Different types of copy protection used in games? - Page 2

StingRay · 14 August 2018, 08:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jotd

But yes, if Leander was badly cracked, some platform was missing in a cave somewhere, making the game impossible to complete. Nice.

Kids Blow version wasn't cracked properly, Company version worked fine. And the Leander video contains so much of false information it's not even funny anymore. Coder thinks he has invented the best protection ever while it wasn't anything special at all.

jotd · 14 August 2018, 08:46

Fun fact about leander: For the whdload slave, I cracked the protection without even noticing (the long track one, I mean). One thing I did not check was if the platform is there, but I suppose that someone would have noticed since then.

Galahad/FLT · 14 August 2018, 17:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by jotd

Fun fact about leander: For the whdload slave, I cracked the protection without even noticing (the long track one, I mean). One thing I did not check was if the platform is there, but I suppose that someone would have noticed since then.

Fun fact about Nitro. Some checksums, but even by accident I didn't trigger them, they were so poorly implemented that you'd literally have to have a NOP trigger finger and spray them all over the code to get them to activate.

Galahad/FLT · 14 August 2018, 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingRay

Kids Blow version wasn't cracked properly, Company version worked fine. And the Leander video contains so much of false information it's not even funny anymore. Coder thinks he has invented the best protection ever while it wasn't anything special at all.

The most hilarious thing about it is he thinks he was first with the ideas, and you've got people in the comments section thinking he's a genius, and yet this type of protection was implemented by lots of people long before Leander.

Wasn't even his disk protection.

dlfrsilver · 14 August 2018, 17:29

yep, the protec longtrack is a generic type of duplicator long track.

Nothing to beat a dead horse about.

jotd · 14 August 2018, 18:04

For Leander, I first redirected the data loader (which requests files with actual names, that I like!) to JST load routines. Then a DSKRDY loop caught my eye (it was the protection but I thought it was a remnant of a disk-in-drive check). I skipped that part somehow: worked. Maybe I was lucky when I skipped it.

modrobert · 14 August 2018, 20:53

The secret DREADPIRATEROBERTS address hidden by subtraction and addition; (DREADPIRATEROBERTS-428) + 628 - 200 = DREADPIRATEROBERTS. Mind blown, using relative address modes, oh no, I'm thrown off the scent.

Seriously, if possible. I do like TT games and Jon Burton seems to be a skilled programmer, but he should probably avoid copy protection. Also, a bit of humour and self criticism wouldn't hurt when looking back at code from nearly three decades ago.

Galahad/FLT · 14 August 2018, 21:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by modrobert

The secret DREADPIRATEROBERTS address hidden by subtraction and addition; (DREADPIRATEROBERTS-428) + 628 - 200 = DREADPIRATEROBERTS. Mind blown, using relative address modes, oh no, I'm thrown off the scent.

Seriously, if possible. I do like TT games and Jon Burton seems to be a skilled programmer, but he should probably avoid copy protection. Also, a bit of humour and self criticism wouldn't hurt when looking back at code from nearly three decades ago.

He did the same for his "protection" on Puggsy on the Megadrive, it was as bad as Amiga Leander for inventiveness.

jotd · 14 August 2018, 21:18

At least Puggsy on amiga was completely unprotected.

roondar · 14 August 2018, 22:29

To be fair to the man, I've definitely played at least one 'cracked' version of Leander that did in fact not have all of the protection removed - so at a certain point there was a missing platform and that was it.

My guess is that it's not so much that the protection was necessarily great, but that the game seemed to work just fine even if you didn't fully remove the protection. Perhaps some crackers just didn't go about playing the entire game afterwards to see if it worked or not.

Had kind of the same happen with a version of Gods, where the cracked version omitted all the boss fights. Rest of the game was intact, though.

StingRay · 14 August 2018, 22:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by modrobert

The secret DREADPIRATEROBERTS address hidden by subtraction and addition; (DREADPIRATEROBERTS-428) + 628 - 200 = DREADPIRATEROBERTS. Mind blown, using relative address modes, oh no, I'm thrown off the scent.

The idea to obfuscate certain memory/code accesses isn't bad at all. However, it neither was a new idea nor was it implemented well in Leander.

Quote:

Seriously, if possible. I do like TT games and Jon Burton seems to be a skilled programmer, but he should probably avoid copy protection.

I'd rather think he should avoid speaking about copy protection.

Quote:

Also, a bit of humour and self criticism wouldn't hurt when looking back at code from nearly three decades ago.

+1

dlfrsilver · 14 August 2018, 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by jotd

At least Puggsy on amiga was completely unprotected.

Nope Jotd, this game is copylocked. I owned it in original, and if my memory doesn't fail me, it was protected.

BarryB · 15 August 2018, 00:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Nope Jotd, this game is copylocked. I owned it in original, and if my memory doesn't fail me, it was protected.

The copy of Puggsy I own is unprotected, as is SPS 1113, no Copylock or hidden sectors!!

Galahad/FLT · 15 August 2018, 01:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Nope Jotd, this game is copylocked. I owned it in original, and if my memory doesn't fail me, it was protected.

Just checked it, no Copylock track on any of the 4 disks, where the Copylock track would be located if it was there is data on all 4 disks.

Checked the Delirium version just in case, and they only mentioned who it was supplied by, no reference to cracking.

Guess it wasn't protected

dlfrsilver · 15 August 2018, 02:45

Well ok then

malko · 15 August 2018, 22:30

The result provided by a wrong answer in the following copy-protection is really great

[ Show youtube player ]
If the link is not correctly working, jump to time 49:16

jotd · 15 August 2018, 23:23

@dlfrsilver about Puggsy I remember vivid NOT having to crack it to create the whdload install

Hewitson · 26 August 2018, 12:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingRay

Kids Blow

BarryB · 26 August 2018, 13:40

Or was they called Shit Row at one time?

BTW, don't type 'Kids Blow' into a search engine as you might be flagged as a Paedophile

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14 August 2018, 08:46	#22
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,164	Fun fact about leander: For the whdload slave, I cracked the protection without even noticing (the long track one, I mean). One thing I did not check was if the platform is there, but I suppose that someone would have noticed since then.

14 August 2018, 17:29	#25
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,413	yep, the protec longtrack is a generic type of duplicator long track. Nothing to beat a dead horse about.

14 August 2018, 18:04	#26
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,164	For Leander, I first redirected the data loader (which requests files with actual names, that I like!) to JST load routines. Then a DSKRDY loop caught my eye (it was the protection but I thought it was a remnant of a disk-in-drive check). I skipped that part somehow: worked. Maybe I was lucky when I skipped it.

14 August 2018, 20:53	#27
modrobert old bearded fool Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bangkok Age: 56 Posts: 775	The secret DREADPIRATEROBERTS address hidden by subtraction and addition; (DREADPIRATEROBERTS-428) + 628 - 200 = DREADPIRATEROBERTS. Mind blown, using relative address modes, oh no, I'm thrown off the scent. Seriously, if possible. I do like TT games and Jon Burton seems to be a skilled programmer, but he should probably avoid copy protection. Also, a bit of humour and self criticism wouldn't hurt when looking back at code from nearly three decades ago.

14 August 2018, 21:18	#29
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,164	At least Puggsy on amiga was completely unprotected.

14 August 2018, 22:29	#30
roondar Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 3,410	To be fair to the man, I've definitely played at least one 'cracked' version of Leander that did in fact not have all of the protection removed - so at a certain point there was a missing platform and that was it. My guess is that it's not so much that the protection was necessarily great, but that the game seemed to work just fine even if you didn't fully remove the protection. Perhaps some crackers just didn't go about playing the entire game afterwards to see if it worked or not. Had kind of the same happen with a version of Gods, where the cracked version omitted all the boss fights. Rest of the game was intact, though.

15 August 2018, 02:45	#35
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,413	Well ok then

15 August 2018, 22:30	#36
malko Ex nihilo nihil Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: CH Posts: 4,856	The result provided by a wrong answer in the following copy-protection is really great [ Show youtube player ] If the link is not correctly working, jump to time 49:16

15 August 2018, 23:23	#37
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,164	@dlfrsilver about Puggsy I remember vivid NOT having to crack it to create the whdload install

26 August 2018, 13:40	#39
BarryB Amigaholic Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: UK Posts: 4,676	Or was they called Shit Row at one time? BTW, don't type 'Kids Blow' into a search engine as you might be flagged as a Paedophile

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