, and they get nervous. I think to them its more of the idea that they will change something and then break everything, and have no clue how to fix it. I remember I once had a Linux USB plugged in, and I was editing some files just to see what would happen. Well I ended up not editing the usb but my computers actual root directory and got myself stuck in a boot loop. I imagine that they expect something similar to happen when they deal with the mysterious binaries.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by internetguy on Monday March 24 2014, @09:11PM
When I was in 4th grade my very first hack was to the game "Pitfall". I found the variable "lives" and I changed it to 1000. That's when I decided that I wanted to be a computer programmer.
Sig: I must be new here.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by hybristic on Monday March 24 2014, @10:59PM
That sounds very similar to how I got started. I remember watching my dad play Star Control 2, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever (to be fair it is a great game). So when I picked up a copy off a warez site it came with its own editor. That was the first time I realized that there was code that powered computers, my life was changed forever. For years after that the first thing I would do when I installed a new game was look at the associated files and try to make changes. Modding code eventually turned into writing code. Funny how something so small can change the way you look at the world.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Tuesday March 25 2014, @03:19AM
In an older version of Moria I found how to set the stats of my equipment in a hex editor. I had a dagger with 99d9.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Tuesday March 25 2014, @05:51AM
When I was around the same age I did that to Ultima III. DEBUG.COM was all I had, and it sufficed to trace into the copy protection code enough that I could patch it to remove it permanently. I later did the same thing to all the Bard's Tales (neutering the code wheel checks on BT3), and I even traced Wasteland skill usage rolls to force them to succeed.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 25 2014, @07:21PM
That's how I got started hacking assembly, but I'd nop out the decrement instead.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday March 25 2014, @07:08AM
I did a lot of that on C64 and Apple][. At some point, hacking the game became more fun than playing the game. While the developers intended for the player to eventually win the game, the challenge I enjoyed was one they intended me to lose. That made it way better when I won and the game did what I wanted.
I learned a lot about the PC architecture by boot code tracing games.