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Daggerfall Item Hacking

15 February 2011

Written by m00se - m00se@wwa.com

This document outlines how to hack Daggerfall files to give you items which aren't normally in the game but are included in the game data files anyways (such as a dead body and bones etc...). It is reccommended that you are at least in some way familiar with hex editting binary files.

Note: All changes are made to the fall.exe file in the /dagger directory. After you make changes to the .exe and realize it's totally screwed up, you'll then curse me, saying that I should've stated to MAKE A BACKUP PRIOR TO EDITING! (now that I've made sure you'll do this, I can go on :) )

Using any standard sector editor (I use a very old program called ef), search for the item list. Do this by seeking the word "Ruby" This is the top of the list of items. In version .212, it's located at 0x1B69 but in previous versions, it's in different locations (it should still work though; the bytes match version to version in respect to the items.)

Now, seek out the names of the items you wish to change. I personally like to edit the ingredients since you don't have to adjust weights (I'll explain) and they're easy to find in a store, since the ingredient shops all serve up a similar fare every time. For purposes of examples, this is what I will be using.

(now... I've never posted anything like this before in my life... and whereas I'm sure it works, I'm going to try posting it in clear English so that those who've never done it before can, perhaps, make some sense out of it. Those of you who have, bear with me please)

As you scan down sectors looking at the list of items, you'll see things like Large Sack, Wine Rack, etc. All sorts of items you've not seen as an inventory item.

An example of a 'complete' 'editable' item is listed below.

('complete'-- a number of items, specifically the furniture, doesn't seem to have any pictures associated with, what would've been, shop items. I think the pictures exist, but I don't know where to look as of yet)

('editable'-- I've not messed around with any of the equipable item icons other than the jewelry things. I figure it crashes enough without me trying to wear a globe as a helmet and put skeletons on my feet. I think it may actually work, but I don't know. Also, all wearable items (clothing/armor and also weapons) are set up differently than the items I've listed. In other words, I don't know how to change these yet (and anyone who wants to pick up this work or make an editor or whatever, feel free... I'm only doin it 'cause nobody else has and I was damn determined to get more items) and they're set up differently, so don't edit them. Hell, I suggest just doing the ingedients as I've said, since it's the easiest way to go about it.

In sector 1B73, you'll find the item "Big tooth" (Hex code will be 42 69 67 20 74 6F 6F 74 68) You can change the name of any item by editing this (there is no need, I'll explain) Right after the name ends, you'll see a bunch of 00's. The first non- 0 byte you'll find is the item weight in .25 kgs. (i.e. 04=1 kg etc) The next byte is also weight, so you can create items that weigh insane amounts. (the original code has an altar which weighs 1000kg, which in this version of the game, wouldn't be carryable at all.) The 19th offset from the end of the name (19 forward spaces with the arrow key from the last letter in tooth) is the item's hit points. Since this doesnt seem to work, why edit it. :) I don't know what the 21st offset, in this case it should be an 02, so leave that alone for now. :) The next byte with a value is the base item cost. You can use the two following bytes as well to make items that cost in the multi-millions, something I've not done since, at this point for me, it'd ruin the fun of the game. The gold byte for Big tooth listed in the .exe that you will see it 08. The next line is where the item pictures and other bytes will need to be changed. The last line of the Big tooth before you hit the name of the next item (Medium tooth) will look like this. The XX's are the bytes you'll need to change for the picture.

00 00 06 00 16 01 XX XX 00 00 (the rest of the stream is the next item name)

Also, and this is what makes this wild in my book, by changing the first 00 to a C8, you've now made that item enchantable. Granted you only added 200 enchantment points, you have made it so you can now rename the item in the spellmaker so that the picture matches the name (it's helpful when decorating. :) ) Each time you change the two bytes, you'll get a different picture for what was the Big tooth (I change around 7 or 8 at a time starting there, skipping the Lodestone (doesnt come up as much), and ending with the Ghoul's toungue.) At that point, I create a save in a town where there are two ingredient shops. Before saving, I enter my ship so that when I leave, the town reloads and generates new items. Then just go to the shop and buy/steal the new items. I take them back to my boat, drop them, and then set new bytes, since (and this is what I really dig) the DF save file saves each item with it's picture, thus, when you change the byte back, or to something else, the saved item will remain as you had it. Currently, I have a big tooth/barrel, big tooth/dead body (which I store in the ship's hold :) ), big tooth/large basket #2, big tooth/green half filled with orange potion sized bottle.... etc. From what I can tell, you can basically make ANYTHING that appears in the game into an invetory icon. I'm guessing you can have buildings, monsters, people.. you name it. What I've found so far is a SMALL amount of what I KNOW is there. If you work with this, you'll notice a pattern to the item codes, which is how I knew where to look and what bytes to swap in. The dead body icon is what made it apparent to me that virtually any icon or graphic could be built. There could be thousands of these, I have about 50 to list here and I'll list more if I can find time to hack out more. I have piles of all the below mentioned items on my ship. The game hasn't given me any problem, and it does make it more enjoyable when storing things. The quests all seem to work, as do the ingredients when you go to use them for potions (yes, dead humans as ingredients.. whats really wild is, since certain monsters carry certain treasures, I often find the dead body (wt 40kg, 0gp) 'ingredient' on vampires. :) ) There is one crash that I've found when editing which is directly related to the hex changes. When you go into the store, if you've inserted a byte that doesnt correspond to a picture in the game, it'll complain with error 113. Just put in something you know works. Everthing on the list below has created an item for me. The 'Gray Pattern' I refer to is obviously the marker that says "the pictures end here!", since when I went to increase the value again, it gave me the 113 error. I've found this gray pattern in two different spots, both which crash if you go further, so thats why my lists end at the points they do. Like I said, there could be thousands of icons possible. I don't even know where to begin to look for the person icons or the mosters. I'd like to have a wagon full of guards though. :) I'm pretty sure it can be done though. I've found some strange things, and the dead body icon is the exact same as the one you see on the ground. When you go to the potion maker, this HUGE ingredient pops up.

Ah well, I'll type in the list of what I have. Some of these desriptions may be off or swapped since I was trying to write all this down, swap back, make new stuff, etc. All the hexes work though. Any private commentary will get an email response. (questions/lists of stuff you find that I havent :) ) If I have time, I'll find and post more.

(Skip locations mean the location not listed is either not an item or something already in the game)

Hexes Item Description
00 BE Spurting blood
02 BE Magic Explosion
03 BE Magic Explosion #2
04 BE Pile Of Bones
05 BE Magic Item 'Swirl'
06 BE 'For Sale' Shop Coins
07 BE Gray Pattern (End)
00 6A Well
01 6A Haystack
02 6A Fountain #1
03 6A Fountain #2
04 6A Town "Picture" Sign
05 6A Town "Blank" Sign
06 6A Town "Rooster" Sign
07 6A Coal Pile
08 6A Waterpump #1
09 6A Waterpump #2
0A 6A Sundial
0B 6A Wood Pile #1
0C 6A Wood Pile #2
0D 6A Wooden Post #1
0E 6A Wooden Post #2
0F 6A - Large Trellis
10 6A Small Trellis
11 6A Rock/Tombstone? #1
12 6A Rock/Tomestone? #2
13 6A Gray Pattern (End)

(this next set looks like I've started in mid- sequence, since I never tried below 80, I'd bet there are some there)

Hexes Item Description
80 66 Barrel
81 66 Filled Regular Jug
82 66 Jug W/Pickle
84 66 Orange Jug
85 66 Sm. Orange Jug
86 66 Purple Jug
88 66 Small Basket

(I may have missed one in here, either 87 or 83 may not be a game item.. not sure.. it's an item, thats for sure)

Hexes Item Description
8A 66 Lg. Filled Basket
8B 66 Regular Poition Bottle

(this is how I found all the others, items are listed with a corresponding icon. I just went around those numbers.)

Hexes Item Description
8C 66 Half Full Orange Potion Bottle
8D 66 Full Orange Potion Bottle
8E 66 Empty Green Potion Bottle
8F 66 Half Full Orange Potion Bottle (Green Bottle)
89 66 Large Basket
90 66 Orange Potion
91 66 Small Bag #1
92 66 Mini Bag
93 66 Lg. Bag
94 66 Small Bag #2
95 66 Chest #1
96 66 Chest #2

(I stopped here, there should be more. The next 4 are the location I'm just looking in now, both ends should provide some although I was crashing when trying numbers higher than 27 so... backwards seems okay, it's my next look spot)

Hexes Item Description
1E 67 Arm Bone
1F 67 Misc. Bones
20 67 Cow Skull
23 67 Dead Animal

The last few I'll list here are ones directly from the .exe, just not active in any version of DF. You can activate them by merely changing an item that does appear. (I did parchement and I have quests where they hand me a a 'letter', expect now the letter is a Large Statue and it weighs 50kg! :) ) This will also work with the jewlery and has allowed me to change the icons and equip all the items in those slots (The old Basilisk's Eye became a brooch in my master version.) Simply find the item you wish to replace. As long as it's set up in a similar format (I change mainly useless stuff), you can edit it totally. Holy Altars sell for 75000 in my Pawn Shops. :) Nonethless, here is a smattering of the icons that are listed directly in the .exe, but didnt make it into the game.

(these are in no order, I'm taking them from the .exe as I type this out.)

Hexes Item Description
B5 69 Altar
01 BE Dead Body
B7 69 Mantella
00 6D Clay Jar
28 7F Quaesto Vil
00 68 Globe
0A 67 Skeleton
04 68 Telescope
03 68 Scales
05 69 Candelabra
8F 6A "Shubbery"

There are others as well. If you're comforable, hack around. See what you find. MAKE MANY BACKUPS. (I knew where to look, but I killed one copy of DF already. Any hexing means anything can happen. Be careful, but have fun.)

My Best Always (no way I'm gonna spell check this fu...r :) )


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