Starforce 3 - The gravestone?

[Pyrae]

Nice work by Ultima, of course, but there have been working (though completely unpacked) deprotected executables of the latest Starforce 3.3 before, i.e. those done by "Starfuckers".
The inline approach by Ultima your post implied might be the way to go in the future, when 'real' unpacking simply becomes too much puzzle work. Nice to know that someone already went into that direction.

[peleon]

Hey!!! Amazing post, dyn!o!

I still cannot believe it myself. I tried a bit with SF3 but i got a bit tired and no much time to study it.

Lets see if we heard sometime about some tricks that team did to successfully crack the whole protection

Regards.

[dyn!o]

Pyrae: sorry, I didn't know about "Starfuckers" job. But what paid my attention was the way of this relase - the original game files stay untouched. I have loaded original Xpand Rally binaries and it still works with the relase because they cracked Starforce engine, not game. Anyway, they unpacked game files too... for what? I don't know. Maybe for fun, maybe they want to show something...

I also completely agree with your sentence: "he way to go in the future, when 'real' unpacking simply becomes too much puzzle work". It's wise indeed. Unpacking every SF protected software means a lot of work (unless someone develop a generic unpacker) so, it's wiser to find an generic idea like Starforce engine cracking. Then, one crack can work for many StarForce protected games. I even wonder if this one could work? Anyone can try?

Peleon: I coldn't believe too. I was testing the game on all the possible combinations. Only to find an hole in this relase. But the only things I found were more silly messages about Techland and Starforce inside the game.

[jonwil]

When will these highly paid copy-protection-coders realize that for all their expertise, they still cant beat the crackers?

Is there ANY copy protection that relies on you having an origonal disk that has yet to be broken? (i.e. such that you cant use the software with a copyied disk + a crack or whatever)

[dyn!o]

Jonwil: Well, probably never. Guess why? Because it's about money, my friend. Money change. Change many of us.

And if it comes to the second part of your question: no. Uncracked protection so far doesn't exist.

[jonwil]

The real question is whether a game with copy protection makes more total $ than the same game would without protection. (and therefore validating the argument about copy protection actually resulting in more sales)
Bearing in mind that all this fancy protection and anti-debugging stuff probobly costs the publishers a lot of money.

well even if a copy protection is expensive it will pay out...
most games which are protected by SF3 will be cracked in 2-6 months
and some of them will never be cracked.
the first 6-8 weeks after a game launch are important because in this
time the big money is done...

[Kameo]

Hat off to Ultima, respect, nothing more to say.

[niom]

Originally Posted by dyn!o

I have loaded original Xpand Rally binaries and it still works with the relase because they cracked Starforce engine, not game

the only way to make this possible is to crack the starforce device drivers.

if they did this, can you please send windows\system32\drivers\prodrv06.sys and windows\system32\drivers\prohlp02.sys as an attachment to this thread?

thxalot

[dyn!o]

Peleon: unfortunately we won't. Starforce protection, like all other CD protections, doesn't allow to use it on your own. You have to use server-like wizard and protect your files online. It's a good idea indeed.

Niom: I see you know the structure of Starforce . That's very good, but prodrv06.sys and prohlp02.sys don't count in this game because they stay untouched (in original form). If you know Starforce basis then you should know that it contains other very important file. Tell me which one? .

Regards.

hehe some dll come into my mind

if they have done it that way they really had to spend a lot of time
reversing it and patching it against all this paranoiac checks SF uses...

[niom]

Originally Posted by dyn!o

If you know Starforce basis then you should know that it contains other very important file

theres always a protect.dll which contains usermode protection stuff, but you said that you have used original binaries ?!

and you said

Originally Posted by dyn!o

it's wiser to find an generic idea like Starforce engine cracking. Then, one crack can work for many StarForce protected games.

thats why i thought the drivers were patched (because they are the only common sf3 component)

or do i miss something?

[dyn!o]

Nice shot.

Every Starforce protected soft contains protect.dll. Last months Starforce freaks are trying to mess a little by changing its name (for instance: protect.dll in Xpand Rally is named xpandrally.bin). I don't know why and I don't know what do they count for.

Niom: Let's see what I wrote:

"...I have loaded original Xpand Rally binaries and it still works..."
I tried to say that the original files (chromeengine2.dll and xpandrally.exe) don't have to be cracked because the modification of xpandrally.bin (protect.dll) was enough.

Drivers are the only common Starforce 3 components? For sure, but don't miss protect.dll.

Regards.