[Tutorial] How to get Allegro passwords

1. Get some game on Allegro engine
2. Check with Grabber tool if archives are password protected.
3. Check on the xentax wiki if the password was already cracked by someone else https://wiki.xentax.com/index.php/Allegro_DAT
4. If the password is still unknown, then open IDA Pro
5. Search for string „packfile_password” in the assembler code.
6. Go to address where you have instruction like „call ds:packfile_password”.
7. Password for DAT archive will be above that instruction
   

8. Now check the password in Grabber tool if it works

9. If you can see some assets in the preview, then your password is correct.
10. That’s all. Happy modding. 🙂

Notes:
1. Sometimes password won’t be in plain text. In this case you have to set a breakpoint on „call ds:packfile_password” and see what password is passed to the function.
2. You can also use sysinternal’s string tool to export all strings from EXE and look for password there.