File contents

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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 400 cracktro and crack-intros for Windows individually itemised for download, while another 1900 of these for MS-DOS are playable in your web browser! Also, we hold a collection of 320 scene software installers that complimented the cracktros.

NFO files and scene releases

NFO or information text files are generally in every scene release of which we hold 4100 items. 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. Also, we hold a collection of 140 NFO viewers and editors.

ANSI art

Coloured ANSI text art was commonly used on BBSes for advertising and theming of their sites. This collection includes over 2600 pieces used for marketing BBS, FTP, group NFO and logos.

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 collection of 8400 files include 4500 BBStros, 2300 ANSI art, many images and 1300 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. These 880 publications are also found under their magazine titles.

Filepacks

Filepacks are packages of files that share a common theme that people have collected and curated for easy distribution. Popular pack topics include ANSI art, NFOs, cracktros and BBS ads.

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.

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These milestones for the PC cracking scene are based on what we have collected. There were earlier and more notable communities on other microcomputers for which the PC scene often poorly mimicked.

First PC 1981 August 12

IBM PC 5150

Earliest distributed cracked game 1983

Galaxian broken by Koyote Kid

First PC clone 1983 March

Compaq Portable

Earliest UNProtect document 1983 May 12

Directions for Unprotecting SPOC by Randy Day SPOC.UNP

Earliest PC groups 1984

Against Software Protection (ASP) and Software Pirates Inc (SPi)

Earliest info text 1984 October 17 and NFO-like document 1988 July 30

Zorktools 1.0. by Software Pirates Inc and Romance of the Three Kingdoms by BSP

Earliest DOX 1986

Dam Buster Documentation by Apocalypse BBS DAMBUST1.DOC

Earliest PC loaders June 1986

Gremlins by Mr. Turbo and Ultima 3 by ESP Pirates and later Frogger II by SPI

Earliest PC demo 1987 June 22

3 Dimensional EGA Demonstration

Earliest standalone BBS ad 1988 April 4

Swashbucklers II BBS README.!!!

Earliest ANSI ad 1988 June

Paperboy by BSP SCREEN.ANS

Earliest ASCII art 1988 October 6

Fire Power by $print $PRINT.TXT

The earliest example of scene drama 1988 November 25

TNWC accusing PTL of stealing a release README.NOW

Earliest BBS ANSI loader March 1989

Rogues Gallery BBS

Earliest PC intro 1989 April

First intro by Sorcerers

Earliest PC cracktro 1989 April 29

Lombard RAC Rally by Future Brain Inc (FBi)

First use of the NFO file extension 1990 Jan 23

Knights of Legend by The Humble Guys KNIGHTS.NFO

Earliest PC cracktro with music 1990 December 2

M1 Tank Platoon by The Cat

Earliest BBS VGA loader 1991 March

XTC Systems BBS

Earliest contemporary cracktro 1991 April 12

Blues Brothers by The Dream Team, Tristar & Red Sector Inc. (TDT/TRSi)

Earliest elite BBStro 1991 October 21

Splatterhouse BBS

Earliest CD release 1994 November 17

Slob Zone by ROM 1911

Earliest CD-RiP 1995 June 4

Virtual Pool CD-Rip by Hybrid

Earliest ISO 1997 November 27

Lords of Magic by CiFE

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