--------The Chief of Detectives-------- A 4am crack 2015-09-02 --------------------------------------- Name: The Chief of Detectives: Drawing Conclusions Genre: educational Year: 1985 Authors: Methods & Solutions Publisher: Mindplay Media: single-sided 5.25-inch floppy OS: DOS 3.3 Previous cracks: none Identical cracks: Drug Alert! (crack no. 414) ~ 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 START1 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#254 163 FREE T 157 Q1 A 002 START1 T 002 START2 B 014 DCPIC B 025 RCG B 002 WALKW B 005 LTR18 B 005 LSTUFF B 002 COVERS B 009 TU B 009 TD B 009 TITL B 015 INITC B 023 NAMES B 040 MAIN B 002 UNPKR B 002 SOUND B 010 INSTR ]RUN START1 ...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. --------------------------------------- A 4am crack No. 435 ------------------EOF------------------