Sword of Vermilion(c) Sega, 1990 Save State Hacking Guide Copyright 2009 Carlos Eugenio ****************************************************************************** This guide is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike, avaiable here http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode. Simplifying the legalese, that means that you are free to copy, print, distribute, and otherwise use this guide any way you want as long as you don't violate the license i.e. give credit where it is due! :) Derivative works of this guide are allowed provided that you credit me for the original work *AND* release it under this same license or other free, copyleft license compatible with Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike. If you indeed produce a derivate, kindly inform me after it's done so I can enjoy it too and maybe even improve this guide (you will be credited for it too of course!) ****************************************************************************** Version History ------------------------------------ 2009 March 18: v. 1.0 -First Version of this guide. AFAIK everything is fine. 2009 October 6: v. 1.1 -Corrected my name in the beggining (not everyone uses ISO-8859-1 or Unicode after all) -Changed license terms, this work now licensed under a open license, check it out right above. -Added some text here and there, hopefully improving the guide :) ------------------------------------ This is a save state hacking guide for Sword of Vermillion, a classic Genesis RPG by Sega. Why I bothered writing this stuff for a game that has almost 20 years? Well... this game smells like my childhood, and I played it beginning to end many many times over the years. I wanted to play it again but... couldn't bear the thought of grinding for hours to level up & acquire money! (or kim in this case). So I did fiddle a little with a hexeditor, a diff tool, some save states and now I want to share it with you, my dear lazy classic RPG gamer. Enjoy :) PS: This guide won't teach you hex editing. There are plenty of other guides who'll teach you better than me. PS2: I used Gens 2.15.5 for Linux as emulator, I think that the offsets are the same on Gens for Windows but since I can't and won't install that OS on my machine I can only guess. Dunno if any of this will work on any other emulators too, mail me if it does so I can update this notice. PS3: Use this guide with moderation! You can ruin your fun if you go overboard and max out everything. In fact, I recommend that you beat the game first without cheating, and in subsequent replays hexedit away. And, before anyone bug me with annoying accusations, I played on a emulator yes, but I DO OWN a copy of this game! Well, on to the guide... Index 1.0 Save state? 1.1 Stats offsets 1.2 Money 1.3 Experience 1.4 Magic 1.5 Items 1.6 Battle Gear 1.7 Lists 1.8 Thanks & contact info 1.0 Save state? Save state is a file with a snapshot of the game progress on a given instant. More specifically, its the CPU & Memory data on a given instant. This guide was made and tested on Gens for Linux as stated above, before the index. The files you want to edit ends with the extension .gs* (where * goes from 0 to 9). Open it on your favorite hex editor, hack away the values you want to edit, load the save state on the emulator and voila! 1.1 Stats offsets *All values must be between 0001 - 270F, else they overflow (i.e start over from zero again) HP (current/max) 0xEAA4, 0xEAA5 / 0xEAA6, 0xEAA7 MP (current/max) 0xEAAA, 0xEAAB / 0xEAA8, 0xEAA9 STR: 0xEAAC, 0xEAAD AC: 0xEAAE, 0xEAAF INT: 0xEAB0, 0xEAB1 DEX: 0xEAB2, 0xEAB3 LUK: 0xEAB4, 0xEAB5 1.2 Money 0xEA99, 0xEA9A, 0xEA9B Note: value is NOT hexadecimal, dunno why... Must be between 000000 - 999999 1.3 Experience 0xEA9D, 0xEA9E, 0xEA9F Note: not hexadecimal, like the money offsets. Likewise, values must be between 000000 - 999999 1.4 Magic Magic quantity: 0xE8DB, max value is 08. From this offset on begins the magics list. An magic is composed of two bytes, the first a modifier and the second the magic value itself (refer to the magics list for valid values). The modifier values which work are 00 (for field magics), 02 (for battle magics not readied) and 82 (for readied battle magics). BUT even if you change the modifier byte for a magic that isn't meant for combat and equip it, nothing happens - the same battle magic readied before it still applies when you enter in a battle. Note: if you go beyond the values the game accepts as valid magics, funny things occur sometimes. For example, beyond the last acceptable value (16 - Sanguios spell), weapons & other battle gear appear on the list (and some even work as field magic, healing you for free). And, further on, phrases used by various salesmen on the game pop on! You can try them later just for some cheap laughs. Funny overflow values 50-52 Maybe next time! 53-55 Thank you. 56-58 Anything else for you today? 59-5B Thank you for your business! 5C Do you have anything to... ...got bored and did'nt went all the way to FF. Be careful, using some of the bugged "spells" freeze the game sometimes :) 1.5 Items Item quantity: 0xE8BB, max value is 08. From this offset on begins the item list. Like magics (explained in 1.4 Magics), an item is composed of two bytes, a modifier and the item value itself (refer to the items list for valid values). BUT, for items, the modifier seems to do nothing meaningful, mail me if you find out what they do! 1.6 Battle Gear Battle gear quantity: 0xE8FB, max value is 08. Battle gear list follows the same rules of the Magics and Items list. The modifier byte indicates where you can equip the item and it if is already equipped. Valid modifier values are: 04 - Sword 08 - Shield 10 - Armor 84 - Equipped Sword 88 - Equipped Shield 90 - Equipped Armor Refer to the Battle Gear lists for valid values for the second byte. 1.7 Lists * = Cursed Item Magic Weapons Shields Armors 00 Aero 00 Bronze Sword 14 Leather Shield 28 Leather Armor 01 Aerios 01 Iron Sword 15 Small Shield 29 Bronze Armor 02 Volti 02 Sharp Sword 16 Large Shield 2A Metal Armor 03 Voltio 03 Long Sword 17 Silver Shield 2B Scale Armor 04 Voltios 04 Silver Sword 18 Gold Shield 2C Plate Armor 05 Ferros 05 Prime Sword 19 Platinum Shield 2D Silver Armor 06 Copperos 06 Golden Sword 1A Gem Shield 2E Gold Armor 07 Mercurios 07 Mirage Sword 1B Sapphire Shield 2F Crystal Armor 08 Argentos 08 Platinum Sword 1C Diamond Shield 30 Emerald Armor 09 Hydro 09 Diamond Sword 1D Dragon Shield 31 Diamond Armor 0A Hydrios 0A Graphite Sword 1E Magic Shield 32 Knight Armor 0B Chrono 0B Royal Sword 1F Phantom Shield 33 Ultimate Armor 0C Chronios 0C Ultimate Sword 20 Grizzly Shield 34 Odin Armor 0D Terrafissi 0D Sword of Vermillion 21 Carmine Shield 35 Secret Armor 0E Aries 0E Dark Sword* 22 Royal Shield 36 Skeleton Armor 0F Extrios 0F Death Sword* 23 Poison Shield 37 Crimson Armor 10 Inaudios 10 Barbarian Sword 24 Knight Shield 38 Old Nick Armor* 11 Luminos 11 Critical Sword 25 Carmine Shield 12 Sangua 12 Dark Sword* 26 Carmine Shield 13 Sanguia 13 Dark Sword* 27 Carmine Shield 14 Sanguio 15 Toxios 16 Sanguios Items Effect 00 Herbs recover some HP 01 Candle illuminate a dungeon for some time 02 Lantern illuminate a dungeon, lasts while you don't leave it 03 Poison Balm Removes poison status 04 Alarm Clock Needed to wake dr. Basil 05 Vase Nothing (need to buy while in Malaga to forge the Sword of Vermillion) 06 Joke Book Nothing (need to buy while in Malaga to forge the Sword of Vermillion) 07 Small Bomb Nothing (need to buy while in Malaga to forge the Sword of Vermillion) 08 Old Woman's Sketch Needed to find the Crimson Armor and the Dragon Shield 09 Old Man's Sketch Needed to find the Crimson Armor and the Dragon Shield 0A Pass to Cartahena Needed to get inside Cartahena 0B Truffle Give to the king of Deepdale 0C Digot Plant Needed if you get poisoned by Cartahenan spy 0D Treasure of Troy Give to the fake king of Parma 0E White Crystal Give to the king of Swaffham 0F Red Crystal Give to the king of Swaffham 10 Blue Crystal Give to the king of Swaffham 11 White Key Opens the White Crystal cave 12 Red Key Opens the Red Crystal cave 13 Blue Key Opens the Blue Crystal cave 14 Crown Give to Bruno 15 Sixteen Rings Won't spoil this for ya ;) 16 Bronze Key Last cave key 17 Silver Key Last cave key 18 Gold Key Last cave key 19 Thule Key Last cave key 1A Secret Key Secret cave key 1B Medicine recover some HP 1C Agate Jewel recover some MP 1D Griffin Wing Teleports you to last visited town 1E Titania's Mirror Shows temporary map of uncharted lands 1F Gnome Stone Teleports out of dungeons 20 Topaz Jewel recover some MP 21 Banshee Powder Kills you! but you don't lose any money 22 Rafael's Stick Remove curses 23 Mirror of Atlas Gives you ALL maps of the game 24 Ruby Brooch Same as Inaudios spell 25 Dungeon Key Needed in a cave (forgot which) 26 Kulm Vase Raises AC with a funny message 27 Kasan's Chisel Raises DEX with a funny message 28 Book of Kiel Raises INT with a funny message 29 Danegeld Water Raises Max MP with funny message 2A Mineral Bar Raises STR with a funny message 2B Mega Blast Raises LUK with a funny message 1.8 Thanks & contact info -Thanks to Sega, for this wonderful game, I enjoy it to this day! -Thanks to the free & open source software people! -Thanks to the GameFAQs people! -Thanks to anyone who deserves a thanks but I forgot to mention! You can reach me on demonsword at gmail dot com. Please, if you want to mail me, write in proper English so I can understand you. Offensive mails won't get replied. And please, I'm a busy man, so if I don't reply to you the same day/month/year/century don't be mad at me ok? :) ---EOF