[gameprogrammer] Re: Enough, already!



Grant Hallman wrote:
The issue here is that a lot of copy protection uses and checks for "damaged" sectors on the cd, which are "fixed" buy naive cd copying software - the same software that does bit-for-bit copying.
Yes, hence my wish. Real bit-by-bit does not "fix" things, it puts every byte on the same track and sector as original. Seems pretty basic functionality to me.
Yeah I am pretty sure that it doesn't really work like that. If the byte can't be read because its damaged (either with a scratch or on purpose), then how are you going to write it to another cd? Its the fact that those particular sectors can't be read, or have specific errors, that make the copy protection work.
After a quick google, it appears that AOE II uses safedisc 1but I stopped searching after about 3 seconds. According to this wikipedia article : 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SafeDisc
safedisc 1 is "easy for home users and professional duplicators alike to copy".
I still think the best (but legally and morally murky - in New Zealand its legal to back up software, and I don't think there is any law that prohibits working around copy protection ala the american DMCA) solution to your problem is to obtain an already cracked and/or ripped version from bittorrent. http://www.torrentspy.com/ works fine for, um, my friend. Its a trade off of bandwidth and searching vs thinking and frustration.
I am not even sure if discussions on working around a specifics games copy protection - even for innocent and non malicious reasons - belong on a list about programming games, read by people who possibly their living from writing commercial software.
I havta agree with you there, and my apologies to the list for a longer thread than i expected. I wasn't looking for a long discussion, just a "go here - download this" pointer from someone with more experience in the subject.
Unfortunately backing up your own software is a difficult goal these days, either someone knows straight away or you are back to doing the google grind :D
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely understand your predicament, I agree with your observation that copy protection can be a blockade for many of us who have slightly different requirements for our games (IE playing it on more than one pc in perpetuity, rather than playing it for 6 months on 1 pc) and I /basically/ think that copy protection and DRM is stupid. FWIW I though the "copy protection" that q3a used was probably the best, the cd was easily copyable, the protection was stopping multiple users being online at once using the same cd.
Being a geek, I would enjoy a discussion on the moral issues around copy protection and drm, I would also enjoy - on a technical level - a discussion on various techniques and how one would generally get around them. A discussion about that may not even belong on a mailing list such as this one, unless one of our members wanted to implement some sort of copy protection in a game they are making :)
If i wanted to protect my software i'd do it like the way SlySoft does: free DL, limited time to play, with the limit clearly stated up front. Each copy of the app would contain half a unique key and the user sends it to the mothership with $, and the mothership responds with the other half of the key that only unlocks that specific copy. And i'd price it cheap enough that trying to beat it just wasn't worth while. Say $20 for a decent game.
I see the reason for DRM, if one can't be sure of profits for a winning game, why make a winning game? Every illicit copy is another vote for no new games. It's just that DRM should not interfere with legitimate uses, like making a (doh!) BACKUP of one's media. 

cheers - grant


--
Jacob Briggs
Systems Engineer

Core Technology Limited
Level 1, NZX Centre
11 Cable Street
Wellington
Phone +64 4 801 2252

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