Bryan Parkoff wrote:
"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote in message 2_udnb4V0o8hK0PYnZ2dnUVZ_sOknZ2d@comcast.com">news:2_udnb4V0o8hK0PYnZ2dnUVZ_sOknZ2d@comcast.com...Albert D. Kallal wrote:don't forget that having a integer card with the switch turned up was you best friend.On a normal apple, when you hit the re-set button..a re-boot would occur.True, but there were ways. ;-) With an Apple ][ or ][+ with a 16K card, you could lift a pin and keep the card switched in instead of the ROM during a Reset, so you had full control. And even on the later II's, where a non-reboot Reset tromps merrily through RAM, you can Reset again *quickly* during the boot recalibrate and get control with most of memory intact.With a integer card, and the switch in the up position, while a game is running, you whack re-set, and presto...you are in thedebugger.Reset into the monitor is certainly a good thing. ;-)I copied many a game that way..... Cyber strike comes to mind.So, those integer cards when placed into a apple II+ are really worth their weight in gold. While I did have a 16k memory card in to which the integer basic can be loaded...the integer card is FAR more useful, as it also doubles a game re-set interrupt system!!!Ah, but you lift that one pin, and the 16K card works too!And, if you really good at cracking disks...you read in the boot sector...and follow the boot sequence step by step..and allow thegame to beloaded into memory...and then grab it from there......Yes, boot tracing is always my last resort...but it is most helpful for single-load programs.Michael,What about EDD card? You need to capture bit by bit stream from the disk.
The EDD 4+ card is made of "unobtanium". ;-) As a result, it doesn't make a good recipe for someone else to deprotect a disk.
Convert a group of 8 bits into a byte. Convert each byte into assembly language. Analyze assembly code and capture important assembly code into DOS or ProDOS file. Modify and add new assembly code to support read/write files from DOS or ProDOS.
That is what deprotection is about, and it's much faster to approach it "top down", and finding a way that doesn't require any more detail than necessary. When none of your hunches work, and you can't break into a single-load program to capture it, then boot code tracing is the fallback, and is accessible to everyone with an Apple II.
Like Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego. You don't need any tools like Copy II Plus and try to copy bit by bit stream. I don't like the way how cracked Where in the World is Carmen Sandiedgo because of scrambled Hi-Res screen while file is loaded into memory. I understand that all routines are loaded into $800 through $9FFF then routine starts somewhere to draw the screen on $2000.
It's possible that the game will fit in a single file while preserving the hi-res splash screen, but it is also likely that the deprotector found it necessary to use the hi-res RAM area in order to complete the loading of the game. A more complex strategy for capturing the game, like multiple files, might allow the preservation of the original splash screen. -michael NadaNet networking for Apple II computers! Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ "The wastebasket is our most important design tool--and it's seriously underused."