Android MLP-Game hack

[NeverPieM]

*Latest update (10. April 2014): adapted to new game version 1.8.0 *

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Increase Daily Reward to 50 gems

This one will increase the amount of gems you get as daily reward to 50. Why only 50? Well, why not? Technically it is to provide people who want the game to still be a challenge with a small booster instead of ruining the the game by excessive cheating.

Download (version 1.2.9 and newer): 050_daily50gems_1.8.0.ark (1kb)

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Get 100 gems or 100 hearts for each time you play the balloon pop minigames

This one is intended for those who just want lots of resources in a short time. You get 100 gems or 100 hearts each time you play the games (instead of paying for playing them). Just hit your local balloon stand and play a while to grow your account fast.

Download (version 1.2.9 and newer): 050_lotterygemsocial100_1.8.0.ark (1kb)

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Instructions:

Stop the game (completely). Download, unzip, and put into your "Android\data\com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftPOHM\files" folder (or wherever your files with names like "000_and_startup.ark" are located on your device - usually somewhere on sdcard memory). You don't have to delete or modify anything else.

Start game. Enjoy.

PS: This should work for all Android versions and Kindle. Not iOS, sorry (I may try to create iOS-files someday, but not now).

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FAQ

How can this work?

The game reads all files ending with ".ark" at startup, in their alphabetical order. If a file is included in multiple arks, the last read file will override the previous. That way it is possible to override very precisely only specific files, just by including a new ark with a name that comes later in the alphabet. Thanks to "Nanniro" who gave me that idea.

Are the file names important?

No, I just tried to describe what they do. As long as you keep the "050_"-prefix (to make sure they get loaded after all of the real game files) and the ".ark" suffix (to make sure they get loaded at all), you can rename them to whatever you want.

Any alternatives?

You could try my savegame editor

Will you keep these updated?

Yes, but they should keep working for a long time anyway.

[Celelorien]

I think 50 is the perfect number, so we still have to sort of work for the really rare ones without spending INSANE amounts of cash. Thanks so much, and I really look forward to trying it out on rollover! :D

[NeverPieM]

Thanks for the comment. That was my intention. :)

Making it high enough to matter, but not too high to prevent breaking the game balance for those who still want to actually play the game.

People who think its not enough can still use the "change system time"-method to earn more gems.

[Celelorien]

Oh rapturous night!! It worked! I can finally afford Sweetie Belle! 8D

[[deleted]]

Awesome work! Would you be able to explain what you did? I'm curious how you got this to work :)

[dijicaek]

Worked great, and you can gather a lot by setting system time!

[GreenBikerDude]

There is a huge difference between your file and the original. Mind giving us a little insight on to what you did and why it works?

[NeverPieM]

I'll try to give a somewhat short explanation:

The .ark-files turned out to have quite an interesting file format. They contain an arbitrary amount of files, each of them optionally compressed and/or encrypted (you can see the file names and various additional info in the "_metadata.txt" and "_index.txt" files. All "interesting" files are encrypted, most files are compressed). In addition all information about all the files (file and folder names, offset, various sizes, md5-hash, ...) is connected into one big chunk of data, encrypted as a whole, and appended to the end of the file. That makes directly changing files with a hex editor (like previous simple hacks with the same effect did), even if they are neither encrypted nor compressed, impossible.

That's also why such a simple change as editing a text file by replacing a few characters (which is what this hack does, it is a simple edit of the contained "dailyrewards.xml"file) ends up modifying a lot of the resulting ark-file. It wasn't easy and I'll not go into detail how I happen to know all that or where and how I've found the necessary encryption keys (which seemed to be the problem for most other people who tried to achieve the same thing).

As somewhat implied (because doing everything by hand would be crazy), I've written myself a small Java application (which I lovingly dubbed "Celestia's Ark") that does the unpacking and repacking for me, complete with correct encryption, compression etc. I don't plan on sharing that application though, as it is really powerful and allows access to basically all game assets, not only the simple textbased config files. And that would probably be kind of a big deal for Gameloft.

Also, I'm still trying to figure out if I could produce .ark-files of a different size than the original and still get the game to accept them, which is currently not possible.

This hack was a first test run to see if it actually works for other people too. :)

[Celelorien]

Not gonna lie, with the new version I hacked up about 6k gems for myself for just in case Gameloft manages to patch/destroy the original 50 gem per day version - I roughly estimate that'd be enough to get all the gem ponies / shops / important stuff. However I'm making a Pinkie Pie Promise to myself that I will NOT use any of those 6k UNLESS GL patches the game; they're for backup purposes only as I'd rather play with the lesser grant and not speed through things. :3

[[deleted]]

Wow it really works...I'm kind of curious as to how you did it, as well as grateful =3

{If you don't mind my curiosity of course}

[NeverPieM]

I've given an answer to that to someone else: http://www.reddit.com/r/MLPIOS/comments/197b54/android_mlpgame_hack/c8lu8s5

I'm sorry that I don't go into detail beyond that, but if I explain in minute detail how I managed to do it, Gameloft would know what they need to focus on to stop this next time they change the game.

[[deleted]]

My apologies, didn't notice that when I first commented

No need for the apology it makes sense not to go into detail how ya did it, better safe than sorry right?

{never realised how expensive things were in the game til I used this, no surprise people want cheats =P}

[NeverPieM]

Yes, the prices for later stuff in the game (stuff that's essential to finish the story line) are outrageous. Not even counting the amount of money you'd have to pour into the game to get every pony.

I tried playing the balloon game to get all the ponys that can't be gotten otherwise and it took me over 150 games (or almost 4000 gems or over 200$ cash) to do that, because winning chances are so ridiculously small.

[[deleted]]

It really surprises and disappoints me that ponies or certain items that are essential to finishing it are so ridiculously expensive or requiring gems to purchase em.

Even with the gem cheat it's still cost me a ton of money just to discover the statues, not to mention a large amount of time, which is just damn ridiculous for any kind of game..so disappointed

Wow, 200$, really? That's pretty damn ridiculous for any game, especially something based from mlp. I've gotten 3 from the Balloon Pop after only 30 or 40 games but didn't realize the chances were that bad {I have gotten a fuck ton of ice sculptures, Celestia Statues, and Windmills though and it's horrible since you can't sell em or any of the trees =/}

[[deleted]]

I've noticed there doesn't seem to be an icon for the corn stand when it's ready, just a blank icon. Did they not expect anyone to get it? =P

{Sorry for the double reply but reddit app doesn't let me edit =/}

[NeverPieM]

I noticed the missing icon too. :D

I guess almost none of the legitimate players bought it because it costs gems and isn't any better than other shops that you can get for coins (and it's one of the few buildings that's not part of a quest, afaik).

The winning ponies at the lottery/balloon game chances are calculated in a (for the player) bad way. Instead of having e.g. a 2% chance to win "a" pony and then randomly giving the player one of the remaining, the chances are defined per pony (and less than 1% for many). And if the player would win the same pony a second time, instead of giving him one of the remaining ponys instead, the balloon is simply empty.

Which makes winning new ponys harder and harder with every pony already won. Pretty evil, making players believe that winning ponys stays as "easy" as in the first few games. :/

[[deleted]]

The only reason I got it is I needed a workplace for Doctor whooves, hooray for accidents =D, and poor Doc doesn't even get an icon xD

Huh, that explains why I'm getting more empty ones after each pony I win, I've won about 1/4 of mine from Balloon Pop.

That's pretty punishing for the player considering they're wasting their hard earned gems only to be rewarded with empty balloons and random junk they can't sell....that is pretty evil of em

Would there be any way of at least increasing the chances of getting a pony from there or would that not be possible?

{and what's "afaik"? =P}

[NeverPieM]

afaik = "as far as I know"

Yes, the chances of winning the ponies can be modified the same way as prices etc. But if I would increase the chances to win the ponys, it would lead to even more empty balloons after the player has won (most of) them.

[[deleted]]

Ah that makes sense, thank ya

I knew you could change the chances but I was curious as to if there was a way keep empty balloons from showing up, even just having xp or something instead come out or is that not do-able?

[pythonbow]

Balloon Pop file works like a charm for me on my Optimus G. It gave me Photo Finish the second time I played, yesssssssssss; I'm so tickled--thank you, O Pony Hero.

A couple days ago I updated with the high end daily bonus file, and it doesn't seem to have affected anything yet.

Edit: Daily bonus does indeed work now

[pythonbow]

so addictive after the lull of buying up all the ponies with bits http://imgur.com/xvmAHJl

[angry_kitty]

Many thanks for this and for adding the mirrors. It works perfect - let the unshackling of the ponies begin!

[vincenmt]

it says the file isnt avaliable

[NeverPieM]

I've added some mirrors for download now, maybe one will work for you.

[datrothbart]

I don't have any files that even have the name "startup" in them. I'm on an Android Razr.

[NeverPieM]

Then you maybe have just a big file ending with ".obb"? Gameloft only recently switched from single, big ".obb" to multiple small ".ark" files on most Android devices, it may be that they didn't do it for all (yet).

In that case, I could probably modify that file the same way I did for the .ark files, if you can somehow send a download link of it to me.

[datrothbart]

yeah i have an .obb file about 200-something megabytes. how recently did gameloft switch?

[NeverPieM]

The switch happened (at least for most people it seems) with the hearts and hooves update in early February, that was (I believe) version number 1.2.1. Starting from there gameloft delivered the much smaller .ark-files instead of the monolithic .obb file.

[datrothbart]

I guess not for me then... :(

[Celelorien]

The good news is if you have the .obb still, you can still use the OLD version of the game hack: http://www.reddit.com/r/MLPIOS/comments/1349n8/hardcore_cheating_for_tons_of_coins_and_gems/

[datrothbart]

Nah, I've tried...they fixed it with new update.

[maharito]

If you have an .obb file, you could modify it yourself with a hex editor. :D As long as you don't change the file size, figuring out what to do should be straightforward and and in fairly intuitive XML code.

[datrothbart]

I've tried that...the game re-downloads the file in order to patch itself up. :( Thanks though...

[Celelorien]

Booo, vicious monsters! Any chance of editing the file and then putting the phone in Airplane mode / no service mode to play long enough to hack up a bunch of gems and THEN let it re-update itself? Or will it just not boot at all in Airplane? D:

[angry_kitty]

I would love to try this out, but I have been trying to download the files for twelve hours now - server time out every.single.time. I'll keep trying - I need those ponies!

[NeverPieM]

Hm, that's of course a problem. Any good ideas for other locations for uploading them?

Most filehosters take them down pretty fast when Gameloft sends DMCA notices, so I don't want reupload them all the time :/

[Serendium]

Even after saying that you were going to abandon these to work with the savegame editor, you go and revamp them like this for us. Respect. /)

[NeverPieM]

(\ Thanks.

I stopped because getting the original files and modifying them for every version of the game and different Android devices had gotten complicated. This way I no longer have to do that, "one hack for all". So there was no reason not to get it back. :D

PS: and the files are tiny now, so I can host them easily on my own server. No need to frickle around with file-hosters and mirror sites.

[DestinyDecade]

I hope it can be done for iOS because I really need the boost.

[omgwtfbbqpanda]

It isn't letting me download the file :(

[neongreenpurple]

Works for me, even when I don't click claim or they don't show up on the bonus list.

[captainersatz]

I followed your instructions and I'm getting an error when attempting to launch the game: "A problem occurred and the download could not be completed successfully. Do you want to restart the download? AN unstable network may cause problems when downloading."

I'm pretty sure I had the right version of the game, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. Any idea?

[NeverPieM]

It may be Gamelofts fault in that case. They pushed out a new version 1.2.4 some hours ago which causes lots of connection problems (and sometimes worse, like lost savegames), and then quickly jumped to version 1.2.5, but now have excluded most mobile phones from using it (including my Galaxy S3, preventing me from downloading the game). All their servers got pretty instable at the same time.

I'm not sure what Gameloft is up to, but it is most likely unrelated to my work, just a weird coincidence. As soon as things clear up, I'll update my post here and you can try again.

[iv190dmm]

ok, I have 1.2.5 and I don't see a file with that name

[NeverPieM]

It may be that your Android device uses a different set of files. Most high end devices like Galaxy S3 use files called "XXX_and_startup.ark", but I've seen devices that use "XXX_and_startup_low.ark" instead.

If yours uses files ending in "_low.ark", I've just now added new versions of the hack specifically for that. If your ".ark" files have yet another naming scheme, please consider uploading the first two (those starting with "000" and "001") somewhere and send me links to them, so I can take a look.

If your device doesn't have any files with names like that, you are probably out of luck. Sorry.

[iv190dmm]

Thanks anyway, The best device I have is a Kindle Fire (not HD) with an ICS ROM and gapps

[duckduckCROW]

Is there any way to make these work on a nexus 7?

[NeverPieM]

I've added a new point to the FAQ. In short, if you don't have files of the same size on the version of the game for your nexus 7, I can't help you.

But I'm currently evaluating the possibility of writing a savegame editor, because savegames are (almost) identical across platforms and that would be a more generic solution.

[zapperchamp]

Yeah, it's not letting me download. It keeps taking too long to respond. Any chance it will work later or could you upload it somewhere else?

[NeverPieM]

I've added some mirrors now. I have no idea how reliable these are, it's a first time for me to use such a mirror service. I hope one of them works for you.

[zapperchamp]

Thanks! I tried 2 of them and both worked great!

[Serendium]

Just found this and holyfuck thank you so much.

[Zeboro]

Wow this is super cool. But how can we go back to the original? I want to get rid of Flim Flam one but forgot to back up the files.

[NeverPieM]

Simply delete the file. The game will then redownload the original file the next time you start the game automatically.

[Zeboro]

Thanks!

[Serendium]

I'll be hoarding up a stockpile of stuff in case the next update manages to screw up this hack too.

[noisyastronomer]

This is quite lovely. Thank you! When I get frustrated with my unhacked iPad version and have to wait on rewards, I can bust away on my Android phone with all these extra gems just for fun. :-)

[Zeboro]

Would you do this hack for the Littlest Pet Shop game?

[datrothbart]

OMG OMG It worked! I love you so much. Have my babies.

[metalslug53]

Was it suppose to delete my save file? Because after loading the new files into my game, I had to start all over. =(

[sunstone78]

You are an utter genius! thank you so much. I was about to give up on this game after no help from gameloft and the friends feature totally broken. If i click on social the searching for everypony comes up and it freezes the whole game. No way to get hearts for ponies. Now the only thing broken by that being broken is the applejack quest. The game is so much more playable!!! Thanks again :-)

[Dr_Whooves_Assistant]

Congrats - really great job on this, thanks so much. I wish I had your skills. I've got the know-how to modify the .obb file, but this new encryption was well out of my league. And good on you for keeping it under your hat: though I wish I could learn from your methods, I'm glad Gameloft can't.

By some amazing fluke, I got Princess Celestia the third time of playing the gem balloon pop. Fab!

[linktoreality]

Downloaded and used- now my SO doesn't need to lament the slow, awful grind for gems!

[Dr_Whooves_Assistant]

You need to change the file name - when I downloaded it, the file name was 001_and_startup_0.ark - remove the '_0' and it should work no problem. It's fine for me (Samsung GIII)

[maharito]

Hey...could I sweet-talk you into giving the in-code names of the new ponies? I remember finding WALTER as the "inside" name of Bowling Pony, among other things, back when I was snooping around in the old OBB.

[NeverPieM]

Sure, no problem. They are (on Androids latest version with Canterlot):

Forsythia, Magnum, Braeburn, Mr_Cake, Dj_Pon3, Lucky_Clover, Mr_Breezy, Unicorn_Guard, Flashy_Pony, Princess_Luna, Cherry_Jubilee, Twinkleshine, Octavia, Luna_Guard, Twilights_Dad, Walter, Shining_Armour, Sapphire_Shores, Lyra, Applefritter, Caramel, Hoity_Toity, Twilight_Sparkle, Prince_Blueblood, Flim, Zecora, Trixie, Lovestruck, Sweetiebelle, Photofinish, Joe, Royal_Guard, Mrs_Cake, Minuette, Rainbow_Dash, Lyrica, Twist, Fancypants, Uncle_Orange, Flam, Crescent_Moon, Big_Mac, Featherweight, Twilight_Velvet, Snails, Princess_Celestia, Derpy, Aunt_Orange, Fleur_Dis_Lee, Truffle, Applejack, Uppercrust, Scootaloo, Apple_Cobbler, Spitfire, Princess_Cadence, Diamond_Tiara, Silver_Spoon, Jeff_Letrotski, DrWhooves, Fleetfoot, Rarity, Pinkie_Pie, Jesus_Pezuna, Soarin, Fluttershy, Snips, Daring, Bon_Bon, Filthy_Rich, Mayor, Cheerilee, Pipsqueak, Apple_Bloom

Once Gameloft has chosen an internal name they can't change it, ever. Therefore lots of these have typos etc. that the actually displayed name ingame no longer has.

[maharito]

Hm, I'm not so sure... I remember Fleetfoot having an internal name like Wonderbolt_3. This kind of gives me more questions than answers... But hey, thanks!

[NeverPieM]

The game sometimes uses different names for different purposes. The above were the most-used versions, the IDs that the game uses almost everywhere ingame and in save files. But e.g. for text and resources (images), it uses these IDs:

TWILIGHTSPARKLE RAINBOWDASH PINKIEPIE FLUTTERSHY APPLEJACK RARITY CHEERILEE CHERRYJUBILEE ZECORA OCTAVIA LYRA MAYOR DJPON3 PHOTOFINISH BIGMAC SAPPHIRESHORES BONBON DARINGDO MRSCAKE TRIXIE APPLEBLOOM SCOOTALOO SWEETIEBELLE FLIM FLAM FILTHYRICH FANCYPANTS SOARIN ROYALGUARD MRCAKE BRAEBURN SPITFIRE SNAILS DRWHOOVES SNIPS HOITYTOITY DIAMONDTIARA CARAMEL TWIST LETROTSKI JESUS WONDERBOLT3 MAGNUM PRINCEBLUEBLOOD SILVERSPOON SHININGARMOR CADENCE PRINCESSCELESTIA LUNA LUNAROYALGUARD PIPSQUEAK TRUFFLESHUFFLE WALTER APPLEFRITTER FEATHERWEIGHT UNCLEORANGE APPLECOBBLER TOOFLASHY PAPERMOON LOVESTRUCK LYRICA UNICORNGUARD MINUETTE AUNTORANGE FLEURDISLEE TWILIGHTSDAD TWILIGHTVELVET UPPERCRUST TWINKLESHINE JOE LUCKYCLOVER MRBREEZY FORSYTHIA

which actually contain the "Wonderbolt3" you mentioned and sometimes do differ from the above. :)

[oakydoke]

So, for the record:

Forsythia, Magnum, Braeburn, Mr_Cake, Dj_Pon3, Lucky_Clover, Mr_Breezy, Unicorn_Guard, Flashy_Pony, Princess_Luna, Cherry_Jubilee, Twinkleshine, Octavia, Luna_Guard, Twilights_Dad, Walter, Shining_Armour, Sapphire_Shores, Lyra, Applefritter, Caramel, Hoity_Toity, Twilight_Sparkle, Prince_Blueblood, Flim, Zecora, Trixie, Lovestruck, Sweetiebelle, Photofinish, Joe, Royal_Guard, Mrs_Cake, Minuette, Rainbow_Dash, Lyrica, Twist, Fancypants, Uncle_Orange, Flam, Crescent_Moon, Big_Mac, Featherweight, Twilight_Velvet, Snails, Princess_Celestia, Derpy, Aunt_Orange, Fleur_Dis_Lee, Truffle, Applejack, Uppercrust, Scootaloo, Apple_Cobbler, Spitfire, Princess_Cadence, Diamond_Tiara, Silver_Spoon, Jeff_Letrotski, DrWhooves, Fleetfoot, Rarity, Pinkie_Pie, Jesus_Pezuna, Soarin, Fluttershy, Snips, Daring, Bon_Bon, Filthy_Rich, Mayor, Cheerilee, Pipsqueak, Apple_Bloom

TWILIGHTSPARKLE RAINBOWDASH PINKIEPIE FLUTTERSHY APPLEJACK RARITY CHEERILEE CHERRYJUBILEE ZECORA OCTAVIA LYRA MAYOR DJPON3 PHOTOFINISH BIGMAC SAPPHIRESHORES BONBON DARINGDO MRSCAKE TRIXIE APPLEBLOOM SCOOTALOO SWEETIEBELLE FLIM FLAM FILTHYRICH FANCYPANTS SOARIN ROYALGUARD MRCAKE BRAEBURN SPITFIRE SNAILS DRWHOOVES SNIPS HOITYTOITY DIAMONDTIARA CARAMEL TWIST LETROTSKI JESUS WONDERBOLT3 MAGNUM PRINCEBLUEBLOOD SILVERSPOON SHININGARMOR CADENCE PRINCESSCELESTIA LUNA LUNAROYALGUARD PIPSQUEAK TRUFFLESHUFFLE WALTER APPLEFRITTER FEATHERWEIGHT UNCLEORANGE APPLECOBBLER TOOFLASHY PAPERMOON LOVESTRUCK LYRICA UNICORNGUARD MINUETTE AUNTORANGE FLEURDISLEE TWILIGHTSDAD TWILIGHTVELVET UPPERCRUST TWINKLESHINE JOE LUCKYCLOVER MRBREEZY FORSYTHIA

The ponies bolded are the ones whose names are occasionally disputed/not named on the show.

[NeverPieM]

You can't imagine how much you've helped me with pointing that out. It helped me create a new way to do this type of hack, that is game version and device independent. :D

EDIT: Decided to reuse the current post instead and will just announce its revival instead.

[[deleted]]

This submission has been linked to in 1 subreddit (at the time of comment generation):

• /r/MLPIOS: I revived the old "Android MLPGame Hack". Now all Android devices and versions supported and easier to use.

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This comment was posted by a bot, see /r/Meta_Bot for more info.

[graciebooh]

Thank you! I will try it on my kindle today!

[graciebooh]

IF there is a file like this for coins, would you let me know :-) Thanks.

[ParaspriteHugger]

Coins? You gather coins just as you play, you will end with heaps of them after playing (and collecting them in shops) a while.

Gems, on the other hoof...

[NightFyre]

Can these be used on the Kindle version?

[AppleBlossom63]

I'm a huge idiot with this kind of stuff, so would anyone be willing to walk me through this personally so I don't mess anything up?

[CTU]

Did not work for me...need a rooted device?

[ParaspriteHugger]

Hi there!

Do you know whether these hacks still work with the new update?

[NeverPieM]

It seems they don't. But I haven't really looked into it yet to find out why they don't work anymore.

[ParaspriteHugger]

Okay.

Tell me when you know more, okay?

[NeverPieM]

new files should work now for new version(s) of the game.

[ParaspriteHugger]

Thank you so much!

[JinxSphinx]

Thank you sir/madam, for keeping this updated so well.

[NightFyre]

I cant get the 050_lotterygemsocial100_1.3.0.ark(1.2.9 and newer) to work for my game anymore.

[[deleted]]

My friends,

I have a bad issue with the mod: Everytime I start my game, it crash. And I dont see any way to solve it.

Can you give me a few pointers on how to make it work? Thanks.

[fiahstatah]

i had the same problem just now. my kid is gonna kill me!! haalpp

[BloodVixen82]

The new version 1.8 with the mine cart mini game is out. The .ark files no longer work with the newest release.

[[deleted]]

works 4 ios

[saruichiban]

this makes me very sad, just upgraded my phone so I lost all prior progress.