No-cd Progs

[acdspit00]

Where can I find information on creating my own NO-CD executibles for my games. Maybe a refferral to a tutorial or some input on whats involved... also wouldnt mind having someone who is familiar with this topic if he/she could step me through one. If you wouldnt mind teaching me a thing or two about this topic could you please PM me thank you.

[Donkey Punch]

Bypassing games protection is usually prhibited by your end user license agreement(s) and if you do these things, you risk going to jail. With that said, you really meant how they work and how to protect yourself from people like you, right?

http://www.yates2k.net/rce/civetta.htm

I do not know if SoftICE is even still around. You will have to that yourself. Another thing. Learn about Assembly and protections used in executables.

Other than that, good luck.

[;TT]

I don't know why this guy is about to get banned.. if you own a game, having a no-CD patch is perfectly fine and for all we know he may be a serious gamer and wants no-CD patches for ease of LANs and etc...

As for the actual coding of them, I have no clue how to do it but I would guess it would be something along the line of getting a hex/bin editor, opening up the exe and taking out the CD check part, groups like Deviance and Razor are well known for it and if you want any no-CD fixes, visit http://www.gamecopyworld.com

You could also check the ReadMe's of some of the no-CD fixes online, I'm sure there is a contact e-mail or something and you _could_ e-mail them and ask for some help.

[HTRegz]

Originally posted here by ;TT
I don't know why this guy is about to get banned.. if you own a game, having a no-CD patch is perfectly fine and for all we know he may be a serious gamer and wants no-CD patches for ease of LANs and etc...

Hey Hey,

Requiring the CD to play a game is a form of piracy protection... Bypassing piracy protection usually voids the EULA even if you own the game... so technically even if it is his game... He's most likely still violating the EULA and probably committing a crime depending on his location (bypassing copyrights is usually a crime in most places)... He's also asking to crack when you get to the purest form of the question and not even how to crack a system but how to crack a game... In essence he's selected the right forum if it was a legit question and could have worded it as a legit question... yet he didn't and once again he's asking how to do something that in most places would be a crime.... Had he asked how to protect his own games so that they'd require the CD that'd be a different story.

Peace,
HT

[;TT]

Originally posted here by HTRegz
Hey Hey,

Requiring the CD to play a game is a form of piracy protection... Bypassing piracy protection usually voids the EULA even if you own the game... so technically even if it is his game... He's most likely still violating the EULA and probably committing a crime depending on his location (bypassing copyrights is usually a crime in most places)... He's also asking to crack when you get to the purest form of the question and not even how to crack a system but how to crack a game... In essence he's selected the right forum if it was a legit question and could have worded it as a legit question... yet he didn't and once again he's asking how to do something that in most places would be a crime.... Had he asked how to protect his own games so that they'd require the CD that'd be a different story.

Peace,
HT

I'll challenge you on that, let's e-mail a few game companies like Rockstart North, Microsoft/Bungie, and Blizzard (random companies off the top of my head) and let's see what they say. I'm pretty sure that once you own the game, you can do whatever you please with it. I know creating backups of it is legal so let's e-mail them and find out.. =)

[muert0]

Email blizzard and ask them and they will tell you their TOS prohibit the use of thridparty software with their software.

[;TT]

It's not technically third party, it is their software missing a few lines of code to eliminate the call to check the CD.

[chsh]

In some cases game companies have had to let people use No CD cracks. There was an issue with SW: Knights of the Old Republic in the 1.02 patch with their CD protection schema that would render the game nonfunctioning on certain operating systems. If you doubt this, check the SW:KotOR forums on bioware.com, you'll see one of the bioware mods suggesting it as a course of action until the 1.03 patch was released.

The issue here has absolutely nothing to do with third party programs. It will fall under the "reverse engineering" sections, and possibly violate the DMCA, although I cannot recall whether or not a precedence has been set as to whether Fair Use overrules the DMCA.

[muert0]

By third party I was refering to the No-CD fix from a site. And some companies are cool about it. Blizzard is one that is not. Bioware on the other hand offers fixes to use the games they make on linux so I figure they probably wouldn't care to much.

[Donkey Punch]

I'll challenge you on that, let's e-mail a few game companies like Rockstart North, Microsoft/Bungie, and Blizzard (random companies off the top of my head) and let's see what they say. I'm pretty sure that once you own the game, you can do whatever you please with it. I know creating backups of it is legal so let's e-mail them and find out.. =)

No need to call. Look at the end user license agreement that came with the game you installed. In my experience, games have a great deal of anti-piracy protection, and are very difficult to copy. Not impossible, but more difficult. However, it goes beyond the scope of this thread.

When talking no-cd patches, you are really using a crack which is illegal and considered reverse engineering. If the game companies allowed you to do whatever you wanted with the game, then why bother with the protection scheme? Also, most user agreements do not allow for use on more than one machine unless you bought licenses to cover all the machines.

I will quote from the end user license agreement found on Blizzard's web site http://www.scindex.com/articles.php?id=40 :

[quote]B. The Program is licensed to you as a single product. Its
component parts may not be separated for use on more than one
computer.[quote]

(ii) exploit the Program or any of its parts for any
commercial purpose including, but not limited to, use at a
cyber café, computer gaming center or any other location-
based site. Blizzard may offer a separate Site License
Agreement to permit you to make the Program available for
commercial use; contact Blizzard for details;

So that negates your use on the LAN argument. And the no-cd crack falls under this as well. If you use a no-cd crack, you are allowing more than one instance of that program to be used on more than one computer and modifying the game...