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