Blinkie Finder
futurama...@gmail.com
crate in a defeat all? Or tried to find a blinkie for twenty minutes,
finally calling a GM and realizing the blinkie was invisible?
I made a program that reads .cohdemo files and draws a map on the
screen with the location of every recorded element. Binding two keys to
quickly record a demo, you can easily find blinkies, destructable
objects, hostages, quantum gunners and other things in seconds.
You can download the program and read the usage instructions at
http://www.despertador.org/blinkies/
I wrote this after doing a shadow shard TF where three missions in a
row had invisible blinkies that we had to locate through sound alone.
The idea of record a demo and see if they appeared there hit me. I've
been expanding on the idea since then, and I think it's useful enough
to release now.
Robotech_Master
> You can download the program and read the usage instructions at
> http://www.despertador.org/blinkies/
Wow...that could come in really handy.
Of course, it might could also be considered an exploit, EULA or
not...
--
Chris Meadows aka | Homepage: http://www.terrania.us
Robotech_Master |
robo...@eyrie.org | Earn a free iPod and a free Mac Mini!
| http://www.terrania.us/conga.html
Marcel Beaudoin
news:slrndtie8d....@terrania.homelinux.org:
> On 26 Jan 2006 12:41:27 -0800, futurama...@gmail.com
> <futurama...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> You can download the program and read the usage instructions at
>> http://www.despertador.org/blinkies/
>
> Wow...that could come in really handy.
>
> Of course, it might could also be considered an exploit, EULA or
> not...
Or, and this is just the cynic in me, it could be a keylogger (or worse).
--
Marcel
http://mudbunny.blogspot.com/
Code2
If it ain't put out by Cryptic, it don't go in my game.
futurama...@gmail.com
other program you want to check what it does. I anticipated this
reaction from 'cynics'.
I could put up the source code, too, but since I made this program for
myself, the source code is a real mess. I prefer to release source code
only when it's properly structured and commented, and this is neither.
futurama...@gmail.com
neither.
Code2
and I don't knowingly violate EULAs.
I have been to the Vidiotmaps site, and the maps are very nice.
I certainly wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings who is just
trying to help out his fellow COH'ers, so if that's the case you
have my apologies. But surely you understand why some
people are 'cynics' about this type of thing.
futurama...@gmail.com
a keylogger or similar. I am very careful on the software I put on my
computer myself.
The 'keylogger' claim fails for two reasons that anybody can check: a
program that logs your keystrokes HAS to leave a process running in the
background. Running this program leaves no residual processes at all,
as you can simply check with the Task Manager. And, in VB6, a keyboard
hook requires the callback function to be in a DLL file. This program
has no DLL files. The only three OCX files it installs are common
Windows controls.
Using Filemon shows that the only file the program accesses, besides a
truckload of DLLs that any VB6 program will access, is the .cohdemo
file you give to it. Those DLLs can be anywhere in the system depending
what was the last program that registered; for example, in my own
system it reads msvcr71.dll from my Trillian directory (and so does any
program that requires msvcr71.dll). So the claim this program would
read something from a file in the system, *or* store something at all
in your system (logged keys) also fails.
And, a keylogger needs a way to return the data it collects. Use
ZoneAlarm and run this program. It never tries to connect to the
internet at all; opening the executable in a Hex editor will confirm it
doesn't try to connect to any of the WININET components.
> Of course, it might could also be
> considered an exploit, EULA or
> not...
Well, I talked a lot about this point. Since the program doesn't
"connect" to the game at all, it can't be linked to the game's EULA. It
doesn't read data from the game's pigg files, it doesn't hook into the
log files to report anything. It only reads .cohdemo files that the
game itself creates and renders a map out of that: so it falls into the
exact same category as demo editors.
Robotech_Master
> I wrote this after doing a shadow shard TF where three missions in a
> row had invisible blinkies that we had to locate through sound alone.
> The idea of record a demo and see if they appeared there hit me. I've
> been expanding on the idea since then, and I think it's useful enough
> to release now.
Interestingly enough, this can also be used in the overworld to see if
the zone monster is out and if so where he is. (Though it seems to
detect them only intermittently so you'd want to do it several times
to make sure.)
futurama...@gmail.com
game reuses IDs. For example, you start recording a demo and run near a
monster; the demo will record something like:
43 NEW "Adamastor"
Which assigns the ID '43' to Adamastor. But, as you move out of range,
the game stops rendering Adamastor for you (since you can't see it
anyway) and so the game issues this line:
43 DEL
Which 'frees' the ID 43 for other object to use. So you move right next
to any other monster, and the game will generate another 'NEW' line
giving the ID 43 to something else:
43 NEW 'Totem'
Since Blinkie Finder only shows the latest data for each ID, it'll only
display a Totem, and not the 'deleted' Adamastor.
I can modify the program so it'll 'save' all the entities even after
the 'DEL' command is issued. Didn't do it because I didn't know if
there was going to be interest in it or not.
Marcel Beaudoin
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
> I suppose you don't use the Vidiotmaps map patch, or Hero Planner
> neither.
Don't use Vidiotmaps.
Hero planner, OTOH, is a stand-alone product not designed to interface with
CoH, so I see no problem with that. Granted, I only use it at work, where I
do my planning...
--
Marcel
http://mudbunny.blogspot.com/
Wolfing
you go there you only find 'Totem' there
Code2
Builder?
I guess it's a Java thing. It's very nice, and it doesn't require you
to download anything. I'd really like to see something like that for
COH. It'd be great if someone with the time and knowledge could
develop such a thing for COH, although I've been pretty successful
just using pencil and paper for my character building - I'm fairly
paranoid about downloading executables.
John Parkinson
> Has anyone ever seen the Dark Age of Camelot web-based Character
> Builder?
> I guess it's a Java thing. It's very nice, and it doesn't require you
> to download anything. I'd really like to see something like that for
> COH. It'd be great if someone with the time and knowledge could
> develop such a thing for COH, although I've been pretty successful
> just using pencil and paper for my character building - I'm fairly
> paranoid about downloading executables.
There are/have been a number of CoH character builders around.
I find the best these days is http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/
--
John Parkinson
Justisaur
- Justisaur