Identify Copy Protection, Helpful Hints, Posting Rules

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Copy Protection List Discuss, Identify Copy Protection, Helpful Hints, Posting Rules at Copy Protection forum; Over time we have had many individual posts and threads about specific game and application copy protection information. Many of the questions are repeated or the answer is difficult to find so why not put it all in one spot? No one has has access to all the games that

Posted: 09-10-2003

FutureProof (Retired Senior Admin): Posts: 5,372

Over time we have had many individual posts and threads about specific game and application copy protection information. Many of the questions are repeated or the answer is difficult to find so why not put it all in one spot? No one has has access to all the games that are being released (maybe logicwatch

), so we need you to tell us what the copy protection is, if it’s protected at all. While we all rely on sites such as Portmac’s site much of the information intially comes from forums like this one. Having a forum dedicated to copy protected titles will provide us with the springboard to achieving a working backup with the software of our choice if our hardware is limited in some way.

Backup software discussion will still place in the Recording Software forums CloneCD, BetaBlocker and twinpeak, Blindwrite, Alcohol 120%, Nero, GameJack/MovieJack/DCS, Other software (DiscJuggler, NTI, Roxio, burnatonce, Daemon Tools, IsoBuster, InstantCopy, UltraISO, BurnDrive, CDMate, FireBurner, DiscDump, HotBurn, WinOnCD, CDRWin, CD Mage …) and Transcoding.

To find out the version of a copy protection, please download one or more of the following tools. It’s possible that different languages or regions will have different copy protections, For example, the AS/Europe Jedi Academy is SafeDisc 2.90.040 while the US/UK version is SecuROM 4.84.84.0020 Thread here.

For recent games you will need to install the game first and then scan the main executable or just the game directory depending on the scanner used.

A-Ray Scanner by R!co can detect Tages, SecuROM v-5.x and SafeDisc up to v-3.15.x. Alcoholer v-4 is also available from the same site, as it the Blindwrite 5 Tweaker.

ClonyXXL
ClonyXXL scans on CDs (and in case you activate that option, also in the directory where a game is installed to check whether it is SecuROM protected or not.

Safedisc Analyser by dec0de12
This scanner will ask for the location of an .ICD file if no SafeDisc v-2 copy protection is found. If there's no .ICD file, then there's no SafeDisc v-1 protection. SafeDisc v-2 no longer uses the .ICD file as part of the protection.

SafeDisc/SecuROM Version Detector by [yAtEs]. A nifty tool, it checks for the exact version of SafeDisc or SecuROM, but by default only lets you display .exe or .dll files. To display all file types, you'll have to type * in the filename area and press Enter.

SecuromID v-2 by CirKutz
SecuromID lets you choose a file to check for the SecuROM version.

YaPS v-1r10 by demon2001 is short for Yet another Protection Scanner and is able to detect SecuROM, SecuROM *new*, SafeDisc, SafeDisc 2, CD-Cops, CodeLok/CopyLok, LaserLock, DiscGuard, Bitpool, ProtectCD, Oversized & Dummy files protected CDs (like ClonyXXL in most cases).

Protection ID by CDKiLLER is a very small utility which can identify which CD Protection is being used on certain game executables (EXE, DLL or DAT files). It currently detects: Armadillo, CD Lock, Laserlock, Safecast, SafeDisc, SecuROM, Slovak Protector, Starforce, VOB Protect CD, CD-Checks: Scans for Strings like "Please insert the original CD-ROM" and detects possible CD-Checks (GetVolumeInformationA + GetDriveTypeA). And it detects the following compressed files: ASPack, Petite and UPX.

Tagès. Check for the \Data\Shared\Wave.aif file (81920 bytes).

More tools are listed and available from here (CD Media World).

The version number of SecuROM can be found after the AddD string in the protected executable using a HEX Editor or Viewer.

In some cases, the tools might display "no copy protection" although the game may be or actually is protected. Two examples are:

Aquanox 2: Revelation

It is not the "Aquanox 2 Revelation.exe" that is protected but the "AN2.dat" in the same directory. You might have to look for .dat or similar files to find the copy protection! (This doesn’t work with ClonyXXL).

No One Lives Forever v1.2

Since this version, it is not the "NOLF2.exe" anymore that's protected but the "Lithtech.exe". With a patch they can even change the file that is protected!

If the game and protection is not listed or is incomplete on portmac's site then, if you'd like to contribute, please scan your games and submit the following information for each game:

Full Game Title: Original, Expansion or re-release
Version: necessary if official patches are released - for example Neverwinter Nights v-1.21
Language: English - US/UK/AS/Asia or European - German/French/Italian/Spanish/Russian etc
Copy Protection (like SecuROM v4.xx.xx.xxxx or SafeDisc v2.xx.xxx or Protect-CD VOB x)
Number of discs and which disc is protected
Protected File (if not the main game.exe)

* with ClonyXXL you cannot specify the file you want to scan so it's useless if (like Aquanox 2) the game's protection is not applied to an .exe file but to another file type.

Don’t forget to include the full title of the game or application in the Thread Heading – thanks!

CloneCD users get twinpeak here

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Last edited by kalas; 28-02-2007 at 02:32. Reason: links updated

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Today (MyCE Staff): Posts: 15,596

Posted: 26-07-2004

Womble (Administrator & Reviewer): Posts: 4,748

If anyone is having trouble using any of the programs some guides have been created to help you.

The guides can be found here.

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Last edited by Womble; 20-04-2006 at 20:42.

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Posted: 21-08-2007

kalas (Moderator and CD Freaks Protection Detective): Posts: 2,441

Except Portmac's site www.portmac.com (offline) which FutureProof already mentioned you should also check out copybase's copy protection list which has over 3000+ entries. Although it's in german you can easily find the game or software you're looking for via the search function which is called Suchbegriff in german or the index http://copybase.org/datenbank/.

Last edited by kalas; 3 Weeks Ago at 01:21. Reason: update

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