How does EcoQuest 1 allow to enter any code and not just the copy protected one?

[doomlazer]

BTW, is that manual online? Most archives have just the general technical manual.

It's scanned on this wiki, even has your 9721 code in the description.

I would not want Scumm to 'fix' that bug, at least not for my CD patch files. That would negate the entire point of restoring the keypad.

I personally don't think Scumm should be bypassing any copy protection by default. The protection is part of the experience. Just memorize all of the PQ2 mugshots like I did.

[lwc]

No saves

Really? Is this version also unique in not letting save in the first room?

no skipping the gull cleaning intro

Do other versions let you skip it? If so, how?

and most of all neither run accepted 1337.

What do you mean?

It's scanned on this wiki, even has your 9721 code in the description.

You're right, it's the upside down part, thanks! Now fixed in the wiki.

I would not want Scumm to 'fix' that bug, at least not for my CD patch files. That would negate the entire point of restoring the keypad.

I personally don't think Scumm should be bypassing any copy protection by default. The protection is part of the experience. Just memorize all of the PQ2 mugshots like I did.

I don't think Eco1 should be the only game out there to not follow ScummVM's verdict. Everyone can always use the command line parameter. Besides, you can permanently use it this game's section in ScummVM's INI file so the game will always use it.
But rest assured it's very unlikely they'll dare to bypass your patches as they refuse to grant any special support for non official files.

[Charles]

The problem is I can't submit this since officially (unless someone finds Floppy v1.1) the game was shipped without a working copy protection.

Have you confirmed the bug with an actual floppy version of EcoQuest v1.000, not just one downloaded from the internet?

[Kawa]

Really? Is this version also unique in not letting save in the first room?

No saves as in it does let me save in the first room, but I didn't use any in case --copy-protection was implemented in such a way it'd cause interference with the save.

Do other versions let you skip it? If so, how?

I meant I sat through the entire sequence. As far as I know, no versions let you skip more than the title sequence.

What do you mean?

I mean I used 1337 as an obviously wrong access code to test if it'd accept it or not. Neither run did. EcoQuest 1.1, the Discovery Edition, has a perfectly functional door lock no matter what you pass to ScummVM on the command line.

[lwc]

The problem is I can't submit this since officially (unless someone finds Floppy v1.1) the game was shipped without a working copy protection.

Have you confirmed the bug with an actual floppy version of EcoQuest v1.000, not just one downloaded from the internet?

You're right, random codes are blocked if you install through floppy installation files. This can be confirmed thanks to the Internet Archive, which hosts eco-quest (that's how this specific archive is spelled, as I probably shouldn't link directly) with 4 ZIP files, one for each disk. It can be installed via DOSBox by mounting a general folder, then copying the files from the first disk there, installing until the next disk is requested, then emptying the folder and copying there the next disk, clicking enter inside the installation to process the next disk and so on. Once done, in both DOSBox and ScummVM (even without the command line parameter) the copy protection can't be bypassed.

This confirms the very reason I've opened this topic in the first place - it means the Internet Floppy v1.000 was indeed hacked. Not by SCR files though, so I suspect by modifying the RESOURCE files directly. I wonder if the CD version was hacked too, just in a different way.

[Kawa]

so I suspect by modifying the RESOURCE files directly. I wonder if the CD version was hacked too, just in a different way.

Even with the volume-level compression?

[doomlazer]

Looks like it. The resources are identical between the cracked and original v1.000 except for one byte at offset 0x5da2 in RESOURCE.000. The crack changes 0xC0 to 0x00.

edit: Also did a quick search of the ScummVM repo and didn't see anywhere that SCI is using the --copy_protection flag, maybe the SCI engine isn't disabling copy protection for any game?

I don't think the EQ1CD version was cracked. I believe they either didn't have time to fix the keypad crash or they didn't want to pay to include the EcoNews feelie with the CD.

[Kawa]

... Woah.

[Collector]

Note that the he Internet Archive has a lot of games that are of warez origins. They also have a number of releases that are 'preinstalled' using my installers. CD-ROM images there are more likely to be unadulterated images. That does not invalidate it as a source for versions you are looking for, just beware that it may not be untampered.

The CD version was not cracked because it had no CP.

[lskovlun]

That's impressive. And I can confirm that reverting 00 -> C0 does make the protection functional again.

[Charles]

It I recall correctly, it was pretty common practice at Sierra to remove (most) copy protection schemes from CD versions of their games. Al Lowe even remarked on it in an old interview somewhere that they did it because (at the time) the CD versions were just so big they wouldn?t be casually copied/distributed like the floppy versions were.

And hacked versions were also pretty common for a bunch of games which have unfortunately become kinda the defacto versions still found on abandonware sites today. Gold Rush and Colonel?s Bequest are two notable ones that come to mind.

[lwc]

Looks like it. The resources are identical between the cracked and original v1.000 except for one byte at offset 0x5da2 in RESOURCE.000. The crack changes 0xC0 to 0x00.

I knew the smart people here will crack (no pun intended) the case! Any way to know what was changed in source code?

I don't think the EQ1CD version was cracked. I believe they either didn't have time to fix the keypad crash

Which crash is that? The only crash that was discussed here was related to brand new fan patches.

[lskovlun]

I knew the smart people here will crack (no pun intended) the case! Any way to know what was changed in source code?

Nothing. This is a change to not only compiled code, but a compressed data stream of it. How someone came up with this patch, we'll never know, but ingenious it is.

[Kawa]

Still better than what they pulled with Colonel's Bequest, diking out the interpreter's randomizer...

*un-cracks his Eco*

[doomlazer]

Which crash is that? The only crash that was discussed here was related to brand new fan patches.

Yeah, I meant the CD version crash when clicking outside the keypad. I assumed that might have been why they removed it, but as Charles said, it was just as likely removed because CDs were considered impractical to copy at the time.