Worst copy protection? - Page 4

Coagulus · 08 July 2008, 08:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmuChicken

I'm going to have to beat ALL OF YOU... with a wonderful corker on the Amstrad CPC called "Battle Beyond the Stars" > http://www.cpczone.net/game/112

It took around 3 minutes to load up, then you had to use a wierd... like... "thing" that you put onto your monitor,- then you had to squint your eyes to see through the... "thing" - and wierdly enough, I needed my dad to come help before I could play the game cos I couldnt see the bloody code.

not unlike one of them 3D "Magic Eye" things

I win :-)

Still sounds like Lenslok to me or similar.

There's a Lenslok "emulator"!

EmuChicken · 08 July 2008, 09:55

omfgwtfwow! That's it! Lenslok!

I even got the game name wrong, it was "Moon Cresta" ... bah!

Rabbit80 · 18 August 2008, 11:34

I seem to remember Sabre team was pretty bad... especially when I lost my sheet

(I used to be able to guess given two or three attempts though

)

snarkhunter · 18 August 2008, 20:03

A French adventure game called "Explora" (the first one in a series of too many...) came with a grid printed on a sheet of tracing paper. It was meant to be put on the box artwork, and the program would pick up a random square from that grid and ask you which was the prevailing colour in that square. Given the size of both the sheet and the squares, and also the fact it was easy to slide a bit and not be perfectly aligned, one often had to make several attempts before getting a code right, even with an original copy !

And - guess what - the game itself was plain crap !

tonyyeb · 18 August 2008, 21:05

Microprose Grand Prix had a "Page 4, paragraph 2, line 1, word 8" type protection. Me and my brother borrowed the game with the manual, copied the disks and then kept rebooting the computer writing down each time it asked for a different word. Eventually (took my brother all night) it had repeated itself enough times we gave the game back and then played the copy.

Mick_AKA · 19 August 2008, 09:29

I remember a few old Team 17 releases that had matte black code sheets with gloss black printing on them, impossible to read if you wanted to play anything late at night.

I remember a flight sim that used the: page: line: word: system in it's manual, but would often send you to the french or spanish part of the manual and ask for a word that required a special character like an accented E or something!

Muzkat · 19 August 2008, 16:30

For me, it was Knights of the Sky.

I only say this because I found that my copy didn't allow me to save games to it, even when the copy protect tab on the disk was in the "write" position.

There was no way I was going to complete the game if I couldn't save my process. You have to go through at least 50 missions to beat the game, if not more.

Frustrated, I examined the game with some random disk structure program. In the file structure, I found a file suspiciously titled PROTECTION, or something very obvious like that.

I deleted the file, realising I had little to lose if I stuffed the game up apart from a game I couldn't finish anyway.

I load Knights up and, hey presto, I could save my progress. Hours of dogfighting action then ensued!

Eclipse · 23 August 2008, 00:38

I can't remember as it was back in the days but if you had the demo's of some games on coverdisk from a magazine, you could replace the executable from the main game with the one from the demo and have zero copy protection.

EmuChicken · 31 August 2008, 04:33

Oh! Another one, NOT copy protection- but close!

Leisure Suit Larry! .... (when I played it)
You only knew the answers for the "age verification" questions IF
1. You were American
2. You were over 30 years old
OR 3. You were incredibly lucky!

scukckkeed!!!

Visper · 31 August 2008, 05:00

Trolls for PC, that was a shitty protection!

The main .exe loads another executable with the typical "find the word in the manual" and if answered right, another executable with the game. The clever programmers thought that renaming the two files to something without a .exe would be enough to stop the crackers

Titler · 25 September 2008, 23:31

I actually thought the Silent Service copy protection fitted the game, as you needed to learn silhouette recognition of the Japanese vessels from a distance in order to plan safe attacks or tactical retreats if you suspected it was something too dangerous...

Worms was the worst for me too; black on black, mein gott!

capehorn · 05 August 2009, 00:19

What about those colour coded pictures, i.e. Operation Stealth, where light blue, silver and white all looked EXACTLY the same.

fryguy · 05 August 2009, 01:16

The copy protection in James Pond 2 (ecs-version i think?) was pretty evil, but also a bit funny. It reversed the controls iirc.

Photon · 05 August 2009, 01:50

The ultimate classic is the plastic lens thingy for ELITE that you put to the TV screen to decode the whateveritwas pattern.

Now, depending on your vision (20/20 or less perfect!) and Rorschach power (tm), you could actually play the game you paid for

I have a distinct recollection they recalled boxes with that thing in them, can anyone confirm?

Edit: Silver, LensLok(tm), that's it

mattbarton.exe · 05 August 2009, 02:34

Not really a game, but one that bugged me was Scala MM. You had to put a special red dongle thing in your mouse port, and if you ever lost it--so much for that $200 product. I'm glad that such technologies never caught on.

Charlie · 05 August 2009, 09:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photon

The ultimate classic is the plastic lens thingy for ELITE that you put to the TV screen to decode the whateveritwas pattern.

Now, depending on your vision (20/20 or less perfect!) and Rorschach power (tm), you could actually play the game you paid for

I have a distinct recollection they recalled boxes with that thing in them, can anyone confirm?

Edit: Silver, LensLok(tm), that's it

I remember the LensLok - it was a swine to use.

StingRay · 05 August 2009, 09:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattbarton.exe

I'm glad that such technologies never caught on.

Dongles are still used nowadays, f.e. for very expensive audio applications and other things.

Gibbersan · 05 August 2009, 18:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCorfiot

Monty Pythons Flying Circus, and the awful cheese idenification.

Heh. I was just going to mention this one.

Phantasm · 06 August 2009, 00:27

I think the gods disk protection was a major fail. If you tried to copy the game it still appeared to work correctly however the game simply became much more difficult to complete and eventually crashed (if i remember correctly).

I think that a lot of people had uncracked copies and simply thought that the game was way too difficult and buggy. I class that as a fail for the copy protection as it did not stop people from copying it and did not encourage people to go out and buy the game.

Galahad/FLT · 06 August 2009, 01:16

Hook was the same, game still worked but 3 objects needed to complete the game were missing if the copy protection failed, but seeing as it was an adventure game, people just assumed it was a puzzle they hadn't solved.

18 August 2008, 20:03	#64
snarkhunter Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: France Age: 59 Posts: 74	A French adventure game called "Explora" (the first one in a series of too many...) came with a grid printed on a sheet of tracing paper. It was meant to be put on the box artwork, and the program would pick up a random square from that grid and ask you which was the prevailing colour in that square. Given the size of both the sheet and the squares, and also the fact it was easy to slide a bit and not be perfectly aligned, one often had to make several attempts before getting a code right, even with an original copy ! And - guess what - the game itself was plain crap ! Last edited by snarkhunter; 18 August 2008 at 20:08.

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08 July 2008, 09:55	#62
EmuChicken Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Nagoya, Japan (moved!) Age: 41 Posts: 746	omfgwtfwow! That's it! Lenslok! I even got the game name wrong, it was "Moon Cresta" ... bah!

18 August 2008, 11:34	#63
Rabbit80 Its hard being famous! Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Gateway to the dales, UK Age: 43 Posts: 633	I seem to remember Sabre team was pretty bad... especially when I lost my sheet (I used to be able to guess given two or three attempts though )

18 August 2008, 21:05	#65
tonyyeb Has the Amiga bug again Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hull, UK Age: 43 Posts: 791	Microprose Grand Prix had a "Page 4, paragraph 2, line 1, word 8" type protection. Me and my brother borrowed the game with the manual, copied the disks and then kept rebooting the computer writing down each time it asked for a different word. Eventually (took my brother all night) it had repeated itself enough times we gave the game back and then played the copy.

19 August 2008, 09:29	#66
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	I remember a few old Team 17 releases that had matte black code sheets with gloss black printing on them, impossible to read if you wanted to play anything late at night. I remember a flight sim that used the: page: line: word: system in it's manual, but would often send you to the french or spanish part of the manual and ask for a word that required a special character like an accented E or something!

19 August 2008, 16:30	#67
Muzkat Into the Wonderful Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Earthrealm Age: 42 Posts: 1,426	For me, it was Knights of the Sky. I only say this because I found that my copy didn't allow me to save games to it, even when the copy protect tab on the disk was in the "write" position. There was no way I was going to complete the game if I couldn't save my process. You have to go through at least 50 missions to beat the game, if not more. Frustrated, I examined the game with some random disk structure program. In the file structure, I found a file suspiciously titled PROTECTION, or something very obvious like that. I deleted the file, realising I had little to lose if I stuffed the game up apart from a game I couldn't finish anyway. I load Knights up and, hey presto, I could save my progress. Hours of dogfighting action then ensued!

23 August 2008, 00:38	#68
Eclipse Turpentine Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Kent, United Kingdom Posts: 744	I can't remember as it was back in the days but if you had the demo's of some games on coverdisk from a magazine, you could replace the executable from the main game with the one from the demo and have zero copy protection.

31 August 2008, 04:33	#69
EmuChicken Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Nagoya, Japan (moved!) Age: 41 Posts: 746	Oh! Another one, NOT copy protection- but close! Leisure Suit Larry! .... (when I played it) You only knew the answers for the "age verification" questions IF 1. You were American 2. You were over 30 years old OR 3. You were incredibly lucky! scukckkeed!!!

31 August 2008, 05:00	#70
Visper Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Nowhere Posts: 74	Trolls for PC, that was a shitty protection! The main .exe loads another executable with the typical "find the word in the manual" and if answered right, another executable with the game. The clever programmers thought that renaming the two files to something without a .exe would be enough to stop the crackers

25 September 2008, 23:31	#71
Titler Zone Friend Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: UK Posts: 303	I actually thought the Silent Service copy protection fitted the game, as you needed to learn silhouette recognition of the Japanese vessels from a distance in order to plan safe attacks or tactical retreats if you suspected it was something too dangerous... Worms was the worst for me too; black on black, mein gott!

05 August 2009, 00:19	#72
capehorn Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 1,794	What about those colour coded pictures, i.e. Operation Stealth, where light blue, silver and white all looked EXACTLY the same.

05 August 2009, 01:16	#73
fryguy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Skarabörg, Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 1,019	The copy protection in James Pond 2 (ecs-version i think?) was pretty evil, but also a bit funny. It reversed the controls iirc.

05 August 2009, 01:50	#74
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	The ultimate classic is the plastic lens thingy for ELITE that you put to the TV screen to decode the whateveritwas pattern. Now, depending on your vision (20/20 or less perfect!) and Rorschach power (tm), you could actually play the game you paid for I have a distinct recollection they recalled boxes with that thing in them, can anyone confirm? Edit: Silver, LensLok(tm), that's it

05 August 2009, 02:34	#75
mattbarton.exe Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: St Cloud, MN/USA Posts: 328	Not really a game, but one that bugged me was Scala MM. You had to put a special red dongle thing in your mouse port, and if you ever lost it--so much for that $200 product. I'm glad that such technologies never caught on.

06 August 2009, 00:27	#79
Phantasm Not a Rebel anymore Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 497	I think the gods disk protection was a major fail. If you tried to copy the game it still appeared to work correctly however the game simply became much more difficult to complete and eventually crashed (if i remember correctly). I think that a lot of people had uncracked copies and simply thought that the game was way too difficult and buggy. I class that as a fail for the copy protection as it did not stop people from copying it and did not encourage people to go out and buy the game.

06 August 2009, 01:16	#80
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	Hook was the same, game still worked but 3 objects needed to complete the game were missing if the copy protection failed, but seeing as it was an adventure game, people just assumed it was a puzzle they hadn't solved.

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