filed-qbasic
FilEd is a hex editor for MS-DOS written in QBasic.
- Search for a byte value or string.
- Compare one file to another to find changes.
- Replace values, one byte at a time or by typing a string.
History
This is the first computer program I remember feeling really proud about. The last version, 1.51, was completed on October 22, 1997.
Except for half-heartedly uploading the file to my Geocities website, I made no attempt to publish or distribute this software.
I'm sharing it now just for fun.
Usage
- Run FILED.EXE
- Enter the filename of the file to edit.
After writing this program, I used it to edit save files in DOS games to cheat or otherwise cause impossible conditions, using the following steps:
- Make a backup copy of my save file.
- Perform an action in the game, for example, losing some health points.
- Save the game.
- Compare the backup copy to the current copy of the save file, to find the address of the changed value.
- Edit the byte value to a new value.
- Load the game and see if I've successfully changed the value in the game.
The example I remember best is changing my party members in Ultima VI, adding NPCs who normally could never join the party.
Keyboard shortcuts
- B
- Back: Go back a page in the file.
- F
- Forward: Go forward a page in the file.
- N
- Move to a new address.
- S
- Search for a value or text string.
- E
- Edit one byte value.
- T
- Type a string to change a series of bytes.
- Q
- Quit the program.
- C
- Compare to find differences between the active file and another.
- L
- Load a new file, either:
- A regular file in the filesystem;
- The first 1 MB or memory; or
- I/O ports
- D
- DOS: Open a temporary command prompt without losing your place in the current file.
- M
- Mode: Switch between seeing byte values and only seeing the string representation.
- H
- Hex/decimal: Switch between displaying byte values as hex or decimal.
Code quality
It's uncommented spaghetti code with line numbers and GOTO statements.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my father, a hobbyist who started on a Timex Sinclair before teaching me how to write BASIC programs on a Commodore 64.
I vaguely remember, before we got a PC, modifying save game files on the C64 (in particular, the Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons games) but I can't remember how I accomplished this.
