DEAD RISING 4 HAS MODDING PROTECTION, GAME CANNOT BE MODDED!

[mariokart64n]

!!! THIS GAME CAN NOT BE MODDED !!!

I just want to warn any potential modders or coder's that want to mod this game

I spent a large amount of time coding up a modding tool and when I tried to test a mod ingame I had discovered that the game crashes..

Initially I had assumed it was an error on my part, so I had spent a few more days debugging and double checking outputs byte for byte.

Eventually I was at a point where I had no idea what was causing the game to crash .

So in a desperate last effort I did a simple edit by just changing a random byte in one of the original game files. To my surprise the game crashed AGAIN!!!
..crashing with something as simple as a single byte change means something is NOT right and its not my modding tool!

I don't believe the game was crashing, I think its actively detecting for file changes and will self terminate when a change is discovered.

I based this assumption on the byte test I did and also that the DR4 executable is oddly large. Over 100mbs compared to DR2 which was only 9mbs, this may indicate that they are storing checksum's for each file in the game executable and are actually verifying every file..which is... CRAZY

I'm guessing the developers saw how rampant the modding was in DR2 and sought to eliminate that happening in DR4. I can also imagine that they knew their sales were down from DR2 and for DR4 they were probably pushing the game towards DLC's and micro-transactions to save face with CAPCOM. Likely using the excuse that the 'FANS' and the 'MODDERS' were the reason for their game's poor sales lol

But we all know how that went when CAPCOM closed the studio down after DR4 released also if you watch any of the dev interviews on DR4 its VERY obvious that they knew the end was coming not to mention the director quit months before DR4's release...

It's for the best anyway, any dev / employer that thinks their consumers or their employees opinions are the problem DON'T deserve support of their staff or consumers! its a team effort after all!

Here is a in-depth video of me going over the methods I used to verify that the game implements some sort of file protection

* This protection needs to be circumvented before any modding can be possible!
However its not a common skill we need to get help from a highly skilled
reverse engineer that masters in disassembly and machine language. :/

-RIP DR4 Modding 2016

[Mel]

But it is possible?
I could unlock the DLC's and even spawn weapons.

You can even exchange models or do I get something wrong here?

[mariokart64n]

You may re-arrange data but not create new data and enabling DLC in your profile has nothing to do with file editing/modding

I imagine that all data is read and a checksum is generated providing type of "footprint" for each file, this footprint is then checked against a list in the game. If the footprint doesn't match because the data was altered then the game terminates immediately.

In the case you rearrange the data, it doesn't matter... as the foot print remains the same.

To clarify the .big, .mdl, .tex are all the same archive format, the checksums are generated on the files within each respective archive not on the entire archive as whole.

This means you can swap data within each archive across each other which you may mistake as creating new data..
However you are NOT creating new data your just swapping (re-arranging) the files contained in the archive.

Please watch the video provided if you want a more in-depth understanding of the sort of protection we are facing. Sadly this is the reality with the game, and I'm annoyed that no one had bothered to identify this clearly in the past several years. As devastating as this news is this needs to be clear because it informs everyone so future modders don't waste their time and we can now focus on locating an individual that can bypass the built-in protection of the game executable.

[Mel]

So by logic, that means. If you edit .bin files then it is not modding?
Oh, I don't know anything about it anyway. I'll just stay out of it.

[mariokart64n]

The game uses many forms of configuration files which are not assets, like .txt, .csv and .bin
I did not experiment on these files but it would not be surprising if they are configurable as they are uh config files..

[ThrowingOutRoX]

luckily DR3 doesnt have this 😳

[Mel]

But also no modding tools except .bin, Gibbet and Tex tool

[cheeki]

Just checking if anyone has looked at the CODEX and KaOs denuvo cracked releases/exes as a route to begin mods?
I can provide a link to them. I've been so disappointed in how much of a slap in the face this game is since purchasing, especially the omission of campaign/etc co-op when they have already implemented co-op into the engine...I mean ffs the level of stupidity and and OTT game play screams for co-operative silliness

[cheeki]

Watched your video, despite getting this game massively discounted I still feel very dirty giving a single dollar to these kind of people...