How to Hack Color Switch

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Color Switch has more than 50 million downloads on Google Play, and stars are what it sells and what unlocks its balls and modes. They aren't in the preferences: the game saves them to inv2.dat, a small binary file next to its other saves. Right after the word stars in that file come four bytes, and those four bytes are your stars. A new game starts at 0; mine had 999,999 after one edit in CheatDroid's hex editor.

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1. 1

   Open CheatDroid, allow root, and tap Color Switch in the app list.

2. 2

   Tap the search icon, type inv2 and open Android/data/com.colorswitch.switch2/files/inv2.dat. If the game is running, tap Force stop. CheatDroid says the file isn't text: tap Hex editor.

   

3. 3

   Scroll to the end of the file and find stars in the text column on the right. Tap the first of the four bytes after it and type 3F 42 0F 00 on the keypad, which is 999,999. Tap the check mark to save.

   

4. 4

   Start Color Switch. The star counter at the top left shows the new amount.

What else I found

• The four bytes are the number in hex, lowest byte first: 999,999 is 3F 42 0F 00, 50,000 is 50 C3 00 00. A calculator in programmer mode converts it.
• Don’t add or delete bytes, only overwrite. The file has to keep its length of 1,592 bytes.
• coins and gems follow in the same file, stored the same way.
• Needs CheatDroid 4.1.5 or newer, where a tap selects the byte under your finger. Saving in the hex editor needs Pro.
• Tested on version 2.85.

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Made a game that saves like this? Here’s how to make an edited save fail its check.