Re: [SWCollect] Interplay (was: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?)
When I said Sierra, I meant Vivendi of course :) It's the same as Atari / Infogrames (rich company using the name of a famous one). -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Interplay (was: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?) Peter Olafson [EMAIL PROTECTED] 15-06-2004 18:34 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect Actually, you can take Sierra out of the picture right now. It's no longer a publisher--just a brand name under the umbrella of VU Games. Peter Jim Leonard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Pedro Quaresma wrote: Unfortunately I am imagining a future in which the only games publishers will be Sierra, Microsoft and Electronic Arts. :/ Take Sierra out of the picture and you'd be right :-( ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
[SWCollect] Interplay (was: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?)
Last time I read about it, Interplay has been going down since Titus and Herve Caen took control of it. Their shares are worth almost 0 now. Employees are already being told to pack their stuff and leave. All the important people at Interplay have already left. Brian Fargo, Feargus Urquhart, J.D.Sawyer ... IIRC, this all started when they decided to increase console game production and reduce PC game production. Infogrames (now Atari) have announced they'll do the same, so I do not foresee a big future for them either. Unfortunately I am imagining a future in which the only games publishers will be Sierra, Microsoft and Electronic Arts. :/ -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Edward Franks [EMAIL PROTECTED] 14-06-2004 21:31 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect On Jun 14, 2004, at 2:57 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Pedro Quaresma wrote: Shadow of the Comet by Infogrames (back from the days when Infogrames was likeable -- ah that would start a whole new discussion! Anyone else following the end of Interplay?). I heard Interplay's offices were shut down for a few days because they couldn't come up with worker's comp insurance. :-( I sincerely hope Brian Fargo will be able to create a new startup... He was already gone: http://www.inxile-entertainment.com/ -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
I remember someone _handwriting_ the whole list of symbols from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade copy protection! -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED] 15-06-2004 03:33 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect Jim Leonard schrieb: I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like they were black on white sheets of paper. :-) At that time I had only heard of scanners :-) BTW, another drive-the-legitimate-buyer-out-of-his-mind copy protection: Type the seventh word in the third paragraph on page 22. You never knew if they counted chapter titles, quotations, or whatever else was there along regular text, or not. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
I remember someone _handwriting_ the whole list of symbols from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade copy protection! I haven't done this myself but I too have a photo copy of a handwritten copy protection for Indy 3 :) Though this is more of an age protection, one of the most classic and more fun way to do it is the Larry 1 quiz (which Larry 3 has too). Larry 2 has those phone numbers as copy protection; Al Lowe's birthday works as a pass in later release versions: http://www.allowe.com/Larry/cluescheats.htm - Jukka -- http://koti.mbnet.fi/psychic/eng_index.html - Synchronic Web: Sierra/Lucas/Tolkien/Ultima/ADD/SSI collecting and beyond! -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Well I didn't say that I remembered watching someone actually doing the handwriting of those codes :) I had possibly the same photocopies you had, so someone must've handwritten them, and they've gone all around Europe at least! :D Ultima 7 Serpent Isle had an interesting copy protection. The questions themselves were normal (values you had to check on manual) but the interesting part was that if you missed one, all items or characters in the game went Oink! when you clicked on them! :D -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Jukka Eronen [EMAIL PROTECTED] 15-06-2004 10:17 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect I remember someone _handwriting_ the whole list of symbols from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade copy protection! I haven't done this myself but I too have a photo copy of a handwritten copy protection for Indy 3 :) Though this is more of an age protection, one of the most classic and more fun way to do it is the Larry 1 quiz (which Larry 3 has too). Larry 2 has those phone numbers as copy protection; Al Lowe's birthday works as a pass in later release versions: http://www.allowe.com/Larry/cluescheats.htm - Jukka -- http://koti.mbnet.fi/psychic/eng_index.html - Synchronic Web: Sierra/Lucas/Tolkien/Ultima/ADD/SSI collecting and beyond! -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
At 10:45 15/06/2004 +0100, you wrote: Well I didn't say that I remembered watching someone actually doing the handwriting of those codes :) I have myself handcopied the codes for friends from some games, probably Cocktel Vision games (with the colors, I used a letter for each color). I have done this at school, during class! ;-) Vincent Joguin.
RE: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
That
reminds me, in the beginning of Rex Nebular you're flying in your spaceship and
get the copy protection question. If you mess it up, a hairline crack appears in
your viewport, all the air rushes out, and your head
explodes!
Stuart
-Original Message-From: MASTER
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Pedro
QuaresmaSent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 5:46 AMTo:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy
protection?Well I didn't
say that I remembered watching someone actually doing the handwriting of those
codes :) I had possibly the same photocopies you had, so someone must've
handwritten them, and they've gone all around Europe at least! :D
Ultima 7 Serpent Isle had an interesting
copy protection. The questions themselves were "normal" (values you had to
check on manual) but the interesting part was that if you missed one, all
items or characters in the game went "Oink!" when you clicked on them!
:D --Pedro R.
QuaresmaSalvador Caetano IMVTDiv. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and
Information DivisionAdministração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes /
Lotus Notes Administration and
Development[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext.
3492)Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km.,
"Esperanza"'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow
old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Para:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref:
cc: (bcc: Pedro
Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re:
[SWCollect] Best copy protection?
"Jukka Eronen"
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 15-06-2004 10:17
Solicita-se resposta a
swcollect I remember someone _handwriting_ the whole list of symbols from
IndianaJones and the Last Crusade copy protection!I
haven't done this myself but I too have a photo copy ofa handwritten copy
protection for Indy 3 :)Though this is more of an age protection, one
of the most classicand more fun way to do it is the Larry 1 quiz (which
Larry 3 has too).Larry 2 has those phone numbers as copy
protection;Al Lowe's birthday works as a pass in later release
versions:http://www.allowe.com/Larry/cluescheats.htm-
Jukka--http://koti.mbnet.fi/psychic/eng_index.html -
Synchronic Web:Sierra/Lucas/Tolkien/Ultima/ADD/SSI collecting
and
beyond!--This
message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed tothe
swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe
swcollect'Archives are available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota
Onlinehttp://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Marco Thorek stated: BTW, another drive-the-legitimate-buyer-out-of-his-mind copy protection: Type the seventh word in the third paragraph on page 22. You never knew if they counted chapter titles, quotations, or whatever else was there along regular text, or not. Yeah, and I remember some friends who had a cracked copy (or cracked it using instructions on the 'net) of Bard's Tale so that it didn't matter what you entered at that prompt, it would always act as if it was correct. I thought the Empire Deluxe solution was good. You only had to answer this type of question when you ran the setup program, which set the resolution, sound options, etc. So, in general, you only had to do it once or twice. (You were required to run it once before playing.) Of course, if you'd been playing for months and decided to change a setting, then you had to go find the manual, which was frustrating. -- Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Stuart Feldhamer stated: That reminds me, in the beginning of Rex Nebular you're flying in your spaceship and get the copy protection question. If you mess it up, a hairline crack appears in your viewport, all the air rushes out, and your head explodes! At least that's a resolution. 8) In Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, the copy protection was that the galaxy map used for long range navigation was in the manual. You'd be told to go to a certain system, but none of the systems were labeled in the map in the game, you had to look in the manual. If you got it wrong, you went to the system you picked and were attacked by Orion pirates, Klingons, or Romulans. If you survived the encounter, you could try again. 8) -- Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Pedro Quaresma stated: I remember someone =5Fhandwriting=5F the whole list of symbols from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade copy protection! I hand copied the cheeses for Monty Python's Flying Circus on to my playing copy's disk sleeve. There were only 12-20 of them. What made me mad was how they tried to pass the Cheese Shop copy protection off as a game in the manual. -- Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Marco Thorek wrote: That reminds me of the original Pirates! copy protection: You had to look up at what port the gold fleet was in a certain month. It was more than that -- the disk was protected as well. And it was protected VERY well: Multiple checks throughout the game, and if it recognized a bad copy it would continue to let you play *but* the sea battles would get progressivly harder and harder until it was impossible to win. Sneaky! -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Lee K. Seitz wrote: I thought the Empire Deluxe solution was good. You only had to answer this type of question when you ran the setup program, which set the resolution, sound options, etc. So, in general, you only had to do it once or twice. (You were required to run it once before playing.) Of course, if you'd been playing for months and decided to change a setting, then you had to go find the manual, which was frustrating. This is similar to Software Toolwork's stuff from the late 80's to early 90's: The diskette protection was checked only when you installed the game. They were also smart enough to take an inventory of the computer -- hardware, OS version, etc. -- so that if you tried to copy the installed game over to another machine, it would not work and ask to be reinstalled. I'm seeing some parallels in copy-protection here: - King's Quest II (encryption of executable and data files), 1985 -- Starforce 3 (same thing), 2004 - Pirates! (run progressively worse), 1987 -- Macrovision (same thing), 2003 - Software Toolworks games (check during install, can't be moved) 1988-ish -- Windows XP activation (same thing), 2001. Scary to see we're entering a new era of copy protection all over again... makes me long for the innovative days of lenslok, colored pictures on manuals, etc. If things get really bad we're going to see the resurgence of copy-protection methods that *really sucked*, because they were unreliable. One method was weak bits that read differently every time you read the disk -- only problem is, the original disk itself would fail the check half the time! -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Interplay (was: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?)
Pedro Quaresma wrote: IIRC, this all started when they decided to increase console game production and reduce PC game production. Infogrames (now Atari) have announced they'll do the same, so I do not foresee a big future for them either. As much as I don't like this, the numbers support it: In 2003 there were about 5 million PC games sold -- and 50 million console games sold. Console games fuel the overwhelming majority of the 11 billion (!!) electronic entertainment industry. Unfortunately I am imagining a future in which the only games publishers will be Sierra, Microsoft and Electronic Arts. :/ Take Sierra out of the picture and you'd be right :-( -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Interplay (was: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?)
Actually, you can take Sierra out of the picture right now. It's no longer a publisher--just a brand name under the umbrella of VU Games. PeterJim Leonard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Pedro Quaresma wrote: Unfortunately I am imagining a future in which the only games publishers will be Sierra, Microsoft and Electronic Arts. :/Take Sierra out of the picture and you'd be right :-(
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Along similar lines, Final Assault (Epyx) for the IIgs (and probably others), if you failed the copy protection, you'd continue normally, then suddenly your climber's face would turn red and he'd die, as if suffocating I think. Kinda slick. On Jun 15, 2004, at 9:00 AM, Stuart Feldhamer wrote: That reminds me, in the beginning of Rex Nebular you're flying in your spaceship and get the copy protection question. If you mess it up, a hairline crack appears in your viewport, all the air rushes out, and your head explodes! Stuart -Original Message- From: MASTER [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Pedro Quaresma Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 5:46 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Well I didn't say that I remembered watching someone actually doing the handwriting of those codes :) I had possibly the same photocopies you had, so someone must've handwritten them, and they've gone all around Europe at least! :D Ultima 7 Serpent Isle had an interesting copy protection. The questions themselves were normal (values you had to check on manual) but the interesting part was that if you missed one, all items or characters in the game went Oink! when you clicked on them! :D -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes x-tad-smaller /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smaller /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerPara: [EMAIL PROTECTED]>/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerA/C: /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerRef: /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smaller cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO)/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerAssunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerJukka Eronen [EMAIL PROTECTED]>/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smaller15-06-2004 10:17/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerSolicita-se resposta a swcollect/x-tad-smaller>I remember someone _handwriting_ the whole list of symbols from Indiana Jones and the Last >Crusade copy protection! I haven't done this myself but I too have a photo copy of a handwritten copy protection for Indy 3 :) Though this is more of an age protection, one of the most classic and more fun way to do it is the Larry 1 quiz (which Larry 3 has too). Larry 2 has those phone numbers as copy protection; Al Lowe's birthday works as a pass in later release versions: http://www.allowe.com/Larry/cluescheats.htm - Jukka -- http://koti.mbnet.fi/psychic/eng_index.html - Synchronic Web: Sierra/Lucas/Tolkien/Ultima/ADD/SSI collecting and beyond! -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
LucasArts (DOS-based) adventure games drove me crazy because the protection was written in the same interpreted code as the rest of the game (makes sense, some commercial protection schemes are based on their own VM, speaking of protection schemes repeating themselves). Anyway, I found one generic solution for all of them. I wrote something that took a snapshot of the data segment (only 64K) and wrote it to disk (using either Soft-Ice or Undocumented DOS). Do that twice in a row with a short pause in between before the protection screen, then do it again after the protection, using the manual, wheel or whatever to get past it. Take the three 64k snapshots, and search for a byte that was unchanged between the first two but changed from like a 0 - 1 or 0 - 255 between the second and third snapshot. There'd only be 5-10 such locations. One of them is a boolean flag letting the game know the protection passed and it doesn't have to display it again. Write a loader that pops the 1 or 255 in that location on load but right before startup and it'd think it already ran the protection successfully. Poof. Worked for 4-5 games I think. My parents thought I was insane for that week (80 hours in 5 days, I'll never forget that). I'm fuzzy on this but I think D-Generation also had protection only on install. It would only install the specific drivers (EGA/VGA, Adlib, SoundBlaster, etc.) for your setup, to prevent post-install piracy. Very reasonable. Nice compromise. On Jun 15, 2004, at 10:28 AM, Lee K. Seitz wrote: Marco Thorek stated: BTW, another drive-the-legitimate-buyer-out-of-his-mind copy protection: Type the seventh word in the third paragraph on page 22. You never knew if they counted chapter titles, quotations, or whatever else was there along regular text, or not. Yeah, and I remember some friends who had a cracked copy (or cracked it using instructions on the 'net) of Bard's Tale so that it didn't matter what you entered at that prompt, it would always act as if it was correct. I thought the Empire Deluxe solution was good. You only had to answer this type of question when you ran the setup program, which set the resolution, sound options, etc. So, in general, you only had to do it once or twice. (You were required to run it once before playing.) Of course, if you'd been playing for months and decided to change a setting, then you had to go find the manual, which was frustrating. -- Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
RE: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
One more example: Rogue by Epyx It would let you play for a while (like 3 or 4 levels), then it would throw an indestructible monster at you and youd die. Then it would show a tombstone that said Here Lies: Pirate, scum of the Earth. I have several versions of the original, but I normally play the Atari ST version. Id love to get a copy of a ROM (for any emulator) so I can play on my PC. However, the only versions of Rogue Ive ever gotten are simple copiesmeaning theyll let you play and then give you the message above. Anybody seen a working version? Ideally for an ST or Amiga emulator? Hugh -Original Message- From: Dan Chisarick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 7:25 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Along similar lines, Final Assault (Epyx) for the IIgs (and probably others), if you failed the copy protection, you'd continue normally, then suddenly your climber's face would turn red and he'd die, as if suffocating I think. Kinda slick. On Jun 15, 2004, at 9:00 AM, Stuart Feldhamer wrote: That reminds me, in the beginning of Rex Nebular you're flying in your spaceship and get the copy protection question. If you mess it up, a hairline crack appears in your viewport, all the air rushes out, and your head explodes! Stuart -Original Message- From: MASTER [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Pedro Quaresma Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 5:46 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Well I didn't say that I remembered watching someone actually doing the handwriting of those codes :) I had possibly the same photocopies you had, so someone must've handwritten them, and they've gone all around Europe at least! :D Ultima 7 Serpent Isle had an interesting copy protection. The questions themselves were normal (values you had to check on manual) but the interesting part was that if you missed one, all items or characters in the game went Oink! when you clicked on them! :D -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Jukka Eronen [EMAIL PROTECTED] 15-06-2004 10:17 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect I remember someone _handwriting_ the whole list of symbols from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade copy protection! I haven't done this myself but I too have a photo copy of a handwritten copy protection for Indy 3 :) Though this is more of an age protection, one of the most classic and more fun way to do it is the Larry 1 quiz (which Larry 3 has too). Larry 2 has those phone numbers as copy protection; Al Lowe's birthday works as a pass in later release versions: http://www.allowe.com/Larry/cluescheats.htm - Jukka -- http://koti.mbnet.fi/psychic/eng_index.html - Synchronic Web: Sierra/Lucas/Tolkien/Ultima/ADD/SSI collecting and beyond! -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Dan Chisarick wrote: LucasArts (DOS-based) adventure games drove me crazy because the protection was written in the same interpreted code as the rest of the game (makes sense, some commercial protection schemes are based on their own VM, speaking of protection schemes repeating themselves). Anyway, I found one generic solution for all of them. I wrote something that took a snapshot of the data segment (only 64K) and wrote it to disk (using either Soft-Ice or Undocumented DOS). Do that twice in a row with a short pause in between before the protection screen, then do it again after the protection, using the manual, wheel or whatever to get past it. Take the three 64k snapshots, and search for a byte that was unchanged between the first two but changed from like a 0 - 1 or 0 - 255 between the second and third snapshot. There'd only be 5-10 such locations. One of them is a boolean flag letting the game know the protection passed and it doesn't have to display it again. Write a loader that pops the 1 or 255 in that location on load but right before startup and it'd think it already ran the protection successfully. Poof. Worked for 4-5 games I think. My parents thought I was insane for that week (80 hours in 5 days, I'll never forget that). You and everyone else who copied Sierra games (also interpreted). Impressive -- I used a specific program for this kind of thing (ran the game in a V8086 so you could stop execution and do memory compares). I guess that's cheating ;-) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Shadow of the Comet by Infogrames (back from the days when Infogrames was likeable -- ah that would start a whole new discussion! Anyone else following the end of Interplay?). It had a Caleidoscope-thingie in which you'd had to look to get the codes. If you tried looking without the Caleidoscope-lenses (or perhaps with a proper lens of some other type) the code drawings were too small to distinguish from each other. Lucasarts's Monkey Island's dial-a-pirate was fun too :) but easy copiable. Delphine's Operation Stealth had a copy protection similar to Future Wars. No wonder, they were made by the same company and had the same engine iirc. As far as difficulty goes, from what I've heard, the still uncrackable Starforce 3 (Beyond Divinity is an example) is still the worst. -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Jim Leonard [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12-06-2004 03:59 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect I used to think that the best copy-protection was Rocket Ranger -- the codewheel was an integral part of moving around. Then a fellow MobyGames volunteer wrote me this: The best copy protection ever would be the game Murder In Venice (Amiga). The game comes with over 40 clues - including ticket stubs, paper clips, pictures, even a film roll (that you have to break open to find a clue inside!!). I agree, that's really cool. Anyone else have some good copy-protection schemes that they remember as being cool or clever? Here's a few more I can think of: - Future Wars. Copy protection showed a paint-by-numbers (outline) picture and asked you what color the section that was currently flashing was. How could you tell? The picture was in full color on the back cover of the manual. :-) - Star Control. Codewheel was just plain funny. Anyone else have fond memories? -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Another Microprose game with similar copy protection was Pirates! Gold I believe. You'd have to recognize a Pirate banner. On railroad tycoon you had to recognize a specific train wagon. Trying to remember what the copy protection was on Covert Action but memory is failing me...? -- Pedro R. Quaresma Salvador Caetano IMVT Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / Lotus Notes Administration and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492) Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A/C: Ref: cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO) Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Dan Chisarick [EMAIL PROTECTED] 13-06-2004 02:44 Solicita-se resposta a swcollect Back then I had a friend who worked for a newspaper. He was in charge of a color separator (it sounded impressive then) so they could print color ads in multiple passes. It made the dark red and black sheet black and white. It was excessive but it was fun to have such an overkill solution. Jim: I got Tie Fighter and Perfect General from EBX (yet another division of EB, how many do they need)? I kinda liked Microprose's copy protection. Their war games had you identify enemy vehicles. After a while of playing the game, you didn't need to refer to the manual. Came in handy knowing just what it was shooting at you, too. Some of them let you play anyway if you failed the doc check, but only at the beginner level. Nice incentive to buy the game if you just cracked the disk check. On Jun 12, 2004, at 6:03 PM, Freddie Bingham wrote: I had no problem duplicating the codes on the copy machine at the drugstore near my house. The second release of Maniac Mansion also came with that type of protection. http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org/index.php?gameid=2r=2 -freddie Lucasarts Museum - http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org -Original Message- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 2:24 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Marco Thorek wrote: IIRC the game came with five-symbol codes printed in black on really dark brown paper. I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like they were black on white sheets of paper. :-) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Pedro Quaresma wrote: Shadow of the Comet by Infogrames (back from the days when Infogrames was likeable -- ah that would start a whole new discussion! Anyone else following the end of Interplay?). I heard Interplay's offices were shut down for a few days because they couldn't come up with worker's comp insurance. :-( I sincerely hope Brian Fargo will be able to create a new startup... As far as difficulty goes, from what I've heard, the still uncrackable Starforce 3 (Beyond Divinity is an example) is still the worst. Nothing is uncrackable. Starforce is one of the best types of protection, though -- it directly accesses IDE CDROM drives without going through ANY system calls. (Dunzhin for IBM PC (Warriors of Ras) was one of the new early PC releases to do this and it took a colleage of mine a full month to crack it.) Starforce is also clever enough to figure out if it is running from an emulated drive such as those provided by Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%. Still, as clever as Starforce 3 is, I've seen worse. In fact, I was wondering when better protection was going to come along (copy-protection became a bit of a joke once Windows and CDROMs rolled around -- Starforce 3 is the only thing that actually provides a challenge nowadays). -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Jim Leonard wrote: Still, as clever as Starforce 3 is, I've seen worse. In fact, I was wondering when better protection was going to come along (copy-protection became a bit of a joke once Windows and CDROMs rolled around -- Starforce 3 is the only thing that actually provides a challenge nowadays). In fact, to respond to my own post, I just found that Starforce has two easily-found code sections, .brick and .sforce, and the ep (entry point) is 6969h -- kind-of stands out, eh? So this will be easy to crack on a per-game basis. Nothing is uncrackable. :-) Whatever one man can create, another can destroy. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
On Jun 14, 2004, at 2:57 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Pedro Quaresma wrote: Shadow of the Comet by Infogrames (back from the days when Infogrames was likeable -- ah that would start a whole new discussion! Anyone else following the end of Interplay?). I heard Interplay's offices were shut down for a few days because they couldn't come up with worker's comp insurance. :-( I sincerely hope Brian Fargo will be able to create a new startup... He was already gone: http://www.inxile-entertainment.com/ -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Edward Franks wrote: He was already gone: http://www.inxile-entertainment.com/ I know, sorry if that wasn't clear. I am hoping he will do something decent with the Bard's Tale project... Him remaking Bard's Tale, and Sid Meier remaking Pirates! are two projects I'm eagerly anticipating. Anyone else know of original designers or teams remaking older games? -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
You had to identify mugshots I believe. I'm surprised I remember because I only saw the screen once :)
Covert Action and Sword of the Samurai are my top two favorite of all time Microprose games. Close second is M-1 Tank Platoon, F-19/F-117A, Pirates! and Ancient Art of War in the Skies. There are tons others, but those are the ones that come screaming to mind the easiest. Of course, these were all played on a PC ('cept Pirates for the IIgs). Ok and Darklands was really good, too. Sigh.
On Jun 14, 2004, at 9:10 AM, Pedro Quaresma wrote:
Another Microprose game with similar copy protection was Pirates! Gold I believe. You'd have to recognize a Pirate banner.
On railroad tycoon you had to recognize a specific train wagon.
Trying to remember what the copy protection was on Covert Action but memory is failing me...?
--
Pedro R. Quaresma
Salvador Caetano IMVT
Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division
Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes /
Lotus Notes Administration and Development
[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)
Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., Esperanza
'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes
x-tad-smaller /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerPara: [EMAIL PROTECTED]/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerA/C: /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerRef: /x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallercc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO)/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerAssunto: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerDan Chisarick [EMAIL PROTECTED]>/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smaller13-06-2004 02:44/x-tad-smallerx-tad-smallerSolicita-se resposta a swcollect/x-tad-smallerBack then I had a friend who worked for a newspaper. He was in charge
of a color separator (it sounded impressive then) so they could print
color ads in multiple passes. It made the dark red and black sheet
black and white. It was excessive but it was fun to have such an
overkill solution.
Jim: I got Tie Fighter and Perfect General from EBX (yet another
division of EB, how many do they need)?
I kinda liked Microprose's copy protection. Their war games had you
identify enemy vehicles. After a while of playing the game, you didn't
need to refer to the manual. Came in handy knowing just what it was
shooting at you, too. Some of them let you play anyway if you failed
the doc check, but only at the beginner level. Nice incentive to buy
the game if you just cracked the disk check.
On Jun 12, 2004, at 6:03 PM, Freddie Bingham wrote:
> I had no problem duplicating the codes on the copy machine at the
> drugstore
> near my house. The second release of Maniac Mansion also came with
> that
> type of protection.
>
> http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org/index.php?gameid=2r=2
>
> -freddie
>
> Lucasarts Museum - http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org
>
>
>> -Original Message-
>> From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 2:24 PM
>> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
>>
>> Marco Thorek wrote:
>>
>>> IIRC the game came with five-symbol codes printed in black
>> on really
>>> dark brown paper.
>>
>> I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember
>> those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment
>> to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like
>> they were black on white sheets of paper. :-)
>> --
>> Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>> http://www.oldskool.org/
>> Want to help an ambitious games project?
>> http://www.mobygames.com/
>> Or check out some trippy MindCandy at
>> http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
>>
>> --
>> This message was sent to you because you are currently
>> subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe,
>> send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of
>> 'unsubscribe swcollect'
>> Archives are available at:
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
> the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
> Archives are available at:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
>
--
This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online
http://www.toyota.pt
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Pedro Quaresma schrieb: Shadow of the Comet by Infogrames (back from the days when Infogrames was likeable -- ah that would start a whole new discussion! Anyone else following the end of Interplay?). Certainly. It is sad to see the company go that way. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Jim Leonard schrieb: know, sorry if that wasn't clear. I am hoping he will do something decent with the Bard's Tale project... Him remaking Bard's Tale, and Sid Meier remaking Pirates! are two projects I'm eagerly anticipating. It is good to see that the people originally behind those great names do something with them, but they certainly don't come up with anything new that way. Oh well, Molyneux is still quite sucessful with selling us the same concept for the last 15 years, so why not them ;-) Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Pedro Quaresma schrieb: Another Microprose game with similar copy protection was Pirates! Gold I believe. You'd have to recognize a Pirate banner. That reminds me of the original Pirates! copy protection: You had to look up at what port the gold fleet was in a certain month. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Jim Leonard schrieb: I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like they were black on white sheets of paper. :-) At that time I had only heard of scanners :-) BTW, another drive-the-legitimate-buyer-out-of-his-mind copy protection: Type the seventh word in the third paragraph on page 22. You never knew if they counted chapter titles, quotations, or whatever else was there along regular text, or not. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Stuart Feldhamer wrote: You made me think about the code wheel for Pool of Radiance. For some reason, on my computer, the code that came up was Savior about 3/4 of the time. So I copied the game for a friend of mine but didn't give him the code wheel, telling him that he should try Savior, and if that didn't work, just try again. On his computer, Savior NEVER came up! LOL this was because of the truly terrible random-number generator in POR. The game played like this too, in some sections (75% of the time you'd get the same types of encounters). This PC-specific, I don't think the others had this problem but I could be wrong. This reminds me of how a friend played Leisure Suit Larry 3: The random seed for the copy protection was # of seconds from bootup. So he launched his version of LSL3 from AUTOEXEC.BAT, right after bootup, and it would give him the same woman to identify 95% of the time. -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Freddie Bingham stated: I had no problem duplicating the codes on the copy machine at the drugstore near my house. The second release of Maniac Mansion also came with that type of protection. As did the original release of SimCity, IIRC. -- Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Hugh Falk schrieb: I can remember two really BAD examples: I can include a third: Zak McKracken. IIRC the game came with five-symbol codes printed in black on really dark brown paper. Of course the protection was no problem for crackers, but was a serious nuisance for any legitimate owner of the game. Marco -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
- Original versions of Elite, which used a device called a LensLok. This one is actually on par with Chronoquest (maybe worse). It's a clear plastic device that you squint through and try to decode a shape on the screen. I have one, and I actually just read an article on it in retrogamer magazine. I'll have to scan or type that in. The problem with LensLok was that depending on your monitor, it didn't always work. Level 9 used it for some of their text adventures but quickly scrapped it. -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Marco Thorek wrote: IIRC the game came with five-symbol codes printed in black on really dark brown paper. I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like they were black on white sheets of paper. :-) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
RE: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
I had no problem duplicating the codes on the copy machine at the drugstore near my house. The second release of Maniac Mansion also came with that type of protection. http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org/index.php?gameid=2r=2 -freddie Lucasarts Museum - http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org -Original Message- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 2:24 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Marco Thorek wrote: IIRC the game came with five-symbol codes printed in black on really dark brown paper. I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like they were black on white sheets of paper. :-) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
Back then I had a friend who worked for a newspaper. He was in charge of a color separator (it sounded impressive then) so they could print color ads in multiple passes. It made the dark red and black sheet black and white. It was excessive but it was fun to have such an overkill solution. Jim: I got Tie Fighter and Perfect General from EBX (yet another division of EB, how many do they need)? I kinda liked Microprose's copy protection. Their war games had you identify enemy vehicles. After a while of playing the game, you didn't need to refer to the manual. Came in handy knowing just what it was shooting at you, too. Some of them let you play anyway if you failed the doc check, but only at the beginner level. Nice incentive to buy the game if you just cracked the disk check. On Jun 12, 2004, at 6:03 PM, Freddie Bingham wrote: I had no problem duplicating the codes on the copy machine at the drugstore near my house. The second release of Maniac Mansion also came with that type of protection. http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org/index.php?gameid=2r=2 -freddie Lucasarts Museum - http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org -Original Message- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 2:24 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? Marco Thorek wrote: IIRC the game came with five-symbol codes printed in black on really dark brown paper. I was lucky enough to have a BW hand scanner (remember those?) that used a red scanning beam. A bit of adjustment to the contrast, and voila -- I could reproduce those like they were black on white sheets of paper. :-) -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
RE: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
You made me think about the code wheel for Pool of Radiance. For some reason, on my computer, the code that came up was Savior about 3/4 of the time. So I copied the game for a friend of mine but didn't give him the code wheel, telling him that he should try Savior, and if that didn't work, just try again. On his computer, Savior NEVER came up! Stuart -Original Message- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 11:00 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? I used to think that the best copy-protection was Rocket Ranger -- the codewheel was an integral part of moving around. Then a fellow MobyGames volunteer wrote me this: The best copy protection ever would be the game Murder In Venice (Amiga). The game comes with over 40 clues - including ticket stubs, paper clips, pictures, even a film roll (that you have to break open to find a clue inside!!). I agree, that's really cool. Anyone else have some good copy-protection schemes that they remember as being cool or clever? Here's a few more I can think of: - Future Wars. Copy protection showed a paint-by-numbers (outline) picture and asked you what color the section that was currently flashing was. How could you tell? The picture was in full color on the back cover of the manual. :-) - Star Control. Codewheel was just plain funny. Anyone else have fond memories? -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
RE: [SWCollect] Best copy protection?
I can remember two really BAD examples: - Chronoquest -- sorry for the long link, but there is a picture and a description here: http://www.classicgaming.com/gotcha/gamecenter/GAMECENTER_COM%20-%20Features %20-%20Collector's%20Edition%20PC%20Game%20Collecting%20Tips4.htm - Original versions of Elite, which used a device called a LensLok. This one is actually on par with Chronoquest (maybe worse). It's a clear plastic device that you squint through and try to decode a shape on the screen. I have one, and I actually just read an article on it in retrogamer magazine. I'll have to scan or type that in. Hugh -Original Message- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 8:00 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [SWCollect] Best copy protection? I used to think that the best copy-protection was Rocket Ranger -- the codewheel was an integral part of moving around. Then a fellow MobyGames volunteer wrote me this: The best copy protection ever would be the game Murder In Venice (Amiga). The game comes with over 40 clues - including ticket stubs, paper clips, pictures, even a film roll (that you have to break open to find a clue inside!!). I agree, that's really cool. Anyone else have some good copy-protection schemes that they remember as being cool or clever? Here's a few more I can think of: - Future Wars. Copy protection showed a paint-by-numbers (outline) picture and asked you what color the section that was currently flashing was. How could you tell? The picture was in full color on the back cover of the manual. :-) - Star Control. Codewheel was just plain funny. Anyone else have fond memories? -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.oldskool.org/ Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
