compression and cracks for dummies.txt

1000 HOWTOs for various needs [WINDOWS]

                                        

     Compression and Cracks for Dummies.    By  Bad Boy!
                                            The WareZhouse BBS
                                            [phone]

**NOTE*****NOTE******NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE**
This document has been completly updated as of 05-27-95 to include  
Information on the instalation of CD-Rom rips. If you have read this
document reguarding Compression and Cracks and are have some problems
with some of the CD-Rom Rips proceed to the Authers notes #2 on page 16.
**NOTE*****NOTE******NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE**

                        January 23 1994

      The following is a comprised collection of the many problems and 
solutions when working with .Zip and .Arj file compression and cracks.

     First you should understand that most software comes on floppy disks 
stored as many files and subdirectories on each disk. Now days most of the
software is compressed on the floppies so the software manufactures don't have
to buy so many disks. There install programs usually uncompress the files as
there installed onto the hard disk. Therefore very few programs these days can
be file copied to a hard disk directory and expect the program to run. 
Therefore about the only reason we use programs like Pkzip and Arj is so 
that we can create one simple file per disk. This is the only way we can 
effectively work with these programs when Uploading and Downloading from the 
Bulletin boards.
     The following is a detailed explanation of the process that takes place
from the time a cracking group buys the originals and you type the command to
play the game on your hard drive. All examples given will be using a IBM or
compatible computer running MsDos Version 6.0.  If you don't have Dos 6.0
or higher installed in your computer then get with it.
 
     Before we start make sure you have MsDos version 6.0 or higher
installed and that you have the following files in your C:\Dos Directory.

Pkzip.exe   Version 2.04 or higher
Pkunzip.exe Version 2.04 or higher
Arj.exe     Version 2.41 or Higher

     Also note that your C:\dos directory must be in your Path statement in
your autoexec.bat file. This is done so that from any dos prompt you can type
Pkzip, Pkunzip or Arj and that program will load. You see for example If you
are in the C:\downloads Directory and you issue the Pkunzip command, Dos
looks first in the current directory which is C:\downloads for the Pkzip.exe 
file and does not find it . It then looks every where your Path statement says to
look and finds it in your C:\dos directory and loads it.

OK so the originals for the game SpaceX just arrived and the program consists
of four 1.44 kb floppy disks. A quick look at the disks shows that the disks
contain disk Labels as follows.

spacex1
spacex2
spacex3
spacex4

As a quick test diskcopy was used to copy the disks to four formatted floppies
and the disk labels were removed by putting each floppy disk in the B: drive
and then from the B: prompt typing Label and then return. Then instead of
giving the disk a new name we just hit return to delete the volume label. Then
we tried to install the game from the new floppies and the install program 
just kept saying please put disk 1 in drive B:  , OK this proved that the 
install program looks for the Volume Label so we will have to save the volume
label when we Pkzip these disks for Uploading.
 
After returning the volume labels to the copied disks we did a normal install
and then ran the program. After the normal boot up sequence we were asked
for some word from the documentation on Page 3 line 6 word 3 or some shit
like that. This proved to us that the protection was the basic word look up
version and a simple crack patch was written by one of our Hackers to 
intercept the doc check and allow us to use the program no matter what our 
answer is.
 
OK now that we have a good copy of the four floppies with the correct volume
labels and we have put the crack patch file spccrk.com and the Group.nfo file
on disk one we are now ready to .Zip the files and Upload them to our BBS.
 
Putting Disk #1 in the B: Drive, and we have the file Pkzip.exe in the Dos
directory or in any directory that is always in the Path command. from a dos
prompt we issue the following command.

c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-1.zip b:\*.*
 
OK the first command calls the Pkzip program.
The next commands are Switches for the Pkzip Command.

 -P is the Path switch. In other words if the files contained on the floppy 
disk are in subdirectories then by using the -P the directory structure will 
be saved in the .Zip file.


 -R is recurse subdirectories. This command switch always goes with the -P
switch so that the directory structure remains intact. Note. even if the 
Floppy disk contains no subdirectories it is a good habit to always use the 
-P -R switches.

 -$B  is the Volume label switch which simply says store the volume label from
the disk in drive B in the .Zip file.  Remember always use the -$(drive) 
switch so that the (drive) is the drive in which the Floppy you are zipping is 
in. In other words if you were to simply use the -$ switch with out a (drive)
the volume label saved to the .Zip file would be the Volume label of your 
C:\ hard drive.

OK so now you have a zip file Named Spacex-1.zip in the upload directory all
you need to do now is zip up the other 3 files and your done. These commands
will do the trick.

c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-2.zip b:\*.*
c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-3.zip b:\*.*
c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-4.zip b:\*.*

OK so now you have just Downloaded the following four zip files and cant wait
to install the damn thing and play the game. For now we will unzip to floppies
and install. Later I will explain how to install using a Subst drive.
 
First judging by the size of the zip files its pretty easy to tell we will 
need four 1.44 floppies formatted for this game. With the first disk in 
Drive B: issue the following command.  Dir B:  return.  Hopefully you will 
receive a File not found from the dos . If not delete the files on the disk 
or format it, whichever you prefer. Taking into account that the four zip 
files are in you Download directory change to that directory and with your 
floppy in drive B: Issue the following command from dos.
 
C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-1 b:
 
OK well the following explanation will be as follows. The pkunzip command
calls the program Pkunzip located in your c:\dos directory just the same as
when you called the Pkzip program earlier. The Switches are as follows.

 -D simply tells Pkunzip to put the files back onto the disk with the correct
directory structure and subdirectories as when it was created using the -r -p
switches.

 -$ tells Pkunzip to label the destination disk with the Volume label stored 
in the Zip file if it is . And in which in this instance it was stored.

OK now so after that floppy number 1 is done issue the following commands to
do the other 3 floppy disks and you will be ready to install.

C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-2 b:
C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-3 b:
C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-4 b:

Now remember after you Unzip all four disks you need to use some kind of
text file viewer to look for files on disk 1 for installation info or etc 
before you install and try to run the program.  In this example you would 
find the file on disk 1 called group.nfo and in that file would be the typical 
information as to when the program was cracked. Who cracked it and the most 
important thing is that you need to install the program as normal then copy 
the file strcrk.com into the game directory after installation and then switch
to that directory and run that crack program once before you try to play the 
game so that you will be able to Bypass the protection.
 
Will that's about it. for the first example . Most programs will be somewhat
similar to that but below are some more detailed explanations of most of the
things you can expect to run up against.

Answers to common asked questions.

Q. Why are some Zip files larger that a 1.44 Floppy disk.

A. Will most software companies will use the entire 1.44 floppy disk before
starting another and because most companies use there own compression
method when they store the files zipping the disk does not make it any 
smaller. Then with the crack patch and .Nfo files added they are larger than
the floppy. Then when the file is uploaded to some Elite BBS the BBS software
will automaticly append there BBS advertisement to the disks and over and 
over. Sometimes the zip files are 1.48 or so in size....  This is no problem 
and also the reason that when you are Unzipping a file to your floppy disk you
get a Disk full error... That is not usually a problem as the files are 
unzipped to a floppy in the same order as they were zipped so the Program
files are always restored and its usually the BBS advertisements that get left 
off. NOTE: Remember that the important crack files and .nfo files may also 
be left off and even though they are not required to install the game they 
will probably be required to defeat the protection. Just remember that after
you install to the floppies and you receive a disk full message then Unzip the
same file to your Hard drive in a temporary directory so that you can read the
files in case you need them. Then delete them after you are finished with 
them.

Q. What do I do if the Install program wont work to install the program.

A. I find that occasionally some people install the program and in doing so 
all the files from the program are copied into a directory on the hard drive.
Then that person does not have the original disks decides to Pkzip the 
installed game and upload it to a BBS. The problem is that when you unzip it 
and try to run the Install program it looks for what used to be on the 
original floppy disks and cant find the original file structure, It either 
aborts, locks up or whatever. No Problem thou. Usually you can just unzip all
the files to your hard drive and run the executable program required to run 
the program. Often there is a Setup.exe or similar program that will allow 
you to configure for your hardware etc..

Q. Sometimes the Install fails and wants you to keep putting in the correct 
   disk , Whats up.
 
A. Usually there are two reasons for this. (1) No or incorrect disk volume
labels. Sometimes they forget to save the volume labels using the -$ switch on
some of the disks. Check the volume labels of each disk by typing Label at the
Dos prompt. If one of the disks has a label like disk_1 then make sure you 
Label the other disks Disk_2 Disk_3 etc.... If you cant find any then 
sometimes the error message will give you a clue. Ie. If during the install 
process it says please insert the disk gameII-1 into the B: drive then try 
labeling the disks gameII-1  gameII-2  etc.... I even found a game once that 
would not install if any volume labels were present. The disks I used were 
old disks and even Though all the files were deleted before I unzipped to them
they still had there old volume labels and until I deleted them I could not
install the game. (2) the other reason is that you may have left out the -D
switch when you unzipped the files and the install program is looking for the
files on the floppy disk in a subdirectory that does not exist. If this is the
case just Pkunzip again using the -D switch.

Q. What do I do if there are CRC errors when Unzipping the files.

A. Will it depends on which files are affected but one things for sure . If
the file fails the CRC check then it no good. You can try to install the 
program but most cases if the install program tries to install a file that 
had CRC errors It will most likely fail. Sometimes only unimportant BBS 
advertisements and such are affected . If you download a file using the 
Zmodem protocol and it has CRC errors don't bother downloading it again it 
wasn't in the transfer. 

Q. Whats up with crack files and how do they work.

A. Will as you know the days of putting Errors on the floppies so that you
could not copy them is long gone as you see if they do that then the game
cannot be installed on the hard drive.If a game now days cant be installed on 
a hard drive then no one will buy it period. So the ever popular doc check
which requires you to look up something in the book is there to help thwart
software piracy. Most of the cracks are small TSR Memory resident programs
that will intercept the doc check answers and issue the correct answers to the
program so that it will continue.. The best cracks are Byte cracks where the
actual program is modified so that when the answer is checked and compared to
the correct one the program will branch to the correct code. Example. If the
correct answer is input the program may Branch if equal to go run game. and if
the incorrect answer is input the program may branch not equal to go to dos.
One byte changed in the program and the program Branches to run game no
matter what answer is given.  Even the most difficult programs can be cracked
even if the cracker has to code in all the correct answers in the crack file.

Q. Sometimes the programs install perfectly and they still don't run. Why.

A. Well there are many reasons that can happen. First off as I said before if
you don't have Msdos V6.0 then get it. Use memmaker to get your conventual
memory. All the hype about conventional memory is Bullshit. Sure you can get
632k with qemm7 or 386max version 7 but first off you will have problems