Sinbad - Legend ... (2003 Game) *Fake Pentium 4* ??

[saulob]

Ok, just got this old game from a friend, nice one, nothing expectacular.

But, in the game there are some gfx options exclusive for 'Intel Pentium 4', if you have other processors (like me) it's disabled...

So... does anyone know how can I fake that processor, how can I *cheat* the game to appear that I have this processor and enable this options ?

I mean, my pc isn't a 2003 PC anymore I have a high end CPU and GFX board, I think it can handle something like:

- Smoother Animation
- High Detail Water
- Stunning Particle Effects

And it's a 2003 game ;)

I'm just curious about these effects.

Some shots from the options screen (disabled for me):
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9527/sinbad1pi8.jpg
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/8175/sinbad2rj0.jpg

Or maybe someone that have one P4 can show us some pics with the options on and off...

Another thing, I just downloaded the 'all access' cheat from gcw and it came with the 'settings.xml' file edited.... so I think all the cfg on the game it's on that file, I opened it, tried to understand, but it's not that easy...

It's just like any xml file, it's attached. Maybe someone can understand :)

There are two files called 'PREFS.DAT' and 'PREFS.DEF', the .dat one is a binary file... can't read, the .def it's one txt file with:

"
GRIDMAJORSTEP F
SNAPSTEP F
SNAP I
MOVEMENTSPEED F
ROTATIONSPEED F
"

Go figure it out.

Well, all 3 files are attached.

Maybe someone can enable the P4 function and send the files :)

thanks :D

[Joe Forster/STA]

(Wrong forum, moved.)

Isn't there an (official or unofficial) patch that removes this ridiculous check?

[saulob]

thanks for the move joe foster :)

ok.. no I didn't find any patch for it.. googling for 'sinbad legend update patch' I can only find the demo. nothing more :(

you heard something about it ?

Thanks.

[Joe Forster/STA]

Nope, sorry, never even heard of the game itself... :)

Although it might be possible to hack the game into thinking always that you do have a P4 CPU... Can you send me the files necessary to start the game and get an error message that you don't have a P4 CPU (I have none; I'm an AMD-fan!)? See entry III/4 of the forum FAQ on how to collect these files.

[saulob]

Ok Joe.. right now.

Well, I think it's only the exe file. there's one file called: pthreadVCE.dll , with no info on it.. but appears the have something in commom. But I don't think you will need it. There's no error on the game. It's only the checkbox that's disabled (showed on the picture)

I'm right now using the exe from GCW (already cracked) from Drunk.

And another thing. I just went to the official support page from Atari and there's no download for the game.. :(

Tks.

Edit: maybe enable the checkbox without calling the dll (I think that this dll check something... really I'm guessing). That's will be fun to watch the effects.... :)

[Joe Forster/STA]

Whoops, haven't looked at the pictures... Well, emulating hyper-threading is not possible... :) I thought it would only be a simple check, only to see whether the system has enough power for the effect...

But if the extra effects are based on extra technology (which is only present in one of the CPU brands) then the best you can do is tell the game designers to fuck off for preventing the owners of all other CPU brands from seeing all these nice effects! :(

[saulob]

oh noes! :eek:

so... some effect on the water.. it will only appear with the 'hyper-threading' ? ... damn... no normal cpu will work?

can't we try.. if we enable the checkbox on the exe ? .. I can try to run and see it. :)

damn.. well.. thank you joe.. for help again!

[DABhand]

It would be good to know what sort of System you have.

[TippeX]

if his system is higher than pentium 4 (ie: actually has the 'requirements'), then the cpu stuff might be able to be faked, the code most likely will be something similar to...

xor eax,eax
cpuid

then some comparison on the ebx, ecx and edx registers for 'GenuineIntel' to verify its intel, then another code line

xor eax,eax
inc eax (could also be mov eax,1 or variants)
cpuid

and then checking the bit flags

i'd imagine though if his processor isnt intel based it wont pass the first check...

[saulob]

DABhand, you're right, my bad.

My cpu: AXP 2800+ overclocked.

[Joe Forster/STA]

But isn't the code fragment that does the actual extra effects dependent on hyper-threading? If so, is part of the hyper-threading technology a set of new CPU instructions? (Sorry, got stuck moslty at 8086 real-mode assembly... :))

[TippeX]

depends really, without seeing the code... it could just be an intel check,
hyperthreading just makes the processor look like it has 2 processors really...
by utilizing the mmx registers and so on as 'real' registers, eax, ebx, ecx etc... depends on the game code as to what its doing, though the amd 2800+ he has (i have the same chip on one of my boxes) definately shows up as only 1 processor, but if the game code is chipset dependant then he's out of luck as attempting to emulate the chipset dependant code will result in a pretty sygnificant slowdown

[saulob]

That's the thing I doubt that one 2003 game, full cd just 450mb, has that power to make something GREAT.. it's a "kid game", there's nothing big about it. Understand ?

I have that AXP 2800+ and one Radeon 9600 XT... I can play D3/Q4 fine ;)
and they are the greatest games on the time.

I'm just curious to check if we can enable it on the exe, remove the checker... just that.. see if there's any error about it.

[TippeX]

well the byte pattern you're looking for is something like

33 C0
0F A2

or a string comparison on 'GenuineIntel'

is the exe anywhere to download? or those files you mentioned?

[Joe Forster/STA]

As saulob wrote, he's using Drunk's no-CD patch: http://dl.gamecopyworld.com/?f=drn-sinb!rar.

[...] I can see the CPUID checks and returning a CPU identification string from a subroutine to the main program but I can't patch these parts blindly, without having the game... :(

[saulob]

hmmm... let me check what I can do :)

[TippeX]

yup, looks complexish, however simple approach could be patch...

offset : 02201AC
offset : 0233CC0

and replace the 'GenuineIntel' with 'AuthenticAMD'

(pay attention to the case sensitivity)

might work

[saulob]

Hmm.. I did that.. nothing. Changed to 'AuthenticAMD'... the options (attached picture) still disabled, I can't check it.

thanks :)