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11-02-05 12:59 PM
1 user currently in Super Mario World hacking: labmaster | 3 guests
Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Super Mario World hacking - Like it or not, here comes a recovery tool for locked ROMs. | | Thread closed
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BMF98567
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Posted on 01-14-05 01:53 PM Link
Originally posted by Parasyte
With a little time, any one could have created a small assembly hack to hold a button and scroll around the entire level with no collisions, physics, etc. (Imagine the Sonic 2 "Debug Mode")
Actually, such a feature already exists in the ROM...if I recall correctly, it's just disabled with an unconditional branch.
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Posted on 01-14-05 05:34 PM Link
Originally posted by Parasyte
With a little time, any one could have created a small assembly hack to hold a button and scroll around the entire level with no collisions, physics, etc. (Imagine the Sonic 2 "Debug Mode") And wouldn't you know it? Your easter eggs would all be found.

Vystrix Nexoth put it best; "You can't stop them from cheating if they're so inclined."


There already is (kinda)..edit the memory location that decides wether or not a level is water or not and you can swim entire levels and find easter eggs if you really want to
PumpkinPie
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Posted on 01-14-05 08:00 PM Link
I don't like the idea of this program the way it is right now. None of my stuff is safe.

I would think different, however, if this program had a password protect; you unlock the hack, then you have to enter the password to finish the job. Only the owners of the hack would be able to unlock them.

It's not foolproof, but I think it is WAY better. What say you?
dan

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Posted on 01-14-05 08:21 PM Link
That would be practically impossible to implement. Plus, have you read the read me file for the program? I highly doubt that parasyte would implement that feature even if he could.
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Posted on 01-14-05 10:03 PM Link
Originally posted by CheesePie
I don't like the idea of this program the way it is right now. None of my stuff is safe.

I would think different, however, if this program had a password protect; you unlock the hack, then you have to enter the password to finish the job. Only the owners of the hack would be able to unlock them.

It's not foolproof, but I think it is WAY better. What say you?


Yes, but it pretty much beats the point of deprotecting the hack for everyone. If they really want to steal they'll find other ways.

EDIT:
Note I'm not contra RLM :p I was actually waiting for something like this to get released :o


(edited by Coby on 01-14-05 01:03 PM)
HyperLamer
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Posted on 01-14-05 10:03 PM Link
What's the point of even locking the hacks anymore then?

The problem with being able to unlock them is that there's no good use for it. Anyone with half a brain would keep an unlocked backup on a floppy, CD, or personal server. Sure, it's easy enough to steal things and cheat, and it's also easy enough to catch thieves, but that doesn't change the fact that they're stealing and cheating in the first place, and this only makes it easier.

I noticed this in the readme:

Personally, I don't believe in attempting to keep hackers from stealing from other hackers. (In fact, I intend to ENCOURAGE it one day with my Metroid (NES) hack. The hack will be so extensive that some people may wish to hack it into a version of their own. I will even supply editors and other tools to assist the interested hackers.)

If you're happy with people 'stealing' your hack, that's fine, but a lot of people aren't.
blackhole89

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Posted on 01-14-05 10:26 PM Link
A rather skilled rom hacker (you must know some assembly, though) can easily design his own ROM lockup algorithm. This is what I'll prolly do with the next demo of my hack (but that's still long to go...).
Anyway, good work. It's just like with nuclear energy... if you use it the right way, it's invaluable, but the devastation caused to the SMW hacking community will be immense... if I were a philosopher (which I definitively am not) I might say, "The SMW Hacking community isn't ready for this tool yet."
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Posted on 01-14-05 10:33 PM Link
I'm okay with this tool being released. It's the people who steal stuff from other's hacks that I have a problem with.
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Posted on 01-14-05 11:01 PM Link
I don't have much of a problem with it, besides the fact that I don't see any use for it, other than to rip others' work, and to satisfy some sort of 'moral crusade' (which is an impression I got after reading the Readme file).

I requested a locking feature in LM because it was too easy to just open a game in LM and ruin hours of work by seeing the solution, where the secrets are, etc. Talk of copyright and the rest of it is just getting anal IMO
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Posted on 01-14-05 11:26 PM Link
"Yes, but it pretty much beats the point of deprotecting the hack for everyone. If they really want to steal they'll find other ways."

I know I know, but it would stop a large percentage people. Not everyone knows everything there is to know. And, besides, if someone really goes out of their way like that, then they are a complete a-hole.

Now, just out of curiosity, how well does this program work, when unlocking hacks? Is everything the way it was before it was locked? Nothing changed around?
Parasyte

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Posted on 01-15-05 12:21 AM Link
There are bugs, certainly. One example is a bug dealing with the overworld. There's a rather large chance that the overworld will be corrupted after recovery. On the other hand, I believe recovery of the levels is completed. All levels should be exactly how they were before the hack was locked.

It seems to me that most people who "fear" ROM unlocking only do so because they have become acustomed to hiding something behind the minimal amount of protection that locking provides. If you take a look at people hacking Super Mario Bros. 3, for example, none of them make such a big deal out of "hiding sekrits omg" or "protecting my hack from the bad men trying to steal from it omg". That false sense of security has done it's damage, as anyone should be able to see.
bbitmaster

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Posted on 01-15-05 12:23 AM Link
Personally, I find this whole reaction a bit hypocritical. Think about what you are doing here.

You are stealing a rom which is a copyright work under law, and hacking it for your mere satisfaction, and this is OK? Yet, you must protect your hacks, and if anyone comes along to undo that it is not OK?

Originally posted by CheesePie
I don't like the idea of this program the way it is right now. None of my stuff is safe.



Well, how do you think nintendo feels about your work being a hack of their game?

This is the exact same reason Nintendo sends legal threats to ROM Sites. Because they feel rom sites threaten the safety of their work!

This fear of someone stealing your work has has lead to the DMCA. It has lead to the RIAA suing innocent people for sharing a few music files. And, perhaps worst of all, it has lead to closed source software.

Originally posted by Sendy
The ethics of hacking a game for an obsolete system and the ethics of hacking a hack of a hack are incompatible.



The ethics of both are in fact, very compatible. You folks claim that this program threatens the safety of your hack, while Nintendo claims that Video Game Emulators "represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers." Sound Familiar?

The truth behind it all, which everyone will just have to either accept now, or find out later (the hard way) is that no piece of data is safe from anyone sharing, reverse engineering, or doing whatever they wish to do with it once you give it to them. If you put some form of protection on it, it only invites others to break in. And they will. Lunar Magic itself is a form of breaking into a protected rom.

I'm not trying to side with Nintendo in any way, I believe they are wrong in trying to deny us access to these old games on our PC. But I also feel you guys are wrong for believing that your hacks must be protected or kept safe, when the the very definition of hacking is "breaking into."
Smallhacker

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Posted on 01-15-05 12:32 AM Link
Jeagtchtxabaxcxwohnognnnnjgafwt!!!!!!
Please tell me that this is a nightmare! Please! Wake me up! PLEASE!!!

Possible... to... unlock... hacks... *Cries*
Xkeeper 2.0

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Posted on 01-15-05 03:30 AM Link
This is actually a double-edged tool.

I'm glad because I can nulock my hack should something happen to it, and to steal GFX(j/k I rip my own).

The problem, is that there still are a few dishonest people who may try unlocking a hack like SMO then work off of that.
I'm actually agreeing with BOTH sides of the hack locking argument. If you don't want people working off of your hack or stealing your handdrawn GFX, you lock it. But... well, just read bbitmaster and Parasyte's posts. They've made the same points I can think of.
Alastor the Stylish
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Posted on 01-15-05 03:42 AM Link
Originally posted by bbitmaster
the very definition of hacking is "breaking into."
I have to correct this. Actually, the term "hack" comes from an insult to reporters who work nonstop on a report at the last second instead of doing it well - "hacking" out a report. It was later applied to people who on computers type in combinations of usernames and passwords until one works because they do this nonstop instead of doing something more useful, and it evolved from there... As is my understanding.

EDIT:


SmallhackerMIG: From the rlm readme:

P.S.
Originally posted by Kyouji Craw on Acmlm's Board:
"No one knows the exact routines done when locking a ROM except for Fu himself.
Anyone who claims to be able to restore a hack fully is lying."

Priceless.
Kyouji Craw: ... Does it actually say that?
SmallhackerMIG: yes

You BASTARD. I adamantly demand you remove that. I said that because at the time there was no reason for me to believe anything different. You just can't take a quote out of context like that.


(edited by Kyouji Craw on 01-14-05 06:45 PM)
(edited by Kyouji Craw on 01-14-05 06:46 PM)
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Posted on 01-15-05 03:51 AM Link
Most of us here are not hackers, but level designers and in some cases, graphic artists.
Parasyte

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Posted on 01-15-05 04:15 AM Link
That quote is not out of context at all. It reads exactly how you intended. But now that you can see that it's a fallacy presented as fact, you probably feel a bit embarassed. So I do not blame you for wanting it removed.

As for not having "anything to make you believe otherwise" I wish to share with you a post I made on this forum in May, 2004: http://board.acmlm.org/thread.php?id=2981&ppp=40&page=1#61010 (*cough* Check out the notice about keeping it secure until Lunar Magic's source had been released! Since that is never going to happen, and it's been 8 months since that post any way, it doesn't really matter.)
As you can see, I have been working on the program for quite some time. I didn't just wake up on New Years day to find the source code had written itself over night... if that's what you believe. It has been possible to unlock ROMs [using RLM] for nearly a year. Aside from RLM, I specifically remember a user named jonwil who made quite a few claims to being able to unlock ROMs. His posts are far more credible than that lame "Orynider" guy, or whatever name it is that he goes by.

Any how, the point is that it was possible at the time of your post. You stated it as if it were fact. Because of that, I figured some people might get a laugh or two out of it at your expense.
Alastor the Stylish
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Posted on 01-15-05 04:31 AM Link
Well you said that a long time ago, Parasyte, and I don't have the best memory. I recall Jonwil saying something along the lines of working on it, but I don't recall anything ever coming from it. I really didn't have any reason to believe it, and the events of the past few months of people claiming to be able to and having nothing come of it only reinforced the belief. Additionally, I don't like jokes at my expense and I don't believe anyone else likes jokes at their expense, either... Thus, I must say I would appreciate it being removed.


(edited by Kyouji Craw on 01-14-05 07:33 PM)
Aioria

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Posted on 01-15-05 04:37 AM Link
oh well, now the exgfx workshop is partially dead, since all the noobs will go and "OMG OMG I CAN UNLAWK HAX NOW, ILL STEAL SOME EXGFX!!!!!!!1111", and we'll see the same rips ever and ever.
But this is somewhat good, mainly coz the non-creative hackers who will use already used graphics will not 'shine' at the smw hacking world, and the ones who are creative enough to do something new will call the great part of the attention.
Honestly, i dont care if people steal my exgfx or not (i have dozens of exgfx sets that ive ripped through the year), but i think that, if someone use exgfx from locked hacks, this person should give the author the credits for the usage of exgfx.
Alastor the Stylish
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Posted on 01-15-05 04:40 AM Link
Aioria, stop spamming. As many people have stated, you don't need an unlocking tool to rip ExGFX. We saw the same rips over and over before this, there's no reason to believe this will make it worse.
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