{fb1000000I don't like programs which aren't easy to use (ie. I never bother to read instructions). Luckily, Desktop Hacker doesn't fall into this category; its Desktop interface is probably one of the best seen on the Arc. The first thing you notice when you load it is that everything is in outline fonts, and that it even tells you if your machine isn't configured correctly to load Desktop Hacker and display the fonts in a readable form.
When you load it, it installs itself on the iconbar and will sit there happily until you activate it by loading a game. To do this you have to drag the games icon to the Desktop Hacker icon. The game is then loaded as normal and you are able to carry on as if nothing has happened which is one of this programs main features; it remains totally transparent to the user. For example if you haven't got enough memory left to return to the desktop and fine tune the game you have loaded, instead of reporting an error message or even returning some obscure internal address error it just keeps on going as if nothing has happened. Only when you quit the game and return to the desktop does it produce an error box informing you that due to lack of memory it was unable to carry out the task.
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How does it perform when hacking then? When you first press the key combination to activate the Hacker and return to the desktop you are presented with two different windows. these are the disassembled version of the code and a window containing a list of the values of the ARM chip's registers and the screen mode from which the game was running. From these windows you can perform a number of tasks. Before you get to the hacking you must first find out the address which stores the information you want to alter. For example, you want to give yourself more lives: you start the game as normal and then activate the Desktop Hacker by the key press. If all goes well you will be returned to the desktop. All you know at the moment is that you have three lives, so to find out the address search for addresses which have the number '3' in them. Once done the results are sent to a 'list'. Normally at this stage there would be several address in the list, so you must now return to the games and lose a life. Once again return to the desktop and then perform a search using only the results from the previous search, but this time search for the number '2'. By now you should have the address at which the number of lives are stored. If not then simply return to the game and repeat the process once more. Now save the list and use one of the external tasks to create a CheatMod.
The Desktop Hacker comes with a number of tools which can be used to rip music, and give info on the vast number of ready made CheatMods for you to use.
To create a Cheat Mod you must set up a number of attributes including the key press which will activate the cheat. In the example above, this would be say 'Ctrl' and 'L'. Once you have done this, all you have to do is to tell the CheatMod creator which address(es) to use, and what it should do to these. You can add, subtract, and perform various logic on an address. In the example above, we could perhaps add 10 to the number of lives. Once you have entered the information it is time to save it; it is saved a module (hence "CheatMod") and can be double clicked on for the cheat to function.
There are so many advanced features available in Desktop Hacker, and we can't cover them all here, but at a price of only £10 you can't go far wrong
