---------------Adjectives-------------- A 4am crack 2016-03-07 --------------------------------------- Name: Adjectives Version: 05.25.87 Genre: educational Year: 1984 (according to title screen) 1985 (according to disk catalog) 1987 (according to credits page) Publisher: Hartley Courseware Media: single-sided 5.25-inch disk OS: Diversi-DOS (T02,S02 has the string "C1983 DSR" backwards) Previous cracks: none Identical cracks: #636 Verb Usage #635 Verbs #629 Little Riddles #603 Reading for Meaning Level 1 #575 Milt's Math Drills: Addition and Subtraction #451 Antonyms/Synonyms 1 #420 Fact or Opinion #246 Kittens, Kids, and a Frog v01.11.85 ~ Chapter 0 In Which Various Automated Tools Fail In Interesting Ways COPYA immediate disk read error Locksmith Fast Disk Backup unable to read any track EDD 4 bit copy (no sync, no count) works Copy ][+ nibble editor modified address and data epilogues ("DA AA EB" instead of "DE AA EB") Disk Fixer ["O" -> "Input/Output Control"] set Address Epilogue to "DA AA EB" set Data Epilogue to "DA AA EB" all tracks readable T00 -> looks like a DOS 3.3 RWTS T11 -> DOS 3.3 disk catalog T01,S09 -> startup program is "HELLO" Why didn't COPYA work? modified epilogue bytes (every track) Why didn't Locksmith FDB work? modified epilogue bytes (every track) EDD worked. What does that tell us? no half or quarter tracks almost certainly no nibble check (just structural changes to epilogue) Next steps: 1. capture RWTS with AUTOTRACE 2. convert disk to standard format with Advanced Demuffin 3. patch RWTS to read standard format ~ Chapter 1 In Which We Attempt To Use The Original Disk As A Weapon Against Itself [S6,D1=original disk] [S6,D2=blank disk] [S5,D1=my work disk] ]PR#5 CAPTURING BOOT0 ...reboots slot 6... ...reboots slot 5... SAVING BOOT0 CAPTURING BOOT1 ...reboots slot 6... ...reboots slot 5... SAVING BOOT1 SAVING RWTS ]BRUN ADVANCED DEMUFFIN 1.5 ["5" to switch to slot 5] ["R" to load a new RWTS module] --> At $B8, load "RWTS" from drive 1 ["6" to switch to slot 6] ["C" to convert disk] --v-- ADVANCED DEMUFFIN 1.5 (C) 1983, 2014 ORIGINAL BY THE STACK UPDATES BY 4AM =======PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE======= TRK:................................... +.5: 0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF012 SC0:................................... SC1:................................... SC2:................................... SC3:................................... SC4:................................... SC5:................................... SC6:................................... SC7:................................... SC8:................................... SC9:................................... SCA:................................... SCB:................................... SCC:................................... SCD:................................... SCE:................................... SCF:................................... ======================================= 16SC $00,$00-$22,$0F BY1.0 S6,D1->S6,D2 --^-- ]PR#5 ... ]CATALOG,S6,D2 C1983 DSR^C#254 082 FREE *A 003 HELLO *A 014 CREDITS *A 044 SK3 *A 046 CREATE LESSON *A 029 STU PLAN *A 016 PWL *B 002 IR *B 004 HRBX *B 003 GARBAG *B 003 SMILES *B 009 LGCHRS *B 007 SMALL CHARS *T 061 STU.FILE *T 002 LESSONS.FILE *T 001 COPYRIGHT (C) 1985 *T 001 HARTLEY COURSEWARE INC. *T 001 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED T 021 NOUNS/ADJ T 015 HOW MANY T 018 WHAT KIND T 018 OWNERSHIP T 016 POSSESSIVE T 019 REVIEW POSS T 020 WHICH ONE T 021 PREP PHRASE T 020 REVIEW ]RUN HELLO ...works... The reason I always do this is to see whether there are any runtime checks for subtle differences in the original DOS. If the program runs after booting from a third-party disk, I can eliminate a whole range of possible secondary protections. [S6,D1=demuffin'd copy] ]PR#6 ...grinds... My copy can't read itself yet. This is not unusual. ~ Chapter 2 In Which We Remove All Traces Of Copy Protection Using An Automated Tool That I Wrote For Just Such An Occasion And Updated Very Recently To Make This Look Easy [S6,D1=demuffin'd copy] [S5,D1=my work disk] ]PR#5 ]BRUN PDP ; fix non-standard epilogue bytes T00,S03,$91 change DA to DE T00,S03,$35 change DA to DE T00,S02,$9E change DA to DE ; ignore disk volume numbers (original ; disk had a non-standard disk volume) T00,S08,$12 change B148 to A900 ]PR#6 ...works... Quod erat liberandum. ~ Usage Notes When you're asked to enter your name, you can type "MENU" to access the management console. The console allows you to rename lessons, add and remove students, and print student progress reports. There is no password. Student information is stored in the "STU.FILE" text file. I confirmed that there is no personally identifiable information lingering in this file. It is so large because it has placeholders for future student records. My original disk had an unreadable sector on T1D,S03, which is part of the student file. I recreated the proper sector data by hand because I love you. --------------------------------------- A 4am crack No. 637 ------------------EOF------------------