Cracking group collaborations

[DaveMB]

Ok i wasn't sure where to post this possibly 'stupid question' but here goes.

I was just wondering why certain cracking groups teamed together for some releases. (I don't mean a permanant merge like -Angels-Genesis-Defjam) but more of a temporary collaboration for a single title.

EG: Razor 1911 and Classic teamed up for Unreal (Awesome Cracktro BTW) but for what purpose?

I know the game was cracked by Ringo Star (Not sure what group he was with?, Classic I think), so what role did Razor 1911 play? was it just to get it done quicker? or simply that Classic where not able to crack it thereselfs?

I have seen a few games like this where groups had teamed up for a release and just wondered why as i thought it was all about one group being the first to release a new title, A race to be first.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Turrican2FTW

Ok i wasn't sure where to post this possibly 'stupid question' but here goes.

I was just wondering why certain cracking groups teamed together for some releases. (I don't mean a permanant merge like -Angels-Genesis-Defjam) but more of a temporary collaboration for a single title.

EG: Razor 1911 and Classic teamed up for Unreal (Awesome Cracktro BTW) but for what purpose?

I know the game was cracked by Ringo Star (Not sure what group he was with?, Classic I think), so what role did Razor 1911 play? was it just to get it done quicker? or simply that Classic where not able to crack it thereselfs?

I have seen a few games like this where groups had teamed up for a release and just wondered why as i thought it was all about one group being the first to release a new title, A race to be first.

Razor 1911 supplied Unreal, Classic cracked it. With a big name title like that, Razor didn't want to lose any credit, so did a co-op. They did a co-op on a couple of other games as well.

Unreal was quite a competant protection in its day, and no-one in Razor could take it on, so rather than screw it up, it was passed onto Ringo Star who was very good. He was the main cracker for Classic at that time.

[DaveMB]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

Razor 1911 supplied Unreal, Classic cracked it. With a big name title like that, Razor didn't want to lose any credit, so did a co-op. They did a co-op on a couple of other games as well.

Unreal was quite a competant protection in its day, and no-one in Razor could take it on, so rather than screw it up, it was passed onto Ringo Star who was very good. He was the main cracker for Classic at that time.

Ok cheers, that actually makes perfect sense

[mr.vince]

Since we're at it... Galahad... the game shows some "Vice Protect" running at boot. From what I've seen, the game really fills all mem and even patches reset registers. I actually can turn off my machine, switch it back on, and the reset patch is still there. Takes a minute or so to clear this.

Do you know more about it?

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

Since we're at it... Galahad... the game shows some "Vice Protect" running at boot. From what I've seen, the game really fills all mem and even patches reset registers. I actually can turn off my machine, switch it back on, and the reset patch is still there. Takes a minute or so to clear this.

Do you know more about it?

I've only looked at it briefly, but someone else had already done the WHDLoad install so I left it.

Lots of Self Modifying code, lots of checksums, MFM disk format, fills memory as you've said.

I wouldn't say its in the top five of difficult cracks, but its certainly in the top ten, more than anything, its incredibly time consuming to crack.

One off copy protections are normally far better.

[DaveMB]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

I wouldn't say its in the top five of difficult cracks.

Off the top of your head can you make that list?

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Turrican2FTW

Off the top of your head can you make that list?

It would be a subjective list, what one person finds tricky, another person can do it quickly.

[DaveMB]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

It would be a subjective list, what one person finds tricky, another person can do it quickly.

Yeah, figured as much, part of the fun/nostalgia for me is watching the cracktro's and reading the texts from the crackers talking about the protection and how they defeated it.

It's one of the reasons i love groups like Automation and Pompey Pirates on the ST as they almost always included a long scroll text with info about the crack and other usually topical information.

Also enjoy reading posts by guys like you and Stingray revealing the protection/code and your own code for working around it.

I have very little understanding of what the code actually does but it just appeals to me. Not sure why lol