If you are like me, you like to stop working and start playing a bit through out the day, just to rest your mind. For many years I have spent time playing the AD&D game, Pool of Radiance, or as I know it as, Poolrad. I have completed it many times. Recently, I thought I would hack the game and start with my characters fully dressed, so-to-speak. Fully armed and protected. (Before we get too far, I am not saying that hacking a game is a good thing. I am just saying that once you have beaten a game many times, it is time to create more interesting play within the game.)
Therefore, I decided to find out what parts of the save game data were saved and where within the player's saved game files. Then I could hack these files so that I could load the game fully dressed. I would start the game, do something that would change the character's status, then save the game. Then I would go and see what the difference was between the files. With a few days of work, off and on, I was able to get quite a bit of work done on this. However, I then got stumped.
I thought for sure I wasn't the only one that has done this, so I went searching the web for clues. I found a few here and there and also found a nice little DOS based tool that allows you to create a map of a save file and be able to modify that particlar part of the file to hack the game. The tool is called the "Universal Game Editor" by Jack Hartman (Copyrighted in 1993). This allowed me to "map" the saved game file to be able to modify the values as I see fit. I also found other user's .MDL files. One was a bit off, though it may have been for a different version, but was able to get a little information with it.
All in all, I was able to make a decent map file and find most of the items of the game. The HitPoints, Magic items, age, race, strength, etc., values to increase my players ability to destroy the monsters, goblins, etc...
As always, it was enjoyable to hack. The enjoyment came from the work on the hack, not actually using the hack. :-) I am including my .MDL file here for use with the UGE mentioned above. It isn't complete, nor is it perfect, but at least you might be able to enjoy it a bit.