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Crashdisk · 17 September 2021, 23:43

I don't know anything about protection but it is obvious that simulating the functioning of a protected floppy disk is not an easy task, especially the management of the reading timing, the "fuzzy bits" or other oddities invented to avoid piracy.
So the performance of a virtual FDD to reproduce the operation of a real floppy drive will be decisive for running a protected game even if it has been preserved by SPS.

Concerning, the 2 IPF preserved by SPS :
- Chamonix Challenge (1989)(Infogrames)[compilation Super Quintet][2281]
- Final Assault (1988)(Epyx)(US)[1429]
The 1429 is protected by Herndon HLS while the 2281 is not protected. Probably because it is not a commercial but a budget version. The duplication is cheaper without (disk) protection...

Warez archives (CD/BBS/...) are a good way to find the origin of a crack, you can sometimes find hacks that change the text or/and the cracktro to make it look like they are the origin (example Softgallo Team). Some people remove all references to the crack for various reasons (compatibility, "ethics", speed of loading, etc).
It also happens that there is no reference to a crack because it can be shameful to crack a 2nd-rate game.
And then there are also backup programs for private use (Maverick, Lockpick, FreeCopy, ...), generally, they do not sign their cracks.

17 September 2021, 23:43	#8
Crashdisk Moderator Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: France Age: 46 Posts: 1,990	I don't know anything about protection but it is obvious that simulating the functioning of a protected floppy disk is not an easy task, especially the management of the reading timing, the "fuzzy bits" or other oddities invented to avoid piracy. So the performance of a virtual FDD to reproduce the operation of a real floppy drive will be decisive for running a protected game even if it has been preserved by SPS. Concerning, the 2 IPF preserved by SPS : - Chamonix Challenge (1989)(Infogrames)[compilation Super Quintet][2281] - Final Assault (1988)(Epyx)(US)[1429] The 1429 is protected by Herndon HLS while the 2281 is not protected. Probably because it is not a commercial but a budget version. The duplication is cheaper without (disk) protection... Warez archives (CD/BBS/...) are a good way to find the origin of a crack, you can sometimes find hacks that change the text or/and the cracktro to make it look like they are the origin (example Softgallo Team). Some people remove all references to the crack for various reasons (compatibility, "ethics", speed of loading, etc). It also happens that there is no reference to a crack because it can be shameful to crack a 2nd-rate game. And then there are also backup programs for private use (Maverick, Lockpick, FreeCopy, ...), generally, they do not sign their cracks.