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Saved Game Editing: Hair Style (even from other races), Hair+Skin+Imp Color


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For readers:

Before continue reading the rest of the thread, please know that the method described in this thread requires:

1) basic knowledge/experience of using a HEX editor and messing with files in hex/binary mode.

2) know how to use command prompt, or the Start>Run of Windows.

and

3) this thread is not meant to be a tutorial that teaches you how to do everything from A to Z step-by-step...I am just sharing some info (the pattern, the address) that will be helpful for those who are already familiar with hex-editing game files.

4) I am working on PC Windows, I don't have a console nor Mac.

...just so that I won't waste someone's time reading everything only to find out they are unwilling/uncomfortable of doing so.

 

For forum moderator:

I am not sure this thread is in the appropriate section of this forum...saved-game editing is not really modding.

If you deem this is sitting in the wrong section, I apologize, and please move it as you see fit.

Otherwise, feel free to remove this quoted section of unneccessary texts.

Thanks.

 

After reading through this thread, you will be able to change your character's

- hair color

- skin color

- hair style (even get the hair style from other races)

- imp color

by ONLY editing the saved game file. Nothing else.

 

 

Now, onto the topic:

 

Preface

I was bothered with my initial selection of skin/hair color and models, saw a lot of methods of changing them, but never satisfied. Why?

The currently available methods are such as:

 

A) Using Console Commands

 

Type "SYS HAIRCOLOR RRGGBB" for hair color (works in Ice and Blood)

Type "SYS HAIRSTYLE #" for hair style (doesn't work anymore as in patch 2.65.1)

 

Pros:

- Easy and straightforward.

- Not messing with original game files.

 

Cons:

- Messed up skin color and lightning after effect applies.

- Won't be saved, so you have to type those commands again everytime you load.

- As in 2.65.1 latest patch, you can only change hair color.

 

 

B) Messing with those files in PAK folder

 

As a lot of other threads pointed out in this forum, you can change files in those graphicXX.zip and etc to change your skin, hair, even armors' color and models.

However,

- I wish to keep all the game content original.

- This method will affect all characters that are using the same files, not just the one you wish to change.

 

But of course, for serious modding, you MUST change those files or you won't get anywhere...nevertheless, as far as I concern, I only wish to change skin/hair color and model the "soft" way.

 

 

The benefits of using this method of modification:

1) The ONLY file you will be changing, is your saved game file. Nothing else.

2) Every change you made, will only affect the particular character represented by the save-file.

3) The modification is saved, you don't have to re-do it after every loading.

4) You can get hairstyles of other races with ONLY changing your saved game file, without messing with any other files.

 

 

Without further ado, here's the main dishes:

 

 

A) Tools you will need:

 

A.1) A hex editor, to edit your saved game files which is located at:

C:\Users\[Your User Name]\Saved Games\Ascaron Entertainment\Sacred 2

 

For each character, there's 2 files:

- hero##.sacred2save (the actual saved file)

- hero##.sacred2stats (plain text file with character basic info)

 

Read hero##.sacred2stats with any text editor. It's in plain text, with information such as the name of the hero and etc. Use this file to identify which ## corresponding to which character.

 

A.2) S2SDEC.exe

 

Sacred 2 saved files are encoded. You need this S2SDEC.exe to decode the saved file.

Just google for "s2sdec" and grab a download. I got mine from depositfiles.com.

Run it under command prompt console if you need a description on how to use it, as well as all the parameters you can feed it.

 

Type "s2sdec hero##.sacred2save" and you will get a "hero##.sacred2save.decoded" -> the file you will then edit with hex editor.

After you made your modifications,

type "s2sdec hero##.sacred2save.decoded", and you will get a "hero##.sacred2save" -> the encoded file which can then be loaded and played.

 

***ALWAYS MAKE BACKUPS***

 

 

B) What you can do with "hero##.sacred2save.decoded"

 

Actually, you can change virtually everything...money, skills, experience, name...I mean, everything saved for a character...BUT, cheating is not what I wish to discuss here. Here, I'll only point you to the address/pattern of the values pertaining to the physical appearance of your character.

 

 

The Pattern

For ALL classes/races, the hex pattern is always like this:

 

[HS HS] ? [iM] [RR] [GG] [bB] [sC]

 

Meaning:

[HS HS] = 2 bytes representing Hair Style

? = I haven't figured out what this 1 byte means

[iM] = 1 byte representing Imp Color

[RR] [GG] [bB] = each of these bytes representing the RGB values of your hair color.

[sC] = 1 byte representing your Skin Color.

 

 

Now, the rules for each of these values:

 

Hair Style

 

Each hairstyle is represented by a number, which has no relation to race/class.

Example,

- the 1st hairstyle of seraphim is numbered as 49h (or 73 in decimal), 2nd hairstyle = 220h, 3rd = 2E71h, the last one is numbered 32BEh.

- the 1st hairstyle of high elf is numbered as F80h

- the 1st hairstyle of dryad is numbered as 10CEh

 

So,

- if I want my seraphim to have high elf's 1st hairstyle, I'll fill in the [HS HS] with [80 0F].

- if I want my seraphim to have seraphim's last hairstyle, I'll fill in the [HS HS] with [bE 32].

and so on.

 

The result? Here's some proving images: My level 76 Seraphim named Sylvia with black-colored High-Elf default/first hairstyle.

(yea I know the wing doesn't belong to the set...but otherwise I couldn't get a better view of the hair.)

clearr.jpg

leftbo.jpg

downb.jpg

 

Yup, that's without changing any file, except the save.

 

Theorectically, it is possible to fit every hairstyle on every character (especially among the same gender), but I myself only tried, like, 5 attempts of inter-race-hair-implantation among seraphim<->high elf<->dyrad. There's no error, the game runs fine, but there's some minor distortion, which can be remedied by wearing less-revealing headgears.

 

(Updated: Please refer to the bottom of this thread for a list of complete hairstyles of all female heroes)

Sounds good? But here's the catch: I don't have the codes for every hairstyles.

That means, you will have to ask someone who know, or you will have to find out by yourself.

How? By creating a new character which uses the desired hairstyle -> save it -> decode the save file -> look at the decoded file to find out that code.

Or, for those who are kind enough, you can post in this thread any code you find out, or you can send me a PM as reminder (I might not check forum as often as I used to).

 

Imp Color

 

This one is pretty straight forward.

If you can recall, you change the skin color of your imp by pressing the -/+ button of Imp Color during character creation.

The color at the left-most side of the bar, is [00].

The color at the right-most side of the bar, is [1F].

So, the color of the imp goes from 00 -> 01 -> 02 -> ... -> 1E -> 1F. As simple as that.

 

To know which code corresponding to which color, you will have to figure it out from the character creation screen, starting from the left-most side of the bar, enumerating each color as you press the + button.

 

For example, if I wish to change the color of my imp to goldish-yellow color, the 9th imp skin color, I'll fill [iM] as [08].

 

 

Hair Color

 

Well, this is even more straight-forward...just replace [RR GG BB] with the RGB values you desire, and viola, your character haircolor will become exactly like you wanted.

 

For your extra information:

If you change your character's hair color by pressing (NOT dragging) -/+ button at the Hair Color bars, every time you press the + button, the color value increase by 10h. Everytime you press the - button, the color value decrease by 10h, too.

So, for example, starting at the left-most side of the bar, if I press + button for 5 times, the color value will be 50h. If I then press the - button once, it will become 40h.

I can't predict the color values if you drag on the bar with mouse (except on the extremes, duh).

 

 

Skin Color

 

It is quite similiar to imp color. It starts with [00] as the first skin, and end with [F8] as the last skin choice.

The difference?

Well, it actually goes like this: 00h -> 08h -> 10h -> 18h -> 20h -> ... -> F0h -> F8h. Unlike the increments of Imp Color, Skin color has an increment of 08h.

However, I actually tried 04h, 07h, B1h...no error, game runs fine, but I can't really distinguish if there's any significant change in color. Since the difference is insignificant, I might as well just follow the 08h increment.

 

Also, the same applies to Skin Color:

If you want to know which code correspond to which skin color, you will need to figure out from the character creation interface. Starting from the left-most side of the bar, the 1st skin color is coded 00h.

Everytime you press the + button, you add 08h to your skin color, and so on until the last color, which is F8h.

 

 

 

So, now we know how to fill-up the hex values...next comes the biggest trouble: where to find/put/change it?

 

C) The Address/Location of Hex String

 

This, my friend, is the most tricky part. Why? Because it is not located at a fixed address. As you progress, whenever you learn new skill, get new quests, and etc, that address will be pushed further below.

 

Example,

For freshly created seraphims, the address will be at somewhere 440h.

For freshly created high elves and dryads, the address will be at somewhere 3D0h.

But for my lv76 seraphim who is near the end of Silver, the address is at somewhere 9430h...yup, big difference.

 

 

But fear not! There's a good and reliable trick to find the address.

 

For better illustration, please refer to this image:

samplepc.jpg

This image shows part of the decoded saved-game of my level 76 seraphim in hex values.

My seraphim is using the first High Elf hairstyle, as shown in the earlier images. The code for this hairstyle is F80h.

Her hair color is near-black, with [RR GG BB] values of [10 10 10].

Her skin color is the 2nd type, which has a code of 08h.

Her name is "Sylvia".

 

The RED-framed bytes => the hex pattern we are trying to find, it will determine the physical appearance of your character.

It reads

80 0F 00 08 10 10 10 08

As I pointed out earlier, this is how you read this hex pattern:

[HS HS] = Hair Style code = F80h

? = 00 in this case (I haven't figured out what this value is for).

IM = 08 (9th imp color, goldish-yellow)

RR GG BB = 10 10 10 (near total blackness)

SC = Skin Color = 08 (I have chosen the 2nd skin color of seraphim).

 

It is very easy to modify once you find the location...provided that you found the location first!

 

 

For an easy way to find the location of hex pattern, look at the YELLOW-framed values.

The one at top (address 943Bh) reads ACh in the hex mode.

The one at bottom reads "@S y l v I a" in the text mode.

 

First, look at the bottom one. The one reads

@S y l v I a NOT @Sylvia

Now if you look at the hex values, you will notice that each alphabet of "Sylvia" is just ASCII code, fit into 2 bytes instead of 1.

As such, it is "@S y l v I a", NOT "@Sylvia".

Also notice that, there's a "@" infront of the S. This makes finding "@S" a lot more simpler than finding a bunch of 2-byted ASCII codes.

 

So, example, if your character name is "David", just search for "@D" within the file. You should be able to locate "@D a v I d" very soon.

 

 

Once you found "@Y o u r n a m e", just read backward for about 150-300 bytes, you should find the other YELLOW-framed byte: ACh...and Viola! The next 8 bytes following ACh is the hex pattern we are looking for! Just to be safe and sure, you should try to compare that 8 bytes with the rules I listed, so that you are not changing the wrong bytes -> the result could be disasterous if you didn't have a back-up...

 

If you are able to locate the hex pattern, then you will be able to change your character's appearance as you please!

After you modified the values, save the file, then type "s2sdec hero##.sacred2save.decoded". Your save file will then be overwritten and encoded.

Oh, and remember to actually LOAD your character to see the changes. Some changes will only reflect on-screen AFTER you successfully loaded your save game.

 

Everything I said here, is tested with Seraphim, High Elf and Dyrad. I am assuming that it will work with the other class/race too. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll find you the difference/solution.

 

Enjoy! And please, do not forget to make back-ups...

 

For those who figured out other codes for hairstyle, feel free to post here, or PM me a reminder (I might not view forum as often as I used to), and I'll add it to this post with proper credits. Thank you.

 

 

 

Codes for Hair Styles

Last Updated: Feb 23, 2010 - Complete codes of all 6 hairstyles available through character creation menu, for Seraphim + High Elf + Dryad. [Thanks to Sankekur!]

 

Seraphim

hair1 = 73 = 49h

hair2 = 544 = 220h

hair3 = 11889 = 2E71h

hair4 = 11890 = 2E72h

hair5 = 12989 = 32BDh

hair6 = 12990 = 32BEh

 

Dryad

hair1 = 4302 = 10CEh

hair2 = 5734 = 1666h

hair3 = 11885 = 2E6Dh

hair4 = 11886 = 2E6Eh

hair5 = 11892 = 2E74h

hair6 = 12986 = 32BAh

 

 

High Elf

hair1 = 3968 = F80h

hair2 = 5735 = 1667h

hair3 = 11887 = 2E6Fh

hair4 = 11888 = 2E70h

hair5 = 12987 = 32BBh

hair6 = 12988 = 32BCh

Edited by unknowngst
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This is great info if later on during your game you want to change the settings for your char or if you updated to ice and blood with an existing char and want to change it.

Of course if you want to do something more exotic, like a imp with zebra stripes or polka dots :) , you will still have to resort to messing around in the pak file.

I can't predict the color values if you drag on the bar with mouse (except on the extremes, duh).

I think (if I remember correctly) all the sliders in the char selection screen snap to certian values whether you drag them or click the +/-.

Everything I said here, is tested with Seraphim, High Elf and Dyrad. I am assuming that it will work with the other class/race too.

I assume changing the hair will only work for the female classes as none of the male chars have hair models (only textures painted on their heads except Inquisitor of course), unless you can use this method the import/link hair models to chars that normally have no hair, that would look strange I think :P

 

Regards, and welcome to the forum :)

Link to comment
This is great info if later on during your game you want to change the settings for your char or if you updated to ice and blood with an existing char and want to change it.

Of course if you want to do something more exotic, like a imp with zebra stripes or polka dots :) , you will still have to resort to messing around in the pak file.

I can't predict the color values if you drag on the bar with mouse (except on the extremes, duh).

I think (if I remember correctly) all the sliders in the char selection screen snap to certian values whether you drag them or click the +/-.

Everything I said here, is tested with Seraphim, High Elf and Dyrad. I am assuming that it will work with the other class/race too.

I assume changing the hair will only work for the female classes as none of the male chars have hair models (only textures painted on their heads except Inquisitor of course), unless you can use this method the import/link hair models to chars that normally have no hair, that would look strange I think :P

 

Regards, and welcome to the forum :)

 

Ah yes...I forget those male chars + 1 robot don't really have hairstyles, lol.

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  • 3 months later...
Or you could use this package and simply load the save file and choose your hair.

 

I'll upload to mediafire:

 

DOWNLOAD

 

O_O

 

Well, that makes things even easier! Thanks much! Finally, I can get my Seraphim to look normal again. The default skin color they gave her was some luminescent white, so it just made her look very bright, and painful to look at if I have an item with +light radius equipped.

Link to comment
Or you could use this package and simply load the save file and choose your hair.

 

I'll upload to mediafire:

 

DOWNLOAD

 

Bummer. Link doesn't work for me. All I get is a blank page. Guess I'll just do this the hard way. :P

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