Beginners Guide to Using Cheat Engine to Manipulate FFIV

This guide shows you how to change the amount of an item you have, change one item into another, change a key item into an augment, and track and change an enemy's hit points. This guide is intended for beginners.

Notes

This guide was first published on my blog[ryuninadeis.blogspot.com].

I wrote this guide because I lack the technical experience to follow TheDude's modding guide here on steam. I figured all this out by spending an evening puzzling over that one, plus some stuff linked to/discussed in the comments, and through having followed this guide for Death and Taxes previously. I still don't think I'm doing exactly the thing TheDude's guide is trying to describe, but my way works fine.

CheatEngine is a piece of software that can edit various bits of your game as you play. You can download it here[www.cheatengine.org]. I'm using version 7.2.

Duplicating Items

• These are the steps to create more of an item you already have in your inventory.
  
• Start Final Fantasy IV and load your saved game. Go to a shop.
  
• Open Cheat Engine.
  
• Click on the little magnifying glass/screen image on the top left of Cheat Engine (labelled '1' in the image below) and select Final Fantasy IV from the list (2). Make sure you select the game not the launcher. Click "open".

• We're now going to find the data for the first item in your inventory. I have 10 Hi-Potions in that slot.
  
• Change the 'value type' to '2 bytes'. Put '10' - or however many items are in your first slot - as the value, then select 'first scan'.

• This found 10,622 entries. We need to narrow it down to one.
  
• Change the number of items. I sold a Hi-Potion, decreasing my total by 1.
  
• Change the scan type to 'decreased value by' (6) and set the value to '1' (7). Hit 'next scan' (8) to search amongst the results you already found, to see which one has decreased by 1. In my case, this left me with 11 results (9).

• At this point, I'm pretty confident that the result I want is the one that begins "FF4.exe". Just to be sure, I sell off another Hi-Potion and search again for a value that's decreased by 1. You literally just need to hit 'next scan' after selling a Hi-Potion.
  
• This narrows it down to 3 options, so I do it again, leaving me with one option.
  
• Click on that one option to highlight it (10), then hit the red arrow (11) to bring it down to the box at the bottom. (12).

• You can change the description by double-clicking on "no description". Name it something like Inventory 1.
  
• You can now change how many Hi-Potions you have. Double click on the value - in this case, 7 - and change it to something else. I changed it to 25. The value won't immediately change on your screen in Final Fantasy 4, but if you close and reopen your inventory, you will see you now have 25 Hi-Potions.
  
• Put the item you want to duplicate in your inventory, i.e., if it's an armour, make sure it's unequipped. I'm going to duplicate my Adamant Armour.
  
• In your inventory, place your cursor on the item and hold down the action button. When the cursor splits into two, move it to your Hi-Potions then release to swap the two items places in your inventory.
  
• The Adamant Armour is now in the first slot in my inventory. On Cheat Engine, the value of the address we saved has changed to '1' because I only have 1 Adamant Armour.

• Change that value into whatever number you like. Change it to 5, close and reopen your inventory, and you'll have 5 Adamant Armours.

• Repeat this with whatever item you want to duplicate. Just put whatever it is into the first slot and change the amount of it that you have.

Change an Item Stack into Another Item

• I have 76 Dry Ethers. I want to change them into Golden Apples.
  
• To do this, I will need the hex codes for Dry Ethers and for Golden Apples. These codes are listed in this guide[gamefaqs.gamespot.com]. Dry-Ether is 138D, Golden Apples are 13A2.
  
• In Cheat Engine, hit 'new scan' if you are following this guide in order.
  
• Put '138D' in the search box and tick 'hex' next to it (1), then hit 'first scan' (2). This found 57 results for me.

• The result in green which begins FF4.exe is the one we want. Highlight it (4) and click the red arrow (5) to bring it down to the window at the bottom I renamed it 'Hi Potion', because I forgot that I was looking at Dry Ethers (6).

• Now we change the value from 138D to 13A2.
  
• Close and reopen your inventory, and all your Hi-Potions Dry Ethers are now Golden Apples.

• If you want to, you can now buy another Dry Ether and turn it into something else by repeating the steps above.
  
• I don't know if obtaining the Onion equipment or Adamant Armour in this way unlocks the relevant achievements, since I'd already obtained them before I started doing this.
  
• I could not turn the Yoichi Bow into an Artemis Bow this way but I could change a potion into an Artemis Bow. I don't know why.

Changing Key Items into Augments

• At this point in the game - right before the final boss - I have a Baron Key, Whisperweed, Luca's Necklace, and a Lugae's Key that served no further purpose.
  
• This method is very similar to that described above, in changing one inventory item into another.
  
• The code of the Whisperweed is 2331. Start a new 2-byte Hex search, as above, and search for that value.

• Once you have it, change the value to the key item you want. For example, the Limit Break augment, which is 23A2. Close and reopen your inventory, and the augment is there, ready to use.

• Final note: when you close Cheat Engine it will warn you that you haven't saved. Ignore it. That has nothing to do with your game and won't undo anything you just did.
  
• Theoretically, you could edit your number of key items the same way as you can your inventory items. The problem is, there isn't an easy way to change the amount of a specific key item you have to figure out which address is pointing to that value. If you figured out how to do that, you could, for example, give yourself 10 whisperweeds, change them into an Augment, use it, change the remaining 9 into a different Augment, use it, and so on.
  
• I don't know how to make new items or new key items out of nothing BUT, Zeeninng worked out how and explained in the comments. I'm reposting it here.

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Zeeninng:

You do what you did to change key items but search for the hex value of one of your key items, then when you find the address right click it and "Browse this memory region".
- Then in that window, right click anywhere in the bottom area and click Display Type > 2 Byte Hex and it should have brought you to that memory address in there, for whatever key item you searched for THAT IS ALREADY IN YOUR INVENTORY, you will see a bunch of columns alternating, 1 will have the key item ID, the VERY NEXT COLUMN will be the AMOUNT of the key item, so right click that next column of digits immediately after the Key Item ID column, and click Add this Address to List

- Right click that address in your list and "Show as decimal" and you can just type in any decimal number and change how many of the key item you have.

-So now you can bump it to 99, then just keep changing the actual ID to the different Augments and learn them all :) Enjoy! hopefully explained it well enough.

Using Cheat Engine to Track or Change an Enemy's Hit Points

• This probably isn't worth doing for anything other than Proto-Babil.
  
• Begin the battle, then pause.
  
• Again, we are starting a new search. Untick 'hex', change the value type to "4 bytes" and search for 'unknown initial value' with a New Scan. This will find several million results.
  
• Do not unpause your game. Wait a few seconds - 2 or 3 is fine - then search for 'unchanged value' with Next Scan. This will get rid of any of the results that changed while your game was paused. We know the enemy's hit points didn't change while the game was paused, so we know those aren't the results we wanted.
  
• Damage the enemy, then pause.
  
• Change your scan type to 'decreased value' and hit 'next scan'. Alternatively, if you know exactly how much damage your attack did, search for "decreased value by" that number with next scan.
  
• Repeat the last step until one value remains. This will be your enemy's hit points. Bring it down to the box at the bottom and watch it change as you attack.
  
• Yes, you can change it so your enemy only has a few or even 0 hit points left and they will die instantly.
  
• If you reload your game, the address of the enemy's hit points will change. That is, you will have to start from the beginning for every battle, even against the same enemy.

[DeStroYeR]

I can't seem to change a Whisperweed or Baron Key into the Treasure Hunter augment. Or rather, after I've changed the value and go to the key item section (pressing X), the game crashes.

I have a total of 7 key items.

I'm not all all knowledgeable in hex editing or the CE software. I missed some % of a map somewhere so I need said augment.

[조지아클루니]

Thank you very much

[zanetheinsane]

Here are two other fun addresses you might need:
Cover Counter (1 Byte): FF4.exe+230BC9
Love Augment Name (String): FF4.exe+1DF420
Love Augment Name (String): FF4.exe+233FE8

[zanetheinsane]

Your Key Items are controlled by (all 2-Byte values except for the Key Item Quantity)

Key Item Quantity (1-Byte): FF4.exe+230A4C
Key Item 01 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230848
Key Item 01 Quantity: FF4.exe+23084A
Key Item 02 Hex ID: FF4.exe+23084C
Key Item 02 Quantity: FF4.exe+23084E
Key Item 03 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230850
Key Item 03 Quantity: FF4.exe+230852

Be very careful not to accidentally edit out key items that the game needs for story progression, such as the Carnelian Signet (the game needs this when you reach Myst at the beginning of the game). I have no idea if the game is checking specific slots for these items or if it is doing a search for hex item 2333.

[zanetheinsane]

The amount of items in your inventory is controlled by a single 1-Byte value at: FF4.exe+230844

Your first Inventory Item ID is a 2-Byte Hex Value, and the next 2-Bytes is the amount of that item.

Your first 6 item slots are:

Inventory Quantity (1 Byte): FF4.exe+230844
Item 01 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230240
Item 01 Quantity: FF4.exe+230242
Item 02 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230244
Item 02 Quantity: FF4.exe+230246
Item 03 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230248
Item 03 Quantity: FF4.exe+23024A
Item 04 Hex ID: FF4.exe+23024C
Item 04 Quantity: FF4.exe+23024E
Item 05 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230250
Item 05 Quantity: FF4.exe+230252
Item 06 Hex ID: FF4.exe+230254
Item 06 Quantity: FF4.exe+230256

As you can see, as long as you can count up in hex address by 2 you can fill out more.

[zanetheinsane]

"did you ever figure out how to get values over 65535? the highest 32 bit value, for exp and gil you can for sure have more than 65535"

You can go over 65535 by setting the "carry" bytes. There is a separate number that designated the carry-over.

Your Gil is stored in a 2 byte value at: FF4.exe+230A50

This value can be 1-65535.

They carry bytes are 2 bytes higher than this, add a 2-byte value at: FF4.exe+230A52

Set this value to a low value. Every single +1 to this value is an additional +65535 Gil. So if you set the lower bytes to 65535 (max), and you set your carry byes to 1, you will have (65535+65535) Gil. Setting it to 2 will give you (65535+[2*65535]) etc,

[Zeeningg]

no problem at all happy to contribute since your guide helped me so much! :)

[Bartelmy]

Thanks! I've quoted your comment in the relevant section. Let me know if you want it removed.

[Zeeningg]

thank you for the guide to get me pointed in the right direction though, some awards and steam points for ya :)

[Zeeningg]

You do what you did to change key items but search for the hex value of one of your key items, then when you find the address right click it and "Browse this memory region".
- Then in that window, right click anywhere in the bottom area and click Display Type > 2 Byte Hex and it should have brought you to that memory address in there, for whatever key item you searched for THAT IS ALREADY IN YOUR INVENTORY, you will see a bunch of columns alternating, 1 will have the key item ID, the VERY NEXT COLUMN will be the AMOUNT of the key item, so right click that next column of digits immediately after the Key Item ID column, and click Add this Address to List

- Right click that address in your list and "Show as decimal" and you can just type in any decimal number and change how many of the key item you have.

-So now you can bump it to 99, then just keep changing the actual ID to the different Augments and learn them all :) Enjoy! hopefully explained it well enough.