Thursday, April 03, 2008

Copy Protection, Amended

Someone sent this in anonymously in reference to the copy-protection post I made last week where I referenced the DS game Final Fantasy: Ring of Fates:
I just wanted to point out a small correction with the Final Fantasy: Ring of Fates 'protection' you talked about a few days ago.

DS games aren't really cracked like PC games, so it's a slightly different story. Release groups typically provide what's called a "clean rom" meaning the rom (or rip) is exactly the data on the card. Most modern flashcarts can read clean roms and patch them on the fly. I'm not clear on the exact process the flashcarts take, but this is essentially where the game is 'cracked.' Something with this process is apparently detectable which is where the FFCC:RoF (phew) so called "moogle of death" screen comes in. A couple things to note at this point. First, not sure what the difference is but some of the nicer carts weren't affected. (Pretty much every affected cart is now patched to work.) Second, DSFanboy was incorrect in their statement about activating 20 minutes in. It actually activates at a very specific point (opening a certain door for the first time) which is about 20 minutes of gameplay in. It is also activated at a couple other points throughout the game. The effect of this was that people though the rip was bad and that they actually had a demo. Lastly, for those with an affected cart, people had patches for the rom to remove the screen very quickly, probably within a day.

Doesn't really change the end result much, but it's a very different process then PC games.

Here's an equation that's always been true:
you people=smarter than me.

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