EXE File Packers: a Exercise in Antivirus Annoyance

Through the years most antivirus programs overall have gotten better at not giving false positives, especially in regards to game trainers.

Although it seems if a program is compressed/packed with a EXE packer most AV (AntiVirus) programs will still give false positives - many of which are insane warnings.

The advantages of using a EXE file packer however are obvious - smaller file sizes, encrypted data, and even basic protection from would be thieves. As such many trainer authors will not release a trainer without using a EXE packer.

Protecting Your Game Trainer - Tutorial

There are many tricks for other people to find out what bytes your trainer changes. The most common way is to use a trainer spy program, see my article on trainer spy programs, or a debugger such as OllyDbg.

Some people will take the information from your trainer, where and what bytes are being changed, and write a trainer claiming they found the cheats themselves. Another option now is to sell trainers, as it is becoming popular, so they can even profit from your work.

If you have a problem with others stealing your work then read on.

Creating and Extracting Icons Tutorial

This tutorial explains the common icon settings and provides links to free online tools and freeware/open source programs for editing, extracting, and converting icons.

Icon images are shown in the dialog/window title bar(s) of trainers, in the Windows taskbar, and other places in Windows. Often it is the first thing people will see of any program, as it is clicked to load the program.

The icon has a level of importance, and can influence the opinion people have of a software program - especially if it has a horrible looking icon.

Trainers often use two basic kinds of icons - the icon of the creators avatar/logo (to keep things consistent), or the icon of the game itself; however, of course anything can be used.

Game Trainer GUI Tutorial

This tutorial includes various image examples of typical trainer GUI's including hotkeys, buttons, images, splash screens, and much more. Also covers information of basic software design principles, showing what works and what to avoid.

If you are using a trainer creation or builder program most of this information will apply to you; however, if you are programming your own trainer (AutoIt, FreeBASIC, etc.) even more so.

I created my eleven different example images based from the various trainers I have used, created, and seen online. There are many various other things that can be changed/done; however, the examples still apply.

FreeBASIC t2EservoMemory Library/Code & FB Trainer Tutorial

I have completed my FreeBASIC trainer tutorial, which is part of the Spelunky tutorial series. As such I have released my FreeBASIC memory functions that I use to create trainers in FB - I call it the t2EservoMemory functions.

The idea was based from the NomadMemory.au3 library for AutoIt, created by Nomad. Beyond the idea, and basic function call parameters everything was re-written by me to work in FreeBASIC.

You can access the functions from my FB library or add them to your trainer from the source code in the project file.

Spelunky v1.1 Trainer Tutorial Using FreeBASIC v0.23.0

This tutorial will show how to make a trainer for Spelunky v1.1 using the cheats from the Spelunky v1.1 Game Cheating Tutorial. The trainer will be created using the programming language FreeBASIC v0.23.0 and the IDE program FbEdit v1.0.7.6c (both are free programs).

The trainer uses the cheats as buttons - when clicked it will change the item value to 99 and freeze the value, if clicked again it will unfreeze the value.

The finished trainer is only 21.5 KB file size uncompressed, or 14 KB using the EXE packer UPX (as most trainer builders use UPX automatically). VirusScan.Jotti.org reports 0 false-positives for a virus (from 20 virus scanners). So no problems with users getting a false-positive virus warning.

The Spelunky v1.1 Tutorial Series is Finished

I have completed the five part tutorial series for the PC video game Spelunky v1.1. Here is a look at the finished trainers created in the series. In order, they were made with Game Trainer Studio (GTS) v2.0, Cheat Engine (CE) v6.1, AutoIt v3.3.8.0, and FreeBASIC v0.23.0.

*Updated 01/16/2012

Spelunky v1.1 Trainer Tutorial Using Cheat Engine v6.1

This tutorial will show how to make a trainer for Spelunky v1.1 using the cheats from the Spelunky v1.1 Game Cheating Tutorial. The trainer will be created using Cheat Engine v6.1

The trainer uses the cheats as buttons - when clicked it will change the item value to 99 and freeze the value, if clicked again it will unfreeze the value.

The finished trainer is a whopping 3163 KB (3.08 MB) in size. VirusScan.Jotti.org reports 0 false-positives for a virus (from 20 virus scanners). So no problems with users getting a false-positive virus warning.

Interesting enough Cheat Engine showed a Easter egg for New Year's, which keeps showing up whenever I start CE. Here is the message, "And what are your good intentions for this year? ;-)".

Spelunky v1.1 Trainer Tutorial Using AutoIt

This tutorial will show how to make a trainer for Spelunky v1.1 using the cheats from the Spelunky v1.1 Game Cheating Tutorial. The trainer is created using AutoIt v3.3.8.0. I had to modify the NomadMemory.au3 to work correctly with the new version of AutoIt, and have included it below.

The trainer uses the cheats as buttons - when clicked it will change the item value to 99 and freeze the value, if clicked again it will unfreeze the value.

The finished trainer is only 312 KB in size, and VirusScan.Jotti.org reports 0 false-positives for a virus (from 20 virus scanners). So no problems with users getting a false-positive virus warning.

Spelunky v1.1 Trainer Tutorial Using Game Trainer Studio (GTS) 2.0

This tutorial will show how to make a trainer for Spelunky v1.1 using the cheats from the Spelunky v1.1 Game Cheating Tutorial. The trainer will be created using the Game Trainer Studio (GTS) version 2.0.

The trainer uses the cheats as buttons - when clicked it will change the item value to 99 and freeze the value, if clicked again it will unfreeze the value.

The finished trainer is only 6 KB in size, and VirusScan.Jotti.org reports 0 false-positives for a virus (from 20 virus scanners). So no problems with users getting a false-positive virus warning.

Spelunky v1.1 Game Cheating Tutorial

For my first tutorial I wanted a game that allowed creation of multiple cheats, was freeware so everyone could download it, and was worth playing beyond the tutorial. I tested many games before I decided on Spelunky.

This game is a fun platform game that has a great replay value as each level seems to be created randomly. Things are always different, and even though I have beat the game several times I keep finding something new.

I saw several requests for cheats, help creating pointers, and such for this game as well and it seems there are not any trainers currently available. So after reading this tutorial you will be able to create your own.

I included lots of screenshots, and explained everything no matter how simple at least once, to help everyone follow along with this tutorial.