In this tutorial you will learn how to edit strings like "Scorpion Wins", "Flawless Victory", "GAME OVER", etc... This tutorial will not show you how to change the names in the life bars. These are not strings, but images, and MK4Strip is the right way to edit them.
Requirements
- The Mortal Kombat 4 executable file (Mortal Kombat 4.exe or MK4.exe)
- A hexadecimal editor (Hex Editor). For example HexEdit. It is a freeware, open-source tool created by MIT. You can download it from http://www.catch22.net/software/hexedit
Our goal is to change Scorpion's name to Reptile, to better fit a new skin that we want to develop. We want to change the "Scorpion Wins" to "Reptile Wins". Take a look at these Before and After screenshots from the game:
Steps
- Open HexEdit and Drag and Drop the Mortal Kombat Executable into the program's window.
- Click on Find. In the small window that will pop up, go to the "Text"-Tab. Type "Scorpion Wins" in the input field and choose ASCII String as Data type from the Drop Down menu. Click on Find or press Enter. The editor will jump to the first found match.
- Edit the text so that it says "Reptile Wins". Please note, you can only override symbols. You can only edit the text from its starting position until the end of the empty spaces that follow it, regardless of whether the text takes 1 or 2 lines. If the text is shown on a single line only, you cannot leave the borders of that line. While editing you can also use the ASCII numeric representation of the Text to add empty spaces for example (zeros). Breaking one of the above rules, might damage the executable file or the game might not show the whole text.
- Save the edited executable file as Mortal Kombat 4.exe
- Replace the original executable file with the one you just edited. Don't forget to make a backup of the original file, just in case you messed up.
- Start the executable and enjoy the results!