Re: Definitive Guide to Apple Secret Keys

[dastar@crl.com (Sam Ismail)]

RUBYWAND (rubywand@aol.com) wrote:
: re. list of cheats, etc.

:      Thanks for posting the "Definitive Guide ...".

Sure thing.

:      Recently, I've been playing 'Uukrul and have come up with some stuff
: to add to the Definitive Guide'.

:      Since Uukrul is not copy protected, "crack" must refer to 'getting
: into the game'-- e.g. to read messages, modify characters,
: add/modify/renew key items, etc.. The game is fairly well defended,
: especially since it will not run on II+ 'cracking machines'.

Well, true it did not use copy protection.  But it did require a code-wheel
to play, and that is what I attacked when I "cracked" the game.  Since
it was an Apple Pascal application, it presented quite a challenge.  How
are you supposed to disassemble a game written in Pascal and compiled
into P-code?  Simple.  Write a P-code disassembler!  I was lucky enough
to have a complete set of Apple Pascal manuals that had a listing of all
P-code opcodes and parameters.  So I wrote a disassembler in basic that
listed out the P-code in its mnemonic form, thereby making it easier
to follow the flow of the logic.  I then located the text on the disk
that had the phrase asking for the code-wheel combination.  I searched
around this section and managed to decode the P-code that checked that
the proper code was entered.  I disabled the check by effectively
putting a JUMP instruction right before the check to a point right after
the check, bypassing the check scheme altogether.  That was a fun one.

The rest of your analysis of the actual game data is admirable.  The
game is actually very fun, combining elements of Ultima and Wizardry.

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