Gridiron

[andreas]

Hi

I'm looking out for a CRACKED version of Gridiron by Bethesda Softworks. I've got an UNCRACKED version here on my harddisk which didn't work at first. The uncracked version is very common but it always has the same error
BTTR writes that it "doesn't work on any emulator". No you can't blame the emulator this time...

Checked the disk ... there was a block checksum error on track #2. Alright ... let's see...obviously this was the evil work of a previous virus.
'$00000000' on the first longword of track 2. But this did look like a data block, didn't it? Changed it in '$00000008', corrected the checksum and voilá, it WORKED!

Now I've got another problem. The disk is not cracked.
I need a guy who can remove the password protection (Codetapper, are you listening mate? ) or gimme a version already cracked. But I'm afraid the latter doesn't exist anywhere.

But we'll see....

[Mangar]

With a hex-editor anyone could crack it.. If noone else does and if someone could provide me with one I'll do it..

[andreas]

'Fraid that a hex editor isn't sufficient here.
I think you won't be successful unless you've got a little knowledge of assembly, don't you agree?

[Codetapper]

Hi Andreas

I sent you a personal message but guess you didn't get it. Send me the game and I'll have a look at it for you, no promises but you never know!

As for cracking the game with a hex editor, yeah right! I'd like to see someone achieve that without disassembling the game....

Send it to my hotmail account please.

Thanks!

I, too, am looking to get a version of this game Cracked. I assume you are referring to an .ADF file, since that error is what appears when I do an analysis of the disk file. I would greatly appreciate it if I could get my hands on a cracked version. I was actually able to get into the game with another file, but I believe 1) This is the veersion Andreas referred to,
and 2) I'm sure that how I "Fixed" the file (i have no idear what I did) isn't going to work even if I got into the game, since it wasn't bootable anymore anyways and I had to run it from workbench with no sound.

I'd be very much appreciative if you could help.
Thanks!!!!

[Codetapper]

Hi Andreas

You don't need to send me the game after all it seems, I downloaded the game from The Dream Zone and fixed/cracked it in 5 mins:

1. Change the longword at $400 from $00000000 to $00000008.
2. Run a fix disk util to fix the checksum of the disk (I used DiskSalv)
3. Resourced the file c/football
4. Crack the game by changing the word at $1b57a from $660c to $4e71
5. Resave the file
6. Reorganise the disk to save 70k of space
7. Save the new modified ADF

I've attached the game split into 2 pieces, to put it back together do the following:

Amiga: join GridIrn1.zip GridIrn2.zip AS GridIron.zip
PC: copy /B GridIrn1.zip+GridIrn2.zip GridIron.zip

The destination file should be 369133 bytes long. Enjoy!

[andreas]

Hi everybody!

Back in AMIGA town ... :-)

Well ...

Crash: yep I've just sent my fixed version out to you today.

Codetapper: I sent it to your BIGFOOT account, not the hotmail one!
Of course I read my private message a few minutes before, you just need a little patience with me! Nevertheless, you gave me a bigfoot account, not a hotmail one.
Remember we're "spread" around the whole world, so we have time lags. Eg. Mangar did neither respond to my e-mail nor post here somewhere, that's because he's in Canada. I bet we hear something from him 5 hours later (then it's late night over here).

[Codetapper]

Here's part 2 of the game...

I tested it on a real AGA Amiga and it seems to work 100% with sound so if sound doesn't play on an emulator, it's the emulator's fault! I see no reason why it shouldn't though...

Enjoy!

[andreas]

Hey, THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Yep it really WORKS! - with sound even! (Tested on 0.8.8 R8, 0.8.16.x is like non-existent for me -- the worst WinUAE series I've ever had in my hands... )

May I spread this version around now so we get rid of this faulty crap-version?
The first guys to send the game to will be the BTTR guys because I simply cannot stand comments like "doesn't work with the emulator" if the disk is faulty as hell! ;-)

Thanks again,

[Codetapper]

Hi again

Glad to see it works for you. Spread the game far and wide, I will leave this up to you. This one happened to be very easy as the programmer has left all debugging information in it!

If anyone still thinks this version isn't 100% and they have a better one, you should be able to crack it using the instructions I supplied, just change that one $660c to a $4e71 and it'll be cracked although I think all files on the disk are now OK.

As for the time lag, I found you had logged in and posted a reply to another message and not replied to mine hence I assumed you did not see the private message before. I realise re time zones, I am ahead of you all here in NZ! GMT + 12!

Right, what's my next challenge then eh?


I will happily crack Putty Squad if someone can source the full game

[andreas]

Crash: hummm...just got my own mail back "Mailer-Daemon: ERROR ... "

Well your private address tnnytXXXXX@aXX.XXX doesn't accept mails from anybody I guess...you ought to fix this if you want to receive mails...

<<< 550 tnnytXXXXX IS NOT ACCEPTING MAIL FROM THIS SENDER
550 <tnnytXXXXX@aXX.XXX>... User unknown

Not good.

[Mangar]

My response about cracking the game with a hex-editor may have been pre-mature without having looked at the game.. I just recall back in the day if I ran into a password protect I was able to make my own crack for it with a hex editor.. Eye of the beholder was one such game..

Codetapper: if you want there are 2 known games that around uncracked. One is Art of war in the skies and the other is Brainstorm. There is also the german version of 1869 but thats not as necessary.. If you'd like these to be sent to you just let me know where to send them..

If you want to take a closer look at arctic fox and see what's causing it to halt at track 61 that would be great too.. The games I mentioned above are password protects..

[Twistin'Ghost]

I love it. I got that copy of Gridiron from somebody's original a LONG time ago and while most of my friends dumped their copies, I held onto mine knowing that one day it would work. Nice to see I was right!

I think I have one or two more that may fit this description:

* Cribbage King/Gin King
Had this bloody game forever from an original. It appears the copy that is in circulation is from the same mold (if not from my copy...)

* Telewar/Telewar II
Two different games. I am pretty sure I had deprotected versions of at least one, if not both, many moons ago. Those copies could be anywhere right now (likely stuck on one of those cheesy DC6250 tapes), so the copies I have rounded up from (probably Dream Zone) are still lookup protected.

* After The War
I'm pretty sure part 2 of this game may still be uncracked, but it's hard to imagine that this was overlooked by so many people who handled it (initially Quartex...not hard to imagine, ACU...I reckon they just 'imported it', MAD...just +3 trained it.)

* Finally, yes I think the top priority in the fix department would probably need to address the early E/A issues, since it's likely what is causing the failure is some routine that E/A globally used on their early titles. And this is probably gonna be the same on the originals as well as the cracks, since it appears to be either machine or OS/ROM specific.


Codetapper:
I am trying a new source on "Putty Squad", since I am beginning to doubt that it's on one of my DAT tapes (given the overwhelming obscurity). If this guy doesn't have it, I can't imagine who might. And I have something he wants very badly (he collects rare Amiga games and has a library of them that would probably make me wet my pants...)
I am emailing him right now and will offer him my rarity in trade for a copy of "Putty Squad". I'll let you know what comes of this!

[Warlock99]

Twistin, I think I have versions of telewar 1 and cribbage king that are cracked. I can't seem to upload them so if you send an email to me I'll send you them.

vlnw30101@cableinet.co.uk

Not sure about my after the war, would I have to play through the game to find out?

If I remember correctly, was Telewar a sort of turn- based game between a Red and Blue army, and you had different military units?

I'd like to see it again someday.

[Twistin'Ghost]

Hey, thanks warlock99 - I'll dash you out an email as soon as I type this in. That would be cool. That's kinda why I threw these titles out - to see if anyone had cracked versions before bothering Codetapper into cracking what is already cracked.

As for "After The War", it's one of those Dinamic 2-parter games that will allow you to jump right to the second part of the game. Unless that is not copy-protection and it expects you to complete the first part to get the passcode or something. Anyone know this?

I would attempt to play it through, but would only be interested in doing so on a real Amiga because the thought of playing an Amiga game for any length of time in emulation just seems...un-natural. I dunno...