Lazy Bastard

April 25th, 2009
LiquidManZero: Among hacking several well-known codes, you founded GSHI. What was your inspiration to do this?

Lazy Bastard: I was one of several hackers of the time (~1999) who were acutely aware of the need for a place like GSHI. Myself, RPGod, KingEdgar0, CzarDragon, and a few others were posting in a thread at arguably the center of the hacking scene at the time (GSCCC), talking of the core problems in the scene, when RPGod and I came up with and posted the same idea, within about three minutes of each other (I clicked Post, then noticed the same idea I had, before mine, heh). It's detailed more thoroughly in the GSHI Wiki (History of GSHI), but to sum it up, GSHI was established as a place for hackers to have their work showcased, with proper credit, in a way fitting for those who spend such time and effort for everyone's benefit. It was actually never intended to be a community, and in fact was an index of codes arranged by hacker name, with a guide at the bottom to which games a given hacker had hacked for (hence the original name, GameShark Hackers Index).



LiquidManZero: 
What do you think the earliest thing you did hacking wise was?

Lazy Bastard: 
Hmm...when I first entered the scene, I only had a GameShark 2 (PSX), and couldn't hack my own codes. After KingEdgar0 hacked a text mod for Final Fantasy VII that I'd requested, I played around a bit with other text in the game, nearby in memory. As far as actually hacking something, I think the first things I hacked were basic, HP/MP/experience mods for FF7, just to learn the ropes.


LiquidManZero: 
Of what hacking you've done, what was your favorite thing?

Lazy Bastard: 
That's pretty difficult to decide. I had the most fun using the sprite control mod I hacked for Final Fantasy VII, or perhaps some of the jump/flip/spin stuff I did for Driver (PSX)...or the hilarious Fall Over and Die/Get Back Up code for Resident Evil 2 (PSX). As far as having fun actually hacking the code(s), I would say either the stuff I did for the (still unfinished) Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Weapon Project, or the 007: The World Is Not Enough (PSX) codes to allow you to kill civilians without repercussions (which were also never completely finished).


LiquidManZero: 
Who or what were your early influences in the hacking scene? As well as who did you look up to at the time?

Lazy Bastard: 
When I first entered the scene, KingEdgar0 was my greatest direct influence. I remember he answered some great questions when I first began hacking, and was an inspiration to learn and accomplish as much as possible. Incidentally, he was also my inspiration to amass a huge collection of books (and to read them), and to constantly thirst for knowledge in general. Hence, KE is in a large  way responsible for who I am today, and one of my best friends at that.
As for who I looked up to the most, that was, without a doubt (and probably still is, though I've met some other veritable sages on my 'travels' since) CzarDragon. Though he did answer some questions I had from time to time, I tried to keep pestering him to a minimum, always thinking of Wayne's World ("We're not worthy! We're no worthy!"), heh. He was just quite an amazing hacker, and he seemed to only be using a small amount of his potential abilities. He was also a great teacher, though admittedly there was generally some prerequisite knowledge before understanding his writings would be feasible.


LiquidManZero: 
What's your favorite code and/or hack?

Lazy Bastard: 
That would probably be either the Super Ridiculous code for Resident Evil 2 (PSX), strictly for hilarity, or the Final Fantasy VII debug room code, which I think many people would agree changed the face of video game hacking forever.


LiquidManZero: 
What would you say is your favorite sort of thing to hack?

Lazy Bastard: 
Sprite control mods, including those that allow you to control enemies in games (for those of you unacquainted with sprite control mods, they essentially allow your control to 'jump' over to that of another character/monster/etc in the game, 'possessing' them). I only wish I'd gotten around to hacking more of them than the few I did. Whenever I get back into hacking, I shall do just that.


LiquidManZero: 
What would you say is the most difficult kind of hack, and what gives you that impression?

Lazy Bastard: 
Walk-through-walls. I've only been able to hack that once, and it was a huge bitch. There seem to be several ways that games handle clipping/collisions, and none of them seem to act as you'd surmise they would. I remember reading more than one 'method' to hacking wtw codes, and none of them worked once for me without some integral modification.


LiquidManZero: 
Of the games you've hacked what was the most fun to do so, and why?

Lazy Bastard: 
I'd have to say Final Fantasy VII. It was just such a rich game, and thus such a rich environment to hack around in. There were (and still are) so many things to hack, and even with many, many great hackers working on it exclusively, it never seemed to run dry of potential discoveries.


LiquidManZero: 
What's the most annoying and/or your least favorite thing about hacking?

Lazy Bastard: 
Inefficient hacking systems (meaning, almost all of them, in some way or another). The inability to do something that you know for sure is possible, but just isn't an available option in the hacking system you're using.


LiquidManZero: 
In your experience, what was the most bastardly hack you did?

Lazy Bastard: 
Out of those I completed, probably the Final Fantasy VII Death Trigger (kills all enemies instantly, to be used with a joker). Out of those I didn't complete, I'd say the 007: The World Is Not Enough stuff to allow you to kill civilians and continue as if nothing happened. That game just doesn't seem to be written the way you'd expect it to be.


LiquidManZero: 
What were some things you hacked, and then lost due to something being a bastard?

Lazy Bastard: 
For Final Fantasy VII, I once hacked either an in-town Cloud size mod, or an in-town Cloud distance from 'camera' mod. I never got to thoroughly check which one it was, nor write down the address, because my PSX (or GSPro, who knows) crashed, and I'd only modified the value in the memory editor (and thus it wasn't saved by the GSPro).
I also found some interesting things for Metal Gear Solid, including a texture mod for pretty much all objects, that I managed to lose in a notebook somehow.
And there are probably other things; I'm guessing every hacker has several such memories.


LiquidManZero: 
What were some things you recall having hacked that were bastards about working right?

Lazy Bastard: 
Definitely my efforts for 007: The World Is Not Enough (PSX), and the Ultimate Weapon stuff for FF7 (sorry for being redundant, heh).


LiquidManZero: 
While not hacking or gaming, what does a Bastard do to be Lazy?

Lazy Bastard: 
I do some mild programming when I have the time, to include PS2 development (wait, does that still fall under gaming? heh). I'm a network engineer, and I do some IT consulting for extra cash here and there (it's nothing intentional; I generally get approached or "hooked up" by someone I know). I don't watch much TV, but I do read quite a lot, primarily technical reference of all sorts, and history.


LiquidManZero: 
What do you think must happen for the video game hacking scene to continue to thrive?

Lazy Bastard: Project Artemis needs to be finished, and others like it for other systems (or other Artemis incarnations, for other systems). We need proper hacking capabilities for the newer systems, and as long as those are satisfied, the hacking scene will continue to flourish, leaving the 'Dark Age' of hacking behind.


LiquidManZero: 
One last question: if you had one thing to say to current, aspiring, and future hackers, what would it be?

Lazy Bastard: 
I would tell them to never give up learning. If you don't understand something, and can't get your head around it, come back to it later, but move on to learning something else, instead of halting the learning process altogether. You'll find that the more you learn, the more you can go back and understand easily.