Pinball Illusions   by Hybrid (HYB)

_____ ________ / /________________________________________ /____ /__/ / \_______ \_______ \____________ \ -=-=-=-=-/ _ \____ / _ ___// _ ___/ \/ / /-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-/ / / / / / \=/ / \/ / / /-=-=-= /____/ /_______/ ________//____/ / _____/ ________/ / ___/(-Hsn!-)\/ / ___/\/ \/ \/ \/ Proudly Present ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Pinball Illusions (c) Digital Illusions/21st Century Entertainment ║ ║ ║ ╟─────────────┬────────────────────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────────╢ ║ Supplied by │ Mad Turnip │ Release Date │ Sep 13th 1995 ║ ║ Cracked by │ Cyber │ Protection │ CD check/Encryption║ ║ Packaged by │ Hoson │ Game Type │ Pinball game ║ ║ Stripped by │ Cyber │ Game Rating │ 85% ║ ╟─────────────┴────────────────────────┴─────────────────┴────────────────────╢ ║ Requirements: 386DX-40, 4MB RAM, DOS, VGA, 50MB free HD-space. ║ ╟─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ ║ ║ We are proud to bring you one of the most awaited games this year... ║ ║ Pinball Illusions! - Now featuring multiball + 4 new tables and running ║ ║ very smooth in 320x400 resolution. Programmed by Swedish people, and, ║ ║ ofcourse cracked and made convenient by Swedish people! You've been ║ ║ waiting for this one, haven't you? Just go ahead and download it then! ║ ║ ║ ║ What has been raped(!) out? ║ ║ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ║ ║ Nothing at all! It's *ALL* there! Except for the 15 audio tracks the ║ ║ original CD held. BUT, these audio tracks wasn't part of the game. ║ ║ They were probably put there just so you could listen to the cool music ║ ║ in your regular CD-player. The reason why it takes 50MB of your precious ║ ║ HD-space is that the villainous makers of the game have added approx. ║ ║ 40MB of PURE GARBAGE to the ILLUSION.EXE file, thus making the game ║ ║ appear larger than it actually is, or are they just preventing people ║ ║ from ripping it (?) - who the hell knows! Read more about it in Cyber's ║ ║ crack 'n strip notes below. ║ ║ ║ ║ Cyber's crack 'n strip notes: ║ ║ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ║ ║ I started cracking this game with the specific intention of reducing it to ║ ║ at least half the original size. I knew the files had to be stored inside ║ ║ the EXE data, the problem was just locating the 'directory'. Since the EXE ║ ║ stub loader wasn't crunched, I took a quick tour through the memory and ║ ║ came up empty. OK, no problem. They probably had it encrypted along with ║ ║ the rest of the data. Then I started decoding the encrypted part, but I ║ ║ still couldn't find any filenames. I did, however, find some strings that ║ ║ indicated DPMI support, which was very odd considering it wouldn't run ║ ║ under Windows. The DPMI support was uncovered when I went deeper into the ║ ║ code and discovered a FULL set of extenderroutines. They'd just removed the║ ║ check for it. Some sort of Soft-Ice protection maybe? Then I made the next ║ ║ startling discovery: the FILENAMES were also encrypted! Hmmm... Someone had║ ║ obviously gone through a lot of trouble to make sure that none would find ║ ║ out which files were used and which were not. My suspicion was confirmed ║ ║ when I found a set of files which seemed never to be used. These files took║ ║ up approx. 44 of the 49 megs. I figured out how the files were stored and ║ ║ then I simply filled them with zeroes. I just didn't have the energy to ║ ║ totally rearrange the directory table to remove them. ║ ║ ║ ║ The result? The game can now be stored on four disks.I personally think ║ ║ it's a display of poor attitude to make a file big just because it's on CD.║ ║ Also the game is quite full of bugs, at least when it comes to the sound. ║ ║ Try enjoying the music when you return to the selector after playing a ║ ║ table and you'll know what I mean. ║ ║ ║ ║ The game checked for a CD, but it didn't check for the correct one. I used ║ ║ one of my ZZ Top CD's before I had the check removed. ║ ║ ║ ║ Allright, enough flaming now. The Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions games ║ ║ are, all in all, rather enjoyable and I know of many who have become ║ ║ addicted - so why keep them from playing it just because it would take ║ ║ 34 disks? ║ ║ -Cyber ║ ║ Installation: ║ ║ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ║ ║ Just unzip all the files to a directory and run INSTALL.EXE. ║ ║ After installation, type PINBALL to configure/start the game! ║ ║ ║ ║ Hybrid welcomes: ║ ║ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ║ ║ Two new crazy traders, namely Fatalman (+972) and Slaine (+34). Welcome! ║ ║ ║ ║ Special greets to : Cyber, MindBender, Lord Soth, Madcap, Bluewater, ║ ║ Celestial Wizard, The Undertaker, Mad Turnip, TRC, ║ ║ Randall Flagg, Mr.Terry, Spearhead, MISHA, Widget and ║ ║ RingoStar/ex-Classic Amiga (I couldn't find your name ║ ║ anywhere in the credits part. If I would have seen it ║ ║ there, I wouldn't have release the game in the first ║ ║ place, but you already knew that, didn't you? :-) ║ ║ ║ ║ Group greets : Phoenix, Hoodlum, DOD, Complex (JMagic), Jeskola! ║ ║ ║ ║ Notes to TDUJam! : What's the point having 1.44 format if you always ║ ║ make disk #1 1.57 format? Small hint: when you ARJ, ║ ║ add -vr80K to your option string, and ARJ will auto- ║ ║ matically reserve 80KB on ARJ volume #1. It's really ║ ║ annoying when you can't store disk #1 and the TDUJAM ║ ║ installer/intro on the same disk, rite? OK cool! ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Hybrid Membership ║ ║ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ║ ║ BlueWater & Hoson ║ ║ ║ ║ Big Balls, Celestial Wizard, ChainSaw MasSacre, Crackpot, Cyber, Ice, ║ ║ MindBender, Mad Gunman, Mad Monkey, Mad Turnip, Mod, Mr.Terry, ║ ║ Randall Flagg, Silver V, The Renegade Chemist, The Undertaker, ║ ║ Zeus, Widget, and Wildcard. ║ ║ ║ ║ Bruce Lee, Chaft, Fatalman, Il Cattino, Mike & Dave, Practical Joker, ║ ║ Slain, The Druid, and Ustasa. ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Park Central World HQ 16 Nodes XXX-XXX-XXXX CP/Silver V║ ║ Robin's First Orgasm Canada HQ 5 Nodes 613-XXX-XXXX Big Balls ║ ║ Fatal Future Euro HQ 10 Nodes +46-XXX-XXXX MindBender ║ ║ ║ ║ Central Station Dutch HQ 2 Nodes +31-XXX-XXXX Widget ║ ║ East BBS Swedish HQ 3 Nodes +46-XXX-XXXX Mr.Terry ║ ║ The Graveyard UK HQ 4 Nodes +44-ITS-DOWN Undertaker ║ ║ Druid's Keep Australian HQ 8 Nodes +61-XXX-XXXX The Druid ║ ║ ║ ║ April Fools Member Board 3 Nodes 613-XXX-XXXX PJoker ║ ║ ║ ╟─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ ║ ║ Lxxxxxx Axxxxx FTP Site 100 Nodes XX.XXX.X.XXX XXX ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ You may contact Hybrid for any reasons (joining, fan/hate-mail, etc.) ║ ║ using one of the services listed beneath; ║ ║ ║ ║ Americans, e-mail us at: [email protected] ║ ║ Europeans, e-mail us at: [email protected] ║ ║ ║ ║ IRC: #hybrid ║ ║ ║ ║ WWW: http://www.coming.soon ║ ║ ║ ║ snail-mail: Hybrid ║ ║ Kyrkog. 40 ║ ║ EuroBox 179 ║ ║ S-411 15 GOTHENBURG ║ ║ Sweden ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Today's wise quote: "CD-Audio or Cassette? CD-ROM or Floppy? You choose!"