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Cracktros and intros

Cracktros are mini adverts created by cracking groups to announce their releases to the community. Initially, these programs were inserted and launched whenever the cracked software was in use.

We have over 600 cracktro and crack-intros for Windows individually itemised for download.
Another 4300 of these for MS-DOS are playable in your web browser!
Also, we hold a collection of 540 scene software installers that complimented the cracktros and 300 demoscene productions to juxapose.

NFO files and scene releases

NFO or information text files are generally in every scene release. Often, they are stylised with ASCII text art and arranged in a standard format. In the early days, these texts included detailed group information, but now they focus more on the cracked software.

We hold 11700 NFO and information texts.
Also, we hold a collection of 140 NFO viewers and editors.
The 4120 group release proofs are to verify the use of retail-ready physical media that's supplied for release.

ANSI art

Coloured ANSI text art was commonly used on BBSes for advertising and theming of their sites.

This collection includes over 3400 items used for marketing BBSes, FTP sites, group NFOs and brand logos.
Also, there is a collection of ANSI artpacks.

BBS ads

Bulletin Board Systems were a proto-Interweb for online communication and the exchange of files during the 1980s until the mid-1990s.

This is a collection of 15200 files.
With 7100 BBStros mostly for MS-DOS.
Another 2900 ANSI art pieces.
Many images and 2000 text files.
We also have a large collection of FTP ads plus lists of BBS sites and FTP sites are also available.

Magazines

Before the web and social media existed, groups used to exchange ideas and write articles on their communities in the form of digital magazines and newsletters.

The 1240 issues for 220 publications are also listed under their publication titles.

Art and file packs

File packs are packages of files that share a common theme that people have collected and curated for easy distribution.

Topics include ANSI art, ASCII art, NFOs+texts, Images, Windows and MS-DOS software.

Databases

Scene databases are often once private datasets of cracked software titles, release dates and associated groups. Due to their size, these sets are often incomplete and sometimes inaccurate.

You can also download a live copy of the Defacto2 database used by this website.

Text files and documents

The vast majority of scene releases involve text and documents.

We host 19330 text files.
Of which, 11700 NFO files are held.
Plus the 3280 texts created for the Commodore Amiga.
There are also more modern document formats such as PDFs, HTML websites.
As well as files covering the former Apple ][ and Atari ST scenes.

GitHub repositories

Occasionally, authors of software and applications include the source code of their works. They or we submit these sources to GitHub for easy access and viewability.

There are 170 programs using source code repos. Most of these legacy items are made in x86 Assembly or Pascal for MS-DOS or Windows32.

Mainstream news

Scans and retypes of computer magazines and newspaper articles that attempt to report on the Scene.

Busts and takedowns

Reports and alerts for software pirate arrests and police raids.

Community standards

Rules and agreed standards for the various divisions of the Scene.

Community drama

The very competitive scene often has led to online flamewars and occasionally offline conflicts.

Announcements

Public notices and community farewells.

For sale

Adverts for commercial goods and online services, that vary in legality.

Group jobs

Calls for new group memberships or employment and tools for possible applicants. Sometimes a trial crackme is made to test one's abilty.

Restricted

Internal tools and documents that were never intended to be made public, but give a great insight into the operations of scene groups.

Game hacks

A small collection of hacks, exploits, cheats and trainers for legacy PC games.

Guides and how-tos

Texts and guides on how to analyse, patch and crack legacy software.

Computer tools

Legacy software to analyse, decrypt, patch and crack other programs.

ANSI tools

Legacy software used to create and edit ANSI art files.

NFO tools

Legacy software designed to create and edit NFO text files.

Multimedia

  • Images include pixel art, photoshop creations and various photos.
  • Music tracks found in productions and songs inspired by the Scene.
  • Videos mostly of animated group logos.

Interviews

Discussions with scene members, be prepared for bad speling and typos. There are also countless other interviews contained within the numerous magazines.


Operating systems

DOS

Software written for the original x86 operating system and precursor to Microsoft Windows. This platform was popular in North America during the 1980s and for much of the world during the first half of the 1990s.

Windows

Windows became the inevitable replacement for MS-DOS on the x86 platform. Most Windows software released in the 1990s and would probably target Windows 95 and 98 while later releases would be for Windows XP or 7.

macOS

Is the software created for Apple's macOS and earlier OS-X line of operating systems.

Linux

Scene software created for the Linux desktop and server platforms. This software may fail to run on modern distributions

Scripts

Shell scripts and software created in interpreted programming languages such as PHP, Perl, TCL, Python and Ruby.

Java

Multi-platform applications written in the Java programming language.