jjoshua@topaz.rutgers.edu (Jonathan Joshua) (10/28/87)
I just bought a copy of Electronic Arts' Pinball Construction Set. The program works just fine but I am having a problem trying to back it up. I CAN'T. It seems that EA has a darn good protection scheme. Is there a program that could help me? How bout a patch? Thanks in advance. -- |o| Jonathan Joshua rutgers!{unirot!jjosh,topaz.rutgers.edu!jjoshua} |o| |o| Rutgers University Delphi : bunnyhutch / Compuserve : 73637,254 |o| |o| |o| |o| "Anything is possible except skiing through a revolving door." -Murphy |o|
creps@silver.UUCP (10/28/87)
>/* Written 11:28 pm Oct 27, 1987 by jjoshua@topaz.rutgers.edu > > I just bought a copy of Electronic Arts' Pinball Construction >Set. The program works just fine but I am having a problem trying to >back it up. I CAN'T. It seems that EA has a darn good protection >scheme. Is there a program that could help me? How bout a patch? Electronic Arts puts out good software, as well as good protection of their software. I don't know of any software methods of copying, and patching might be out of the question, since the disks aren't DOS-compatible. I have a copy of "The Seven Cities of Gold," which I BOUGHT. (If you don't believe me, ask me any question about the package.) It was well worth the $11 I spent on it. I finally was able to back it up, but only using a COPY II PC option board, which is HARDWARE, not SOFTWARE. That is the only solution I can think of. A side note: I think if the software companies would keep all their games reasonably priced, say under $20 to $25, they would sell 3 to 4 times what they do now. Then they wouldn't even have to worry about protection schemes, which are a pain in the ___ for people who actually buy the stuff. - - - - - - - - - Steve Creps on the VAX 8650 running Ultrix 2.0-1 at Indiana University. creps@silver.bacs.indiana.edu "Well, I noticed the lad with the thermonuclear device was the Chief Constable for the area."
ugfailau@sunybcs.UUCP (10/28/87)
In article <15000042@silver> creps@silver.bacs.indiana.edu writes: > >BOUGHT. (If you don't believe me, ask me any question about the package.) >It was well worth the $11 I spent on it. I finally was able to back it up, >but only using a COPY II PC option board, which is HARDWARE, not SOFTWARE. >That is the only solution I can think of. > ................ >what they do now. Then they wouldn't even have to worry about protection >schemes, which are a pain in the ___ for people who actually buy the stuff. Actually the pain is bigger than that. I have a few EA games (Amnesia, music writer, Chuck Yeager's flight simulator, what else?) and have had wet dreams about being able to move them onto my hard disk!!! When it usually loads about eight times faster and I don't have to reboot the whole system when I'm done. But then dreams are usually just dreams... Fai Lau SUNY at Buffalo (The Arctic Wonderland) UUCP: ..{mit-ems|watmath|rocksanne}!sunybcs!ugfailau BI: ugfailau@sunybcs
hrh@well.UUCP (Harry Henderson) (10/29/87)
A related problem is caused by the fact that a lot of the game companies don't yet make their games available on 3 1/2" media for PS/2s, laptops, and other new machines. While this will change, it is a pain. I would like to see copy protection become independent of the software and disk media, and reside in asking questions, etc. from the manual, as a number of games are now doing. Ideally, the questions asked should be relevant to the spirit of the game (e.g. ship profile questions in Gato). If more companies take this approach they won't have to worry about either providing multiple formats or losing potential customers. -- The opinions expressed are my own, but you're welcome to share them. Harry Henderson (freelance technical editor/writer).
jjoshua@topaz.rutgers.edu.UUCP (10/29/87)
All that I asked was HOW DO I BACKUP EA GAMES? I did not want to start a discussion about copy protection. A discussion like that would only drive itself into the ground with everyone sticking in their 2 cents worth. Thank you for your co-operation. -- |o| Jonathan Joshua rutgers!{unirot!jjosh,topaz.rutgers.edu!jjoshua} |o| |o| Rutgers University Delphi : bunnyhutch / Compuserve : 73637,254 |o| |o| |o| |o| "Anything is possible except skiing through a revolving door." -Murphy |o|
luis@grinch.UUCP (luis) (11/04/87)
In article <16036@topaz.rutgers.edu> jjoshua@topaz.rutgers.edu (Jonathan Joshua) writes: > > I just bought a copy of Electronic Arts' Pinball Construction >Set. The program works just fine but I am having a problem trying to >back it up. I CAN'T. It seems that EA has a darn good protection >scheme. Is there a program that could help me? How bout a patch? > >Thanks in advance. >-- >|o| Jonathan Joshua rutgers!{unirot!jjosh,topaz.rutgers.edu!jjoshua} |o| >|o| Rutgers University Delphi : bunnyhutch / Compuserve : 73637,254 |o| >|o| |o| >|o| "Anything is possible except skiing through a revolving door." -Murphy |o| Hello Jonathan, As someone else mentioned, the COPY II PC Option Board will copy it for you, but that is a hardware board which you will have to purchase. But, low and behold, there is another way to back it up... The program is called COPYWRITE, and it is from Quaid Software which is located somewhere in Canada. A few years ago, I sent a EA game to Quaid to get a version of COPYWRITE which will allow me to back it up, and they said that they were working on one. So, as time went by, I could not wait any longer. But, about 9 months after I got my disk back, they sent me a letter telling me about this NEW version of COPYWRITE which will allow you to make a backup of EA games... So, that is the story.. Sorry I don't have an exact address, but this should help ya out a bit... Hope this works for ya.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luis Chanu "Live every day as if it were your last, UUCP: ...ihnp4!sun!aeras!grinch!luis because one day you will be right." UUCP: ...pyramid!wjvax!grinch!luis -Benny Hill Disk-Claimer: That's not your disk, that's my disk. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jjboritz@watcgl.UUCP (11/05/87)
In article <260@grinch.grinch.UUCP> luis@grinch.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) writes: >COPYWRITE, and it is from Quaid Software which is located somewhere in Canada. > > A few years ago, I sent a EA game to Quaid to get a version of COPYWRITE >which will allow me to back it up, and they said that they were working on one. >So, as time went by, I could not wait any longer. But, about 9 months after >I got my disk back, they sent me a letter telling me about this NEW version of >COPYWRITE which will allow you to make a backup of EA games... So, that is >the story.. Sorry I don't have an exact address, but this should help ya out >a bit... Hope this works for ya.. > Quaid Software is located in Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. I do not know the full address, but they advertise in Byte regularly, so you should have no problem getting the address. My experience shows that CopyWrite will back up practically every PC disk ever made, but there are probably new schemes coming out every day. For this reason the people at Quaid update the program every month. Each version of CopyWrite displays the month and the year in which it was released. It's always nice to have the latest version of something, but I currently use a version that is over two years old and have never had any problems. --Jim Boritz {allegra,decvax,utzoo,clyde}!watmath!watcgl!jjboritz
ugfailau@sunybcs.uucp (Fai Lau) (11/06/87)
In article <260@grinch.grinch.UUCP> luis@grinch.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) writes: >Hello Jonathan, > As someone else mentioned, the COPY II PC Option Board will copy it for >you, but that is a hardware board which you will have to purchase. But, low >and behold, there is another way to back it up... The program is called >COPYWRITE, and it is from Quaid Software which is located somewhere in Canada. > How much is it? Is it worth it? If the Option Board can really copy *anything* then I'm more than willing to spend the money for the reason as follows > A few years ago, I sent a EA game to Quaid to get a version of COPYWRITE >which will allow me to back it up, and they said that they were working on one. >So, as time went by, I could not wait any longer. But, about 9 months after >I got my disk back, they sent me a letter telling me about this NEW version of >COPYWRITE which will allow you to make a backup of EA games... So, that is >the story.. Sorry I don't have an exact address, but this should help ya out >a bit... Hope this works for ya.. > Serveral monthes ago I got a copy of CopyWrite from the office, and tried to back up an old (first release '82, but they could've updated the copy protect scheme since I bought it only early this year) EA game of mine. It didn't work. The program was dated around '83 and it came with a notice roughly saying that: This program is not copy protected, and it is supposed to be able to copy mostly all popular softwares available as of the date the particular version of the program is released. The program is constantly updated and a new version is released every month. To get an updated version, you have to send back the *original* diskette to the company with a fee of about $30 (I forgot exactly how much...) and you'll receive the latest version of the program. If you do not have the original diskette, you can send the company $50 and you'll receive an original diskette of the latest version of the program. Thereafter you can update your program for about $30 each time. You would also get a manual regarding the newest protection scheme and ways to break them with the order of an updates disk or original disk. The program, as I said, is about four years old, So these informations might be out of date, especially regarding the price. The company is indeed based in Canada. As I didn't take the program becaue it didn't copy any of my disks (except those that can be copied by CopyIIPc), I do not have their address. I would appreciate anyone who would supply me information about the company policy today. Fai Lau SUNY at Buffalo (The Arctic Wonderland) UUCP: ..{mit-ems|watmath|rocksanne}!sunybcs!ugfailau BI: ugfailau@sunybcs
rgr@m10ux.UUCP (Duke Robillard) (11/09/87)
>>back it up. I CAN'T. It seems that EA has a darn good protection >>scheme. Is there a program that could help me? How bout a patch? >> > A few years ago, I sent a EA game to Quaid to get a version of COPYWRITE >which will allow me to back it up, and they said that they were working on one. >got my disk back, they sent me a letter telling me about this NEW version of >COPYWRITE which will allow you to make a backup of EA games... I've used COPYWRITE very successfully over the years. Quaid always has a liberal upgrade policy (they release every month, and you can get an upgrade for $18). They have a couple of techniques beside just disk-copying for breaking the protection (like a memory resident program that intercepts suspicious disk accesses and creates a clean executable). It costs $50. I'm pretty impressed. (and I don't own any stock) Quaid Software Ltd 45 Charles St. East 3rd Floor. Dept 203 Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1S2 Canada -- | Duke Robillard {ihnp4!}m10ux!rgr | | AT&T Bell Labs m10ux!rgr@ihnp4.UUCP | | Murray Hill, NJ Disclaimer: I claim to live in Dis. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
psc@lznv.UUCP (11/11/87)
<PS/2--yesterday's hardware today; OS/2--yesterday's software tomorrow> In article <6150@sunybcs.UUCP>, ugfailau@sunybcs.uucp (Fai Lau) writes: > I have a few EA games > (Amnesia, music writer, Chuck Yeager's flight simulator, what else?) > and have had wet dreams about being able to move them onto my > hard disk!!! When it usually loads about eight times faster and > I don't have to reboot the whole system when I'm done. > > Fai Lau, SUNY at Buffalo (The Arctic Wonderland) > UUCP: ..{mit-ems|watmath|rocksanne}!sunybcs!ugfailau, BI: ugfailau@sunybcs There are (roughly) three kinds of games. The first is self-booting games (e.g., Music and Pinball Construction Sets, Boulder Dash, and Seven Cities of Gold, all from Electronic Arts, and Flight Simulator from Microsoft). You may be able to copy them, but they'll never run from MS-DOS. This is a real pain if you want to use some DOS feature in them (e.g., mouse driver and menu to move the cursor better than arrow keys alone). The second type is games that run under MS-DOS, but need to detect some sort of copy protection signature. Examples are Chuck Yeager's Flight Simulator from Electronic Arts, which *can* be loaded on the hard disk but still requires a key disk, and Microprose's Gunship, which can be installed (and deinstalled and reinstalled) on your hard disk, putting the signature there. I just run these from the original floppy disk, for two reasons. First, I need to save space on my mere 20M disk. Second, we have two AT&T PC 6300s in the house, and we'd like to be able to conveniently run on either system (one at a time). The third kind of game has no disk-based copy protection scheme. Electronic Arts' Starflight has a difficult (but not impossible) to copy "password wheel". It looks like a decoder ring. When you try to take off, you're given three words and challenged to provide the password. You can always take off, but if you got the password wrong, you're immediately surrounded by police ships, and can't play any more. Infocom is famous for providing vital clues in their game packaging, which is harder to copy than their (no longer copy protected) disks. Some publishers would rather trust users than fight with them. This is a good idea in the long run, but too many users think that anything *easy* to copy is *ethical* to copy. Smokey the Bar says, "Only you can stamp out software pirates <squish>" -Paul S. R. Chisholm, {ihnp4,cbosgd,allegra,rutgers}!mtune!lznv!psc AT&T Mail !psrchisholm, Internet psc@lznv.att.com Disclaimer: I'm not speaking for my employer, I'm just speaking my mind. I own all the games I've described above. I either purchased them, or received them as gifts from friends who have purchased them. I don't copy software I haven't bought, and I register for shareware I use a lot. I don't use any copy protected software, except some games.
maurice@xanth.UUCP (11/12/87)
Unprotecting Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator v1.0
by Ralph and The Computer Pike (22Jun87)
Written by The Computer Pike
Materials
1) The ORIGINAL program diskette.
2) A blank FORMATTED diskette.
3) The program DEBUG.COM (found in most MS-DOS packages).
Overview
The copy protection for Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator (by
Electronic Arts) was very simple, so save the $10 for the unprotected version
offered by Electronic Arts. Tracing was done on the file AFS.EXE using Micro-
soft's Symbolic Debug Utility - SYMDEB.COM (version 3.00). Concentrating on
any disk I/O, it was found that a portion of the program had four identical
groups of two CALLs bunched together. The first CALL routine was CALL 0B31,
which resets the disk, reads the boot record and track 15 (side 0). By the
way, track 15 (side 0) is one of those "hard to copy" tracks. The second
CALL routine was CALL 0B74, which checks the status of the flags set by the
last disk I/O, being CALL 0B31. Replacing these CALLs with NOPs (three NOPs
per CALL), we found that the program ran with no problems whatsoever! It was
that easy! As a matter of fact, we joked about the fact of merely using NOPs
to unprotect the program before running it... It couldn't be that easy! Sure
enough...
Procedure
In copying the program diskette, we decided use COPY *.*. Reasons being
that it allows the COPIED diskette to rid the bad track 15 (side 0). It was
found that using DISKCOPY returned errors and COPYIIPC left track 15 (side 0)
in its "bad" state. So, let's do it this way... If all goes well, you'll only
have to do it once! Perform the following:
1) Assuming that the PC has been booted-up and the DOS prompt
is B>, insert the ORIGINAL program diskette into drive A:
and the blank FORMATTED diskette into drive B:.
2) Type the following after each B> prompt:
md afs
copy/v a:*.*
copy/v a:\afs\*.* b:\afs
3) Now, remove the ORIGINAL program diskette from drive A: and put
it away... You won't be needing it anymore!
4) Insert the diskette containing the DEBUG.COM file into drive A:.
5) You'll have to rename the AFS.EXE file. Type the following at
the B> prompt:
rename \afs\afs.exe afs.xxx
6) Now, enter debug by typing the following at the B> prompt:
a:debug \afs\afs.xxx
7) At each hyphen "-" prompt, type the following:
e de0 90 90 90 90 90 90
e de8 90 90 90 90 90 90
e df1 90 90 90 90 90 90
e df9 90 90 90 90 90 90
w
q
8) You'll have to rename AFS.XXX back to its original name. Type
the following:
rename \afs\afs.xxx afs.exe
9) There! You now have an unprotected copy of Chuck Yeager's
Advanced Flight Simulator by Electronic Arts...
Conclusion
Being an avid user of PC-based flight simulators, I'll have to say
that Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator ranks among the BEST! It's a
shame that many of you frowned upon the copy protection... We hope that this
document has aided in removing such a nuisance, and that it will confidently
allow you to use the software freely. Have fun and good luck!!!
Addendum - For single-drive users... And maybe others...
First of all, I'd like to apologize to all you single-drive users. I
don't think you all could have done the above verbatim. So, I went ahead
and COPYIIPC'd (version 3.09) the ORIGINAL program diskette in drive A:.
Ignoring the three errors that track 15 created, I went ahead and used the
copy and performed the unprotection. I ran the copy with no problem. Then,
I DISKCOPY'd (PC-DOS 3.2) the diskette in drive A:. Again, I ignored the
errors. The DISKCOPY'd diskette also ran with no problem. Unless you have
a program that corrects or formats by tracks and sides, you'll have to live
with the errors popping up during copying with no effect to the actual running
of the program. Such a program that allows formatting by track and side is
called ULTRAFMT.COM. It is a public domain program and usually comes as a
package with other ULTRA programs. The programs can be found on most BBSes
under the ARC'd filename ULTRA.ARC. Again, good luck and... sorry!!!dennis@rlgvax.UUCP (Dennis.Bednar) (11/13/87)
In article <3326@xanth.UUCP>, maurice@xanth.UUCP (X) writes: > groups of two CALLs bunched together. The first CALL routine was CALL 0B31, > which resets the disk, reads the boot record and track 15 (side 0). By the > way, track 15 (side 0) is one of those "hard to copy" tracks. The second > CALL routine was CALL 0B74, which checks the status of the flags set by the > last disk I/O, being CALL 0B31. Replacing these CALLs with NOPs (three NOPs I have two questions, and one observation. First, why is track 15 "hard to copy"? Have they purposely formatted the diskette in some non-standard way that prevents a normal "diskette read" from working? Second, when this error occurs, with an unpatched version, what does the program do, crash the machine, or bomb out the program with a fatal error message? And one observation (I hope I am right): Track 15 is purely garbage unreadable *data* that cannot be read by the program when it starts up. Track 15 does not contain part of the *executable program* (if it did, I supppose that MSDOS would have just as much trouble reading it in). By the way, your directions were very clear Mr X. Keep up the good documentation work. :-> -- FullName: Dennis Bednar UUCP: {uunet|sundc}!rlgvax!dennis USMail: CCI; 11490 Commerce Park Dr.; Reston VA 22091 Telephone: +1 703 648 3300
lance@ubvax.UB.Com (Lance Keigwin) (11/13/87)
In article <1182@lznv.ATT.COM> psc@lznv.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) writes: > >The second type is games that run under MS-DOS, but need to detect some >sort of copy protection signature. Examples are Chuck Yeager's Flight >Simulator from Electronic Arts, which *can* be loaded on the hard disk >but still requires a key disk... FYI, Electronics Arts offers a "non-copy protected" version of the Advanced Flight Simulator (now called the "Advanced Fight Trainer") to registered owners for an additional $10. That is, you must buy the copy-protected version and then send in $10 more. I was pleasantly surprised to find that EA added a "bonus" plane to the assortment of 14 you can fly -- a soarer -- but the product is not entirely copy protection-free: before you can run it you must answer a question about one of the many flight characteristics of their planes (such as "What is the service ceiling of this plane?" and a silhouette of a Mustang might appear). A wrong answer terminates the program. This is pretty annoying. You must always have the manual handy with the detail about the fleet... New question: Has anyone bought or used the MAXX control yoke for AFT? It apparently is a real "hook-it-up-to-the-desk" yoke and allegedly a blast, but it costs $129 and I have not been able to find it anywhere except through EA. Is it as good as advertised? Does it hook up to the serial port or does it have its own controller? Lance P. Keigwin Ungermann-Bass, Inc. (408) 496-0111 (oper.) 2560 Mission College Blvd 562-7738 (direct) Santa Clara, CA 95052 {pyramid,cae780,amd,decvax,weitek,sco}!ubvax!lance lance@ubvax.ub.com (uucp) lance@Engr.UB.Com (CSNET)
ugfailau@sunybcs.uucp (Fai Lau) (11/13/87)
In article <701@rlgvax.UUCP> dennis@rlgvax.UUCP (Dennis.Bednar) writes: > >I have two questions, and one observation. > >First, why is track 15 "hard to copy"? Have they purposely >formatted the diskette in some non-standard way that prevents >a normal "diskette read" from working? > That is how I believe so. I think the program (or for that matter, any program that requires a key disk) checks the key disk for the "error unduplicable at home". There are some other programs, I believe, put part of the program codes permanently on the original disk. They only load those codes if the error on the original disk is confirmed. >Second, when this error occurs, with an unpatched version, >what does the program do, crash the machine, >or bomb out the program with a fatal error message? It just exits to DOS with the message "no key isk". > ..... >By the way, your directions were very clear Mr X. Keep up the >good documentation work. :-> An they work too!!! Fai Lau SUNY at Buffalo (The Arctic Wonderland) UUCP: ..{mit-ems|watmath|rocksanne}!sunybcs!ugfailau BI: ugfailau@sunybcs