Saves 0025-0030: Welcome to The World
Okay, enough preliminaries. Time to log in to The World. We’re treated to a shot of Kite appearing in Mac Anu, meeting up with Orca.
Got Orca’s member address. Entered Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. Killed some stuff. Plot happens!
Okay, new save (0025). Diff them…
Oh! So many changes! Where to begin?
Previously, the section after the user and character names was just a repeating string of FFFFFF00. Now, there’s another byte pattern repeating throughout that section:
00 00 0A 05 03 00 0A 05 04 00 0A 05 05 00 0A 05
01 00 0D 05 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00 FF FF FF 00
That repeats several times.
A byte at 0x0D37. has change from 00 to 01. Starting at 0x12B8, lots of 4-byte sections have changed from FFFFFF00 to something else. The last one is at 0x1DB8-0x1DBB. Just after that, a couple of 4-byte sections changed from 00000000 to something else. At 0x1E7A, two bytes change from 0000 to 0401. There’s a region from 0x1EC4 to 0x2193 that was previously filled with FF. Now, it’s got some other stuff scattered about. There are 1-byte changes at 0x2220, 0x2224, and 0x226A. Two bytes change at 0x246A-0x246B. One byte at 0x421C. One at 0x4FE5. Four bytes at 0x523C and two at 0x5278.
…
Well, the point is that there are lots of changes. There’s no way I can possibly understand them all by just looking at this one diff.
That said, I can probably sort out at least one thing: more mail. I had a new unread mail when I saved, so let’s look at the area where the previous mail was—0x23A4. Previously, it was 02 when the mail was unread, and 04 when the mail was read. Now, there’s a byte changed up above here: 0x226A has changed from 00 to 02. I’m guessing that byte represents the new email. Save 0026: I’m right.
Also, given that the two bytes before that one are 04, I’m guessing those represented the other two emails that I read before making the first save.
Okay, try to log in to The World again… all servers are down for maintenance. Well, let’s go ahead and make save 0027, just to see what happens… ah, two bytes changed: 0x2944 changed from 00 to 07, and 0x5548 changed from 01 to 03. Why?
Anyway, “I should post on the Board about Yasuhiko.” Okay, message posted, and I have new mail. First, though: save 0028.
Several changes. One at 0x226B—that’ll be the new mail. Two bytes at 0x246B-0x246C—don’t know about this one. 0x2944 changed from 07 to 03. Given its location, that should be the post I made to the board, I’m thinking. Also, 0x5548 changed from 03 to 33. Don’t know what that one does, either. Some kind of flag, I guess.
That email, it’s from “Au]$”. How mysterious. Save 0029. And now I see tha the email at 0x226B shows up as read, and the byte at 0x5548 has changed from 33 to 73. That’s surely tracking the state of the game. It’s taken on five different values, so far.
Well, let’s log in to The World, again. Ah, there’s BlackRose, behaving suspiciously. Well, first order of business: save 0030.
So many changes! There are lots of small changes between 0x13F8 and 0x1E3A. Given the location, I’m guessing those are related to BlackRose—either inventory or stats, or maybe both. The ones that changed before probably belonged to Kite and Orca.
0x5548 changed again, to F3. A couple of other bytes changed near there, too: 0x554F-0x5550 changed from 0000 to C015. 0x54F8 changed from 01 to 00. 27 bytes changed starting at 0x81B4, and 15 starting at 0x81E4.
Whew! There have been a lot of changes, and I don’t think I’ve really deciphered much more, yet, but I’m now in a position to figure out where the player’s inventory is stored. That’ll probably be a big endeavour, though, so I’m going to take a break, here.