Question about copy protection in dos games

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DSN
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Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by DSN »

Hi all, I have a question here just for curiosity.

1) What is copy protection? Why this is used in dos games like Monkey Island?

2) Where can I go to find codes/answers for games?
Zup
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by Zup »

1) It is what it says. Measures to prevent users from copying games instead of buying.

2) https://www.google.com (or https://duckduckgo.com if you're concerned about privacy).
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DSN
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by DSN »

One more question if possible: which website has codes/answers for games? I don't know that.
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leilei
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by leilei »

They aren't found on websites. They're found with your games, physically.
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DSN
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by DSN »

Another one question: can I ask someone for the codes of a specific game when I need them here? This is allowed in this forum?
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SarahWalker
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by SarahWalker »

No.
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te_lanus
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by te_lanus »

If your stuck try googling Neverlock or Locksmith it might help (no guarantees though)
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omarsis81
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by omarsis81 »

leilei wrote: Sat 25 Apr, 2020 8:33 am They aren't found on websites. They're found with your games, physically.
subtle answer :lol:
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te_lanus
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by te_lanus »

leilei wrote: Sat 25 Apr, 2020 8:33 am They aren't found on websites. They're found with your games, physically.
Not always :D. Over half of my games no longer have their manuals, as they got lost in the annuals of time. but then I have manuals for games I no longer have
Cheez
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by Cheez »

I'm missing several of my AITD2 cards, not that I expect to need all of them, but...
abk4523
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by abk4523 »

te_lanus wrote: Sat 25 Apr, 2020 1:01 pm
leilei wrote: Sat 25 Apr, 2020 8:33 am They aren't found on websites. They're found with your games, physically.
Not always :D. Over half of my games no longer have their manuals, as they got lost in the annuals of time. but then I have manuals for games I no longer have
Interesting story: I bought one of the Forgotten Realms releases on cd. There were 12 games which came with a book I still have. The book was apparently the manual for all the games. After playing one level of one game, the copy protection kicked in and asked me for a certain word on a certain page with a certain symbol of the manual. I looked through the chapter manual for the game but the symbol was not there, just the basics of the game. Google was kind enough to provide a copy of the original.
Zup
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by Zup »

abk4523 wrote: Sat 25 Apr, 2020 10:36 pmInteresting story: I bought one of the Forgotten Realms releases on cd. There were 12 games which came with a book I still have. The book was apparently the manual for all the games. After playing one level of one game, the copy protection kicked in and asked me for a certain word on a certain page with a certain symbol of the manual. I looked through the chapter manual for the game but the symbol was not there, just the basics of the game. Google was kind enough to provide a copy of the original.
Some time ago, Ubisoft published a pack containing Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia - Warrior Within. It was funny because Prince of Persia came in a floppy disk (remember that Warrior Within was launched in 2004). The two modern Prince of Persia had the usual disk protection, but the floppy one used the old manual protection.

They put a short manual for the three games, but the original manual for Prince of Persia was not included even on the DVDs. I sent an e-mail to Ubisoft... they never sent me a copy or link to that manual.
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SarahWalker
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by SarahWalker »

I picked up the LucasArts X3 compilation a while ago (Indy & Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max) that US Gold put out here in 1995. All three games still have manual-based protection, hence the pack comes with all three manuals compiled into one book. Except that they messed up the page numbers on the Indy manual, meaning you have to know to subtract three...

I did also have a copy of Pinball Illusions that kept referring to pages not in the manual.
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leilei
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Re: Question about copy protection in dos games

Post by leilei »

Most of the CD-ROM compilations I had often have the manuals in an on-disc Doxviewer form where you're either expected to print them out or read on a second computer and graphics were hyperlinked, and as for big books there's the Software Toolworks packs (most of the manual lookup games were just the DiD stuff). Given their packs have several games with the more complex genres, it certainly had to be thick. That said, i'm not a fan of Epic
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