Universal Game Editor Module For Castle Of The Winds
by D. Melanson, created using Jack Hartman's UGE 1.0
Castle Of The Winds is an interesting little side distraction, a
Windows-only adventure game in two parts, in which you're questing through
various dungeons and towns, seeking revenge for your family's murder.
After a bit of playing, I found that the saved game files are editable
using Jack Hartman's UGE.
For those of you unfamiliar with my other saved game editing
modules, I have also designed ones for (at the time of this writing):
Might & Magic IV: Clouds Of Xeen, Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession, Dark
Legions, Menzoberranzen, Shadowcaster, Realms Of Arkania II: Star Trail,
and Stonekeep. All of these files are available at my Web site; choose
the "UGE Page" option from my home page at:
http://www.ici.net/customers/overkill/overkill.htm
There is no registration fee for this module, or any other I've
designed so far, but I do ask that you do register UGE. It's a very nice
program, and Jack has put a lot of effort into it.
Anyway, enough with the introduction. On to the game...To use the
module, first fire up UGE (from DOS or a DOS window). Choose the file name
you want to edit (usually, the extension is .CWG). You'll note there are
a few things you can't modify...namely money, inventory, and location. This
is because the .cwg format stores that information throughout the file in
various locations...far too difficult to pinpoint, unfortunately. Still,
you can make yourself a virtual juggernaut with the things you can modify.
Character name is a ways down in the list, but it is there, as is
usual for this type of game. You can modify both your "normal" and
"current" stats for all four statistics (Str, Int, Con, Dex). These range
from 1-100. You will also note the fields "Total XXX Bonus," amd "Total XXX
Penalty," where XXX is the stat name. As the game will recalculate all
stats based on THESE numbers when the stats are affected (either positively
or negatively...say by a wight touch or equipping an enhancing device), I
recommend you make sure that these "Bonuses" and "Penalties" are equal to the
difference between the "normal" and "current" stat values. That is, if you
make them different. I have no idea what happens if you grab a stat-
enhancing device when that stat is already 100; I didn't try it. NOT
recommended, however.
You can modify Current and Maximum Hit Points and Mana Points to
very high levels; at least 400, most likely quite a bit more. You can
modify your XP level and Experience amount, if you feel like it, but as
all the benefits of higher levels can be simulated via other fields in this
module, I don't see much point to it. Since you can lose XP from certain
attacks, I also included a "maximum" experience field.
You can modify your "current armor value." This is actually your
armor value for whatever you happen to be wearing. An armor value of 300
set here will make you pretty damn hard to hit...and you don't have to wear
a stitch of armor of ANY sort. You can also modify your "To Hit" and
"Damage" bonuses. Setting these ridiculously high makes you an impossibly
dangerous foe, even if you are unarmed. (i.e. set your "To Hit" to 50 or so,
and your Damage bonus to 300, and you'll be able to kill dragons with one
shot...with your bare hands. OUCH!)
You can increase your resistance to Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid,
Fear, and Drain Life. You may notice that resistances to Acid and Fear do
NOT show up in the Character Attributes window. They ARE there though.
A "1" in one of these is equivalent to a "you are resistant to xxxxx," a "2"
is equivalent to "you are strongly resistant to xxxx," and a "3" or higher
is equivalent to "you are very strongly resistant to xxxx." I don't know if
there is an upper limit to resistances, but they can go to at least 4
without any ill effects. You can also make your character levitate by
setting "Character Levitation" to 1.
Then there are the spells. If your character is currently unable
to cast a certain spell, it will appear in these fields as a 255 (or 254).
Setting it to a low number will make the spell "castable." This number is
also actually how much mana a spell costs to cast. You can set every spell
value to 0, and thus be able to cast every single spell out there for
free! You might notice that there are even slots for the four non-character
spells (Create Traps, Haste Monster, Teleport Away, Clone Monster). Though
these are not accessible through the spellbook, you CAN cast them through
the spell button bar (see next fields). You may also notice these last four
are two-byte fields. This is because casting them not only takes mana, it
also takes some hit points away. Setting the two-bytes to 0 also removes
that stipulation.
The spell button bar is customizable to an extent via the spell
book, but there are limits. Since the game never expects you to "learn"
Resist Acid or Resist Fear, there ARE no spell icons for it. There are
also no spell icons for the four "non-caster" spells. However, you can
set any of the ten buttons to any of the following values for a quick
spell cast:
0 Heal Minor Wounds 1 Detect Objects 2 Light
3 Magic Arrow 4 Phase Door 5 Shield
6 Clairvoyance 7 Cold Bolt 8 Detect Monsters
9 Detect Traps 10 Identify 11 Levitate
12 Neut. Poison 13 Cold Ball 14 Heal Medium Wounds
15 Fire Bolt 16 Lightning Bolt 17 Remove Curse
18 Resist Fire 19 Resist Cold 20 Resist Lightning
21 Resist Acid 22 Resist Fear 23 Sleep Monster
24 Slow Monster 25 Teleport 26 Rune Of Return
27 Heal Major Wounds 28 Fireball 29 Lightning Ball
30 Healing 31 Transmogrify Monster 32 Create Traps
33 Haste Monster 34 Teleport Away 35 Clone Monster
Finally, you can modify both the current and maximum weight and
bulk for your character. Players who use this feature to drop weight to
0 will discover something unusual...your "maximum move rate" does NOT
change when the weight is dropped via the editor, so if it's a 80% due to
weight when you make the change, it stays there...until you pick up or
drop something (preferably pick up; dropping weight when you're carrying
0 weight tends to be bad for the program!). THEN the game recalculates move
rate, and you'll shoot back up to your normal 200%
Anyway, that's really about it for the module. Hopefully, you
should have no problem defeating the game after using it. I welcome any
comments or suggestions, but please...no requests. Not every game is
editable, and I don't have every game out there. Send anything you'd like
to say to my e-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Good luck!
-Dave M.
Files : 3, NeW:NONE, oLD:NONE
uL Node : 1, NFo:NONE, D?Z:NONE
