Pirates Gold Save State Hacking Guide
Usable with the Genecyst emulator (.gs0 style save states)
Written by Thundergod (dragon_god_inferno@yahoo.com)
Version 1.0: First draft, all character information.
Version 1.1: Changed the layout slightly, for easier reading, and added a
special note.
Version 1.2: Added the offsets for gold and an explanation of offsets.
Version 1.3: Minor corrections made.
Version 2.0: Thanks to Chad and Doug, the number of offsets has more than
doubled!
Version 2.1: More minor changes.
Unpublished work Copyright 2000 Thundergod
This FAQ is for private and personal use only. It can only be reproduced
electronically, and if placed on a web page or site, may be altered as long
as this disclaimer and the above copyright notice appears in full. This FAQ
is not to be used for profitable/promotional purposes; this includes being
used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated
into magazines, etc. in ANY way. This FAQ was created and is owned by me,
Thundergod <dragon_god_inferno@yahoo.com>. All copyrights and trademarks are
acknowledged that are not specifically mentioned in this FAQ. Please give
credit where it is due.
Thanks go to:
Chad and Doug (dougsdrug@hotmail.com) for the huge amount of new offsets.
Mike Allen (killerisme@hotmail.com) for the gold offsets. Thanks a lot,
Mike!
Ragnarosen (ragnarosen@hotmail.com) for the form of the following paragraph,
and for the section on hexadecimal.
Kao Megura (kmegura@yahoo.com) for the copyright statement.
To download ROMs and emulators for all systems, go to www.pe2000.net.
To alter the statistics of your characters through hacking into your save
state (or .gs0 file), you'll need to go to Break Point Software
(http://www.bpsoft.com) and download a program called "Hex Workshop." Once
you're finished downloading and the program is finished running SETUP.EXE
automatically, open Hex Workshop and use it to open any Pirate Gold .gs0
files you may have.
NOTE: This Hacking Guide was designed for use with the Genecyst emulator, and
was hacked with Break Point Software's Hex Workshop. This guide will not work
with any other programs, as each one works with the save states differently.
-----------------------------------------------------------
OFFSETS:
Most of the questions I get anymore have to do with offsets – what are they,
how do I tell what I'm editing, I don't understand hacking in general, etc.
As far as I am concerned, the help Section is as thorough is it is going to
get. The only way I could explain it any better would be to point at the
screen and say, "See that there? That's what you need to change!" Since I
can't do that, you'll just have to be on your own if you need any help more
detailed than what I have included below.
If you REALLY cannot figure out offsets and hacking on your own, read the Hex
Workshop help file. For the best explanation (with pictures), open the help
file and click on the Find tab. Search for offset, click on the first option
(there should be four), and click on "How to Hex Edit" in the box below.
Read over that very carefully, and you should have no trouble with hacking
and finding offsets after that. If you STILL do not understand, then odds
are hacking is, quite seriously, not for you. If you have reached this stage
and do not understand, do not e-mail me, for I will not be able to help you.
Do not ask me to hack files for you; I will ignore any request to do so.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Help! Answers for commonly asked questions:
You don't use a cartridge in the Genesis for this process. Have you heard of
emulation? An emulator is a program on your PC (or Mac) that you can use to
play the games you have. First, you need to download an emulator (Genecyst
is the best, in my opinion) and Pirates Gold ROM.
Once you have both, load up the ROM in your emulator. If you are using
Genecyst, press F5 to save the game's state. This will make a copy of that
EXACT moment in the game, so when you load the state (F7) it will reappear
right at that point. Now that you have a save state file (.gs0 for
Genecyst), load up the Hex Workshop program, load the save state, and hack
away!
This can only be done on the computer, when you are using an emulator (like
Genecyst) and ROMs (in this case, Pirates Gold.) Go to www.pe2000.net for
ROMs, emulators, and how to use them. If you already know, and/or are
already using an emulator, then move on to the next paragraph. Otherwise,
get them so that you can follow the rest of this.
Once you are using an emulator, you may have found out how to use save
states. Basically, save states save all the details of your game at that
exact moment. Thus, you can use it more often, and faster, than regular
saving. For example, if you want to save your state right before making a
choice (like a fork in the road,) if you choose the wrong path, you can just
load up your save state and choose again.
At any rate, to begin hacking, go to the Breakpoint software homepage
(www.bpsoft.com) and download a copy of Hex Workshop. Load up your favorite
emulator (whatever that may be) and make a save state. A Genecyst save state
will have the same name as the ROM, and will have the file extension .gs0.
For Genecyst (the best emulator , in my opinion) press F5 to save a state,
and F7 to load a state. Next, load up Hex Workshop and load the save state
(ex: pirates.gs0) Use the "go to" command, which should be under Edit, to
got to the offset you are looking for. For example, if the offset is 90B4,
type 90B4 and press enter, and it will take you right to it.
Keep in mind that this all uses the hexadecimal system, which means that not
only is there 0 - 9, but also A - F. A = 10, B = 11, and so on. This is
called hexadecimal because there are 16 numbers instead of ten.
So, let's say that offset 24041 is the offset for speed, and you want speed
to be at max (255, FF in hexadecimal). Use "go to" to go to offset 24041,
and then type in FF. Next, save the data, and open the emulator again. Load
the state, and voila! the character's speed will be at 255. Note that you
can make as many changes as you want before reloading the state (not just
one, as in the example), and that you should close Hex Workshop before
reloading the state.
To find a particular offset easily, use the "go to" command in the edit menu
(I think). Remember, because of the hexadecimal system you can also enter
letters from A to F. For example, if the offset is 2041A, use "go to" and
type in 2041A. The program will take you right to it! Also, somewhere on
the screen (bottom right corner I think) a small box will say what offset you
are currently on (ex. Offset: 2041A).
Now for the entering of values. Let's say you want to change the pirate's
attack to 99 (which is the max). To do that, go to the offset that changes
attack (I forget the number) and type in two number (or letters from A to F)
The hexadecimal system is hard to grasp at first. In the 99 example, 99
become 63 in hexadecimal form. In decimal (or standard) form, the base is
ten. This means that for a number (say 1429) each digit is multiplied by an
increasing power of ten. For 1429, it looks like this:
(9*1)+(2*10)+(4*100)+(1*1000) or (9*10^0)+(2*10^1)+(4*10^2)+(1*10^3)
with the carat (^) referring to the power of the number. If you already know
how to work with powers, I apologize for repeating this basic information.
As you can see, the powers of the digits increase at we go along. In
hexadecimal, the base is 16, not 10, so there are a few changes. Here's what
1429 would look like in hexadecimal:
(9*1)+(2*16)+(4*256)+(1*4096) or (9*16^0)+(2*16^1)+(4*16^2)+(1*16^3)
Thus, 63 in hexadecimal equals 99 in decimal because (3*1)+(6*16) equals 99.
The highest number you can get with one offset is 255 (FF in hexadecimal).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Those new to hex and hex editors can read the following:
- Typical hex editors display a file with "offsets" on the left of the
screen, "hex values" in the middle, and the "printed garbage" on the right
of the screen.
- Offsets are the addresses. It may appear like this: 00000000
- Hex values are the values. They may appear like this: E6 03 20 20 FF
- The printed garbage is there only so humans can look at it. It's not
very pretty; it won't help you in most cases; don't worry about it.
- This guide will represent the offsets in this format: #B9
- The last number (0-9, A-F) in an offset is the COLUMN you need to go
to. So for the offset of #B9, go to the line "000000B0" and the 9th column
to the right.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
- For the different offsets, here's a Quick List of the most commonly
used values:
HEX VALUE DECIMAL VALUE USES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"63" for "99" used for levels, item quantities
"FF" for "255" used for statistics
"03 E7" for "999" used for HP, Max HP, statistics
"0F 27" for "9999" used for HP, Max HP
"98 96 7F" for "9,999,999" used for money or experience
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Offsets:
Name: 258A – 2595
Crew Number: 263D, 263C
Cannons: 2641, 2640
Food: 2643, 2642
Trading Items (Hides, Sugar, etc.): 2645, 2644
Goods: 265B, 265A
Gold: 2657, 2658, 2659 (Thanks to Mike Allen, killerisme@hotmail.com!)
Notes:
If you look a little lower in the save state, you may notice a list of all
the towns in the game, which you can change! Don't like the name of a town?
Change it to something more pleasing!
A good tactic for getting easy money is to give yourself lots of cannons when
you are in a seaside town, then sell them all at once. Just entering 04 FF
in offsets 2640 and 2641 gives you over 72,000 gold, enough to satisfy most
crews.
Values and offsets found and written by Chad and Doug:
1. Age and Health - Your age and health are the same, so if you change your
age, your health will change too. Change offset 2661 to any of the
following:
Value-Age/health
00 25/fine
01 26/fine
02 27/fine
03 28/good
04 29/good
05 30/good
06 31/fair
07 32/fair
08 33/fair
09 34/poor
Age 34 and up is poor, the older you get, the slower you move.
2. Ships - You can change the number of ships by putting a value 01-08 in
offset 2648. Each offset from 264D through 2656 is each ship. You can
choose what ships you want by following the list below.
Value - Ship
00 - Pinnace
01 - Sloop
02 - Barque
03 - Cargo Fluyt
04 - Merchantman
05 - Frigate
06 - War Galleon
07 - Galleon
08 - Fast Galleon (didn't work?)
3. Gold - Offset 25AC-25AD
4. Land - Offset 25AF
5. Marriage - Change offset 254E to 00 to be single and 01-04 will make you
married. To choose what town you are married in, go down through the save
state to the list of towns and place any letter directly in front the town
name in which you want your wife. You can have a wife in as many towns as
you want and you can remain married even if you change your personal status
to single.
6. Titles - To change your title change offset
2548-English
2549-French
254A-Dutch
2547-Spanish
to any of the values below
00 - No title
01 - Ensign
02 - Captain
03 - Major
04 - Colonel
05 - Admiral
06 - Baron
07 - Count
08 - Marquis
09 - Duke
To change your title to "hostile" change offset
2548-English
2549-French
254A-Dutch
2547-Spanish
to 00 (no title) then change offset
2543-English
2544-French
2545-Dutch
2542-Spanish
to 9C.
7. Letter of Marque - Change offsets
2548-English
2549-French
254A-Dutch
2547-Spanish
to 02.
Getting the Letter of Marque will save you a lot of time and money even if
it doesn't show in your personal status. You can have it even when you have a
different title.
This is all the information we have figured out at this time. If you have any
questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to email me at
dougsdrug@hotmail.com.
