Bookthread

[para_]

If I had to choose a single book to read with already having solid fundamentals in object-oriented programming using both C++ and Java, which would you suggest to finally move forward with game hacking. I unfortunately have zero idea of where to start.

How do you guys master the art of reverse engineering and extracting useful data? I don't even know what the data would look like in a higher level language - so would reading up on game design and direct x help me? The field seems so large and without a career in something related I just feel so overwhelmed. Any pointers (no pun intended) are greatly appreciated.

Also, what do most of you do as a profession? I'm half-hoping you all are professional malware detectives (to make me feel not so dumb) and half-hoping you do something unrelated entirely (to drive home that it may be possible for me to grasp this somewhat quickly as a hobby rather than a lifestyle).

[Wildbreath]

think there is no such "book".
imo all of this - pieces of knowledge obtained by searching the forums, wiki, and etc.
for example, all that i have made (offspring, for example) - just someone's research and ideas that i combine and embody
and yes, i am a materials engineer
think my opinion no one are interested

[tok_junior]

If I had to choose a single book to read with already having solid fundamentals in object-oriented programming using both C++ and Java, which would you suggest to finally move forward with game hacking. I unfortunately have zero idea of where to start.

How do you guys master the art of reverse engineering and extracting useful data? I don't even know what the data would look like in a higher level language - so would reading up on game design and direct x help me? The field seems so large and without a career in something related I just feel so overwhelmed. Any pointers (no pun intended) are greatly appreciated.

Also, what do most of you do as a profession? I'm half-hoping you all are professional malware detectives (to make me feel not so dumb) and half-hoping you do something unrelated entirely (to drive home that it may be possible for me to grasp this somewhat quickly as a hobby rather than a lifestyle).

I would say either the IDA Pro Book or Practical Malware Analysis, but preferably both to give you a solid foundation in reverse engineering, there are also a few good articles on openrce.org.

I used to crack copy protections as a hobby, and I have worked with sw dev making copy protections, navigation systems, and currently in infosec doing pentesting, malware analysis and vulnerability research.

All I can say is start small and go for low hanging fruit. Do a string search for a few LUA functions and try figuring out what small parts of them do, name them properly and see which other functions use the same code. Use the offsets found in the info dump threads here in order to make analysis easier, like name the entitylist, object manager and so on in order to see where they're used.

[para_]

tok_junior and Wildbreath, I appreciate your feedback. Thank you for taking the time to give me your insight. These last few days I've had a chance to try my hand at DirectX and I think tonight I will try reversing a LUA function once I wrap my head around LUA in general.

EDIT: I didn't realize how powerful LUA was and how much control games like WoW and ESO give it. Is that normal? Does it make reversing games easier? I mean LUA function names are right there in IDA and following their Xrefs led me to what I belief is the closest I've ever come to understanding a reversed function. I learned more yesterday about the actual reversing side of things then I ever have. Thanks guys for the inspiration.

[Wildbreath]

I didn't realize how powerful LUA was and how much control games like WoW and ESO give it. Is that normal? Does it make reversing games easier? I mean LUA function names are right there in IDA and following their Xrefs led me to what I belief is the closest I've ever come to understanding a reversed function.

nothing advance with lua - just get pointers for lua_execute (dostring, gettop, tostring, pushstring and etc) functions and use lua as in game
imo blizz hate full unlocking lua - better use a any wrappers for it, less detectable

[plzdntbanmeblizz]

No mention of K&R? This is like the bible for anything involving programming.

[tok_junior]

He has solid fundamentals of C++.

I mean the lua API provided by Blizzard is a good place to start reversing in order to get a picture of the object model.

[Seentacts]

How much about programming languages should I know before jumping into reverse engineering?

[Empted]

Just my 5 cents:
Game Hacking: Developing Autonomous Bots for Online Games
This book should be here! What a gem for a beginner!

[karliky]

This is not a book, but a really interesting article:

Detecting In-Memory Attacks Hunting In Memory | Endgame

[air999]

Easy to read
The Art of Unpacking by Mark Vincent Yason

Very complex
The Rootkit Arsenal: Escape and Evasion in the Dark Corners of the System 2nd Edition by Bill Blunden

[WiNiFiX]

Pretty good read
Game Hacking: Developing Autonomous Bots for Online Games: 9781593276690: Computer Science Books @ Amazon.com

[Thomja]

Technically this is not a book, but a resource I found extremely helpful when first getting into this kind of stuff.

x86 Assembly Crash Course - YouTube

[42stein]

You can probably find most book at https://libgen.is/