Will FADE make our backups useless?

[bobfffg]

Based on the info below, if my original gets scratched or damaged and I want to make a backup so that no further damage occurs to it, would FADE make the backup useless because the backup program has corrected the scratched areas, or would it be unaffected as the FADE error detection would only check for scratch patterns in certian, pre-defined areas of the data?



This info was taken from www.dvd-recordable.org


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The cat and mouse game played between computer games companies and software pirates has seen a bold move by the establishment. In a new gambit, games companies will using piracy to hook users. A protection system from Macrovision and British games developer Codemasters ensures that pirated copies of games slowly degenerate to the point where they become unusable. The idea behind the technology called Fade, is to lure players into buying genuine games via the unreal thing. {Click headline for full story.}

The keyword, of course, is "slowly". Over a period of time the pirated software is set to degenerate to the point where the game becomes unplayable--players in car games will find they can no longer steer, games involving shooting will go off-target, and so forth. By the time the copied game becomes unplayable, the players would have had time to get addicted, forcing them to go out and buy a proper copy.

Fade was devised by Richard Darling, co founder of Codemasters, and uses the error correction systems that computers adopt to read scratched CD-ROMs and DVDs. Software with Fade has bits of "subversive" code which look like scratches, but are carefully arranged in a pattern that the game's master program will look for. If the pattern of abrasions is detected, the game plays with no trouble.

However, if the disk is copied, the error-correction system of the computer that makes the duplicate will automatically delete the fake scratches. As the game is played, the master program can identify it as a fake when it fails to detect that preset pattern.

Whereas traditional protection software would refuse to let the game be played, Fade allows play, but gets the master program to disable it.

"The beauty of this is that the degrading copy becomes a sales promotion tool," Bruce Everiss of Codemasters told New Scientist." People go out and buy an original version." claims.

Fade has been tested on the game Operation Flashpoint, and will also be used on a snooker game. It has been incorporated into Macrovision's SafeDisc anti-piracy system.

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[MegaPyro6]

Any idea how long it takes to become unplayable? Besides who makes back-up without already owning the original, so it shouldn't be a problem. You could just burn yourself a new copy.

[snake2]

mabe using clone cd that picks up scrtches or turn off jiter corection? dont think it would work but it would be funny if thats all it took

[TylerDurden]

This is old news man. FADE has been around for a long time. Some games already have patches to fix. Not all of them have been fixed though.

Mainly the process isnt in the game itself its in the Memory Card. After a game boots up it has a certain area that triggers the FADE check. Some, (like on Mike Tysons Punch Out) are right in the begining. If you press X before the intro movies play then you skip the check. Otherwise you wind up with FADE on your memory card and eventually it gets worse.



Tyler!

[patch god]

is this/has this ever been used with a ps1/2 game before? it sounds stupid. you can do the same thing with libcrypt eg. spyro 3, lose eggs, can't travel to other worlds etc.

[TylerDurden]

Yes! Thanks for the reminder patch god. That was one of the earliest reports of this sort of phenominon.



Tyler!

[ihaveanosebleed]

They do this with PS2 Games!? As notorious as PS2 lasers are for reading problems, “lets give Sony’s cheap, error prone drives even more work to do !”. Ha ha !

What a way to PREMOTE a game, give it a bunch of glitches and make it so annoying it can’t be played. Most people will probably just think it’s sloppy code like Spyro ETD and be completely turned off from the game.

These corporate fools make me laugh, absolutely clueless!

[Stevey1976]

I read in other posts that FADE only affects PS2 games ripped to CD and not if you do it directly to DVD, now I've got my doubts about that, after all if you can copy it directly to DVD it kinda makes an arse of the FADE system doesn't it?

Can anyone tell me therefore, does FADE work on DVD Backups or just CD-R Backups?

[TylerDurden]

@Stevey1976

If I remember correctly it only affects dvd rips because of another check that looks for the creation dates of certain files (usually the movies). If the date is different than the original FADE begins. That is because when a pss or movie file is altered the creation date is renewed.



Tyler!