Hardcoded

The term "hardcoded" refers to a feature which is built into the game engine (the EXE file). As such, a hardcoded feature cannot be altered from text or binary file formats. Alternative methods have to be used instead.

History

Although it would be possible to edit hardcoded features of GTA1 and GTA2, no significant tools have been developed to do so, except some modifications that kept information about them secret. From GTA3 onwards, there was sufficient interest and expertise in the modding community to develop techniques for altering hardcoded features in the PC versions.

Memory Hacking

When the game is running, all parts of the game which are in use are stored in memory. It is possible to alter these values as they are structured in a stable manner. The modding community has documented many of the memory address used by some editions of the GTA series.

The techniques for finding and altering values in memory are generally referred to as "memory hacking" and can be very complicated. However, they have been implemented by modders for several applications in the GTA series:-

Trainers

Typically enable player health, player location, current weapons and many other statistics to be manipulated.

Admin/Developer Consoles

Capable of making advanced alterations to many specific aspects of game environment, from the cars parked in garages to the strength of gravity.

Spawners

Insert instances of default objects (usually vehicles) into the game environment at the request of the user.

Advanced Gameplay Modifications

Creating an interface to the GTA engine to add specific gameplay, e.g. Multiplayer functionality.

See Also

• San Andreas Multiplayer
• CLEO
• Memory Hacker

External Links

• Delfi's GTAVC Developer Console - allows hundreds of game environment features to be adjusted while the game is running.
• San Andreas Multiplayer - A multiplayer modification for GTA: San Andreas.