Trainer (software)

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Trainer is a term from the field of computer games and a variant of a cheat .

It describes a program that manipulates the content of memory addresses in a computer game and thereby produces positive effects for the player. Effects that are permanently active can either be selected in an intro , or different effects are assigned to different buttons , so-called hotkeys.

Trainers have a similar effect to cheats. However, cheats are built into the game itself, while trainers are stand-alone, additional software. Trainers are mainly published by individuals or groups who specialize in game "hacking" and also often appear on CDs from computer game magazines. For a number of years there have also been programs such as the “Trainer Maker Kit” with which the advanced layperson can create trainers for a game with simple mouse clicks.

Example functions of a trainer

Common functions of trainers are for example:

  • Infinite health, ammunition or resources
  • Faster or slower course of the game
  • Make certain vehicles and / or weapons appear

Internal working method

Internally, coaches work by observing the process in which the game is running and, depending on how they work, manipulating the game's code or game data, or both.

Examples:

  • The program part of the game in which the player loses a life is replaced by code that has no effect (see zero operation ). As a result, the number of lives no longer changes.
  • At the point where the game saves the number of lives, the coach regularly looks up, and if there is a number that is too small, he overwrites it with a larger one.
  • In a recurring interrupt, a fixed value is written to the position with the number of lives.
  • The user is provided with the assignment of a button with which he can fill up and activate the shield of his spaceship by increasing the internal shield energy meter and calling up the program for shield activation.

In order to prevent such manipulation, games can develop countermeasures. Possible techniques for this are:

  • The game status is not saved at a fixed address, but somewhere else each time the game is started. In particularly severe cases, the game status can constantly wander around in the memory.
  • The score is encrypted in the memory so that the trainer cannot simply access the data.
  • The game continuously calculates a checksum for the score, which is checked regularly. As a result, the trainer has to find out the procedure for the checksum or deactivate the code for the checksum calculation. That causes additional effort.
  • With the same mechanism that the trainer monitors the game in memory, the game can also monitor the trainer. To do this, however, it must know how such a trainer is usually structured and how to distinguish it from non-involved programs that are running on the computer at the same time.

Trainer for video game consoles and handhelds

Trainers also exist as part of cheat systems for video game systems as hardware (e.g. Xploder , Action Replay, etc.).

In contrast to trainers for PC games, it is possible to find your own cheat-like game manipulations, so-called codes .

After the elimination process, memory addresses can be found at which essential data for the current game are stored.

history

Trainers were already integrated by crackers in the 1980s, mostly directly into games for home computers such as the Commodore 64; a well-known example of this is 1942 Trainer (1986).

literature

  • René Meyer, Volkmar Großwendt: Cheat it! Crack game codes . Markt + Technik, Munich 2001, pp. 39–65, ISBN 3-8272-6001-9