Is it possible to extract the "physics" off a game?

[ZeHgS]

Hello!

So there's this really old MMORPG released in 2004 or something called www.erinia.com.br, which is still played by a few dozen people or so. I'd like to know whether it's possible to somehow extract the formulas this game uses to calculate things such as hit and miss, damage and defense and things like that. Is there any way other than manually gathering statistics through extensive testing? Or can this be accomplished through programs such as memory readers or something of the kind? Keep in mind this is a really old game, so if games today have some sort of protection against this, it might not be the case for Erinia.

Thanks a lot!

[dlevere]

Can't hack codes for online MMORPG games. Even if it's old, if there are still people playing it online.

[ZeHgS]

Can't hack codes for online MMORPG games. Even if it's old, if there are still people playing it online.

Thanks very much for your answer!

Why would this be? What if somehow I managed to set up a server of my own? Before the game opens, there is a window where I can change the server address to anything I like, would it work?

It is such an old game, though they changed the server settings and it is no longer like this, that people saved their character's progress locally in their own computers. Is this true even for this type of a game?

[dlevere]

We don't hack codes for online games. Only single player PC games.

Disclaimer: We are not involved with piracy (game 'cracking', etc), and do not condone hacking of online, multiplayer games. 'Hacking', in the context of GameHacking.org, refers to modification of a platform's system memory during game play, or modification of files that comprise a game, to achieve a desired effect during game play.

[ZeHgS]

Oh ok. But the game went bankrupt in like 2008, and is now kept alive by a former Game Master and community members. It is free to play and the company gave them permission to keep the game alive. Does this rule still apply?

The reason I want these equations is so I can better calculate and plan my character. I certainly wouldn't consider it hacking, I just want to save myself the trouble of having to level up a million characters in a million different ways just so I can test and see how each attribute works. I am not looking for any in-game advantage at all, just the out-of-game advantage of knowing where to spend my attribute points. Well, thanks anyway if it is still not allowed.

EDIT: someone who is more experienced than I am with this game would have at least the same advantages I am looking for, if not more because they know more items, etc.

[Pyriel]

If it's possible to run your own server, chances are you can tweak a lot of those variables in the setup. However, you would need access to the server source code or a binary in order to figure out how it calculates such things. The client code almost certainly doesn't contain anything of the kind, or somebody would probably have exploited it already.

[ZeHgS]

Thank you for your answer!

They might have at some point in the past... the game has such a small community that there aren't enough people to exploit anything. I know that there was a time when you could level up your character just by editing the Windows registry.

[travelsonic]

The client code almost certainly doesn't contain anything of the kind, or somebody would probably have exploited it already.

I dunno if it's necessarily that simple (mayhap the player base size, or the lack of drive to figure it out, hindered the research, not some possiblity), - of course, never was a fan of the "not X, otherwise Y" reasoning to begin with myself - that said, I can bet certain calculations are definitely done serverside to prevent players from exploiting it Anyone running a server on the other hand could figure it out eventually (assuming it is possible to get ahold of the binaries, files).

[Pyriel]

Yeah, that's why I say "almost" and "probably". There were some really early MMORPGs that did some of that stuff client-side until they learned why that was a rubbish idea. If it was developed or significantly upgraded in the last 15 years, and they gave any thought to keeping the system fair and secure, virtually everything that isn't presentation related will be handled server-side.

On the other hand the developers could be kind of dim. I know there was one game that was heavily exploitable with ArtMoney for a while, then you could cheat significantly by forging packets. Rather than fixing any of these flaws they started encrypting and signing packets with some ridiculous scheme that was easily beaten. It had a community of maybe 5,000 people when this was going on, and the company's best and brightest were in an arms race with maybe five people who were only in it for laughs.