Unprotecting Shanghai by Independent (IND)
106 of 863 files
independent
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This download is an executable MS-DOS program that will not run on a modern computer.
It needs a DOS emulator such as DOSBox-X, Staging;
or a virtualized MS-DOS or FreeDOS system.
Browsers may flag this download as unwanted or malicious. If unsure, scan it with VirusTotal. -
Last modified Jun 21, 2015 8:52:37 PM
MD5 checksum f3ad6642b3ed0f4fc85fa791149fcd2a
Mime type Zip archive data
Download SHANGHAI.zip
Size 2 kB
1987 November 21
- Zip - DOS / Guides and how-tos
4 items in the archive
- FIXSHANG.BAT
- SHANGHAI.UNP
- SHANGJR.SCR
- SHANGPC.SCR
UNPROTECTING SHANGHAI
Activision says that Shanghai is NOT to be copied at all. Try it and try
to run the copied program. You'll get a message about violating the copyright
law and your system will be locked up, requiring a cold boot to get it going
again. What this means is you've got no backup and no choice but to run your
ONE AND ONLY copy whenever you want to play the game. You can't protect it
with a write-protect tab unless you want to forget about saving games or score
records.
Examination of the original disk shows that Activision has included two
hidden system files -- IBMBIO.COM and IBMBIO.SYS -- which is to say that the
program's distributed on a system disk. However, Activision doesn't bother to
TELL you in its documentation that you've got a system disk with part of an
operating system on it and that you can transfer your own operating system to
it with SYS.COM. Nice people.
Some utilities will successfully copy the original disk and some won't.
The protection scheme apparently involves a strangely-formatted or written
cluster on track 27, side 0. DOS will report it as being a bad cluster but
something is nevertheless there which the program had better find on startup,
or else. The solution is to change the program files so they won't look for
whatever it is they're supposed to look for. Once they're changed, you can
copy them to your heart's content, including to your hard drive if you have
one and want to run the program from it, and never have to take a chance of
ruining the original disk.
There are two executable files that need to be changed to unprotect
Shanghai -- SHANGPC.EXE and SHANGJR.EXE. You can change both or just the one
you need to run Shanghai on your particular system (SHANGPC.EXE for the IBM PC
or SHANGJR.EXE for the IBM PCjr and the Tandy 1000). It can be done with a
utility such as Norton's that allows you to search for a string of data and
change it or it can be done with DEBUG.
UNPROTECTING SHANGPC.EXE
Copy the files from the Activision disk to a blank disk. (After all, the
whole objective of all this is to keep from screwing up the one and only copy,
so don't take a chance on screwing it up now.)
Using Norton's or a similar utility, search the copy for:
CB 1E 55 8B EC 9C
It should be found at program location 67B0. Change it to:
CB B8 6A DA CB 9C
Note that the first and last bytes don't get changed. They're included
just to be sure you find the right occurrence of the string that's to be
changed because it occurs more than once and this is the only occurrence that
you need to worry about.
After you've made and saved the changes, try running the program with the
changed file and put the original disk away in a safe place.
UNPROTECTING SHANGJR.EXE
Copy the files from the Activision disk to a blank disk. (After all, the
whole objective of all this is to keep from screwing up the one and only copy,
so don't take a chance on screwing it up now.)
Using Norton's or a similar utility, search the copy for:
13 80 3E 43 3D 00
It should be found at program location 67B8. Change it to:
13 B8 6A DA CB 00
Note that the first and last bytes don't get changed. They're included
just to be sure you find the right occurrence of the string that's to be
changed because it occurs more than once and this is the only occurrence that
you need to worry about.
After you've made and saved the changes, try running the program with the
changed file and put the original disk away in a safe place.