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#1 07/04/16 17:07

3371-Alpha
Member
Registered: 03/01/16

Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Long story, short, I'm attempting to back-port the HaloMD project (I'd post a link to the project but the thread tells me I don't have permission) to older PPC Macs. But before I can do that I can do that I need to fix a few bugs in Halo's engine (particularly the PPC half of the UB executable). In the past, Iritscen has told me most of you are very experienced with hex editing. Can any of you help me with this?


PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz 2003 (Model: 7,2)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard)
7GB RAM (OWC PC-3200U-30330 DDR SDRAM 400MHz)
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB (GPU overclocked to 438.75MHz, VRAM to 330.75MHz)

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#2 07/04/16 21:07

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Well, there used to be a few hacker types who were skilled with hex, though a lot of them no longer come around these days.  Unfortunately, the overlap between that group and Halo fans who hang out here is probably very small, too.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#3 07/08/16 23:07

3371-Alpha
Member
Registered: 03/01/16

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Are there any tips you can give me, Iritscen? Anything helps.
P.S. I don't even know how to tell which half of a universal binary executable is PPC code & which half is intel.


PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz 2003 (Model: 7,2)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard)
7GB RAM (OWC PC-3200U-30330 DDR SDRAM 400MHz)
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB (GPU overclocked to 438.75MHz, VRAM to 330.75MHz)

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#4 07/09/16 07:07

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Actually altering code in a binary through hex requires extensive coding knowledge.  You have to not only know how to write code, but how the code is compiled into a binary.  I never learned the latter subject, since you don't need to know that if you're just developing programs and not hacking them.  So I'm afraid I can't be of much help.

You can find info online that describes the structure of any kind of binary, such as the Universal Mac apps, but it won't make much sense without a programming background.  For one thing, you can't effectively hex-edit without disassembling the app, and that means being able to read assembly code.  So if you plan to do the work yourself, you'd need to study a few books -- an introduction to C, a introduction to Objective-C, a reference on assembly language, and a book or web site on Mach-O binaries.  This will of course take hundreds of hours.

Or you might be able to find a coder who already knows how to hack binaries and who is interested in Halo.  Maybe one will see our thread here and speak up, but there's not a lot of overlap between Oni fans and Halo fans (I've never even played the games, myself).  So you'd probably have better luck on a Halo forum, or asking questions on the pages for open-source projects related to Halo.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#5 07/18/16 16:07

3371-Alpha
Member
Registered: 03/01/16

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Iritscen wrote:

I've never even played the games, myself

You should consider trying it, it's a great game. BTW, HaloMD includes the demo files by default and it's controls are very similar to Oni.


PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz 2003 (Model: 7,2)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard)
7GB RAM (OWC PC-3200U-30330 DDR SDRAM 400MHz)
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB (GPU overclocked to 438.75MHz, VRAM to 330.75MHz)

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#6 07/18/16 18:07

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Yeah, one of these days I plan to try them out.  Bungie lost me when they went over to MS, but I know that eventually (some of?) the Halo games were ported to Mac, so I just need to find the time some day.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#7 07/19/16 00:07

3371-Alpha
Member
Registered: 03/01/16

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

I don't blame you for not being attracted to MS. I don't want to start a flame war/controversy, but I have to say they're a rather greedy company (especially when it comes to charging for XBox Live). But none the less, Halo's not that bad a game. Both it's single & multiplayer are great.
Oh, and also, only the first Halo game was ported to Mac, unfortunately. On top of that it was rather poorly ported (byte swap errors and such), which is part of the reason the HaloMD project exists. To fix those bug, as well as add modding support.

Last edited by 3371-Alpha (07/19/16 00:07)


PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz 2003 (Model: 7,2)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard)
7GB RAM (OWC PC-3200U-30330 DDR SDRAM 400MHz)
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB (GPU overclocked to 438.75MHz, VRAM to 330.75MHz)

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#8 07/19/16 07:07

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Ah, I see.  I owned a PS2, not an Xbox, so when Halo came out, there wasn't any way for me to play it.  And then I lost touch with Bungie's games by the time that Halo was eventually ported to Macs.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#9 07/19/16 22:07

3371-Alpha
Member
Registered: 03/01/16

Re: Need Help Hex Editing Halo UB for Mac

Although I can understand why Bungie went through with the MS buyout, they really screwed over their Mac fanbase in the process.


PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz 2003 (Model: 7,2)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard)
7GB RAM (OWC PC-3200U-30330 DDR SDRAM 400MHz)
ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB (GPU overclocked to 438.75MHz, VRAM to 330.75MHz)

Offline

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