The Kra'an Dominion

How to Edit Your Savefiles

This is how Mark Simpson describes how to do it:

Before I go into depth about it all, let me tell you that I'm working on a "proper" editor editor that does it all with a neat interface. I've successfully mastered the file input output stuff, but I'm still working on all of the bits in the character save game. I will let ya know when its all ready, and post it up on my web site. Watch for details in the DB mailing list.

Ok, well its a bit of a fudge, but it works. First you need a HEX editor (I hear groans out there already..<grin>). The absolute best one for this is Hex Workshop from BPSoft. I've only had it a few days, and it is superb.

Next you need a saved game. The games are normally backed up into \pilot\<username>\backup directory. I am just trying out backup buddy, so I'm not sure if they are backed up through that, or normally anyway. Save games are always in the format DrgBSAVn.PDB where n is a number 1-5.

All of the save games are fixed length : 2.32kb. If your Hex Editor is integrated in your Explorer (sorry, Windows only here, not sure about other OS's), right click the save file and select Hex Edit.

You will see a display of 16 pairs of hex numbers, and text bit like this:

4472	6742	5341	5634	0000	0000	0000	0000	DrgBSAV4........

The bits of the left are hexadecimal equivalents of the bits on the right. (Simple eh?!)

There are about 150 lines of these. The character stuff is stored starting at line 7, like this:

0005	0003	0580	0000	01F4	4645	4C44	4F52	 ..........FELDOR

Still with me, yeah?.

The text portion signals the beginning of the character, followed by its name - so you can put all sorts of interesting names in there. The next 50 pairs of the hex stuff control all of the characters' bits and bobs (if ya know what I mean). Intelligence, stamina, armour class, level etc. Now, I've not had a lot of time to do this yet, so I've not got the file mapped out completely, but I can tell you that changing the following pairs will have the desired result.

The first 5 pairs are the Character's name section. This allows 10 characters for each name. "Hell Hound" is a full example, which you may have seen after invoking the "Hound of Hell" spell. Below are the rest that I have mapped so far.

		Pair		Enhancement / suggestion
		1-5		Name
		6		Strength
		7		Dexterity
		8		Intelligence
		9		Stamina
		10		ns
		11		Hit points left
		12		ns
		13		Hit Points
		14		ns
		15		ns
		16		ns
		17		Spell Points
		18		Armour Class
		19		Character Level

If you can further map out the file and mail your findings to me in the form of <pair> <result>, that would be cool. All additions will be acknowledged in the character editor. I will make the editor freeware. ns indicates "not sure". These bits may double up as extended numbers (ie beyond FF or 255).

When you are done with your Hex Edit, simply save your changes, and then re-load that save game through the pilot installer. When in DB, select Menu / Load, choose your modified game, and click Done.

Super Duper characters are here..

You can also change settings like who has which weapon, and how much gold the party has, but I've not got round to documenting all that yet.

Please, please send me comments / gripes / feedback. I love to find out how this kinda stuff goes down, and especially if there is a demand for a proper editor, let me know!

If you map out more details, please mail them to me for inclusion into the editor.

Mark.

This site is managed by Peter Jaric.