Few beginners questions

[Alunn]

Greetings,
I am a 2nd year student in computer engineering and a long time member of wow emulated server communities.
From the beginning of my studies, 1.5 years ago, I did minor work on varies emu cores, but ever since Cataclysm launched and became available on mentioned emulators, there is work to be done in all possible aspects.
Each patch introduces new features and understanding memory editing is the key component in knowing how to interpret communication data between the server and client.

I have been reading all topics in this section, but unfortunately there are too many things I don't understand in order to make use of them. Therefore, I am hoping somebody could help me out on my learning quest if you aren't too annoyed by noobs

First concrete thing I'd like to know is how to know what I am reading when I am reading wow memory ? For example via Jadd's application ([C#] Unencrypted Packet Reading Tool - Source + Compiled Application), how do you know how to interprete packet data and translate it into something understandable ? I guess first 4 bytes could be the guid of the player or NPC etc, but how can you know what's really behind the data without guessing ?
The answer to that could be disassembling wow.exe , which I already did without much luck (just had my first semester of basics in assembler), even with reading the code on C level via IDA doesn't tell me much.

If anyone has nerves (patience) and will to help me out, I'd appreciated feedback (some real time chat via msn or similar would be even more appreciated).
Thanks in advance.

[jjaa]

Just reversing how the Wow uses the data is the only way. It just takes experience and patience. Reversing packet data is similar to file format reversing (Eldad Eilam,Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering, Chapter 6, Deciphering File Formats could be a useful reference.). You look at how Wow uses the data, you make and educated guess and try to confirm your guess. With WoW your actually quite well off in terms of difficulty, all of the CDataStore::Get function have been found an their return types identified, just look for the calls. Believe me, its much more annoying when those function are inlined (Although you could use IDA F.L.I.R.T to identity the the common inlined functions...but that's a little off topic....)!

[Alunn]

Went on reading the book and I guess It's gonna be fun, just based on finishing reading the first chapter (though gonna have to purchase the full version).
Thank you for the kind reply, finally some reference to all of this <3

[sitnspinlock]

i generally refrain from sharing books because of how little author's get paid. but I left you a present in your inbox

[Alunn]

Gee, thanks a lot again, I'll be able to read now till i fall asleep Google preview ends on page ~60 and was about to finish.
I agree about the authors and payment, and I guess I'll purchase one via amazon asap as I originally planned, since having a solid and digital book ain't the same after all.
This one seem certainly worth having around among useful books.

Thank you both jjaa for the recommendation and everdox for the digitalized version!

[sitnspinlock]

you are very welcome. and yeh, reading digital copies is quite a pain without 2 monitors. even then sometimes I still prefer a physical copy =/

[Cypher]

you are very welcome. and yeh, reading digital copies is quite a pain without 2 monitors. even then sometimes I still prefer a physical copy =/

I always buy physical copies of books after I read a chapter or two online. As far as technology has come, nothing yet can replace having an actual physical book. Maybe when tablets get better battery life I'll reconsider, but until then I'm quite happy to keep adding to my mini-home-library.

EDIT:

Besides, ebook or not, it's douchey not to pay for the book if it deserves it.

[Require]

Cypher is completely right here. I also actually read a few chapters to verify if the book is useful. When it's useful I will buy a physical copy.
I think it's better to read a physical book. I mean, reading a book in bed is nice

[Bananenbrot]

Yeah, I think I have to say too, that purchasing and reading a hard copy of a book is definitely the way to go. *thumbs up*