Hey cool TAS folks!
Is there some general way to trigger a game's anti-piracy measures so I can explore them a bit? I'm fascinated by all the insidious that things old games do when they detect a pirated copy.
I'm sure it's not as simple as I'm hoping, but even a hint of where to start would be much appreciated!
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2822
Location: Northern California
Here's a decent start. Anti-piracy stuff also gets a lot of online attention anyway, so Googling should help as well.
The bigger problem is actually triggering anti-piracy measures via emulation, if that's what you're going for. You might have to look around for Gameshark/Action Replay codes specifically made to trigger anti-piracy measures. That's probably your best bet. A bad ROM dump or an ancient emulator (or both!) might do it without the need of outside modification.
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Now infrequently posting on BlueskywarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Hey, awesome. Thanks!
I was hoping to trigger them myself, but I'm gonna have a lot of fun reading up on the list of games you linked. If that doesn't sate me I'll definitely google around for what you recommended. Cheers!
Antipiracy systems tend to involve checking some special condition. The first and most classical is code tampering. Then we have checks for hardware that shouldn't be there, like save ram. Then there is checks for easy to screw up details for copiers like obscure cd tracks and memory mirroring.
Here's a decent start. Anti-piracy stuff also gets a lot of online attention anyway, so Googling should help as well.
The bigger problem is actually triggering anti-piracy measures via emulation, if that's what you're going for. You might have to look around for Gameshark/Action Replay codes specifically made to trigger anti-piracy measures. That's probably your best bet. A bad ROM dump or an ancient emulator (or both!) might do it without the need of outside modification.
Panzer Dragoon Saga has an anti-piracy measure in that. If it detects a modifying cartridge. It will play through the opening cutscene, then reset the game and return to the splash screen. This was a cheap way to stop people playing imports, which are considerably cheaper than buying an English copy of the game. However, there is a way round it with an Action Replay code.
Another antipiracy trick is running timing loops. if they are faster or slower then they should me (slowROM check is one) then the game knows it's a copy.
Usually the antipiracy measure pops up a warning and halts the game. very few console games, such as earthbound, are more clever.
