The Amatuer Crackist Tutorial
Version 1.3
By
Specular Vision
Special Thanks to:
Mr. Transistor
Ironman
The Grand Elusion
Banzai Buckaroo
Another fine PTL Production
Call The Myth Inc. BBS
Table of Contents:
------------------ (Page Numbers will be aprox. until
final version is finished)
i. Table of Contents 2
ii. Introduction 3
I. How to Crack 4
Debugging DOS 4
Cracking on the IBM PC Part 1 7
Cracking on the IBM PC Part 2 11
II. Example Cracks 14
Mean-18 by Accolade 14
Submarine by Eypx 18
Space Station Oblivion by Eypx 22
III. Removing Doc Check Questions 23
F-15 Strike Eagle by MicroProse 23
Battlehawks 1945 by Lucasfilms 25
Yeager's AFT by Electronic Arts 26
IV. Cracking Self Booters 27
Disk Basics
Victory Road by Data East 27
MS-Flight Simulator (Ver 2.x) 30
V. Creating Title Screens 33
VI. Appendix 35
A - Interrupt Tables 36
(This will be an add-on file)
2
Introduction:
-------------
Due to the current lack of Crackers, and also keeping in mind
the time it took me to learn the basics of cracking, I de-
cided to put this tutorial together. I will include many
files which I have found helpful in my many cracking endeav-
ors. It also has comments that I have included to make it
easier to understand.
Comments Key:
-------------
Comments in the following material will be made by one of the
following and the lines that enclose the comments show who
made the comment.
Special thanks to Mr. Transistor, for coming out of "Retire-
ment" to help compose this document.
3
Chapter I How to Crack
-------------------------------------------------------------
Let's start with a simple introduction to patching a program
using the DOS DEBUG program. The following article will in-
troduce you to the basic ideas and concepts of looking for a
certain area of a program and making a patch to it.
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: Charles Petzold / Specular Vision
Title: Case Study: A Colorful CLS
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 14,1986 Issue
of PC Magazine (Vol 15. Num 17.). Written by Charles Petzold.
The hardest part of patching existing programs is determin-
ing where the patch should go. You really have to make an
intelligent guess about the functioning of the program.
As an example, let's attempt to modify COMMAND.COM so that
is colors the screen on a CLS command. As with any type of
patch try it out on a copy and NOT the original.
First, think about what we should look for. CLS is differ-
ent from all the other DOS internal Commands, It is the only
internal command that does something to the screen other than
just write to it with simple teletype output. CLS blanks the
screen and homes the cursor. Since it can't do this through
DOS Calls (unless ANSI.SYS is loaded), it is probably calling
the BIOS Directly. The BIOS Interrupt 10h call controls the
video, and so the CLS command probably uses several INT 10h
instructions. The machine code for INT 10h is CD 10.
(While this same method will work under any version of
PC-DOS, Version 2.0 and later, the addresses I'll be using
are from PC-DOS 3.1. Other versions of PC-DOS(or MS-DOS) will
have different addresses; you should be absolutely certain
that you're using the correct addresses.)
Load COMMAND.COM into DEBUG:
DEBUG COMMAND.COM
and do an R (Registers) command. The size of COMMAND.COM is
in register CX. For DOS 3.1's COMMAND.COM, this value is
5AAA.
Now do Search command to look for the CD 10 bytes:
S 100 L 5AAA CD 10
You'll get a list of six addresses, all clustered close to-
4
gether. The first one is 261D. You can now pick an address a
little before that (to see what the first call is doing) and
start disassembling:
U 261B
The first INT 10 has AH set to 0F which is a Current Video
State call. The code checks if the returned value of AL
(Which is the video mode) is less than 3 or equal to 7.
These are the text modes. If so, it branches to 262C. If
not, it just resets the video mode with another INT 10 at ad-
dress 2629.
At 262C, the code first sets the border black (the INT 10
at 2630), then does another Current Video State call (at
2634) to get the screen width in register AH. It uses infor-
mation from this call to set DX equal to the bottom right row
and column. It then clears the screen by scrolling the en-
tire screen up with another INT 10 (at 2645), and then sets
the cursor to the zeroth row and zeroth column with the final
INT 10 (at 264D).
When it scrolls the whole screen, the zero value in AL ac-
tually means blank the screen, the value of BH is the at-
tribute to be used on the blanked area. In an unmodified
COMMAND.COM, BH is set to 7 (Which is white on black) by the
following statement at address 2640:
MOV BX,0700
If you prefer a yellow-on-blue attribute (1E), you can
change this line by going into Assemble mode by entering:
A
then entering
MOV BX,1E00
and exiting Assemble mode by entering a blank line.
Now you can save the modified file:
W
and quit DEBUG:
Q
When you load the new version of COMMAND.COM (and you can
do so without rebooting by just entering:
COMMAND
5
on the DOS command level), a CLS will turn the screen blue
and display characters as yellow.
If it doesn't or if anything you type shows up as white on
black, that probably means you have ANSI.SYS loaded. If you
use ANSI.SYS, you don't have to make this patch but can in-
stead use the prompt command for coloring the screen.
END.
6
-------------------------------------------------------------
That was just one section of a very large article that helped
me to get started. Next we'll look at two other articles,
both written by Buckaroo Banzi. These two articles CRACK-1
and CRACK-2 give you an introduction to the different copy
protection schemes used on IBM PC's, and how to find and by-
pass them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: Buckaroo Banzai
Title: Cracking On the IBM PC Part I
Introduction
------------
For years, I have seen cracking tutorials for the APPLE
computers, but never have I seen one for the PC. I have de-
cided to try to write this series to help that pirate move up
a level to a crackest.
In this part, I will cover what happens with INT 13 and how
most copy protection schemes will use it. I strongly suggest
a knowledge of Assembler (M/L) and how to use DEBUG. These
will be an important figure in cracking anything.
INT-13 - An overview
--------------------
Many copy protection schemes use the disk interrupt
(INT-13). INT-13 is often use to either try to read in a il-
legally formatted track/sector or to write/format a
track/sector that has been damaged in some way.
INT-13 is called like any normal interrupt with the assem-
bler command INT 13 (CD 13). [AH] is used to select which
command to be used, with most of the other registers used for
data.
INT-13 Cracking College
-----------------------
Although, INT-13 is used in almost all protection schemes,
the easiest to crack is the DOS file. Now the protected pro-
gram might use INT-13 to load some other data from a normal
track/sector on a disk, so it is important to determine which
tracks/sectors are important to the protection scheme. I
have found the best way to do this is to use LOCKSMITH/pc
(what, you don't have LS. Contact your local pirate for it.)
Use LS to analyze the diskette. Write down any track/sector
that seems abnormal. These track are must likely are part of
the protection routine. Now, we must enter debug. Load in
7
the file execute a search for CD 13. Record any address
show.
If no address are picked up, this mean 1 or 2 things, the
program is not copy protected (right...) or that the check is
in an other part of the program not yet loaded. The latter
being a real hassle to find, so I'll cover it in part II.
There is another choice. The CD 13 might be hidden in self
changing code. Here is what a sector of hidden code might
look like
In this section of code, [AL] is set to DF at location
1B00:0007. When you XOR DF and 12, you would get a CD(hex)
for the INT opcode which is placed right next to a 13 ie,
giving you CD13 or INT-13. This type of code can't and will
not be found using debug's [S]earch command.
Finding Hidden INT-13s
----------------------
The way I find best to find hidden INT-13s, is to use a
program called PC-WATCH (TRAP13 works well also). This pro-
gram traps the interrupts and will print where they were
called from. Once running this, you can just disassemble
around the address until you find code that look like it is
setting up the disk interrupt.
An other way to decode the INT-13 is to use debug's [G]o
command. Just set a breakpoint at the address give by
PC-WATCH (both programs give the return address). Ie, -G
CS:000F (see code above). When debug stops, you will have
encoded not only the INT-13 but anything else leading up to
it.
What to do once you find INT-13
-------------------------------
Once you find the INT-13, the hard part for the most part
is over. All that is left to do is to fool the computer in
to thinking the protection has been found. To find out what
the computer is looking for, examine the code right after the
INT-13. Look for any branches having to do with the
8
CARRYFLAG or any CMP to the AH register. If a JNE or JC
(etc) occurs, then [U]nassembe the address listed with the
jump. If it is a CMP then just read on.
Here you must decide if the program was looking for a pro-
tected track or just a normal track. If it has a CMP AH,0
and it has read in a protected track, it can be assumed that
it was looking to see if the program had successfully com-
plete the READ/FORMAT of that track and that the disk had
been copied thus JMPing back to DOS (usually). If this is
the case, Just NOP the bytes for the CMP and the correspond-
ing JMP.
If the program just checked for the carry flag to be set,
and it isn't, then the program usually assumes that the disk
has been copied. Examine the following code
INT 13 <-- Read in the Sector
JC 1B00 <-- Protection found
INT 19 <-- Reboot
1B00 (rest of program)
The program carries out the INT and find an error (the il-
legally formatted sector) so the carry flag is set. The com-
puter, at the next instruction, see that the carry flag is
set and know that the protection has not been breached. In
this case, to fool the computer, just change the "JC 1B00" to
a "JMP 1B00" thus defeating the protection scheme.
NOTE: the PROTECTION ROUTINE might be found in more than just
1 part of the program
Handling EXE files
------------------
As we all know, Debug can read .EXE files but cannot write
them. To get around this, load and go about cracking the
program as usual. When the protection scheme has been found
and tested, record (use the debug [D]ump command) to save + &
- 10 bytes of the code around the INT 13. Exit back to dos
and rename the file to a .ZAP (any extension but .EXE will
do) and reloading with debug. Search the program for the 20+
bytes surrounding the code and record the address found.
Then just load this section and edit it like normal. Save
the file and exit back to dos. Rename it back to the .EXE
file and it should be cracked.
***NOTE: Sometimes you have to play around with it for a
while to make it work.
9
DISK I/O (INT-13)
-----------------
This interrupt uses the AH resister to select the function
to be used. Here is a chart describing the interrupt.
AH=0 Reset Disk
AH=1 Read the Status of the Disk
system in to AL
AL Error
----------------------------
00 - Successful
01 - Bad command given to INT
*02 - Address mark not found
03 - write attempted on write protected disk
*04 - request sector not found
08 - DMA overrun
09 - attempt to cross DMA boundary
*10 - bad CRC on disk read
20 - controller has failed
40 - seek operation failed
80 - attachment failed
(* denotes most used in copy protection)
AH=2 Read Sectors
input
DL = Drive number (0-3)
DH = Head number (0or1)
CH = Track number
CL = Sector number
AL = # of sectors to read
ES:BX = load address
output
AH =error number (see above)
[Carry Flag Set]
AL = # of sectors read
AH=3 Write (params. as above)
AH=4 Verify (params. as above -ES:BX)
AH=5 Format (params. as above -CL,AL
ES:BX points to format
Table)
------------------------------------------------------------
For more information on INT-13 refer to appendix A.
------------------------------------------------------------
END.
10
-------------------------------------------------------------
In part II, Buck cover's Calls to INT-13 and INT-13 that are
located in different overlays of the program. This is a
method that is used often.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Cracking Tutorial II.
By: Buckaroo Banzai
Title: Cracking On the IBM PC Part II
Introduction
------------
OK guys, you now passed out of Copy Class 101 (dos files)
and have this great new game with overlays. How do I crack
this one. You scanned the entire .EXE file for the CD 13 and
it's nowhere. Where can it be you ask yourself.
In part II, I'll cover cracking Overlays and the use of
locksmith in cracking. If you haven't read part I, then I
suggest you do so. The 2 files go together.
Looking for Overlays
--------------------
So, you cant find CD 13 in the .EXE file, well, it can mean
4 things.
1: The .EXE (though it is mostly .COM) file is just a
loader for the main file.
2: The .EXE file loads in an overlay.
3: The CD 13 is encrypted &/or hidden in the .EXE file.
4: Your looking at the WRONG file.
I won't discuss case 1 (or at least no here) because so
many UNP files are devoted to PROLOCK and SOFTGUARD, if you
can't figure it out with them, your stupid.
If you have case 3, use the technique in part I and restart
from the beginning. And if you have case 4, shoot your self.
You know the program uses overlays but don't see and on
disk? Try looking at the disk with good old Norton's. Any
hidden files are probably the overlays. These are the ones
we are after. If you still can't find them, use PC-WATCH
(this program is a must!!! For all crackists. Traps ALL in-
terrupts).
11
Using PC-Watch to Find Overlays
-------------------------------
Start up PC-Watch and EXCLUDE everything in the left Col..
Search the right Col. until you find DOS21 - OpnFile and
select it.
Now run the program to be cracked.
Play the game until the protection is checked.
Examine you PCWatch output to see what file was loaded
right before it.
This probably is the one holding the check.
If not, go through all the files.
You Have Found the Overlays
---------------------------
Great, now just crack the overlay as if it was a DOS file.
You don't need to worry about .EXE file, debug can write an
overlay file. Part I explains the basics of cracking. I
suggest that you keep a backup copy of the overlay so if you
mess up, and you will, you can recover quickly. Ah, and you
thought cracking with overlays was going to be hard.
Locksmith and Cracking
----------------------
The copy/disk utility program Locksmith by AlphaLogic is a
great tool in cracking. It's analyzing ability is great for
determining what and where the protection is.
I find it useful, before I even start cracking, to analyze
the protected disk to find and id it's protection. This
helps in 2 ways. First, it helps you to know what to do in
order to fake out the protection. Second, it helps you to
find what the program is looking for.
I suggest that you get locksmith if you don't already have
it. Check your local pirate board for the program. I also
suggest getting PC-Watch and Norton Utilities 3.1.(Now 4.1)
All of these program have many uses in the cracking world.
END.
12
Chapter II Example Cracks
-------------------------------------------------------------
OK, now let's put some of this information into practice by
examining a few cracks of some common programs. First we'll
look at a Crack for Mean-18 Golf by Accolade. Accolade has
been one of those companies that has a fervent belief in Copy
Protection.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Title: MEAN-18 UnProtect For CGA/EGA Version
This crack works by eliminating the code that tests for known
bad sectors on the original diskette to see if it is the
genuine article or an illegal copy. The code begins with an
INT 13 (CD 13 HEX), a DOS BIOS disk service routine followed
a few bytes later by another INT 13 instruction. The program
then checks the returned value for the bit configuration that
signifies the bad sectors and, if all is as expected, contin-
ues on with program execution.
The code that needs to be patched is in the GOLF.EXE file and
in the ARCH.EXE file. It is identical in both files and lies
near the end of each file.
In the following steps, you'll locate the start of the test
code and patch it by replacing it with NOP instructions (HEX
90). The method described uses the DOS DEBUG utility but
Norton's Utility (NU) works too.
Copy all of the files from the MEAN-18 disk onto a fresh
floppy using the DOS COPY command and place your original
diskette out of harm's way.
Assuming DEBUG is in the A: drive and the floppy containing
the files to be unlocked is in the B: drive , proceed as fol-
lows:
First REName the GOLF.EXE file so it has a different
EXTension other than .EXE.
REN GOLF.EXE GOLF.DEB
Next load the file GOLF.DEB into DEBUG and displays the "-"
DEBUG prompt.
A:> DEBUG B:GOLF.EXE
13
Search for the beginning of the code to be patched by typing:
- S CS:100 FFFF CD 13
Searches the file for the two byte INT 13 instruction. If
all goes well, two addresses should appear on the screen.
XXXX:019C
XXXX:01A8
XXXX indicates that the numbers preceeding the ":" vary from
system to system but the numbers following the ":" are the
same on all systems.
The next step is to use the "U" command as indicated to
un-assemble a few bytes in order to verify your position in
the file)
- U CS:019C
(Un-assembles 32 bytes of code. Verify the following se-
quence of instructions:
INT 13
JB 01E9
MOV AL,[BX+01FF]
PUSH AX
MOV AX,0201
INT 13
POP AX
JB 01E9
CMP AL,F7
JNZ 01B5
These are the instructions you'll be patching out in the fol-
lowing step)
- A CS:019C
This command assembles the new instructions you enter at the
keyboard into the addresses shown. Beginning at CS:019C, and
for the next 21 bytes, ending with and including CS:01B0, en-
ter the no op command "NOP" (90h) followed by a <return> or
<enter>. Just hit <enter> at address XXXX:01B1 to end the
assemble command.)
This just wipes out the section of code containing the INT 13
check.
Now do a HEX dump and verify that bytes 019C through 01B0
have been set to 90 HEX.
- D CS:019C
If they have, write the patched file to the disk as follows)
- W
This writes the patched file back to the
disk where it can be run by typing GOLF just as before but
now, it can be run from any drive, including the hard
drive)
Now just [Q]uit or exit back to DOS. This command can be ex-
ecuted at any "-" DEBUG prompt if you get lost. No modifica-
tion will be made to the file on the disk until you issue the
"W" command.
- Q
The process is the same for the ARCH.EXE file but because it
is a different length, the segment address, (XXXX part of the
address), will be different. You should find the first INT
13 instruction at address XXXX:019C and the second one at
XXXX:01A8 as before.
You will again be patching 21 bytes and you will start with
019C and end with 01B0 as before. After doing the HEX dump
starting at address 019C, you again write the file back to
the disk with a "W" command then "Q" uit.
Norton's utilities can also be used to make this patch. Be-
gin by searcing the GOLF.EXE or ARCH.EXE files for the two
byte combination CD 13 (remember to enter these as HEX
bytes). Once located, change the 21 bytes, starting with the
first "CD" byte, to 90 (a NOP instruction). As a check that
you are in the right place, the byte sequence in both files
is CD 13 72 49 8A 87 FF 01 50 B8 01 02 CD 13 58 72 3C 3C F7
75 04. After modifying the bytes, write the modified file
back to the disk. It can then be run from any drive.
END.
15
------------------------------------------------------------
That was the first the tutorial cracks, here's another crack
based on the same ideas but using Norton's Utilities instead.
The following is an unprotect method for Eypx Submarine.
Eypx is another one of those companies bent on protecting the
world.
------------------------------------------------------------
You will only need to make one modification to the main
executable program of Submarine, SUB.EXE. I will assume that
your computer has a hard disk and that you have a path to
DOS. It's time to fire up DEBUG as follows:
DEBUG SUB.EXE<cr>
The computer should respond with a "-" prompt. Now look at
the registers, just to make sure everything came up okay.
Type the letter "R" immediately after the prompt. The com-
puter should respond with a few lines of info as follows:
AX=0000 BX=0001 CX=6103 DX=0000 SP=0080 BP=0000 SI=0000
DI=0000 DS=12CE ES=12CE SS=37B2 CS=27FC IP=0010 NV UP EI PL
NZ NA PO NC
27FC:0010 8CC0 MOV AX,ES
-
Note the value of CS is "27FC". That is the hexadecimal
segment address for the beginning of the program code in your
computer's memory. It is highly probable that the value you
see for CS will differ from mine. Whatever it is, write it
down. Also, the values you see for DS, ES and SS will almost
certainly differ from mine and should not cause you concern.
The other registers should show the same values mine do, and
the flags should start with the same values.
Next, we will do a search for Interrupt 13's. These are
BIOS (not DOS) Interrupts built into the program which are
used to ensure that the original disk is being used to run
the program. The whole key to this unprotect scheme is to by-
pass these Interrupts in the program code. The tricky part
of this unprotect is to find them! They are not in the seg-
ment of program code starting at the value of CS equal to
"27FC". They are closer to the beginning of the program in
memory. Easy enough! Reset the value of CS to equal the
value of DS as follows; type immediately after Debug's "-"
prompt:
RCS<cr>
16
Debug will prompt you for the new value of CS with:
CS:27FC:
You respond by typing the value of DS you saw when you
dumped the registers the first time. For example, I typed
"12CE<cr>". The value you type will be different. Debug
will again respond with the "-" prompt which means we are
ready to do our search. Type in the following after the "-"
prompt:
S CS:0 FFFF CD 13<cr>
The computer should respond with three lines of information
which are the addresses of the three Interrupt 13 calls built
into the program. The first four digits are the segment ad-
dress and will equal to the value of CS you have just set.
The second four digits following the colon are the offset ad-
dresses which are of primary interest to us. On my machine
they came back as follows:
12CE:4307
12CE:431F
12CE:4335
The segment addresses will be identical and the three off-
set addresses should all be relatively close together. Now
look at the first offset address. (As you can see, mine was
"4307".) Write it down. Now we do a bit of Unassembly.
Type "U4307<cr>" which is the letter "U", followed immedi-
ately (with no blank spaces) by whatever your first offset
address turned out to be, followed by a carriage return. If
you are not familiar with unassembled machine code, it will
look like lines of gibberish as follows:
12CE:4307 CD13 INT 13
12CE:4309 4F DEC DI
12CE:430A 744C JZ 4358
.
.
12CE:431F CD13 INT 13
12CE:4321 4F DEC DI
.
.
12CE:4324 BF0400 MOV DI,0004
12CE:4326 B80102 MOV AX,0201
In my computer, Unassemble will automatically output 16
lines of code to the screen. Yours may differ. Note, in the
abbreviated list I have shown above, the addresses at the be-
ginning of the two lines which contain the Interrupt 13's
(INT 13) correspond to the first two addresses we found in
our search. Now we continue the unassemble, and here comes
17
another tricky part. Just type in "U<cr>" after the "-"
prompt.
You'll get sixteen more lines of code with the third Inter-
rupt 13 on a line which begins with the address (CS):4335 if
you have the same version of Submarine as I do. It's not
terribly important to this exercise, but it will at
least show you that things are proceeding okay. Now type in
"U<cr>" again after the prompt. You are now looking for
three key lines of code. On my program they appear as fol-
lows:
12CE:4335 07 POP ES
12CE:4356 5D POP BP
12CE:4357 CB RETF
The true key is the instruction "POP ES". This instruction
begins the normal return sequence after the program has ex-
ecuted its Interrupt 13 instructions and accompanying checks.
If Debug on your machine prints fewer than 16 lines of code
at a shot, you may have to type in "U" more than twice at the
"-" to find these instructions. (If you haven't found any of
this stuff, either get help on the use of Debug or go back to
using your diskette version!) Write down the offset address
of the "POP ES" instruction; the four digits following the
colon, which in my example is "4354". You're well on your
way now, so please persevere.
The next step is to modify the program to JUMP around the
code which executes the Interrupt 13's and go immediately to
the instruction which begins the normal return sequence
(again, it's the "POP ES". Type in the following instruc-
tions carefully:
A4307<cr>
This first bit tells Debug that new Assembler code will be
inserted at the address of the first Interrupt 13. If your
first Interrupt 13 is at an address other that "4307", use
the correct address, not mine. The computer will prompt you
with the address:
12CE:4307
After which you will immediately type:
JMP 4354<cr>
This instruction jumps the program immediately to the normal
return code instructions. Again, at the risk of being redun-
dant, if your "POP ES" instruction is at a different address,
use that address, not "4354"!
The computer will prompt you with the address of the next in-
18
struction if all went well. MAKE SURE you just hit the
carriage return at this point. Debug will then return the
familiar "-" prompt.
Now it's time to examine your handiwork. Let's do the
unassemble again starting at the address of what had been the
first Interrupt 13 instruction, but which is now the Jump in-
struction. Type in "U4307<cr>" or "U" followed by the appro-
priate address and a carriage return. The first line begin-
ning with the address should appear as follows:
12CE:4307 EB4B JMP 4354
The key here is the four bytes immediately following the ad-
dress. In my example they are "EB4B". Yours may not be.
But, they are VERY IMPORTANT because they represent the ac-
tual machine code which is the Jump instruction. WRITE THESE
FOUR BYTES DOWN AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE CORRECT.
Now if you want to have some fun before we go on, reset
register CS to its original value by first typing "RCS<cr>"
at the "-" prompt. Then type in the original value of CS
that I asked you to write down. Using my example, I typed
"27FC<cr>". Next, you will type "G<cr>" after the "-" prompt
which means GO! If all went well, SUB should run at this
point. At least it will if you put all of the Submarine
files onto the diskette or into the hard disk subdirectory
where youre working. If it didn't run, you may have made an
error. Check through what you have done.
Don't give up at this point if it does not run. Your version
of Debug may simply have not tolerated our shenanigans. When
you are done playing, quit Submarine ("Alt-Q<cr>") and type a
"Q<cr>" after the Debug prompt "-" appears.
Now comes the tough part. I can't walk you through this
phase in complete detail, because you may be using one of
several programs available to modify the contents of SUB.EXE.
Debug is not the way to go, because it can't write out .EXE
files, only .COM files.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Another method of doing this is to REName the SUB.EXE
file so it has a different extension other than .EXE before
you enter DEBUG. That way after you've made the change you
can then [W]rite then changes out to the file right in DEBUG.
Then one drawback is that you can't run the program in DEBUG
once you've changed the name.
-------------------------------------------------------------
You have to get into your sector modification package (NORTON
works good) and work on the SUB.EXE file on your new diskette
or your hard disk. Remember, I warned you that doing this on
your hard disk is dangerous if you are not fully aware of
19
what you are doing. So, IF YOU MESS UP, it's YOUR OWN FAULT!
You are looking for the first occurrence of an Interrupt 13
(the "CD 13") using the search facility in your program. If
you don't have the ability to search for the two-byte hexa-
decimal code "CD 13" directly, then you will have to manually
search.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Norton 4.x now has a search utility. When you get to
the point of typing in the search text, just press the TAB
key, and you can type in the actual hexadecimal code "CD 13".
-------------------------------------------------------------
Start at the beginning of SUB.EXE and proceed. Again, you
want to find the first of the three (first from the beginning
of the program).
I will give you a hint. I found it in NORTON at location
4407 hexadecimal which is location 17,415 decimal in the
SUB.EXE program file. DOS standard sectors are 512 decimal
bytes. Replace the two bytes "CD 13" with the "EB 4B" or
whatever your Jump instruction turned out to be. Write or
save the modified file.
That's ALL there is to modifying SUB.EXE. You can go ahead
and execute your program. If you have followed my instruc-
tions, it should run fine. Get help if it doesn't. Now, you
should be all set. You can load onto your hard disk, if you
haven't already. You can run it from a RAM disk using a BAT
file if you really want it to hum. Or, if you have the fa-
cilities, you can copy it from 5-1/4" floppy to 3-1/2" dis-
kette and run it on machines which accept that medium if you
upgrade to a new computer.
END.
20
-------------------------------------------------------------
Now let's take a look at a newer crack on the program, Space
Station Oblivion by Eypx. At a first [S]earch with Debug and
Norton's Utility no CD 13's could be found, and yet it was
using them... So a different approach had to be taken...
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: PTL
Title: Space Station Oblivion Crack
First of all, you must determine which file the INT 13's are
in, in this case it had to be the file OBLIVION.EXE since it
was the main program and probably contained the INT 13's. So
then rename it to a different EXTension and load it into De-
bug.
Then do a [S]earch for INT 13's.
-S 100 FFFF CD 13
Which will promptly turned up nothing. Hmmm...
Next you might decide that, maybe, the code was modifying it-
self. So quit from Debug and load up PC-Watch, include all
the INT 13 Calls. For those of you not familiar with
PC-Watch, it is a memory resident program that can be set to
look for any type of BIOS call. When that call is made
PC-Watch prints to the screen the contents of all the regis-
ters and the current memory location that the call was made
from.
After PC-Watch is initialized, then run the OBLIVION.EXE file
from the hard disk, leaving the floppy drive door open, and
sure enough, when the red light comes on in the diskette
drive, PC-Watch will report the address's of some INT 13
calls. Which you should then write down.
From there, quit the game, reboot, (To dump PC-Watch from
memory) and load the OBLIVION.EXE into Debug and issue a [G]o
command with a breakpoint. What address should you use for a
breakpoint? You guessed it, the same address PC-Watch gives
you.
Well, it locked up did'nt it? Which is quite common in this
line of work so don't let that discourage you. So next re-
loaded it into debug and this time [U]nassemble the address
that you got from PC-Watch. But instead of finding the INT
13's you'll find harmless INT 21's.
Hmm... could it be that the program was converting the CD
21's to CD 13's during the run? Well, to test the idea as-
semble an INT 20 (Program Terminate) right after the first
21
INT 21. Then I run the program, and yes immediately after the
red light comes on the drive, the program will terminate nor-
mally.
Then [U]nassemble that same area of memory, and low and be-
hold, some of the INT 21's have magically turned into INT
13's. How clever...
So, then it is just a matter of locating the address of the
routine that it jumped (JMP) to if the correct disk was found
in drive A:. Once you have that address, just go to the
start of all this nonsense and [A]ssemble a JMP XXXX command.
Where XXXX was the address to jump to if the original disk
was in drive A:.
Then just [W]rite the file back out to the disk and [Q]uit
debug, and then REName the file back to OBLIVION.EXE
afterwhich it should work fine.
END.
22
Chapter III Removing Doc Check Questions
-------------------------------------------------------------
A new fad has recently started up with software vendors, it
involves the use of "Passwords" which are either stored in
the documentation or are actually the documentation itself.
Then when you reach a certain part of the program (Usually
the beginning) the program will ask for the password and you
have to look it up in the Docs before being allowed to con-
tinue. If the wrong password is entered, it will usually
drop you to DOS or take you to a Demo version of the program.
This new form of copy protection is very annoying, but can
usually be cracked without too much effort, and the files
and the disk are usually in the standard DOS format. So now
we'll take a look at cracking the Doc check questions.
First of all we'll crack the startup questions in F-15
Strike Eagle by MicroProse.
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: JP ASP
Title: F-15 Unprotect
Make a copy of the original disk using the DOS DISKCOPY pro-
gram.
>DISKCOPY A: B:
Then insert the copy disk in the A drive and invoke DOS DE-
BUG.
>DEBUG
Now we'll [F]ill an area of memory with nothing (00).
-F CS:100 L FEFF 0
Next we will [L]oad into address CS:0100 the data that is on
the A: disk (0) from sector 0 to sector 80.
-l cs:100 0 0 80
Now lets [S]earch the data we loaded for the area where the
copy protection routine is.
-s cs:100 l feff FA EB FD
Then for each of the occurences listed, use the address DEBUG
returned in the [E]nter command below.
23
-e xxxx 90 90 90
-------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the part we are interested in, it's where you change
all the autorization codes to a space. Notice how you can
use the [S]earch command to look for ASCII text.
-------------------------------------------------------------
-s cs:100 l feff "CHIP"
Then for each occurance of "CHIP" use the address DEBUG re-
turned in the [F]ill command below.
-F XXXX L F 20
Write out the modified data
-W CS:100 1 0 80
Quit DEBUG
-Q
You should now be able to DISKCOPY and boot from all copies
also just press the space bar when it ask for ANY authority
code and then press "ENTER". Now there is no need to remember
(or look up) any codes that are so finely tucked away in the
manual!
END.
24
-------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a similar method that was used break the passwords in
the program BATTLEHAWKS 1945 by Lucasfilms. However Norton
Utilities is used to search for the passwords and change
them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: PTL
Title: BATTLEHAWKS-1945 Doc Check Crack
In keeping in line with their previous programs, Lucasfilms
has released yet another program which uses Doc Checks for
its means of copy protection, Battlehawks 1942.
When you run this program, it first goes through a series of
graphic displays, then it goes through a series of questions,
asking what type of mission you want to fly, such as Train-
ing, Active Duty, or which side of the war you want to be on.
Then right before the simulation begins, it shows you a pic-
ture of a Japanese Zero and ask you for a password which you
are then supposed to get by looking up the picture of the
Zero in the User Manual and typing the corresponding password
in. After which it enters the simulation, in the event you
enter the wrong password, it puts you into a training mis-
sion.
Removing the Doc Check in a program like this is usually
pretty easy. The ideal way to do it is to remove the Doc
Check routine itself, but if you don't have all day to debug
and trace around the code this might not be the best way.
For instance if you only have your lunch hour to work on it
(Like I did), then you need to use the standard Q.D.C.R.S.
(Quick Doc Check Removal System).
How do you do a QDCRS? Well first of all, play around with
the program, find out what it will and will NOT accept as a
password. Most programs will accept anything, but a few
(Like Battlehawks) will only accept Alpha characters.
Once you've learned what it likes, make an educated guess as
to what program the Doc Check routine is in. Then load that
program into Norton's Utility (NU).
At this point, take a look at the passwords, and write down
the most unusual one that you can find (I'll explain later).
Now type that password in as the search string, and let NU
search through the file until it finds the password. Now a
couple of things can happen.
1. It only finds one occurrence
2. It finds more than one occurrence
3. It doesn't find any occurrence
In the event of case 2 then YOU have to determine where the
passwords are stored, you can do this by opening your eyes
and looking.
In the event of case 3, go to the kitchen and start a pot of
coffee, then tell you wife to go to bed without you, because
you have a "Special Project" that you have to finish tonight.
And by the way, Good Luck. You'll need it.
Hopefully case 1 will occur, now you have to take a look at
the data and ask yourself 2 questions:
1. Are all the passwords the same length?
2. Is there a set number of spaces between each pass-
word?
3. Does the next password always start a certain number
of characters from the first character of the previ-
ous password?
If you can answer yes to any of the above questions, you in
luck. All you have to do is change the passwords to spaces
(If the program allows that, Battlehawks doesn't) or change
them to you favorite character. The letter X works good, it's
easy to type and easy to remember.
If you can't answer yes to any of the questions then you ei-
ther need to bypass the Doc Check routine itself or you need
to be adventurous and experiment. Battlehawks will not follow
any of the above patterns, and your quickly running out of
time, so you'll have to try something, fast...
So just wiped out all of the data area with X's, all the
passwords and associated "garbage" between them. Then saved
the changes and drop out of NU and into BH. Then when it ask
for the password, just filed the area with X's. Next thing
you know, you'll be escorting a bombing run on a Japanese
carrier.
So, this one turned out to be fairly simple. Where you may
run into trouble is on Doc Checks that use a graphic system,
such as Gunship by MicroProse. When it comes to this type of
Doc Check, you almost have to bypass the routine itself. And
again, a good way to do this is with setting break points and
using the trace option in Debug.
END.
25
-------------------------------------------------------------
That was the easy version Doc Check crack, however there a
"Better" way to crack Doc Checks, is to bypass the routine
completely so the user can just press enter and not worry
about spaces. Let's take a lot at this method by looking at
a crack for the program, Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer, by
Electronic Arts.
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: PTL
Title: Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer
26
Chapter 5 Cracking Self Booters
-------------------------------------------------------------
Now we'll take a look at cracking self booters. A few compa-
nies have found this to be the best copy protection scheme
for them, one of which is DataEast, makers of Ikari Warriors,
Victory Road, Lock-On, Karnov, etc... This posses a special
problem to the Amateur Cracker, since they seldom use stan-
dard DOS formats. So let's jump right in!
-------------------------------------------------------------
This is the area where a "Higher than Normal" knowledge of
Assembly Language and DOS Diskette structures, so first of
all, the Basic's.
The Disk's Physical Structure
Data is recorded on a disk in a series of concentric circles,
called Tracks. Each track if further divided into segments,
called Sectors. The standard double-density drives can
record 40 tracks of data, while the new quad-density drives
can record 80 tracks.
However, the location, size, and number of the sectors within
a track are under software control. This is why the PC's
diskettes are known as soft-sectored. The characteristics of
a diskette's sectors (Their size, and the number per track)
are set when each track is formatted. Disk Formatting can be
done either by the operating system or by the ROM-BIOS format
service. A lot of self booters and almost all forms of copy
protection create unusual formats via the ROM-BIOS diskette
services.
The 5 1/4-inch diskettes supported by the standard PC BIOS
may have sectors that are 128,256,512, or 1,024 bytes in
size. DOS, from versions 1.00 through 4.01 has consistently
used sectors of 512 bytes, and it is quite possible that this
will continue.
Here is a table displaying 6 of the most common disk formats:
_____________________________________________________________
Type Sides Sectors Tracks Size(bytes)
_____________________________________________________________
S - Single Density
D - Double Density
QD - Quad Density
Of all these basic formats, only two are in widespread use:
S-8 and D-9. The newer Quad Density formats are for the 3
1/2" and 5 1/4" high density diskettes.
The Disk's Logical Structure
So, as we have already mentioned, the 5 1/4-inch diskette
formats have 40 tracks, numbered from 0 (the outside track)
through 39 (the inside track, closest to the center). On a
double sided diskette, the two sides are numbered 0 and 1
(the two recording heads of a double-sided disk drive are
also numbered 0 and 1).
The BIOS locates the sectors on a disk by a three-dimensional
coordinate composed of a track number (also referred to as
the cylinder number), a side number (also called the head
number), and a sector number. DOS, on the other hand, lo-
cates information by sector number, and numbers the sectors
sequentially from the outside to inside.
We can refer to particular sectors either by their
three-dimensional coordinates or by their sequential order.
All ROM-BIOS operations use the three-dimensional coordinates
to locate a sector. All DOS operations and tools such as DE-
BUG use the DOS sequential notation.
The BASIC formula that converts the three-dimensional coordi-
nates used by the ROM-BIOS to the sequential sector numbers
used by DOS is as follows:
(Note: For double-sided nine-sector diskettes, the PC's
most common disk format, the value of SECTORS.PER.SIDE
is 9 and the value of SIDES.PER.DISK is 2. Also note
that sides and tracks are numbered differently in the
ROM-BIOS numbering system: The sides and tracks are num-
bered from 0, but the sectors are numbered from 1.)
Diskette Space Allocation
The formatting process divides the sectors on a disk into
four sections, for four different uses. The sections, in the
order they are stored, are the boot record, the file alloca-
tion table (FAT), the directory, and the data space. The
size of each section varies between formats, but the struc-
ture and the order of the sections don't vary.
The Boot Record:
This section is always a single sector located at sector
1 of track 0, side 0. The boot record contains, among other
things, a short program to start the process of loading the
operating system on it. All diskettes have the boot record
on them even if they don't have the operating system. Asisde
from the start-up program, the exact contents of the boot
record vary from format to format.
The File Allocation Table:
The FAT follows the boot record, usually starting at
sector 2 of track 0, side 0. The FAT contains the official
record of the disk's format and maps out the location of the
sectors used by the disk files. DOS uses the FAT to keep a
record of the data-space usage. Each entry in the table con-
tains a specific code to indicate what space is being used,
what space is available, and what space is unusable (Due to
defects on the disk).
The File Directory:
The file directory is the next item on the disk. It is
used as a table of contents, identifying each file on the
disk with a directory entry that contains several pieces of
information, including the file's name and size. One part of
the entry is a number that points to the first group of sec-
tors used by the file (this number is also the first entry
for this file in the FAT).
The Data Space:
Occupies the bulk of the diskette (from the directory
through the last sector), is used to store data, while the
other three sections are used to support the data space.
Sectors in the data space are allocated to files on an
as-needed basis, in units known as clusters. The clusters
are one sector long and on double-sided diskettes, they are a
pair of adjacent sectors.
(From here on I'll continue to describe the basics of DOS
disk structures, and assembly language addressing technics.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a simple routine to just make a backup copy of the
Flight Simulator Version 1.0 by Microsoft. I know the latest
version is 3.x but this version will serve the purpose of
demonstrating how to access the data and program files of a
selfbooter.
-------------------------------------------------------------
By: PTL
Title: Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.00 Unprotect
This procedure will NOT convert the Flight Simulator disk to
files that can be loaded on a hard drive. But... it will
read off the data from the original and put it onto another
floppy. And this should give you an idea of how to read data
directly from a disk and write it back out to another disk.
First of all take UNFORMATTED disk and place it in drive B:.
This will be the target disk.
Now place your DOS disk (which has Debug) into drive A:, or
just load Debug off you hard disk.
A>DEBUG
Then we are going to enter (manually) a little program to
load the FS files off the disk.
-E CS:0000 B9 01 00 BA 01 00 BB 00
01 0E 07 06 1F 88 E8 53
5F AA 83 C7 03 81 FF 1C
01 76 F6 B8 08 05 CD 13
73 01 90 FE C5 80 FD 0C
76 E1 90 CD 20
