If you appreciate the work done within the wiki, please consider supporting The Cutting Room Floor on Patreon. Thanks for all your support!
This article has a talk page!

Help:Contents/Finding Content

From The Cutting Room Floor
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page contains changes which are not marked for translation.
Other languages:
English • ‎español • ‎italiano • ‎polski • ‎português • ‎português do Brasil • ‎svenska • ‎русский • ‎日本語 • ‎한국어

This is a sub-page of Help:Contents.

So you want to search the insides of a game to see if there is any content suitable for TCRF. That's great! Here are some helpful tools, guides, and tips.

Master List

WinZipOldIcon.png
File Formats
Search By File Format
SourceIcon.png
Systems
Search By System
Icon-stillindev.png
Game Engines
Search By Game Engine

Tools

  1. Memory Watcher/Editor
    • This is normally included with most emulators, for old games. For recent games, try Cheat Engine. This will allow you to edit values in the game's memory, like your health and ammo, but it can be used for much more.
  2. Hex Editor
    • This will also allow you to change memory values in the game, but on the hardcoded stuff, not when the game is running. Though hex editors are mostly used to search for strings. Optionally, but strongly recommended for newer disc-based/PC games, one can use an extractor for finding files in common formats (i.e. Ogg Vorbis files, .PNGs, DirectX textures). An example of this type of program would be Game Extractor. Also optional is the use of fan-made editors or viewers for specific games. These can help look at resources directly from the game.
  3. Debugger
    • On top of being able to watch the memory, debuggers are typically used for error tracking in a game's development. They can pause a program at a particular point. Single-stepping is also often possible in these programs, allowing one to go through a program's procedures step by step. Sometimes, these can even step backwards in a program's execution.
  4. Disassembler
    • In the most extreme cases, one may have to reverse engineer the game. These will take a binary and produce a listing of all of the functions found within a program. This is not recommended for those not familiar with assembly languages.

Guides

Hmmm...
To do:
Add a guide with platform/toolkit-specific tips: with Flash, you can right-click, zoom out, and find off-camera content; with arcade titles, you can use MAME's tools; with SCUMMVM games, you can use the program's built-in tools, etc.

Here are a few helpful guides that will teach you on how to search for unused levels, hidden comments, debug modes, and more! Of course, not every game is quite the same, so the information here won't always apply to your hunt for content. Nonetheless, perhaps it will be of use!


DevTextIcon.png
Getting Started
The basics of digging through games.
DevTextIcon.png
Finding text
How to find hidden text, from unused dialogue to angry comments.
DebugIcon.png
Finding menus and areas
How to find unused menus or areas, like sound tests and debug menus.
ItemsIcon.png
Finding items
Some of you might use this to hack your inventory...
GraphicsIcon.png
Finding graphics
Stuff that wasn't for show.
SoundIcon.png
Finding audio
Let's hope we don't find just garbage and assume it's garbled audio.
WinZipOldIcon.png
Compression Algorithms
Find about all the various compression methods and how to decompress particular algorithms.
WindowsZIPIcon.png
Opening archives
How to open archives/file containers.
Unusedquestion.png
Memory editing guide
How to use a memory watcher/editor.
SourceIcon.png
Debugger guide
How to use a number of emulator/platform debuggers.
Equinox-star-large.gif
The little things
Easy stuff that isn't as interesting, but is still worth pointing out.

Tips

  • Write down everything you find. Later, you can go back and analyze what's good and what's not, and spot connections you may have missed.
  • If you need ideas of things that might be inside the final game and unused, check the manual and cover of the corresponding game. Some of the screenshots or text could contain an element that was present in an earlier version of the game, and sometimes, it can also be found hidden away in the final version (Examples: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess's magic meter, Sonic the Hedgehog's 1-up sphere in Special Stages).
  • Check the forum, discord and subreddit for findings posted there.