« Page 1 »
1. Introduction
2. Hacking Utility
    - Cygnus Download
3. Hex Editing Basics
4. Hex Addresses
5. Hacking! Hacking! Hacking!
    - Converting to Hex
    - Finding/hacking money
6. More Hacking!
    - Finding/hacking stats
« Page 2 »
7. A Little More Hacking!
    - Finding/hacking inventory
8. Hacking Ramblings
9. Hacking Resources
    - Links to hacking documents
    - Direct links to GameFAQs
10. Conclusion
~PAGE 1
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INTRODUCTION

In this section I will introduce you to the magical wonders of save state hacking. But what can save state hacking do for you? Well well, I will tell you. Bwaha! Save state hacking gives you the power to change whatever value you desire during your progress through any game. When you're done going through this section, you will be able to hack into any game and change around any value you desire. Like change your lives from 3 to 99, your HP to 999, your gold pieces to the most you can hold, etc. stuff like that. The professional term for this is hex editing. It's so easy, and fun too! The game that will be our hacking bitch today is... (starts a drum roll)... Chrono Trigger emulated by ZSNES!! Yes, Chrono Trigger, but that does not mean this is a Chrono Trigger hacking guide. This has confused people. The knowledge I teach here is universal for hacking into any game. I'll put it in caps for those of you who are skimming instead of reading... THIS IS NOT A CHRONO TRIGGER HACKING GUIDE!! Chrono Trigger is merely the HACKING BITCH.

• Note to Snes9X users - It is possible for you to use this guide to your advantage, but you need to do something extra. Snes9X saves its saves in "gzip" format. You'll need WinRAR to decompress those.

• Note to ZSNES users - If you just want to hack a large number like money in any RPG, you can just use ZSNES's cheat finder to do that. It's faster and easier than what this guide teaches. If your version of ZSNES doesn't have it, that means you need to download the latest.

• Note to Mac users - It is possible for you to use this guide to your advantage, but like Snes9X users, you need to do something extra. Snes9X for Mac and all of Richard Bannister's video game emulators save their saves in "gzip" format. You can use StuffIt Deluxe to decompress those. If you don't have that, then you can find a gzipping program over at Version Tracker. You can refer to MacScene's forums if you need more help with this.
HACKING UTILITY
First things first, you need a hacking utility in order to hack. The program you need is a hex editor. There are several available off the internet. Some are really fancy and have tons of features. Sadly, all those fancy hex editors are not free and have a 30 day trial - but no worries! I found a free Windows hex editor. The name of it is Cygnus. It's a simple hex editor with few features, but it's perfect for basic tasks. You can download it by clicking on the link down there.
Cygnus Hex Editor ~392 KB
• Mac users - I've been told HexEditor is a good Mac hex editor. You'll also need to get a calculator that can convert to hex, because you'll be needing it for the next portions of this guide. I've been told BinCalc is a good one. Although if you download HexEditor you wouldn't need a hex-converting calculator. You can refer to MacScene's forums if you need more help with this.
HEX EDITING BASICS
See that picture there? These are the first five lines of a Chrono Trigger save state brought up in a hex editor. Any file can be brought up in a hex editor and every one comes up as pages and pages of numbers and letters. Hex is like a special alphabet for computers. Let's count to twenty in hex!! 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0A, 0B, 0C, 0D, 0E, 0F, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, and 20. See the pattern? Hex pages are divided into 3 sections: the line numbers, the hex values (also called bytes or offsets), and the junk you can ignore. I conveniently circled the 3 different sections in red for you.

HEX ADDRESSES
Hex addresses are important to know so that you know the exact locations of specific hex values. This will also help you understand the save state hacking guides at GameFAQs or make your own save state hacking guide. Each column has an assigned number/letter and I show them in the picture down there (0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F). The line number of that picture is 822. You can ignore the zeroes at the beginning and end of it. So lets say you need to know the exact location of B6. B6's column is 2 so the exact location of it is 8222. All that I did add the 2 at the end. And the location of C0 would be 822C. So whenever you see a hex location number (like 8222 or 822C), the first part of it is the row number and the very last digit is the column name. Do you get it now? I hope so. Let's do a test! Look in the picture above this paragraph, the one used in "hex editing basics". Tell me the exact location of 93. Take your time. Did you find it yet? Oh you did? What is it? 44? That's right! 4 is the line number and 4 is the column name. Now tell me where 1A is. Take your time. Did you find it yet? Oh you did? What is it? 1A? That's right! 1A is 1A! 1 is the line number and A is the column name.

HACKING! HACKING! HACKING!
Now that I got the basics out of the way, we can finally get to the good stuff. Let's hack into Chrono Trigger and max out Crono's money!! Open up ZSNES and begin a new game with Chrono Trigger. Talk to Crono's mom so she can give you 300G. Now use ZSNES's save state feature and save your state. Crono currently has 600G. Before we open up Cygnus and begin to hack, we need to convert 600 into a hex value. To do that you will need Window's calculator. Click on Start > Programs > Accessories > Calculator. Click on the View menu and choose Scientific. Punch in 600 then put the bullet next to Hex. The number has now changed to 258. Now get out a scratch piece of paper. Yes, a piece of paper and something to write with and follow the below animation.

Step #1: Write down the number.
Step #2: Underline each pair of numbers from right to left. OH this is an odd number and we can't evenly underline pairs of numbers when there isn't an even set of numbers. SO that means we need to add a zero. So the number has now changed to 0258.
Step #3: *ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS* Hex values are reversed (with video games). Reverse this number AS PAIRS. The number has now changed to 5802.
We got it! Crono's 600G is 5802 when converted it to hex. Now open up Cygnus and open up your save state. If your Chrono Trigger ROM is called "chrono.smc" then the save state will be called "chrono.zst". Click on the Edit menu then click on Find. Type in 5802 (it will automatically separate into pairs) and click on Find Next. Oh! Cygnus found it! But wait, we're not done yet. Press F3 to perform the search again. Oh! Cygnus found 5802 in another place. Press it two more times. Oh! Two more sets of 5802's. Press it again. Oh! Cygnus went back to the first 5802. That means there are 4 sets of 5802's in this Chrono Trigger save state. Which will change how much money you have? Oh which one which one. Important values like money are usually in the middle of tons of 00's. Here's a screen shot of the very first 5802 that Cygnus found.

Out of the 4 sets of 5802's that Cygnus found, the first two are in the middle of tons of 00's so it has to be one of the two. Let's hack the first value! Hmm what should we change 600G to... hmm... how about 999,999G!! It's settled then, we're going to change Crono's 600G to 999999G. First we need to convert 999999 into hex. Bring up the Windows calculator, punch in 999999, and put the bullet next to Hex. We get F423F. Now follow my 3 steps! Notice that F423F is not even. That means we need to add a zero again. So the number is now changed to 0F423F. Pair them up and switch them around! The number is now changed to 3F420F. So 999999 converted to hex is 3F420F. Now we can type that in! Type it starting at 58, like in the picture down there...

Now save it, go back to ZSNES, and load the state. If you saved your state while the status menu was open (like me) then you need to exit it and re-enter it so the hacked changes can take effect. If you saved your state without the status menu open then all you need to do is bring it up (which is more convenient). Oh look! The first 5802 was the correct value for the money after all! CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have now successfully hacked into Chrono Trigger via save state hacking! Let's say you want to tell a fellow hacker the exact location of the values where you can change Crono's money. You would tell him "The offset for the money in Chrono Trigger is 3866, 3867, 3868" since 386 is the row number and 6, 7, and 8 are the column names. You could also say "The offset for the money in Chrono Trigger is 3866 and its 3 bytes long".

MORE HACKING!
Now let's hack several things at once! Let's max out Crono's HP and MP to 999 and his Power to 99. First we need to convert 999 and 99 into hex. Bring up the calculator blah blah blah it's 3E7 so you add a 0 to make it 03E7 then switch it around and it's E703. Punch in 99 and that's just 63. So 999 converted to hex is E703 and 99 is 63. As seen in the screen shot, Crono's stats is HP 70/70, MP 8/8, and Power 5. So it's just three numbers and 70 converted to hex is 46, 8 is 08, and 5 is 05. When it comes to HP and MP, these values are (most of the time) two bytes meaning two pairs of two digits. Before we begin hacking, make sure Crono's current/ max HP and current/ max MP is the same (go to an Inn). Now bring up Cygnus and the Chrono Trigger save state and search for 46 00 46 00 (*DO NOT* add spaces because it will do that for you so just type in 46004600). Are you asking yourself why we're looking for 46 00 46 00? Like I said before, HP and MP are made up of two bytes. 46 stands for the 70 HP that Crono has now and the extra 00 will be taken up when Crono's HP grows. That's why we're searching for 46 00 46 00. ( I hope I explained that good enough)

Cygnus has found two sets of 46 00 46 00. Let's try our luck and hack into the first one it found. Change it to E7 03 E7 03. OH and look right next to it! It's 08 00 08 00 which is Crono's current and max MP! Change that to 63 00 63 00. So line 3210 should have the following...

Now we need to change Crono's Power from 5 to 99. Since RPG stats are always grouped together, the hex value for Crono's Power is somewhere near his HP and MP. Oh no! There are 7 sets of 05! I circled them for you...

Do'h! Which one can it be?? What can we do to figure out which one is which? Well let's look at the Chrono Trigger menu screen shot again. We are given 2 clues: Crono's Speed is to the right of Power and his Hit is right under it. So that means his Power must be somewhere near those numbers. Let's see, 13 converted to hex is 0D and 8 is 08. So let's look for 0D and 08 close to Crono's Power (05). AH there are too many 08's! OH, but there's just one 0D. I don't think Crono's speed is down there because Crono's Power is such an important value, it's usually right next to the HP and MP. Plus I've made a mistake. Did you see where my mistake is? I'll tell you! Crono is wearing the Bandana which increases his speed +1. Ah hah! So Crono's Speed is *NOT* 13--it's 12! You need to take things like this into consideration when you're hacking. So 12 converted to hex is 0C. OH I see a pattern! Do you see the pattern?? Look after Crono's MP, you'll see 05, 08, 0C, 05, 08, and 08. Does that look familiar?? It's Crono's stats! His Power, Speed, Hit, Evade, Magic, and Stamina! They're all in perfect order right after his HP and MP!! LET'S CHANGE ALL OF THAT TO 63!!! Like in the following...

Now save it and bring up Chrono Trigger and load the save state. OH look at the changes that have been made!! We changed all of Crono's stats to 99 by changing their hex values to 63. By why are they showing up as stars? In Chrono Trigger, those stars mean that the number has exceeded the limit. Oh look! By raising Crono's stats, his strength went to 133 and his defense went to 107! Cool huh? If you were successful in following all of my directions then CONGRATULATIONS you have successfully hacked several of Crono's status alignments at one time! Now Crono has the power of a God!! Now let's do some examining! Look at the top picture with all the hex values. Look at line 326 and tell me if you see a pattern when you look at this line and then Crono's HP/MP. You'll see 41 00 41 00 and 0C 00 0C 00. That kind of looks like Marle's HP/MP! And I bet Lucca's stats are after hers! See the pattern? That's the greatest thing about save state hacking! All you need is a couple values to see the whole pattern!!

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