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SOH ADMINISTRATION
Hex editing
- Thread starter PJMack
- Start date
Hey PJMack, first you need a good hex editor, that is a program that will open any file as a hex dump and allow you to edit it, a google search will reveal a bewildering choice. Do not bother with payware demos.
I can recommend two donation ware hexeditors that I have used.
frhed is freeware and on numerous sites, it is basic but that is ok for beginers.
http://frhed.sourceforge.net/
HxD has more features including the ability to open RAM and Disks as raw hex.
This is a really good bit of software and worth a donation.
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
When you have your hex editor, you can have it set a link in the right click context menu, so that you can right click any file and opt to open it in the hex editor.
This is great fun for nosing around in all kinds of files.
I recommend trying out stuff like, creating files with known content like a simple text file, a word document, a bitmap, and try to figure how the hex dump relates to the content. Try changing the hex and see if you can predict the result.
You will quickly discover that most files contain some sort of header that gives some details about the file, that includes the file size in bytes, for this reason if you add bytes or remove bytes and do not change the file size in the header you will corrupt the file.
It is far easier to change bytes.
A fine example is working in the DICT section of a flight sim model.
This section contains the GUID numbers of the flightsim variables used to drive the visual model. Changing these will change which variable drives the given animated parts.
Working on those GUIDs is a great introduction to the finer points of number representation in little endian systems.
Most hex editors have two working spaces, the main shows the Hex dump, and a space to the right shows the ASCII interpretation of the hex, When the file contains simple text you will see it in the right hand space.
There are many ways of representing numbers in hex, the method is chosen for the use and accuracy required of the number. To understand how the different flightsim variables are represented you need to read the model format SDK.
Let us know how you get on ;-)
I can recommend two donation ware hexeditors that I have used.
frhed is freeware and on numerous sites, it is basic but that is ok for beginers.
http://frhed.sourceforge.net/
HxD has more features including the ability to open RAM and Disks as raw hex.
This is a really good bit of software and worth a donation.
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
When you have your hex editor, you can have it set a link in the right click context menu, so that you can right click any file and opt to open it in the hex editor.
This is great fun for nosing around in all kinds of files.
I recommend trying out stuff like, creating files with known content like a simple text file, a word document, a bitmap, and try to figure how the hex dump relates to the content. Try changing the hex and see if you can predict the result.
You will quickly discover that most files contain some sort of header that gives some details about the file, that includes the file size in bytes, for this reason if you add bytes or remove bytes and do not change the file size in the header you will corrupt the file.
It is far easier to change bytes.
A fine example is working in the DICT section of a flight sim model.
This section contains the GUID numbers of the flightsim variables used to drive the visual model. Changing these will change which variable drives the given animated parts.
Working on those GUIDs is a great introduction to the finer points of number representation in little endian systems.
Most hex editors have two working spaces, the main shows the Hex dump, and a space to the right shows the ASCII interpretation of the hex, When the file contains simple text you will see it in the right hand space.
There are many ways of representing numbers in hex, the method is chosen for the use and accuracy required of the number. To understand how the different flightsim variables are represented you need to read the model format SDK.
Let us know how you get on ;-)
