I want to learn how to freeze time in a game

[AdalineBowman]

Hello,
I have requested a table which allows to freeze the stopwatch of a mission in the game "Partisans 1941" but while waiting I would like to learn how to do it, because I am impatient.
The 1st problem is that the only thing I know how to do with cheat engine in games in general is to modify the number of ammunition or other in the current game.
The 2nd problem is that I am French that and I use google translate to be able to understand English.
The 3nd is that I only have the basic version of Cheat engine.
In the game mission, the timer starts at 25 minutes and ends at 0 minutes and 0 seconds
The format is indicated like this:
25:00
Can you help me please ?

Game Name: Partisan 1941
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Game Version: v1.03
Options Required: Unlimited timer
Steam Website: [Link]
Other Info: Without using any cheats or anything else, the mission "Before they hang them" (French title "Avant qu'ils ne les pendent" translated with google translate) timer is 25 minutes before losing.

[SenaBlue]

Well, generally speaking timers can be implemented in many ways. For example there may be 2 separated variables one for minutes and one for seconds. Could be a float/double where the decimal part holds number of minutes and fractional seconds. Or it could be the amount of seconds remaining which for 24:54 gives 1494 (24*60+54).
In CE you can use the changed/unchanged value scans while pausing the game.

[AdalineBowman]

Thank you for your answer.

In CE you can use the changed/unchanged value scans while pausing the game.

What is "CE"?

How do I configure Cheat Engine to be able to search the time value?

[TimFun13]

CE is Cheat Engine. There is no basic version of CE, it's open source and the only thing you need to worry about after installing it is the version number.

For finding floats have a look at this tutorial (it's text based): viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6513

From the way you described it I'd start with "unknown initial value" then "decreased value" scans after that with some "unchanged value" scans with the game paused. I'd start with floats first then doubles if that doesn't find it then 4 bytes if those don't work.

But my bet is that it's a float that's the total seconds of the timer.

EDIT: Moving topic to CE thread since it's not about a Lua script.

[SunBeam]

I scrolled a bit till I saw "what's CE?".. If someone starts explaining, just like it already happened, a lot of questions will spawn. And this comes from the user's lack of knowledge. He just wants to play the damn game and get past that mission, then all this "but I want to learn" hype will go away.

Here's the short version, but I won't respond to any upcoming questions. That's for you to learn from practicing, not getting spoon fed.

1 minute has 60 seconds. 25 minutes have 25 * 60 seconds = 1500 seconds. Your value is stored on float type, so you will need to use approximate searches between two ranges.

Look at your screen first, while game is paused. For example, 23:42. 23 minutes and 42 seconds. You want to convert that, manually, with the help of Windows Calculator, from minutes to all seconds. So: 23 minutes = 23 * 60 = 1380 seconds. Plus the 42 seconds. So: 1380 + 42 = 1422 seconds.

You now want to scan with CE for a FLOAT value that is between 1420 and 1425, let's say. The reason you do this is 23:42 is not exactly 1422. So your float value can have digits after the . (e.g.: 1422.2350). So you want to search for ranges:



After first scan, resume the game and let the timer go down a bit. Let's say you're at 22:50. Repeat the calculus above: 22 minutes = 22 * 60 = 1320. Plus 50 seconds. So: 1370 seconds. Now back to CE search NEXT for a value between 1368 and 1372 (1370 is between 1368 and 1372). Why? Again, because your float value will not be fully round.

Repeat the steps above till you find a few values. Then freeze one by one, till you see the timer doesn't go down anymore.

That's all.

[Warda]

I would strongly recommend having a go with the Cheat Engine tutorial that comes with Cheat Engine when you downloaded it.

While you may not always find specifics of what you are looking for (i.e. if you're hacking something specific in the game, for example 'time'), you can learn different methods that may help you get to where you want to be.

Understandably, the language barrier may be an issue but there are plenty of video tutorials out there that will help guide you through it. I agree with SunBeam, I'd take the time to practice using Cheat Engine on a basic level first so that if you decide to hack other games or other features within this game you are playing currently, you may already have your answer at hand before having to request advice on specifics. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it is typically more inefficient when there are enough resources out there to learn basics that can help you avoid the need to ask the question in the first place)

Through trial and error, you tend to pick up how things piece together and more often than not, that knowledge will apply to other games also. Example with Tim and SunBeam's answers above regarding how Time is often stored.

[AdalineBowman]

Hello,
ShyTwig16, thanks for your help and your link.
SunBeam, I do not really understand your aggressiveness, you arrive you are aggressive while we did not come looking for you and we did not ask you anything ..
Warda, you "blame" me for asking for help instead of doing it on my own, and learning on my own, except that I'm not going to take hours of my time to learn from A to Z how CheatEngene works while I use it 2 hours a year! If you have time for that, because I don't! because je travaille 15 heures par jour ! Moreover, if I hadn't wanted to learn, I would have been content to wait for my request to be taken care of in the "Request" section!
The proof that yes, asking a question is effective, because thanks to you I managed to block the time during the game in progress, I still have to find how to do so that I do not have to redo the manipulation at each reload backup, but if I understood correctly I will have to fend for myself!
No matter, thank you anyway.