Emerald Lance
03-17-2011, 08:25 AM
EDIT: I made this guide because I didn't know how to code a tool at the time. Now I do, and I made a tool here (http://www.360haven.com/forums/showthread.php?9401-Release-Sonic-Adventure-Chao-Editor). Feel free to continue following this guide if you want, but know that the tool is also available to do it for you.
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Well, first tutorial I've ever done (for anything, EVAR) here goes.
1) First, extract your Sonic Adventure Chao save from your 360. However you want to do this doesn't make a difference, either hook your HDD up directly to your computer or use a UBS flash drive.
2) Open the save data in a hex editor. Even though I hear many sub-par things about it, I prefer Modio for all my modding needs, and it works perfectly for editing this game since everything you'll need is included right in the program. (This guide assumes you are either using an all-in-one package like Modio, or are using separate programs to accommodate.)
3) No checksum or encryption/compression to deal with here. Just simple values to edit. Of course, the Chao system is pretty deep, so often times those more unique values can be a little harder to find if you don't already know where they are, so here's a picture to show you what you're looking for. Just scroll down until you see something resembling this data pattern. Be careful; my example is a pretty complex one, so yours more than likely won't look exactly like it and may even have plenty of 0s when compared to it, though it will be structurally identical.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g163/Emerald_Lance/chao_tables.png
This pattern shouldn't be too difficult to find. The file is kinda small, so it only holds the header info and then immediately jumps to Chao data like this. Each of of these little chunks is a single Chao, listed in order by which came into existance first (ie, when the egg was found/bought). So listing the circled values as letters, here's whats what:
A: Grade These go from 0 to 5, 5 being the highest. Grade is how high each stat boosts upon level up. The three values after are also grade levels, but I'm not certain what they are (I know they are luck, intelligence, and mood, but these are hidden values and thus difficult to test; I don't know which order they're in, so I left them blank).
B: Level Same order as before (hidden stats too, if you can figure them out). The highest stat possible in-game is 99, but inputting 255 (FF) will work without any issues.
C: Stat Value Again, same order. This is the important one out of the ones mentioned so far, as this is the one that actually dictates your Chao's abilities. Highest possible value in-game is 3266, but just like levels, maxing it out won't kill your game. Just be prepared for a Chao that is so skilled that he goes full circle and actually cannot finish certain races. *sad face* Also, if you edit this value and your Chao levels up then the stats will revert to what they should be. Avoid this by changing the level to or above 99 so that it can't level up anymore.
D: Chao Type This is what your Chao wlll actually look like. Don't want to go through all the trouble to reincarnate 2 times and give it every animal? Edit here.
00 - No Chao (does not exist, rendering ALL other mods for that Chao null.)
01 - Egg (Chao exists, but is still an egg. Haven't tested whether this nulls other edits.)
02 - Child/Normal
03 - Invisible (unsure exactly what else changes)
04 - Invisible (again, not entirely sure)
05 - Neutral/Normal
06 - Hero/Normal
07 - Dark/Normal
08 - Neutral/Swim
09 - Hero/Swim
0A - Dark/Swim
0B - Neutral/Fly
0C - Hero/Fly
0D - Dark/Fly
0E - Neutral/Run
0F - Hero/Run
10 - Dark/Run
11 - Neutral/Power
12 - Hero/Power
13 - Dark/Power
14 - Neutral/Chaos
15 - Hero/Chaos
16 - Dark/Chaos
17 - Tails
18 - Knuckles
19 - Amy
E: Garden Which Chao Garden is this particular Chao in?
00 - None (I haven't test this. I assume it nulls all edits.)
04 - Station Square
05 - Egg Carrier
06 - Mystic Ruins
(I don't know what 01-03 does, I assume the same as 00.)
F: Reincarnation Status Either it will or it won't. FF says it will reincarnate after it dies, anything else says no.
G: Eye Type I haven't played with this. Toy around with it.
H: Mouth Type I haven't played with this one too much either. I know 00 is no mouth, but I'm afraid that's the extent of my current knowledge on this one.
I: Ball Type The little ball that floats above Chao's head.
00 - Normal
01 - Flame
02 - None
J: Hat Type Holy Chao hats, Batman. There are A LOT of possibilities for this one. Get ready for this one.
00 - None
01 - Pumpkin
02 - Skull
03 - Apple
04 - Bucket
05 - Can
06 - Box
07 - Flower Pot
08 - Paper Bag
09 - Brass Pot
0A - Tree Stump
0B - Watermelon
0C - Red Beanie
0D - Blue Beanie
0E - Gray Beanie
0F - Pacifier (Glitchy)
10 - Normal Egg
11 - Yellow Egg
12 - White Egg
13 - Brown Egg
14 - Cyan Egg
15 - Pink Egg
16 - Blue Egg
17 - Dark Gray Egg
18 - Dark Green Egg
19 - Red Egg
1A - Light Green Egg
1B - Purple Egg
1C - Orange Egg
1D - Black Egg
1E - Yellow Egg with Spots
1F - White Egg with Spots
20 - Brown Egg with Spots
21 - Cyan Egg with Spots
22 - Pink Egg with Spots
23 - Blue Egg with Spots
24 - Dark Gray Egg with Spots
25 - Dark Green Egg with Spots
26 - Red Egg with Spots
27 - Light Green Egg with Spots
28 - Purple Egg with Spots
29 - Orange Egg with Spots
2A - Black Egg with Spots
2B - Shiny Normal Egg
2C - Shiny Yellow Egg
2D - Shiny White Egg
2E - Shiny Brown Egg
2F - Shiny Cyan Egg
30 - Shiny Pink Egg
31 - Shiny Blue Egg
32 - Shiny Dark Gray Egg
33 - Shiny Dark Green Egg
34 - Shiny Red Egg
35 - Shiny Light Green Egg
36 - Shiny Purple Egg
37 - Shiny Orange Egg
38 - Shiny Black Egg
39 - Shiny Yellow Egg with Spots
3A - Shiny White Egg with Spots
3B - Shiny Brown Egg with Spots
3C - Shiny Cyan Egg with Spots
3D - Shiny Pink Egg with Spots
3E - Shiny Blue Egg with Spots
3F - Shiny Dark Gray Egg with Spots
40 - Shiny Dark Green Egg with Spots
41 - Shiny Red Egg with Spots
42 - Shiny Light Green Egg with Spots
43 - Shiny Purple Egg with Spots
44 - Shiny Orange Egg with Spots
45 - Shiny Black Egg with Spots
46 - Gold Egg
47 - Silver Egg
48 - Ruby Egg
49 - Sapphire Egg
4A - Emerald Egg
4B - Amethyst Egg
4C - Aquamarine Egg
4D - Garnet Egg
4E - Onyx Egg
4F - Peridot Egg
50 - Topaz Egg
51 - Purple Swirl
52 - Deep Shiny Sky Blue
53 - Deep Shiny Light Sky Blue
54 - Dark Chrome
(I hated typing all that... *sad face*)
K: Feet Toggle Yeah, you can cut off their feet too.
00 - Feet
01 - No feet (Chao just floats around like a ghost.)
L: Medal Chao can win medals in the races. Use this to edit a specific medal you want Chao to wear.
00 - None
01 - Aquamarine
02 - Topaz
03 - Peridot
04 - Garnet
05 - Onyx
06 - Diamond
07 - Beginner Race
08 - Challenge Race
09 - Hero Race
0A - Dark Race
0B - Pearl
0C - Amethyst
0D - Emerald
0E - Ruby
0F - Sapphire
M: Chao Color Here's the fun one. Chao come in many different colors, but why bother keeping track of it all when you could just hack the one you want in?
00 - Normal
01 - Light Yellow
02 - Light Gray
03 - Brown
04 - Cyan
05 - Pink
06 - Blue
07 - Dark Gray
08 - Dark Green
09 - Red
0A - Light Green
0B - Purple
0C - Orange
0D - Black
(The game accepts high values and won't crash, but these are the only ones I tested
extensively. Try out more and see where it gets you.)
N: Highlights Toggle There is also a way to get multicolored Chao. This enable that option. Note that regular Chao have this automatically turned on while colored Chao have it turned off. Works strange with Shiny/Jewel Chao.
00 - On
01 - Off
O: Shiny Toggle Just like Pokémon, Chao can be Shiny on top of whatever color they happen to be. Works normally on Colored Chao, strange effects on regular/Jewel Chao.
00 - Off
01 - On
P: Egg Color Only important if Chao is still in Egg form. Doesn't affect actual Chao color. Refer to Chao colors for values.
Q: Chao Model Actually swaps out the in-game model used for Chao. Hacking is the only way to change this. Changing this to anything except "Chao" nulls all appearance mods.
00 - Chao
01 - Egg Chao (An unhatched egg with eye holes and feet)
02 - Omochao
Q: Relation to Characters This is Chao's relationship status to the player's characters in order: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, E-102γ. 00 is normal, FF is highest.
4) After the desired changes are made, resign/rehash save file and inject it back into your HDD/USB flash drive.
5) Play your game! It may take a little longer to load the first time. If it does, don't worry about that. Of course, it shouldn't take more than 30 seconds (give or take), so if the game actually freezes then go ahead and post your problem (and save file) here and I'll see what I can do to help. ^-^ Side note, remember that editing your Chao's stats extremely high WILL cause it to be unable to finish certain races. While editing Chao's stats to FFFF won't crash your game, I'd advise against it, at least until you've already won all the races with that Chao.
My tutorial only goes over about half of what is editable. I was looking into the rest for a while, but to be honest I lost interest and stopped researching. If you want to pick up where I left off, please post any findings on this thread. I'll see about adding any findings (and, of course, giving credit) so if you want to pick it up, please, be my guest. ^-^
------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, first tutorial I've ever done (for anything, EVAR) here goes.
1) First, extract your Sonic Adventure Chao save from your 360. However you want to do this doesn't make a difference, either hook your HDD up directly to your computer or use a UBS flash drive.
2) Open the save data in a hex editor. Even though I hear many sub-par things about it, I prefer Modio for all my modding needs, and it works perfectly for editing this game since everything you'll need is included right in the program. (This guide assumes you are either using an all-in-one package like Modio, or are using separate programs to accommodate.)
3) No checksum or encryption/compression to deal with here. Just simple values to edit. Of course, the Chao system is pretty deep, so often times those more unique values can be a little harder to find if you don't already know where they are, so here's a picture to show you what you're looking for. Just scroll down until you see something resembling this data pattern. Be careful; my example is a pretty complex one, so yours more than likely won't look exactly like it and may even have plenty of 0s when compared to it, though it will be structurally identical.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g163/Emerald_Lance/chao_tables.png
This pattern shouldn't be too difficult to find. The file is kinda small, so it only holds the header info and then immediately jumps to Chao data like this. Each of of these little chunks is a single Chao, listed in order by which came into existance first (ie, when the egg was found/bought). So listing the circled values as letters, here's whats what:
A: Grade These go from 0 to 5, 5 being the highest. Grade is how high each stat boosts upon level up. The three values after are also grade levels, but I'm not certain what they are (I know they are luck, intelligence, and mood, but these are hidden values and thus difficult to test; I don't know which order they're in, so I left them blank).
B: Level Same order as before (hidden stats too, if you can figure them out). The highest stat possible in-game is 99, but inputting 255 (FF) will work without any issues.
C: Stat Value Again, same order. This is the important one out of the ones mentioned so far, as this is the one that actually dictates your Chao's abilities. Highest possible value in-game is 3266, but just like levels, maxing it out won't kill your game. Just be prepared for a Chao that is so skilled that he goes full circle and actually cannot finish certain races. *sad face* Also, if you edit this value and your Chao levels up then the stats will revert to what they should be. Avoid this by changing the level to or above 99 so that it can't level up anymore.
D: Chao Type This is what your Chao wlll actually look like. Don't want to go through all the trouble to reincarnate 2 times and give it every animal? Edit here.
00 - No Chao (does not exist, rendering ALL other mods for that Chao null.)
01 - Egg (Chao exists, but is still an egg. Haven't tested whether this nulls other edits.)
02 - Child/Normal
03 - Invisible (unsure exactly what else changes)
04 - Invisible (again, not entirely sure)
05 - Neutral/Normal
06 - Hero/Normal
07 - Dark/Normal
08 - Neutral/Swim
09 - Hero/Swim
0A - Dark/Swim
0B - Neutral/Fly
0C - Hero/Fly
0D - Dark/Fly
0E - Neutral/Run
0F - Hero/Run
10 - Dark/Run
11 - Neutral/Power
12 - Hero/Power
13 - Dark/Power
14 - Neutral/Chaos
15 - Hero/Chaos
16 - Dark/Chaos
17 - Tails
18 - Knuckles
19 - Amy
E: Garden Which Chao Garden is this particular Chao in?
00 - None (I haven't test this. I assume it nulls all edits.)
04 - Station Square
05 - Egg Carrier
06 - Mystic Ruins
(I don't know what 01-03 does, I assume the same as 00.)
F: Reincarnation Status Either it will or it won't. FF says it will reincarnate after it dies, anything else says no.
G: Eye Type I haven't played with this. Toy around with it.
H: Mouth Type I haven't played with this one too much either. I know 00 is no mouth, but I'm afraid that's the extent of my current knowledge on this one.
I: Ball Type The little ball that floats above Chao's head.
00 - Normal
01 - Flame
02 - None
J: Hat Type Holy Chao hats, Batman. There are A LOT of possibilities for this one. Get ready for this one.
00 - None
01 - Pumpkin
02 - Skull
03 - Apple
04 - Bucket
05 - Can
06 - Box
07 - Flower Pot
08 - Paper Bag
09 - Brass Pot
0A - Tree Stump
0B - Watermelon
0C - Red Beanie
0D - Blue Beanie
0E - Gray Beanie
0F - Pacifier (Glitchy)
10 - Normal Egg
11 - Yellow Egg
12 - White Egg
13 - Brown Egg
14 - Cyan Egg
15 - Pink Egg
16 - Blue Egg
17 - Dark Gray Egg
18 - Dark Green Egg
19 - Red Egg
1A - Light Green Egg
1B - Purple Egg
1C - Orange Egg
1D - Black Egg
1E - Yellow Egg with Spots
1F - White Egg with Spots
20 - Brown Egg with Spots
21 - Cyan Egg with Spots
22 - Pink Egg with Spots
23 - Blue Egg with Spots
24 - Dark Gray Egg with Spots
25 - Dark Green Egg with Spots
26 - Red Egg with Spots
27 - Light Green Egg with Spots
28 - Purple Egg with Spots
29 - Orange Egg with Spots
2A - Black Egg with Spots
2B - Shiny Normal Egg
2C - Shiny Yellow Egg
2D - Shiny White Egg
2E - Shiny Brown Egg
2F - Shiny Cyan Egg
30 - Shiny Pink Egg
31 - Shiny Blue Egg
32 - Shiny Dark Gray Egg
33 - Shiny Dark Green Egg
34 - Shiny Red Egg
35 - Shiny Light Green Egg
36 - Shiny Purple Egg
37 - Shiny Orange Egg
38 - Shiny Black Egg
39 - Shiny Yellow Egg with Spots
3A - Shiny White Egg with Spots
3B - Shiny Brown Egg with Spots
3C - Shiny Cyan Egg with Spots
3D - Shiny Pink Egg with Spots
3E - Shiny Blue Egg with Spots
3F - Shiny Dark Gray Egg with Spots
40 - Shiny Dark Green Egg with Spots
41 - Shiny Red Egg with Spots
42 - Shiny Light Green Egg with Spots
43 - Shiny Purple Egg with Spots
44 - Shiny Orange Egg with Spots
45 - Shiny Black Egg with Spots
46 - Gold Egg
47 - Silver Egg
48 - Ruby Egg
49 - Sapphire Egg
4A - Emerald Egg
4B - Amethyst Egg
4C - Aquamarine Egg
4D - Garnet Egg
4E - Onyx Egg
4F - Peridot Egg
50 - Topaz Egg
51 - Purple Swirl
52 - Deep Shiny Sky Blue
53 - Deep Shiny Light Sky Blue
54 - Dark Chrome
(I hated typing all that... *sad face*)
K: Feet Toggle Yeah, you can cut off their feet too.
00 - Feet
01 - No feet (Chao just floats around like a ghost.)
L: Medal Chao can win medals in the races. Use this to edit a specific medal you want Chao to wear.
00 - None
01 - Aquamarine
02 - Topaz
03 - Peridot
04 - Garnet
05 - Onyx
06 - Diamond
07 - Beginner Race
08 - Challenge Race
09 - Hero Race
0A - Dark Race
0B - Pearl
0C - Amethyst
0D - Emerald
0E - Ruby
0F - Sapphire
M: Chao Color Here's the fun one. Chao come in many different colors, but why bother keeping track of it all when you could just hack the one you want in?
00 - Normal
01 - Light Yellow
02 - Light Gray
03 - Brown
04 - Cyan
05 - Pink
06 - Blue
07 - Dark Gray
08 - Dark Green
09 - Red
0A - Light Green
0B - Purple
0C - Orange
0D - Black
(The game accepts high values and won't crash, but these are the only ones I tested
extensively. Try out more and see where it gets you.)
N: Highlights Toggle There is also a way to get multicolored Chao. This enable that option. Note that regular Chao have this automatically turned on while colored Chao have it turned off. Works strange with Shiny/Jewel Chao.
00 - On
01 - Off
O: Shiny Toggle Just like Pokémon, Chao can be Shiny on top of whatever color they happen to be. Works normally on Colored Chao, strange effects on regular/Jewel Chao.
00 - Off
01 - On
P: Egg Color Only important if Chao is still in Egg form. Doesn't affect actual Chao color. Refer to Chao colors for values.
Q: Chao Model Actually swaps out the in-game model used for Chao. Hacking is the only way to change this. Changing this to anything except "Chao" nulls all appearance mods.
00 - Chao
01 - Egg Chao (An unhatched egg with eye holes and feet)
02 - Omochao
Q: Relation to Characters This is Chao's relationship status to the player's characters in order: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, E-102γ. 00 is normal, FF is highest.
4) After the desired changes are made, resign/rehash save file and inject it back into your HDD/USB flash drive.
5) Play your game! It may take a little longer to load the first time. If it does, don't worry about that. Of course, it shouldn't take more than 30 seconds (give or take), so if the game actually freezes then go ahead and post your problem (and save file) here and I'll see what I can do to help. ^-^ Side note, remember that editing your Chao's stats extremely high WILL cause it to be unable to finish certain races. While editing Chao's stats to FFFF won't crash your game, I'd advise against it, at least until you've already won all the races with that Chao.
My tutorial only goes over about half of what is editable. I was looking into the rest for a while, but to be honest I lost interest and stopped researching. If you want to pick up where I left off, please post any findings on this thread. I'll see about adding any findings (and, of course, giving credit) so if you want to pick it up, please, be my guest. ^-^