Deconstruction notes

The Decon Wiki notes page is home to everything not tied to a game that doesn't really fit on the front page.

General
All values are given in hexadecimal by default; if decimal is added for clarity, it is shown after a slash, such as in 03E7/999.

Type column
The type column, as currently implemented, separates cheats by functionality, using the following terminology.


 * Bitfield: A collection of eight (at most) true/false switches, available at 01, 02, 04, 08, 10, 20, 40, and 80.
 * Note that ascending bit order means values are placed sequentially at 01, 02, 04 etc. while descending bit order means they are placed at 80, 40, 20, etc.
 * Exact: Input value is equivalent to a precise and numerically displayed game value.
 * Exact-G: As Exact, but graphically displayed as in health bars or pictographs.
 * Exact-HX: As Exact, but using the input hexadecimal value rather than its decimal equivalent; BCD output.
 * Float-X: Input value is a floating point number with a length of X bytes (usually 4 in most cases).
 * Hybrid: Any address not sufficiently classified by a single category.
 * Parameter: Input value is equivalent to a precise but not visually expressed game value.
 * Switch: Input value is equivalent to a true/false game value (RV is usually what the game itself uses).
 * Type code: Input value is equivalent to a specific result as shown in the associated type code table.
 * Type code-T: As Type code, but specifically for ASCII or equivalent tables meant for displaying text or other characters.

Deprecated notation
Previously, the point of the type column was to separate cheats by function, with the following notes.


 * Attribute: Strength, speed, armor, experience, etc. Subclassed into player, NPC, and enemy when necessary.
 * Currency: Rather obvious what this is for, I'd say.
 * Enhancement: Unlike an attribute, something that you can gain and lose (or turn on and off), rather than something that's permanent once it's achieved.
 * Environmental: Gravity for one, and also weather.
 * Equipment: What you're wearing and wielding, or what armaments your vehicle carries.
 * Event: Game progression and the like.
 * Graphical: Typically used with display values or other "useless" cheats.
 * Inventory: Spells included, sometimes.
 * Mechanic: A game operation like physics that the player normally has no way of altering - thus these types are usually hacks.
 * Parameter: Timers, scores, coordinates and such. A parameter cheat's name is usually fairly descriptive as to its purpose.

Some uncorrected pages still use this notation.

In addition, 'classes' were further used to separate cheats by 'difficulty' or being more or less esoteric than others. Due to its potential subjectivity, the concept of cheat classes is no longer used.


 * Display: A cheat that affects something visually but not functionally, like an address that controls the length of a life bar but doesn't have any effect on the actual life value. Essentially makes no difference to the game, so it's not categorized as a hack but can still be included to show what the address does.
 * Bypass: Something the player can fairly easily accomplish by going through the game without cheating, such as experience, gold, standard powerups, that sort of thing; these cheats let you bypass the time and/or effort normally required.
 * Twist: A little more complex. While it's possible for the player to normally get these things or cause this effect, it may not be possible to accomplish in every situation - unless you twist things a little. Examples are out-of-the-way or hidden items, circumstantial effects, unlockable powerups, etc.
 * Hack: Something that's downright impossible for the player to accomplish without cheating. Traveling from one town to another? Fine. Teleporting across a continent and interrupting the storyline in the process? Now *that*, my friend, is a hack - as is changing the gravity and/or one's horizontal air velocity in order to fly through stages faster than the camera can follow you (in some cases).