How Do I Use These Cheats?

Notes:

Not all cheats work and not all cheats work with all 
version of a game. Sometimes the cheats were put in 
the orginal release of a game and then taken out later 
with a patch. 

Sometimes they are not in the orginal game but added in 
with a patch and then not all the patches of the game 
will have the cheat. 

Where to type the code in?

With these cheats, it is common not to be told where to 
type the cheats in. The cheats are usually sent in to us
and this information does not always come with it. 
Usually though it will say to enter them in the title 
screen or to just type them in. 

Title Screen Cheats 

When a cheat prompts you to enter the code at the title 
it usually refers to the screen advertising the game in 
the intro sequence of the game. If that screen does not 
work then try to do it on the screen that advertises the 
manufacturer of the game. If those fail you will have to 
try entering the code on each screen that appears during 
the intro sequence. Make sure you have entered the code 
fast and correctly. Most of the time the code has to be 
entered within a certain time period of that screen. If 
not, the code will not work.

Sometimes this form of cheat is not always during the 
intro sequence. It could be during the loading screen 
just before actual game play starts. 
If this form of cheat does not specifically say it can 
be time consumming trying to figure out where to enter 
these codes.


Typing the cheat in during gameplay 

When a game prompts you to enter a cheat in during 
gameplay that usually means you have to do one of three 
different things. You have to pause the game and type in
the code, just type the code in while playing, or type 
it in through the chat interface. 

For example, In a game like Age of Empires you have to 
bring up the chat dialogue box by hitting return. 
So you would hit return, type the code in and hit return 
again. This form of cheating is pretty straight forward 
you just have to figure out which method you have to use. 
Remember, cheats are usually case sensitive so be sure 
you have it right. There is one more type and that is you 
have to enter the code as the name of the character you 
are playing or in the highscore list.


Hex Cheating 

A hex cheat is a cheat where you modify the save game 
file or another file of the game. You have to be weary 
of using this cheat because it can corrupt the files 
you have modified. This form of cheating does require 
another program. You cant use wordpad or notepad for 
editing the files you have to use a hex editer. 

The one I use is Ultra Edit and can be found at 
www.ultraedit.com. The key thing about using this cheat 
is to make sure you have backed up all the files you are 
modifying. We have a full article explaining this cheat 
called How to Hex Edit that will show you how to use 
this cheat.


Command Line Cheating 

This is a common cheat that does require alot of 
explanation. The method I am going to give you is only 
one of a few but it is the method that I use.
I will use the Half Life cheat as an example. The Half-Life 
cheats asks you to enter the parameter -dev -toconsole to 
the command line of the game. The command line is the path to 
the executable that runs the game and the executable file. 
In this case the executable would be hl.exe and the path I 
will use is c:\programfiles\halflife\ so the whole path would 
be c:\programfiles\halflife\hl.exe. 

What you have to do is enter the the arguments -dev -toconsole 
to it so it would look like 
c:\programfiles\halflife\hl.exe -dev -toconsole. 
Notice the space in between the executable and the parameter. 
This is a common mistake people make. Now the big question, 
How do I do this? This is the method I use. 

Create a shortcut on your desk top the game executable. 
You will do this by right clicking on your desktop and selecting 
new then shortcut. You will then prompted with a window asking 
you to enter the command line or browse. The best way to do this 
is just browse and then locate and select the executable. 

In our case you would browse C: then to program files, then 
Halflife, and then select the Half-Life executable hl.exe. 
After you have selected the file you will be back at the 
window so all you have to do is select next and you will 
prompted to name the shortcut. 

This doesnt matter so you canleave it as hl.exe or rename it 
Half-Life or whatever. If you already have the short cut to 
the game on your desktop you dont have to do that last step. 
With the short cut now in place, right click on it and select 
properties. You will be prompted with a window and in that 
window you will see the path to the game listed as target. 
In our case it will be c:\programfiles\halflife\hl.exe. 
Now all you have to do is add the parameter -dev -toconsole 
so it looks like 
c:\programfiles\halflife\hl.exe -dev -toconsole. 

Remember the spaces... After you have done that select 
apply and then ok and you are all set up. 
Just run the game from that shortcut.

By Steve Lowder