copy protection flame
Paul Smee
Organization: AUCC c/o University of Bath
Keywords:
Both Sundog (Software Heaven Inc, aka FTL) and Rogue (Epyx) are copy protected.
Worse, though, both insist on being run with the disks write-enabled.
This is a real ***** .
FTL, at least, tell you in the instructions that this is the case,
and offer an address from which one can (for $10) buy a single backup
copy. Epyx do neither.
I had a go at copying the Epyx disk. It appears to work, but when you
try to run the copy, you get put into what appears to be an infinite
'put disk A into drive A; put disk B into drive A' loop. I actually
gave that a try for a bit over 80 swaps, figuring that, since they hadn't
said it was copy-protected, they might have simply made it 'unattractive'
to copy by requiring that you somehow 'validate' the 80 tracks individually.
Finally decided that's not the case. It annoyed me enough to decide that
I think I'll try to crack that one, though.
Before I get flamed in turn, let me make it clear that I have bought, from
authorised dealers, still shrink-wrapped copies of both at the proper
price for real money; and that I want backups for my own use -- since I'm
not convinced that I can run a write-enabled disk indefinitely without
managing to have an accident with it.
braner
At the risk of being repetitive:
Before I shell out money for ANY piece of software, I find
out whether it is "copy protected". If it is, I DO NOT BUY IT!!!!!!!
FLAME ON:
I will not buy a car with that thin spare wheel and a 55 mph mechanical
limit, nor an insurance policy where other drivers are excluded.
I will not buy a book printed in ink that is visible only under a
special lamp.
I will not rent a house with limits imposed in the lease on guests
staying overnight.
And I will not pay for software that will not run off a hard disk,
a ram disk, and a backup.
FLAME OFF.
- Moshe Braner
Bruce Holloway
>I had a go at copying the Epyx disk. It appears to work, but when you
>try to run the copy, you get put into what appears to be an infinite
>'put disk A into drive A; put disk B into drive A' loop. I actually
>gave that a try for a bit over 80 swaps, figuring that, since they hadn't
>said it was copy-protected, they might have simply made it 'unattractive'
>to copy by requiring that you somehow 'validate' the 80 tracks individually.
>Finally decided that's not the case. It annoyed me enough to decide that
>I think I'll try to crack that one, though.
I copied Rogue over to my hard disk, and it runs fine from there, although
it requires the original disk in 'A'... it just accesses it for a couple
of seconds. Also, you can only save files to the original disk! But at
least the loading time is slashed, especially for those l-o-n-g picture
files.
--
....!ucbvax!hplabs!amdahl!drivax!holloway
(I'm not THAT Bruce Holloway, I'm the other one.)
D'arc Angel
> Analog, I took a look at the executatble file. It was entertaining
> finding phrases like "Software Pirate", "Copy Protection Mafia", and
> "Scum of the Earth." (Ian, by the way, changed the "die roll" figures
> in the executable, thereby making his character much better, allowing
> him to get the Amulet. Kinda defeats the purpose of the game, doesn't it?)
> --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ lineater, \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
if you're going to look for ways to cheat, you might try looking in
the executable for the rogue's name (i.e. what you type in for the
name) that allows you to create anything, scrolls, weapons etc. It's
literally right there in front of you in the code. nuff said..
but i agree with you it takes all of the fun out of the game
on another subject; is anyone out there playing Phantasie I ? (if you
like rogue, you will fall in love with this game) i have gotten all
of the rings and runes and found the black knight's dungeon but
i can't get him, what am i doing wrong ?????
--
----
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Name: James M. Turner
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