-----------Mountain Climbing-----------
A 4am crack                  2015-12-27
---------------------------------------

Name: Mountain Climbing: Cause & Effect
  Blue Level
Genre: educational
Year: 1982
Publisher: Methods & Solutions
Media: single-sided 5.25-inch floppy
OS: DOS 3.3
Previous cracks: none

                   ~

               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 data epilogue
  ("BF AA EB" instead of "DE AA EB")

Disk Fixer
  ["O" -> "Input/Output Control"]
    set Data Epilogue to "BF AA EB"
  all tracks readable
  T00 -> looks like a DOS 3.3 RWTS
  T11 -> DOS 3.3 disk catalog
  T01,S09 -> startup program is "START"

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
SAVING IOB

]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

[press "I" to load a new IOB module]
  --> load "IOB" 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
168 FREE

 B 050 B12.OBJ
 B 022 BBEGIN.OBJ
*B 010 PU.PK
 T 009 CE1
 T 163 CE2
 B 003 CRC
 T 002 DM
*B 027 TX
*B 010 PD.PK
 T 002 M2
 B 006 SHAPE
 B 002 SONC
 T 002 START
 B 026 TRUNTIME
*B 002 UNP
*B 005 IX

]RUN HELLO
...works...

[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


[S6,D1=demuffin'd copy]
[S5,D1=my work disk]

]PR#5
]BRUN PDP

T00,S03,$35 change BF to DE
T00,S02,$9E change BF to DE

Quod erat liberandum.

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A 4am crack                     No. 540
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