Please help a HEX noob understand a working hook so that I can replicate finding it in the brute search option

[Thrakk]

98:114:440890:422F56:0: Anex86 (HBX-8@40890:anex86.exe)

This is the correct hook that Textractor found automatically when I started up my game. It works.

How come I can't replicate finding this hook using the search button and fiddling with all the search settings? I tried checking and unchecking search Korean/Chinese/Japanese language only. Then in the advanced search settings I tried a few things link narrowing the gap between minimum and maximum hex address (I don't know what string offset, and offset from pattern start are so I mostly did searches leaving them at 0). I've generated many result sheets and I can never find the correct hook - the one that works.

I was hoping I could replicate finding the correct hook so I could try to find a working h-code on a different emulator (np2th.exe - neko project ii text hook edition). I wanted to play the game on that emulator because it doesn't have sync/timing issues.

[TamaBaka]

I would guess that the H-Code would be the /HBX-8@40890:anex86.exe portion. Dunno if it'll actually work, but that's what an H-code looks like.

[Thrakk]

It didn't work when I tried it. Alas the emulators might not even be able to share codes (I don't know).

The weird thing though is that removing the anex86 code (that works) and then trying to manually put it back in -doesn't work-. The only time it ever works is when Textratctor automatically adds it in itself.

[TamaBaka]

We're predicating on the idea that the code at the end actually works, but I recall reading somewhere that the hook searching feature doesn't actually find H-codes. It just finds a suitable place to hook. Like I said earlier, I wasn't expecting it to work. I was just curious how it was generated and why it was there because it does look like an h-code.

As for why it doesn't work, I'm pretty certain it's because of Window's Address Space Layout Randomization throwing a wrench into the works. It'd be easy to write an H-code finder if that didn't exist, but because it does, you need to consider relative memory locations instead of absolute ones.

Anyway, if you really need to find an H-code for your game, you'll probably have to use the traditional CheatEngine way. There are tutorials for it online. Or convince the people making neko project text hooker to extract the scanning code from here and use it in their software.

I wonder...there are some h-code archives here and there. You might be able to search them to see if anyone created one for your game.

[Artikash]

The X means that it's a H-code integrated into Textractor with special internal logic that can't be expressed in a normal H-code. Unless you know C++ and assembly you're not going to be able to reproduce it, sorry.

Textractor/texthook/engine/engine.cc

Line 10092 in 6ed3d9c

void SpecialHookAnex86(DWORD esp_base, HookParam*, BYTE, DWORD *data, DWORD *split, DWORD *len)

[Thrakk]

Thanks for those of you who replied to main question. Now I know why HBX-8@40890 couldn't be inserted back in manually.

I should of replied sooner to tell you all why I screwed up.... I was using np21nt.exe instead of np21th.exe. (facepalm emoji)

The hook code ended up being:
5:3730:76C70440:45911D:0: lstrlenA (HS4@0:kernal32.dll:lstrlenA)
And I did end up beating the Dante's Inferno game on PC98.

Textractor and np21th.exe are god send. I wish Retroarch's Neko cores could do what np21th does.