More information6 mag 2020
Hacking Freemium Games - The Evolution Of PC Game Cheating
This post is going to be a rather strange post compared to previous ones. But bear with me, in the middle of the post you will see why this post fits the IT security topic.
I'm also terribly sorry for not posting recently, but I was busy with my SPSE and SLAE certification. Both are recommended for Python and Assembly noobs like me. But back to this post.
A little bit of history
Cheating in games started as help for game testers. By using invincibility or infinite ammo testers were able to test the game quicker, which meant less money spent on testing. I personally use cheat codes in games, depending on my mood. Sometimes it feels good to slash all the opponents while I'm invincible, sometimes it is more fun to play the game without cheats. One can argue whether cheating in games is OK or not, but I believe it depends, there is no black or white. But one thing is for sure, it is part of the gaming industry. There is huge demand for cheats. There were even cheat books printed on paper...
The different types of cheats (on PC)
There are different types of cheats in PC gaming. Following is a noncomplete list of these cheats:
Cheat codes
The good old IDDQD type of cheats. These are left in the game by the developers intentionally. Nothing interesting here.
Edit memory
This is my favorite. I will talk about this at the end of the post. Whenever a user launches a new program, the program's whole memory is accessible (read/write) to every other program launched by the user. And since the memory stores the current game state (health, ammo, armor, etc.), these values can be changed easily. In the good old times, there were POKE commands to do this cheats, and the memory address to write into was published by people who found where the game stores the most critical states about the game.
Code injection
This is like patching the game code. For example, one can change the "DEC (pointer to your current health)" instruction with NOP (do nothing), thus becoming invincible. In multi-player cheats, there is the aimbot to help you aim at enemies, wallhack to see through the wall, increase hitbox of the enemy for smoother hit, or in MMORPGs, one can write macros to collect items while the player is not online. I would say the so-called "trainers" more or less fit into this category and the previous one.
Saved game editor
The first time a kid meets a hex-editor (just like the co-author of this blog did with SIM City when he was 10 years old - David). It can teach a lot about file structures, the hexadecimal numeral system, etc. Fun times.
Hacking game server
Not very common, but even more fun. Warning: endless trolling possibilities in multi-player games ahead :) How to hack a game server? Well, I think this might deserve another full blog post ...
Network traffic hacking
One last necessary type of cheating is to modify network traffic between the client and the game server. AFAIK SSL is not universal in gaming, so stunnel is not needed for this hack, but ettercap can help in changing the communication.
Why cheating becomes more critical (and challenging)?
Now in the age of in-app-payments, the game creators are no longer thinking about cheats as funny things but something to be destroyed to the ground. Because cheating decreases its revenue. Or not. At least they think it does. To quote Wikipedia here, "cheating in such games is nonetheless a legal grey area because there are no laws against modifying software which is already owned, as detailed in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
A lot of online games include anti-cheating components like PunkBuster, nProtect GameGuard, or Valve Anti-Cheat. This whole cheating/anti-cheating industry is the same as the virus/anti-virus industry. A cat and mouse game.
Freemium games
If you have not played with "freemium" games, you should watch South Park season 18, episode 6. - "Freemium Isn't Free." If you did play with freemium games, you definitely have to watch it :) There are many problems with freemium games. It is free to install, free to play. The first 3-4 hours might be fun to play. But after that, it turns out it is impossible to advance in the game without paying money for it. And by spending cash, I mean spending a LOT! Let's have a look at today's example, an arcade racing video game.
For 99.99 USD, you can get 3 000 000 credit. For almost double the price of a new PC game, you can get these credits. In this particular game, I estimate one have to play ~6-24 hours constantly to get this amount of credit. But by playing ~6 hours, I mean 6 hours without progress in the game! Kind of boring. And what do you get from 3 000 000 credit? You can buy one of the most expensive cars, but can't tune them fully. You have to play more (without progress) or buy more. But guess what, there are more cars you can't buy by only playing the game. Those are only available via in-app-purchase.
Even though the player has 58 765 533 credits, it is not possible to buy this car. Only available through real money.
So, what are your possibilities? You are either Richie Rich, and can afford the money to buy these. Or you can be insane, and try to play the game without in-app-purchase. Or give up the game and try another freemium ... Or, you can try to hack the game!
Hack all the freemium games!
Although I was not playing this racing game from day one, I was able to witness the evolution of the cheats against this game. The cheats which worked in one day was not working one month later. The game is continuously updated to defeat the newly published cheats.
Noob start
So, I want to hack this game, what is the first thing a noob like me does? Bing it! Google it!
From the first page result, let's check this tool:
While trying to download that, I just have to give my email address to spammers, or my mobile number will be subscribed to premium rate text messages. What fun.
Another "cheat" program will install malware/adware on your computer. Never ever try these programs. They are fake 99% of the time and after installing those you will have another problem, not just how to hack freemium games.
Beginners start - Cheat engine
When I first heard about hacking games in memory, I visualized hours of OllyDBG/ImmunityDBG/(insert your favorite Windows debugger here). It turned out, there are some specialized tools to help you with cheating the game. No assembly knowledge required. My favourite tool is CheatEngine. I highly recommend to download it and spend 10 minutes to get past the built-in tutorial levels to get a feeling about this tool. It's super duper awesome.
When I first tried to hack this game myself, I scanned the memory for my actual credit and tried to change that, no luck. Keep reading, you will see what happened.
The second cheat I tried with cheat engine was something like this:
The second cheat I tried with cheat engine was something like this:
- Start the game, play the first level, and check how many credits is paid for winning the race. Pro tip: use dual display for full-screen game cheating.
- Restart the same level, attach Cheat Engine to the game's process
- Scan the memory for the same value at the beginning of the race
- Scan the memory for the same value at the end of the game. The intersect of the first and second scan includes the real value where the credit is stored for winning the race.
- Change the values (both the real one and some false positives) to something big
- Watch the game to crash
- Be amazed at the money you received
Nowadays, most of the cheats on YouTube does not work. Except for these kind of cheats. I don't want to recreate that tutorial, so you should watch it first then come back.
Are you back? Great. Do you have any idea what have you just seen? No? Well, in this case, don't try this at home. Copy-pasting assembly code from random internet posts and running on your computer is always a bad idea. It is precisely as risky as downloading free programs from random internet sites.
Although I have not seen people trolling others with this cheat engine type of shellcode, I think the time will come when these will be turned into something terrible. These shellcodes might work, or might harm your computer. The good news is, we can have a look at the code and analyze it.
Although I have not seen people trolling others with this cheat engine type of shellcode, I think the time will come when these will be turned into something terrible. These shellcodes might work, or might harm your computer. The good news is, we can have a look at the code and analyze it.
When you open CheatEngine and try to define a new custom type, you are greeted with a skeleton assembly code. I don't want to detail what all the skeleton code does, let's just focus on the difference between the skeleton code and the code used in the video. This is the "decrypt function":
xor eax, 0baadf00d
rol eax, 0e
What does it mean? The actual credit is encrypted in memory. If you want to scan it in memory, you won't be able to find it. But! The encryption is rotating the value to the right (ROR) with 0xE (14 in decimal), and after that, it is XOR-ed with 0xbaadf00d. Decrypting it is the inverse of the functions in reverse order (in this particular case, the order does not matter, but that's not the point). The inverse function of XOR is XOR, and the inverse function of ROR (rotate right) is ROL (rotate left). Now that we analyzed the assembly code, we can be sure that it is safe to execute. Just follow the video and see your coins falling from the sky. For free. In a freemium game. Have fun!
Encrypt memory - applications at financial institutions
Another exciting thing is that I don't recall any thick client applications in the financial industry encrypting the values in memory. And I agree, there are more significant problems with thick client applications than not encrypting the essential values in memory. But still, some thick client applications are regularly updated, maintained. Maybe it is a good idea to encrypt the values in memory. It will make attackers' life harder. Not impossible, but harder. Perhaps the developers of these applications should learn from the gaming industry (or from malware developers for that matter) because it is a shame that an arcade racing game or an FPS is protected better than an application responsible for transacting millions of dollars. Just think about the RAM scraping malware stealing millions of credit card data ...
Moral of the story
Cheating is part of the gaming history, and the freemium games are trying to take away the cheats from the gamers because they want money. Thanks to CheatEngine and some clever hacks, these programs can be still beaten. And guess what, there is CheatEngine for Android - although it did not work for me on the latest Android. And sometimes, hacking all kinds of applications can be more comfortable with CheatEngine, compared to traditional debuggers.
Also, always check the code before executing it! And when you find something cool, publish it, so everyone could enjoy the games!
Related newsAlso, always check the code before executing it! And when you find something cool, publish it, so everyone could enjoy the games!
Continue reading2 mag 2020
Suzy Cube Update: May 25, 2018
#SuzyCube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity @NoodlecakeGames
My apologies! The day just flew right by and I only realized I forgot to write an update about three hour ago! Another packed week, but mostly bug fixes, so let's dive in!
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1 mag 2020
Nonsense And Other Observations About Dracula/Horror Of Dracula
As much as I love Dracula (1958)/Horror of Dracula, I find it has a lot of plot holes, ideas that don't make a lot of sense and other weirdness. I started to write down certain observations as I was watching the film and eventually they became so long that I thought them worth putting them up in a blog post. These observations as I have put them to type have been as timestamped to the times (roughly) in the film to which they most apply. I am using the 2012 Hammer Restoration found on the 2013 Region B/2 Blu-ray/DVD from Lionsgate with altered color timing by a fan (which eliminates the overly-blue tint found on that disc). Any DVD or Blu-ray release should be able to follow along without too much difficulty.
Read more » 
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26 apr 2020
How To Switch From 32-Bit Windows 10 To 64-Bit Windows 10
Microsoft offers Windows 10 as a free upgrade for computers running a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Also, similar to previous releases, the operating system is available on different editions and two versions: 32-bit and 64-bit.While upgrading from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro is not free, what many people are unfamiliar with is that Microsoft won't ask for more money to upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit version.
However, the upgrade path only allows moving from a qualifying version to its equivalent edition on the same architecture. This limit means that if your PC is running a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1, after the upgrade you'll be stuck with the 32-bit version of Windows 10 — even if your computer's processor can handle the 64-bit version. The only solution is to make a clean installation of the operating system and reconfigure all your apps and settings.
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to verify whether your computer in fact includes support for a 64-bit version and we'll guide you through the upgrade process to Windows 10 (x64).
Make sure Windows 10 64-bit is compatible with your PC
A 64-bit version of Windows can only be installed on computers with capable hardware. As such, the first thing you need to do is to determine whether your computer has a 64-bit processor.
You can easily get this information from the Settings app.
- Use the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app.
- Click System.
- Click About.
- Under System type, you will see two pieces of information: if it says 32-bit operating system, x64-based processor, then it means that your PC is running a 32-bit version of Windows 10 on a 64-bit processor. If it says 32-bit operating system, x86-based processor, then your computer doesn't support Windows 10 (64-bit).
Make Sure Your Processor is 64-bit Capable
First thing's first. Before even thinking of upgrading to 64-bit Windows, you'll need to confirm that the CPU in your computer is 64-bit capable. To do so, head to Settings > System > About. On the right-hand side of the window, look for the "System type" entry.
You'll see one of three things here:
- 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor. Your CPU does support 64-bit and you already have the 64-bit version of Windows installed.
- 32-bit operating system, x86-based processor. Your CPU does not support 64-bit and you have the 32-bit version of Windows installed.
- 32-bit operating system, x64-based processor. Your CPU supports 64-bit, but you have the 32-bit version of Windows installed.
If you see the first entry on your system, you don't really need this article. If you see the second entry, you won't be able to install the 64-bit version of Windows on your system at all. But if you see the last entry on your system—"32-bit operating system, x64-based processor"—then you're in luck. This means you're using a 32-bit version of Windows 10 but your CPU can run a 64-bit version, so if you see it, it's time to move on to the next section.
Make Sure Your PC's Hardware Has 64-bit Drivers Available
Make Sure Your PC's Hardware Has 64-bit Drivers Available
Even if your processor is 64-bit compatible, you might want to consider whether your computer's hardware will work properly with a 64-bit version of Windows. 64-bit versions of Windows require 64-bit hardware drivers, and the 32-bit versions you're using on your current Windows 10 system won't work.
Modern hardware should certainly offer 64-bit drivers, but very old hardware may no longer be supported and the manufacturer may have never offered 64-bit drivers. To check for this, you can visit the manufacturer's driver download web pages for your hardware and see if 64-bit drivers are available. You shouldn't necessarily need to download these from the manufacturer's website, though. They are likely included with Windows 10 or automatically will be downloaded from Windows Update. But old hardware—for example, a particularly ancient printer—simply may not offer 64-bit drivers.
Upgrade by Performing a Clean Install
You'll need to perform a clean install to get to the 64-bit version of Windows 10 from the 32-bit one. Unfortunately, there's no direct upgrade path.
Warning: Back up your important files before continuing and also make sure you have what you need to reinstall your programs. This process will wipe your whole hard disk, including Windows, installed programs, and personal files.
First, if you haven't upgraded to Windows 10 yet, you'll need to use the upgrade tool to upgrade. You'll get the 32-bit version of Windows 10 if you were previously using a 32-bit version of Windows 7 or 8.1. But the upgrade process will give your PC a Windows 10 license. After upgrading, be sure to check that your current 32-bit version of Windows 10 is activated under Settings > Update & security > Activation.
Once you're using an activated version of the 32-bit Windows 10, download the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft. If you're using the 32-bit version of Windows 10 at the moment, you'll have to download and run the 32-bit tool.
When you run the tool, select "Create installation media for another PC" and use the tool to create a USB drive or burn a disc with Windows 10. As you click through the wizard, you'll be asked whether you want to create 32-bit or 64-bit installation media. Select the "64-bit (x64)" architecture.
Next, restart your computer (you did back everything up, right?) and boot from the installation media. Install the 64-bit Windows 10, selecting "Custom install" and overwriting your current version of Windows. When you're asked to insert a product key, skip the process and continue. You'll have to skip two of these prompts in total. After you reach the desktop, Windows 10 will automatically check in with Microsoft and activate itself. You'll now be running the 64-bit edition of Windows on your PC.
If you want to go back to the 32-bit version of Windows, you'll need to download the media creation tool—the 64-bit version, if you're running the 64-bit version of Windows 10—and use it to create 32-bit installation media. Boot from that installation media and do another clean install—this time installing the 32-bit version over the 64-bit version.
Final Words :
Finally, you are aware of the way through which you could be able to switch from the 32-bit windows to 64-bit windows really easily. There will be no difference in the functions or the working of the windows yet the only change that you will get is the more advanced architecture that is compatible with numerous high-end apps. If you are thinking to switch your windows to the 64-bit version then make sure you first check for your hardware compatibility. Hopefully, you would have liked the information of this post, please share this post with others if you really liked it. Provide us your valuable views regarding this post through using the comments section below. At last nevertheless thanks for reading this post!
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Chapter 1To 5 HTML
Contents
About
................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: Getting started with HTML
................................................................................................................ 2
Section 1.1: Hello World 2
Chapter 2: Doctypes
.................................................................................................................................................... 4
Section 2.1: Adding the Doctype 4
Section 2.2: HTML 5 Doctype 4
Chapter 3: Headings
.................................................................................................................................................... 5
Section 3.1: Using Headings 5
Chapter 4: Paragraphs
.............................................................................................................................................. 6
Section 4.1: HTML Paragraphs
Chapter 5: Text Formatting
..................................................................................................................................... 6
..................................................................................................................................... 7
Section 5.1: Highlighting 7
Section 5.2: Bold, Italic, and Underline 7
Section 5.3: Abbreviation 8
Section 5.4: Inserted, Deleted, or Stricken 8
Section 5.5: Superscript and Subscript 8
Chapter 1: Getting started with HTML
Version Specification Release Date
1.0 N/A 1994-01-01
2.0 RFC 1866
1995-11-24
3.2 W3C: HTML 3.2 Specification
1997-01-14
4.0 W3C: HTML 4.0 Specification
1998-04-24
4.01 W3C: HTML 4.01 Specification
1999-12-24
5 WHATWG: HTML Living Standard
2014-10-28
5.1 W3C: HTML 5.1 Specification
2016-11-01
Section 1.1: Hello World
Introduction
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) uses a markup system composed of elements which represent specific content. Markup means that with HTML you declare what is presented to a viewer, not how it is presented. Visual representations are defined by Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and realized by browsers. Still existing elements that allow for such, like e.g. font, "are entirely obsolete, and must not be used by authors"[1].
HTML is sometimes called a programming language but it has no logic, so is a markup language. HTML tags provide semantic meaning and machine-readability to the content in the page.
An element usually consists of an opening tag (<element_name>), a closing tag (</element_name>), which contain the element's name surrounded by angle brackets, and the content in between:
<element_name>...content...</element_name>
There are some HTML elements that don't have a closing tag or any contents. These are called void elements. Void elements include <img>, <meta>, <link> and <input>.
Element names can be thought of as descriptive keywords for the content they contain, such as video, audio, table, footer.
A HTML page may consist of potentially hundreds of elements which are then read by a web browser, interpreted and rendered into human readable or audible content on the screen.
For this document it is important to note the difference between elements and tags:
Elements: video, audio, table, footer
Tags: <video>, <audio>, <table>, <footer>, </html>, </body>
Element insight
Let's break down a tag...
The <p> tag represents a common paragraph.
Elements commonly have an opening tag and a closing tag. The opening tag contains the element's name in angle brackets (<p>). The closing tag is identical to the opening tag with the addition of a forward slash (/) between the opening bracket and the element's name (</p>).
Content can then go between these two tags: <p>This is a simple paragraph.</p>.
Creating a simple page
The following HTML example creates a simple "Hello World" web page.
HTML files can be created using any text editor. The files must be saved with a .html or .htm[2] extension in order to be recognized as HTML files.
Once created, this file can be opened in any web browser.
Simple page break down
These are the tags used in the example:
Tag Meaning
<!DOCTYPE> Defines the HTML version used in the document. In this case it is HTML5.
See the doctypes topic for more information.
Opens the page. No markup should come after the closing tag (</html>). The lang attribute declares
<html>
<head>
<meta>
the primary language of the page using the ISO language codes (en for English). See the Content Language topic for more information.
Opens the head section, which does not appear in the main browser window but mainly contains information about the HTML document, called metadata. It can also contain imports from external stylesheets and scripts. The closing tag is </head>.
Gives the browser some metadata about the document. The charset attribute declares the character encoding. Modern HTML documents should always use UTF-8, even though it is not a requirement. In HTML, the <meta> tag does not require a closing tag.
See the Meta topic for more information.
<title> The title of the page. Text written between this opening and the closing tag (</title>) will be displayed on the tab of the page or in the title bar of the browser.
<body> Opens the part of the document displayed to users, i.e. all the visible or audible content of a page. No content should be added after the closing tag </body>.
<h1> A level 1 heading for the page.
See headings for more information.
<p> Represents a common paragraph of text.
1. ↑ HTML5, 11.2 Non-conforming features
2. ↑ .htm is inherited from the legacy DOS three character file extension limit.
Chapter 2: Doctypes
Doctypes - short for 'document type' - help browsers to understand the version of HTML the document is written in for better interpretability. Doctype declarations are not HTML tags and belong at the very top of a document. This topic explains the structure and declaration of various doctypes in HTML.
Section 2.1: Adding the Doctype
The <!DOCTYPE> declaration should always be included at the top of the HTML document, before the <html> tag.
Version ≥ 5
See HTML 5 Doctype for details on the HTML 5 Doctype.
Section 2.2: HTML 5 Doctype
HTML5 is not based on SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), and therefore does not require a reference to a DTD (Document Type Definition).
HTML 5 Doctype declaration:
Case Insensitivity
Per the W3.org HTML 5 DOCTYPE Spec:
A DOCTYPE must consist of the following components, in this order:
1. A string that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the string "<!DOCTYPE".
therefore the following DOCTYPEs are also valid:
This SO article discusses the topic extensively: Uppercase or lowercase doctype?
Chapter 3: Headings
HTML provides not only plain paragraph tags, but six separate header tags to indicate headings of various sizes and thicknesses. Enumerated as heading 1 through heading 6, heading 1 has the largest and thickest text while heading 6 is the smallest and thinnest, down to the paragraph level. This topic details proper usage of these tags.
Section 3.1: Using Headings
Headings can be used to describe the topic they precede and they are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags. Headings support all the global attributes.
<h1> defines the most important heading.
<h6> defines the least important heading.
Defining a heading:
Correct structure matters
Search engines and other user agents usually index page content based on heading elements, for example to create a table of contents, so using the correct structure for headings is important.
In general, an article should have one h1 element for the main title followed by h2 subtitles – going down a layer if necessary. If there are h1 elements on a higher level they shoudn't be used to describe any lower level content.
Example document (extra intendation to illustrate hierarchy):
Chapter 4: Paragraphs
Column Column
<p> Defines a paragraph
<br> Inserts a single line break
<pre> Defines pre-formatted text
Paragraphs are the most basic HTML element. This topic explains and demonstrates the usage of the paragraph element in HTML.
Section 4.1: HTML Paragraphs
The HTML <p> element defines a paragraph:
Display-
You cannot be sure how HTML will be displayed.
Large or small screens, and resized windows will create different results.
With HTML, you cannot change the output by adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML code. The browser will remove any extra spaces and extra lines when the page is displayed:
Chapter 5: Text Formatting
While most HTML tags are used to create elements, HTML also provides in-text formatting tags to apply specific text-related styles to portions of text. This topic includes examples of HTML text formatting such as highlighting, bolding, underlining, subscript, and stricken text
Section 5.1: Highlighting
The <mark> element is new in HTML5 and is used to mark or highlight text in a document "due to its relevance in another context".1
The most common example would be in the results of a search were the user has entered a search query and results are shown highlighting the desired query.
Output:
A common standard formatting is black text on a yellow background, but this can be changed with CSS.
Section 5.2: Bold, Italic, and Underline
Bold Text
To bold text, use the <strong> or <b> tags:
or
What's the difference? Semantics. <strong> is used to indicate that the text is fundamentally or semantically important to the surrounding text, while <b> indicates no such importance and simply represents text that should be bolded.
If you were to use <b> a text-to-speech program would not say the word(s) any differently than any of the other words around it - you are simply drawing attention to them without adding any additional importance. By using
<strong>, though, the same program would want to speak those word(s) with a different tone of voice to convey that the text is important in some way.
Italic Text
To italicize text, use the <em> or <i> tags:
or
What's the difference? Semantics. <em> is used to indicate that the text should have extra emphasis that should be stressed, while <i> simply represents text which should be set off from the normal text around it.
For example, if you wanted to stress the action inside a sentence, one might do so by emphasizing it in italics via
<em>: "Would you just submit the edit already?"
But if you were identifying a book or newspaper that you would normally italicize stylistically, you would simply use
<i>: "I was forced to read Romeo and Juliet in high school.
Underlined Text
While the <u> element itself was deprecated in HTMl 4, it was reintroduced with alternate semantic meaning in HTML 5 - to represent an unarticulated, non-textual annotation. You might use such a rendering to indicate misspelled text on the page, or for a Chinese proper name mark.
Section 5.3: Abbreviation
To mark some expression as an abbreviation, use <abbr> tag:
If present, the title attribute is used to present the full description of such abbreviation.
Section 5.4: Inserted, Deleted, or Stricken
To mark text as inserted, use the <ins> tag:
To mark text as deleted, use the <del> tag:
To strike through text, use the <s> tag:
Section 5.5: Superscript and Subscript
To offset text either upward or downward you can use the tags <sup> and <sub>. To create superscript:
To create subscript:
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