hacking games with starforce

[Heaven871]

StarForce3 can not be cracked? Uhhh, I am scared, I don't want to put a list up here, but there are a lot of SF3 title already hacked.
I am just wondering why only the 1.0 game versions get hacked, what's the point in that??? There must be a stupid masterplan behind it.

[michse]

Welll SF3 isnt the real problem, the main problem is always the VM Pcode.
which means even if u dumped en encrypted exe there are still crypted functions that point somewhere but not into the place the data code is located.

If pcode is present can be easely detected by everyone

always there is a "protect.dll" - it has .sforce section but musten be named protect.dll - Version of this .dll is the starforce version and if the dll file is biggern then 4MB pcode is present.

Normaly per 1MB bigger then 4MB its 7 pcoded functions that got to be fixed after dumping and rebuilding the exe and their apis.

there are mainly 4 different versions of starforce

light (dll smaller 2mb)
normal (dll between 2 and 4mb)
hard (dll bigger then 4mb)
hardest (dll bigger then 4mb and a .dat file addionaly on CD - like seen in Dday demo and german retail)

hard and hardest i dont think you wont see a crack as no cracker takes a month or longer to fix the pcode which is a allbyhand job. no game is worth the time you need to crack that.

[Hexana]

Originally Posted by michse

there are mainly 4 different versions of starforce

light (dll smaller 2mb)
normal (dll between 2 and 4mb)
hard (dll bigger then 4mb)
hardest (dll bigger then 4mb and a .dat file addionaly on CD - like seen in Dday demo and german retail)

hard and hardest i dont think you wont see a crack as no cracker takes a month or longer to fix the pcode which is a allbyhand job. no game is worth the time you need to crack that.

The game "Black Mirror" has
Bmirror.dll with over 5 MB with starforce,
exe over 2 MB,
data.adb over 2 MB with starforce
and two small files with 59 KB also with starforce.

It was published in October or November last year and only a few days later the group immersion released a fully working crack.
So it seeems to be possible, doesn't it???
Unfortunately immersion seems to no longer exist :-(

[michse]

Black Mirror isnt that hard as not much pcoded functions.

And yes IMS did a nice job on it but it was also handmade.
I dont say it is impossible but twhen u get f.e. Obscure or D-Day which have 27 or 34 pcoded functions you dont want to invest the time. Black mirror had 5 pcodes, the german one 7 or so dunno. but thats alot less.

there are some freaks that can surely crack sf3 fastern then that but todays crackers have a rl

[Hexana]

@michse

You seem to be an expert in that kind of things. ;-)
So let me ask you:
If it's too time intensive for those harder protected games,
would it be possible or realistic to make a "global" starforce crack, I mean an application that modifies installed starforce drivers in the system or
an application that installs own drivers that go deeper in the system as the starforce drivers and knocks them out?

[michse]

Yes from my point of view it is possible to either emulate the starforce drivers or at least patch em that every copy with dpms included will run.

If your able to code a tool that hook every single pcode function ... no matter what they do or if they are protection relevant or not then your able todo a generic tool. In my eyes it is possible and there are some guys trying this already as i saw already outputs from such tools in develop but it is a real hard stuff. You need alot more skills then just debugging, dumping hooking i think and btw im not a real expert in it but i try to understand more and more until the russians find a new **** that gets you back to the basics again

[Hernia]

Only one game isn't cracked with Starforce3 protection the name is Move2play, it's a good eyetoy Playstation2 clone, check to www.move2play.com

not find any crack, in P2P only fake virus !!!

Can u help me ?

[Luciel]

only one game? ¬¬ theres a few starforce games that havent been cracked...

[Hernia]

Originally Posted by Luciel

only one game? ¬¬ theres a few starforce games that havent been cracked...

IRONIC MODE ON

Only one game

IRONIC MODE OFF

Ironic.... because my request of crack haven't been answered

[Luciel]

well taugh **** dude we dont make cracks here, so i dont see the point on u "requesting" u can just wait and hope it will come out, just like the DTM2 people still waiting. GCW only hosts cracks, they dont make em.

[michse]

DTM2 has over 50 pcoded functions ... i would say forget it

move2play isnt so cool that it get on higher preority

[Hernia]

Originally Posted by michse

move2play isnt so cool that it get on higher preority

Arghhh!!!!

Ok i waiting the end of the other priority....

[Morglum007]

Yeap, thats the point with SF.

Today most SF cracks are hand made cracks with some primitive tools for semi-dumping.

Anyway, to code a complete p-code catching tool, we must know entirely how SF works. Thats the way some people is researching (...)
Because there are two VM and both uses pcode functions, the only way to make it easy is by coding a VM logger into a patcher

By the way, there is a lot of people behind that.

Be patient.

Good luck!

[Hexana]

Additional question:

Besides starforce, here in Germany a lot of new games also use
VOB ProtectCD 5.x

Is this thing similar to starforce3 or what are the differences?
It seems that this one doesn't install permanent drivers in the windows system like starforce or am I wrong?

In most cases there are also no cracks available for those games (e.g. Port Royale)

[michse]

VOB is kinda simmilar to SF3 but SF3 is a way much better coded as it doesnt take so much resources as VOB does. But VOB isnt a so much found Protection at all. The last Games i know are Port Royal 2 + Arena Wars from Ascaron and Holiday World from Brigades.

The similar thing is they both used special drivers but VOB can always be copied with the same trick what for SF3 isnt possible. SF3 you either have a good burner or are skilled enough to patch the installed .sys file from SF3.

The difference is: VOB from Ascaron is filled with hidden checks (crc, size, date, etc.) or like in Arena Wars a non original exe cant play online in any way. Maybe u ask the main creator of SF3 as he did the most VOB cracks before
Its a lot of work too and their are to less people that try themself and improve on trying. Most people simple leech via p2p and dont care how much work crackers invested and that they might need help and new talents.
Its like in sports ... only if no new talent arrives the ppl start crying ... but i dont see alot of people here that exchange infos about their trys .... its always i nedd, how do i, and so on ...

to Morglum007:
---------------
i hope it gets done before the russian freak finds something new as
i hate games like D-Day German where you dont see an end during debugging

Good luck on it.

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btw. Tages is a lot harder as you hae to play the game to finish as it gets only decrypted level by level