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5 of 6 files the lone victor

1986 March 27

  • Text / Guides and how-tos
  • The Lone Victor, writer credits
[+] Configuration Copy text
SPOTLIGHT - Unprotect by The Lone Victor The following instructions show you how to bypass the SoftGuard copy protection scheme used on SPOTLIGHT. First, using your valid, original SPOTLIGHT diskette, install it on a fixed disk. Softguard hides three files in your root directory: CML0200.HCL, VDF0200.VDW, and SL.EXE. It also copies SL.COM into your chosen dBase directory. SL.EXE is the real SPOTLIGHT program, encrypted. When you run SL, the program SL.COM loads CML0200.HCL high in memory and runs it. CML decrypts itself and reads VDF0200.VDW. The VDF file contains some code and data from the fixed disk FAT at the time of installation. By comparing the information in the VDF file with the current FAT, CML can tell if the CML, VDF, and SL.EXE files are in the same place on the disk where they were installed. If they have moved, say from a backup & restore, then SPOTLIGHT will not run. Second, un-hide the three files in the root directory. You can do this with the programs ALTER.COM or FM.COM found on any BBS. Make copies of the three files, and of SL.COM, into some other directory. Hide the three root files again using ALTER or FM. Following the instructions, UNINSTALL SPOTLIGHT. You can now put away your original diskette. We are done with it. Next we will make some patches to CML0200.HCL to allow us to trace through the code in DEBUG. These patches will keep it from killing our interrupt vectors. debug cml0200.hcl e 3F9 <CR> 2A.4A <CR> ; change the 2A to 4A e 49D <CR> F6.16 <CR> ; if any of these numbers don't show up e 506 <CR> E9.09 <CR> ; it's not working. e A79 <CR> 00.20 <CR> ; e AE9 <CR> 00.20 <CR> ; e 73C 97 FA FA F4 F1 7E <CR> ; this is an encrypted call to 0:300 w ; write out the new CML file q ; quit debug Now copy your four saved files back into the root directory and hide the CML0200.HCL, VDF0200.VDW, and SL.EXE files using ALTER or FM. We can now run SL.COM using DEBUG, trace just up to the point where it has decrypted SL.EXE, then write that file out. debug sl.com r <CR> ; write down the value of DS for use below. a 0:300 <CR> ; we must assemble some code here pop ax cs: mov [320],ax ; save return address pop ax cs: mov [322],ax push es ; set up stack the way we need it mov ax,20 mov es,ax mov ax,0 cs: jmp far ptr [320] ; jump to our return address <CR> g 406 ; now we can trace CML t g 177 ; this stuff just traces past some g 1E9 ; encryption routines. t g 54E ; wait while reading VDF & FAT g=559 569 g=571 857 ; SL.EXE has been decrypted rBX <CR> ; length SL.EXE = 6700 bytes :0 ; set BX to 1 rCX <CR> :6700 ; set CX to AC00. nSL ; name of file to write to w XXXX:100 ; where XXXX is the value of DS that ; you wrote down at the begining. q ; quit debug Last, unhide and delete the three root files CML0200.HCL, VDF0200.VDW, and SL.EXE. Delete SL.COM and rename SL to SL.EXE. This is the real SPOTLIGHT program without any SoftGuard code or encryption. It requires only that the SPOTLIGHT utilities be in a sub-directory named SPOTLGHT. The Lone Victor - 4/15/85 ************************* SPOTLIGHT Ver. 1.1 ************* See SOFTGARD.TXT
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