diff --git a/src/test/jtx/impl/hook.cpp b/src/test/jtx/impl/hook.cpp
index 8602e0053..07b72ad00 100644
--- a/src/test/jtx/impl/hook.cpp
+++ b/src/test/jtx/impl/hook.cpp
@@ -65,29 +65,16 @@ hso_delete(void (*f)(Json::Value& jv))
 Json::Value
 hso(std::vector<uint8_t> const& wasmBytes, void (*f)(Json::Value& jv))
 {
-    if (wasmBytes.size() == 0)
-        throw std::runtime_error("empty hook wasm passed to hso()");
-
-    Json::Value jv;
-    jv[jss::CreateCode] = strHex(wasmBytes);
-    {
-        jv[jss::HookOn] =
-            "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000";
-        jv[jss::HookNamespace] = to_string(uint256{beast::zero});
-        jv[jss::HookApiVersion] = Json::Value{0};
-    }
-
-    if (f)
-        f(jv);
-
-    return jv;
+    return hso(strHex(wasmBytes), f);
 }
 
 Json::Value
 hso(std::string const& wasmHex, void (*f)(Json::Value& jv))
 {
     if (wasmHex.size() == 0)
-        throw std::runtime_error("empty hook wasm passed to hso()");
+        throw std::runtime_error(
+            "empty hook wasm passed to hso(): run "
+            "src/test/app/build_test_hooks.sh to generate the hook wasm");
 
     Json::Value jv;
     jv[jss::CreateCode] = wasmHex;