Basic mods for Xbox

[Musketball]

Hello, looks like I'm a few years late to the scene, but I love playing this game. I want to do some simple mods, like change ammo, reload speed, character health, number of AI enemies, stop the hero health drain, etc. No new content, just static editing of values. After extensive searching, my impression is that some people think Xbox BF2 modding is possible, but it never gets beyond theoretical discussion, and I have found no mods to download.

 

What are my options? (Please no facetious answers)

 

I've downloaded the BF2 mod tools, which mention Xbox very, very briefly. It would be OK with me to re-munge all the stock maps with the edits I want, if that would work.

 

I'm not afraid to dig into hex, since I've done it before with old Sega ROMs to do things like infinite health, higher jump, etc. Most of the things I'm looking to change would probably just be a matter of setting one value in memory. The only trick is finding the addresses. I don't know how to get realtime hex / memory data from the Xbox. I also don't know how I would find the right addresses in a giant map data file for the level (while it is not being played).

 

Advice?

[Bokken]

1) Take into consideration the fact that the maps for Xbox and the maps for PC are different.

 

2) Take into consideration the fact that all of the assets that come with the ModTools are strictly for the PC. Map assets are for PC, side assets are for PC.

 

3) Last, take into consideration the fact that the mods are stored in a special folder that is accessed by the game's EXE. I haven't looked at the data on an Xbox game, but I'm guessing that, even if there were a way to put a mod map on the disc, the game wouldn't access it.

 

As far as using the ModTools goes, you can't mod the Xbox version.

 

As far as HexEditing the Xbox version goes...no. Just no. I have NEVER heard of anyone being able to hack a console game actually on the console.

[Musketball]

1) Sure.

2) Sure.

3) The directory structure looks very similar. My Xbox is modded, and BF2 is on the HDD, accessed by FTP (my BF2 disc has spent the last few years sitting on a shelf). There is no need for a mod folder. Whatever ultimate format the stock content is compiled to, the values I'm looking for are deterministically located in the existing files. The task is to find them. In looking at the Mod Tools, I was hoping to get some awareness of the structure and layout of game data, if not direct Xbox compatibility.

 

As far as HexEditing the Xbox version goes...no. Just no. I have NEVER heard of anyone being able to hack a console game actually on the console.

 

There are many, many trainers for the Xbox that do exactly this. I haven't found one for BF2 though. There's a utility that can poke values in Halo 2 in real time, for example changing a projectile you have just fired into a different projectile in midair. But its creators are secretive. The point is, it's possible.

 

Condescension FTL.

[Bokken]

1) I was not being condescending. Read around the rest of the forum, and you'll see condescension in copious quantities.

 

2) Believe it or not, I do know slightly more about official modding than you do. If you wanted to change things like ammunition, reload time, or health, you wouldn't remunge a whole map. You'd simply edit the side files to your specifications, munge them, and replace the LVL files from the game with the ones from your mod.

 

For AI, you would have to remunge the map. However, since the ones that the ModTools knows how to munge and the ones from the Xbox version of the game are different, you'd end up with completely different maps.

 

The hero health drain is, I believe, hard-coded. You can add the hero as a unit, but that would require you to remunge the map. Things like the unit list are not going to be found in the LVL files.

 

 

The GameToast staff would know considerably more about it than I do, but if you don't know how to deal with perceived condescension, best if you stay away.

[Musketball]

OK, some useful information there.

 

For those who are interested:

An Xbox trainer for BF2 is here at Maxconsole. Basic trainer features, some of them fun to play with.

 

Hex editing of lvl files is discussed here at Scenyx, with some hero swaps and weapon swaps between units. It turns out the lvl files have many human-readable strings, which makes certain things not difficult to edit, with the usual hex constraints on space for data.

 

Mission.lvl files for PC BF2 mods work with for the Xbox, subject to limitations I haven't fully explored. For example, I haven't tried playing custom maps or altered skins. I've played a PC mod consisting of Yoda and Obi Wan as units against Anakin (as a unit) and clones on Coruscant. Not a great mod, but it worked without a hitch on the Xbox.

 

So it seems the output of the Mod Tools is compatible with Xbox, at least in some cases. If some of the simple mods I want "require" a remunge, then I just need to get BF2 for PC, perform the remunge, and upload to the Xbox. A comparison of the lvl files before and after remunge would reveal the corresponding hex addresses. I'll post my findings here for posterity.

[Bokken]

Not quite. You don't actually need SWBF2 to use the ModTools. You need it to run ModTools.exe, but you can still output map data. You still run into the snag that some of the maps are different between PC and Xbox, but other than that, looks like it would work.

[Maveritchell]

The short answer is that you can add new things to the XBox version of the game, but usually it is just easier to say "no" and so often we do. You're on the right track in that you have your box set up to be modded, but you'll need to recreate the batch files that compile source files into the .lvl files used by the game.

 

Your memory limitations are more stringent than the PC version allows. I can't give you a step-by-step myself since I've never changed the batch files (nor do I own an Xbox and as such this is something I couldn't care less about), but from what I understand you should have at least a cursory knowledge of how SWBF2 mods on PC work and what the munge (compile) process entails.

 

Feel free to take a look through this topic here and garner what you can from it - the point remains that you will need to have a basic knowledge of working with SWBF2 mods, because the majority of what you're talking about will be significantly easier to do with creating new .lvl files in whole or in part to either add in their entirety or to add in chunks into preexisting .lvl files (with hex-editing, as you mention) . If you are open to suggestion I would offer these:

-Do a little bit of SWBF2 PC modding (at least play around with the tools and learn how to make sides)

-Send a message to the user who created the abovementioned topic and see if he's willing to share any information with you.