Parin Base - Hex-Editing FAQ

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Overview

"Hexing" is not as hard and/or dangerous as you may or may not have heard. As long as you follow the instructions outlined in this tutorial, and have a backup if you're hexing a valuable save-game file, things should go very smoothly for you.

A big thank-you to Jamison Pitcher for providing this key for all of us to enjoy! Visit his site here.

The most important thing to remember is that only values meant to be changed (ie. included in this document) are guaranteed to work. Any other values you change may cause the game to crash and/or do funny things. Personally, I've noticed while looking for more keys to modify game options that the graphics will sometimes go funny if DOTV doesn't approve of what's going on. So be careful, and if you're a beginner stick to the basics outlined in this tutorial.

This tutorial assumes that you have a basic knowledge of how the Windows system operates and also that you are using an emulator with a drive-map to Viper so you can easily open the savegame.d8a file for editing. Otherwise, you will be required to shunt the savegame file back and forth between your ST and IBM-PC during the editing process. Understandably, the former is probably the easiest route to go.

Hex Workshop, the program used to edit the savegame files in this tutorial, is one of the simplest I've come across for the Windows platform (sorry Mac users, I don't have one so I can't recommend an editor to use on your platform.) and I have, for this same reason, decided to use it exclusively for editing my savegame files and writing this tutorial. All screenshots were captured from this program, and should be very simple to follow. Hex Workshop is available for download from my "Downloads" page.

The file to edit goes by the file name savegame.d8a and is located in the Levels folder. If you can't find it, try going into Viper and saving the game as soon as it is done loading. Then you may freely hex this file!

The conventions used in this tutorial should be simple to follow. I've used an easy-to-read convention to specify exact key values in Hex Workshop. An example follows.

Say you were stupefied,mystified and/or confused by the following string of characters: (AO:7:2) Well, put simply, it corresponds with an area in the file in question. The first set of characters (AO) identify the row the key is located in, the second set (7) the column. The third character (2) identifies it as the first pair or the second pair of characters in that column. See the screenshot below for clarification. Try to locate the key in question by following the coordinates! You'll be pleased to find that they are highlighted in the screenshot:

Don't worry about the column with all the periods and such; you won't be needing it. Also keep in mind that the brackets in the coordinates serve no purpose other than to separate the coordinates from the rest of the sentence. Please don't include them!  :)

Changing the Options

Damage

Damage can be increased (why?) or decreased very easily by hexing. The damage key is at (0:6:2). The range is from 00 (no damage) to 83 (dead) for this item. Setting it to 83 will cause death immediately on load-up of this savegame.

Power

Power can also be modified quite easily. The key is located at (0:5:2) and the range is exactly the same as damage (00-83) with a value of 00 causing shut-down of Viper-5 on load-up of this savegame.

Security Disks

Yes, you can chage this as well. Do it by entering the key value for the building  of your choice in the appropriate location (specified below) in the savegame file.

Keys:

0 Disks - 00

1 Disk - 03

2 Disks - 06

3 Disks - 09

4 Disks - 0C

5 Disks - 0F

Buildings:

Blue - (700:8:2)

Green - (710:1:2)

Yellow - (710:2:2)

Red - (710:3:2)

White - (710:4:2)

 

Inventory

The inventory locations in the savegame file stretch from (6F0:6:2) to (700:7:2), always utilizing only the second pair of digits in the column.

These digits represent the holding boxes from left to right. The item/key table follows. Simply replace the digit in the "holding-box space" with the hex key of the item of your choice, load the game, and viola!

Items

Blue Access Card - 01

Green Access Card - 02

Yellow Access Card - 03

Red Access Card - 04

White Access Card - 05

Blue Floppy Disk - 06

Green Floppy Disk - 07

Yellow Floppy Disk - 08

Red Floppy Disk - 09

White Floppy Disk - 0A

Blue Energy Crystal - 0B

Green Energy Crystal - 0C

Yellow Energy Crystal - 0D

Red Energy Crystal - 0E

White Energy Crystal - 0F

Blue Laz Gun - 10

Green Laz Gun - 11

Yellow Laz Gun - 12

Red Laz Gun - 13

White Laz Gun - 14

Particle Weapon - 15

Blue Energy Shield - 16

Green Energy Shield - 17

Yellow Energy Shield - 18

Red Energy Shield - 19

White Energy Shield - 1A

Neutron Detonator - 1B

RF Freezer - 1C

Lower Hemisphere (Krellian Power Sphere) - 1D

Upper Hemisphere (Krellian Power Sphere) - 1E

Krellian Power Sphere - 1F

Bola Bomb - 20

Photon Emitter (Off) - 21

Photon Emitter (On) - 22

Energy Storage Device (Empty) - 23

Map - 24

Storage Box - 25

Circuit Etcher - 26

Circuit Etcher Fuel - 27

Universal Repair Kit  - 28

Locked Box - 29

Key - 2A

Starburst - 2B

Note - 2C

Repair Room Activator - 2D

Circuit Repair Device - 2E

Grenade - 2F

Toxic Waste - 30

Teleport Set - 31

Teleport Activator - 32

Energy Syphon - 33

Security Room Activator - 34

Energy Storage Device (Full) - 35

Blue Repair Pod - 36

Green Repair Pod - 37

Yellow Repair Pod - 38

Red Repair Pod - 39

White Repair Pod - 3A

Super Shield - 42

Gyroscopic Stabilizer Circuit - 45

Teleport Neutralizer Circuit - 46

Proximity Stabilizer Circuit - 47

De-Plotter Neutralizer Circuit - 48

Proton Deflector Circuit - 49

Communications Module - 4A

Computer Interface Module - 4B

Disruptor Neutralizer - 4C

Shield Element - 4D

Plotter Module - 4E

Disk Controller Circuit - 4F

Weapon Element - 50

Scanner Module - 51