Mobile Suit Gundam Gihren's Greed BLOOD OF ZEON (for Sega Dreamcast) Savegame Editing FAQ Version 1.0 3-27-2001 by DeadScreenSky !--------------------------------------------------------------------! Ummm, this document is free. Do whatever you like with it, though please don't sell it. If you want to quote it or whatever, just include some mild credit for me please. I guess that it is technically copyrighted by me, but the worth of that is unclear to me. !--------------------------------------------------------------------! ------------------- ABOUT THIS FAQ: | ------------------- This guide gives directions on how to modify savegames for the Dreamcast version of Blood of Zeon. You will need a memory card that can connect to a computer, a link cable to perform this connection, and software to modify it. I use the very common Nexus 2MB card. You can get it at: They will also have a link to the software to use (which is free). (Oh yes, and you will probably need a Windows machine to do this. If anyone knows how to do this on other OSes, let me know!) Don't worry if you don't have any experience doing this stuff - I didn't either, and I managed to figure it out. I used the excellent Hex Workshop, available at: For some reason I wasn't able to hack files in Hex Workshop and export them back to my DC memcard, but for finding and comparing hex values it worked like a charm. I learned this because I was finding the second part of the game too hard - I have absolutely no knowledge of Japanese. So if you want to play this game and enjoy it, but are similarly ignorant, this should make it much easier (especially with the wonderful, if vague and PSX-specific, guides at GameFAQs). This site has some good info on the Mobile Suits, etc., so you can be more informed on what units to use for what: I don't need much more info for this to be complete in my eyes. Just research levels are the last important step, along with some improved formatting perhaps. Let me know if anything is unclear or if you have any additional info I can add. Comments are always appreciated. If anyone wants to help me out on hacking the actual game into English, let me know. I have started figuring out how to do this, but I haven't progressed much yet, and I am once again woefully inexperienced. ------------------------------------------------ STUFF THAT THIS DOCUMENT TELLS HOW TO MODIFY | ------------------------------------------------ * Money and Resources * Research bars (but NOT levels) ---------------------------------------- THE EASY 'JUST GIVE ME MONEY' METHOD: | ---------------------------------------- (Make sure all your hardware works. Test out transferring a save or something similar.) The first thing you want to do is to create a savefile in Blood of Zeon. Remember which slot it is - the first one is #0, the second one is #1, etc. It is easiest to do this trick with a game that has just been started. You can exit the game when you have finished, or leave it running. It shouldn't matter. Now load up the DCLink software and connect your memory card. You will probably have to right-click on Slot 1 and hit 'refresh'. You should see several files now. The one with the Zeon crest is your system save. We aren't messing with that. The files afterward (with Gihren's pixelish face if you play as Zeon) are the save files. They are in order. Highlight whichever one you saved (the date and time will help if it is your last save). Then click the 'edit' button. The layout of the file will popup in an editor window now. The middle field of data (organized in pairs) is what we want to change around. In the bottom lefthand corner of the window is a "POS:" area, probably with a zero after it. This is our cursor position. Move the cursor down to 2514 with your arrow keys. At the START of 2514, change the next 12 data places to 'F'. Case doesn't matter. Now go to File - Save and then exit. It will save the modified data to your memory card. When it is done, load up the game and select your savefile. You should have plenty of money and resources now. :-) --------------------------------------------------------- WHAT I HAVE DISCOVERED ABOUT THE SAVEFILE STRUCTURE | --------------------------------------------------------- In the examples I have modified so far, the game didn't care that there were values bigger than what was reasonable - so the game doesn't appear (SO FAR) to have any tamper checking. The money and resources begin at: 0x000009D2 They go for 12 spaces, six each. They are stored as something inbetween a long and a short that lasts six places. :-) (Any help here is appreciated, I just learned enough to get it working!) Research bars start at 0x000009C3 (or position 2499 in the DCLink Editor). Each bar is two places, and there are four bars. The way I raised research for my game was to max the bars out (to FF) at the start of every turn, then buy the 'finish' in the game. I couldn't figure out where the actual research levels were stored. I tried quite a bit, too, but all I could do was crash the game. The unedited text file of my experiments is at the end of this FAQ, maybe it will help someone succeed? I THINK the data is stored between 0x000009C0 and 0x000009C3, though that might just be part of it, or something wholly unrelated. Regardless, I couldn't edit it successfully (though I did manage to make them all level 31 - perhaps a lower number would work? I will try more later). I am pretty sure that it isn't stored as simple numbers (a la the hex value for 20 for research level 20, etc.). After getting the research level data I am not sure what should be looked into next. Perhaps the flag that says if something is researched or not? Seems kind of useless with max research anyway, but it could be fun. Modifying the system file might be cool, to unlock everything, but just downloading a completed save might be much easier. Any suggestions out there? ------------------------ MY (UNEDITED) NOTES | ------------------------ Research Experiments File 1 Starting File 2 Money=29400 MS Moved Up File 3 Money=28800 MA Moved Up MS Moved Up Comparisons: 1:2 00000046 B060:AE46 45152: 44614 000002B7 4F:50 79:80 00000975 84 0000 0000 0000 0000 00B4: 94 0000 0000 0000 0000 00A4 000009C4 0000 0084 208C 0002 8831 A81E 0001 0075 30: 6000 0084 208C 0002 8831 A81E 0001 0072 DB 000009FF 6F: E0 2:3 00000046 AE46:6B18 44614: 27416 000002B7 50:51 80:81 00000975 94 0000 0000 0000 0000 00A4: B4 0000 0000 0000 0000 0084 000009C4 6000 0084 20BC 0002 8831 A81E 0001 0072 D8: 60C0 0084 20BC 0002 8831 A81E 0001 0070 80 000009FF E0: FA Analysis: Remember that some of this is a counter to say research has already been done in that area this turn. 00000046 Some kind of counter? Decreases. Doesn't seem to be patterned (so far). Seems to go up again sometimes, too! 000002B7 Another kind of counter. Seems pretty straightforward - increments by 1. But is it because of research or because of something else? 00000975 Not sure. First 2 go up by 16, then 32 the second time. Very queer. Wait a second! The hex values used are the same, they are just moved around! Why?? 000009C4 (C3 really, maybe) Bingo, I think! Part of it is resources (last 6 places). 16 of them before that do not change MUCH. Potentially the first 4 are research, first two are MS, second two MA. Though they go up different amounts! Two after would be enemy research? Two before would be general research. This seems to bear out, though they affect each other in weird ways. Maybe they aren't in pairs? [00] 0000 0084 208C (0002 8831 A81E 0001) (0075 30) [00] 6000 0084 20BC (0002 8831 A81E 0001) (0072 D8) [00] 60C0 0084 20BC (0002 8831 A81E 0001) (0070 80) (modified, then added full to general) 54 A890 0084 20C8 0002 8831 A09E 0001 (Turn 2, modified with FFFFFF and more reasearch added - trying to find the 'levels') 66 CD9F 0084 20AA 0002 7811 601D 0001 The modified one makes this confusing. Maybe trial and error is called for? Some extensive changes are made starting 000009BA when the levels increase. 9BA-9BE appear to deal with secret projects though, so don't mess with it probably! (Seems to crash it!) 9BE-9C3 then maybe deal with levels. (2499-2502 in DCLink editor) Bars are stored somewhere after (and including) 9C0 and before 9C6 (I suspect before 9C3). (2496-2499) [This is probably wrong in hindsight.] 000009FF No idea. Again, some kind of counter. 6F E0 FA