Re: Copying Ultima I (new version)

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Doug Kwan writes ...
> 
> I have a copy of the Ultima I and I want to back up the game. I used to
> be good at cracking in my teens but I am not sure if I still got all my
> skills. Neverthese, I believe I made a de-protected copy of them. The
> protection used seems to be simple. The address field headers on even
> tracks are "D5 AA 96" and those on the odd track are "D4 AA 96". The disk
> volume is 1 instead of the usual 254. There are also grabage in the epilogue
> of the address field. I hacked RWTS in DOS so that it accepts either D5 or D4
> in the first header byte and ignores the address field epilogue. The copy I
> made boots fine on my IIe and I can play the game and save it.
> 
> Does anyone know if there are other protection other than those I found?
> Is the "grabage" at the epilogue really garbage? I search the web and
> there is no document about deprotecting/copying Ultima I.
>

     Jim Hart's original deprotect in Computist #52 does not discuss protection
method. His deprotect eliminated DOS 3.3 error checking (CALL -151 and enter B942:
18) and used COPYA to produce a deprotected copy.

     In Computist #69, Paul Dillon mentions that his version of the Ultima I
re-release includes address header and epilogue changes. His modified deprotect
adds a couple more DOS mods:


Boot DOS 3.3 and CALL -151

Make these changes ...

B954: 29 00  (to ignore 1st Address Header byte)
B988: 18 60  (ignore Address Epilogue bytes)
B942: 18     (ignore DOS read error)

Do a 3D0G (i.e. 'go to/execute code at $3D0') to exit the monitor.

Run COPYA and copy the disk.

Boot your ProDOS file-copy program-- like Copy II+ Version 7.x.

Copy the file PRODOS from your Copy II+ disk to the Ultima I copy.
 


> Yes, I could save the touble by getting an disk image from asimov but I hate
> the crack screen when I own the real thing. :D

     For a major adventure, some crack screens do mess up the mood.



Rubywand