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Help with Stickybears Disk: Tigs monitor commands (partial list Krakowicz: Basics of Kracking ROMs, PROMs & F8s (part 1) Single load games & locations Menu Program: ° aSaG65 Seaan Notes for The Legend of Blacksilver Code Quest: Practice in Problem Solving Cotton’s First Files. Crosscountry USA = x Early Games - Music for Children. European Nations And Locations Explorer Metros: A Metric Advent Fay: That Math Woman Fay’s Word Rally .... French - Basic Vocabulary on Computer French Grammar I-VII French Word Games Fun House Maze: Strategies in Problem Solving .. Gamma Force... Garfield, Eat Your Words Ikari Warriors Il (Victory Road). Incredible Laboratory: Ban Satu WH SouRulaGuuaadsubsy Life Coping Skills Series Building Relationships Communication Skills.. Forming Positive Behavior . Increasing Self Esteem MECC 3.5" Disks (1990) Designer Prints (1989) Designer Puzzles. Estimation: Quick Solve I Estimation: Quick Solve Five-Star Forecast, Fossil Hunters . Mercury (1989) Murphy's Mine Probability Lab Spelling Puzzles Sun and Seasons. Time Navigator Leaps Back Memory Building Blocks SSGSSBGSRGSSGREGQUIY COS DE Bee I = Z 8 E oS & f 000 , © '@) I We geeg bier = O | 1 ssgbeeifisi ii: oO co! WWe| sis fF aozsee 28% Ph oo! Elepr PH 28) & Sqg >| as I 20.8 F gE E8Ee gaa & pmio "U I 2 Tr 4 a as g r e iH a y Z 2 m= ° < Cc g H Canada & Mexico $7 US. $3.75 g S305 Bg & 19 & 2 Ee pee eee — iz EB a eeee gee on ra) @ Ss! BEE Table of Contents ee! I a ae reas & & me os Ve / © Editorial Notes emnnsnseen 21 Notes on Les Secrets de Gertrude 6 | a Peds gE = nm = I 22 Printing Maps for Under Fire 8 ro) 3a i Fog wn oO =. 22 Put Carmen (Time) on a3.5 0 I = fe ig & 2 < dp) re) | 22 Put Carmen (USA) on 3.5 disk 0 : = Po & c for i Non Subseries 22 thers: 2 3 ¥ =| ‘of Year Book Prince of Persi 7 l ge 8 1 KDEX Conebucrt 3 Rete Mis ZG s ee eS ee oo oe =J unClassifieds 23 me = _oeeses eee Most Wanted 23 s e Bugs: | i a Hi BUG in Super 6.0 Fastoopy .... Answers: Bill Jetzer 1 Terrapin Logo Language... ‘The Factory: Strategies in Problem Solving ... The Kings Rule: Mathematics & Discovery ‘The Muppet Word Book ‘The Pond: Strategies in Problem Solving ‘The Usurper: Mines of Qyntart... ‘The Whatsit Corporation: Survival Math Skills Tic Tae Show ARTS) Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom IBM Softkeys: 1DIR.UNP Indianapolis 500 “The Simulation’ Microstation v3.0D Ultima V Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego ( *) COMPUTIST Charles R. Haight Editor Karen Fitzpatrick Circulation Jeff Hurlburt Reviews Dave Goforth BBS COMPUTIST is published by SoftKey Publishing. Address all inquiries to: COMPUTIST 33821 East Orville Road Eatonville, WA 98328 (206) 832-3055 * COMPUTIST does NOT purchase editorial material. The entire editorial content consists of information submitted to COMPUTIST for publication in the shared interests of all COMPUTISTs. + Unsolicited material (manuscripts, letters to the editor, softkeys, A.P.T.s, playing tips, questions, etc.) are assumed to be submitted as letters-to-the-RDEX-editor for publication with all and exclusive rights belonging to COMPUTIST. + Entire contents copyright 1990 by SoftKey Publishing. Allrights reserved. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference (without express written permission from the publisher) is prohibited. +The SoftKey Publishing assumesno liability or responsibility for the products advertised in this newsletter. Although we are usually pretty much in agreement, any opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of COMPUTIST magazine or SoftKey Publishing. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Rates (for 8 issues): US. $24 Canada/Mexico .. $34 USS. 1st Class....$34 Other Foreign ....$54 + Subscriptions are sold by number of issues and not by month or year. An 8 issue subscription means that you will recieve 8 issues before you need to renew. It's when you will receive each issue that we're a little erratic about. + Domestic Dealer rates: Call (206) 832-3055 for more information. + Change Of Address: Let the U.S. Postal Service know that you are moving. Tell them that you want your mail forwarded. If your issue does not come to you in an envelope then you have a regular subscription and you musttell the USPS to forward your third class mail. Notify us as soon as you know your new address. When we receive your notice of change of address, we will send you a acknowledgement card. If you do not receive the acknowledgement card after 2 weeks, send another notice or call us direct. Issues missed due tonon-receiptof change of address may be acquired at the regular back issue rate. We are not responsible for missing issues 90 days after mailing date. If you do not receive an issue at the usual time each month, please call or write. Apple® is « trademark of Apple Computers. IBM@ is the IBM A tademari, y, Readers Data EXchange New COMPUTIST readers using Apple IIs are advised to read this page carefully to avoid frustration when attempting to follow a softkey or entering the programs printed in this issue. What is a softkey, anyway? Softkey is a term which we coined to describe aprocedure thatremoves, or atleast circumvents, any copy-protection on a particular disk. Once a softkey procedure has been performed, the re- sulting backup copy can usually be copied by the normal copy programs (for example: COPYA, on the DOS 3.3 System Master disk). Commands and control keys Commands which a reader is required to perform are set apart by being in boldface and on a separate line. The return key must be pressed. at the end of every such command unless other- wise specified. Control characters are preceeded by “ctrI". An example of both is: 6criP Type 6. Next, place one finger on the ctrl key and then press P. Don’t forget to press the return. key. Other special combination keypresses include ctrl reset and open-apple ctrl reset. In the for- mer, press and hold down the ctrl key then press the reset key. In the latter, press and hold down. both ctrl and open-apple then press reset . Software recommendations The Starter Kit contains most of the programs that you need to “Get started”, In addition, we recommend that you acquire the following: + Applesoft program editor such as “Global Program Line Editor (GPLE)”. «Assembler such as “Merlin/Big Mac”. *Bit-copy program such as “Copy II Plus”, “Locksmith” or “Essential Data Duplicator”. *Word-processor (such as AppleWorks). *“COPYA”, “FID” and “MUFFIN” from the DOS 3.3 System Master disk. Super IOB and Controllers This powerful deprotection utility (in the COMPUTIST Starter Kit) and its various Con- trollers are used in many softkeys. (It is also on each Super IOB Collection disk.) Reset into the Monitor Softkeys occasionally require the user to stop the execution of a copy-protected program and directly enter the Apple's system monitor. Check the following list to see what hardware you will need to obtain this ability. Laser 128: Your ROMincludes a forced jump to the monitor. Press ctrl return reset. Apple II+, //e, compatibles: 1) Place an Inte- ger BASIC ROM card in one of the Apple slots. 2)Use anon-maskable interrupt (NMI) card such as Replay or Wildcard. Apple II+, compatibles: 1) Install an F8 ROM with a modified reset-vector on the computer's motherboard as detailed in the “Modified ROM’s” article (COMPUTIST #6 or Book Of Softkeys III ) or the “Dual ROM’s” article COMPUTIST #19). Apple //e, //c: Install a modified CD ROM on the computer's motherboard that changes the open-apple ctrl reset vector to point to the moni- tor. (This will void an Apple lic warranty since you must open the case to install it.) Apple //gs: If you have the 2.x ROM, there is a hidden Classic Desk Accessory (CDA) that allows you to enter the monitor. In order to install the new CDA, you should enter the monitor (CALL -151) before running any protected pro- grams and press # return . This will tum on two hidden CDAs, Memory Peeker and Visit Moni- tor. Thereafter press openiapple ctrl esc to go to the Desk Accessories menu. Select Visit Monitor and there you are. Use ctrl ¥ to exit. Recommended literature Apple II Reference Manual (or Ile, IIc, etc.) *DOS 3.3 & ProDOS manual *Beneath Apple DOS & Beneath Apple Pro- DOS, by Don Worth and Pieter Lechner, from Quality Software Typing Applesoft programs BASIC programs are printed in a format that is designed to minimize errors for readers who key in these programs. If you type: 10HOME:REMCLEAR SCREEN The LIST will look like: 10 HOME : REM CLEAR SCREEN Applesoft inserts spaces into a program list- ing before and after every command word or mathematical operator. These spaces don’t pose a problem except when they are inside of quotes or after a DATA command. There are two types. of spaces: those that have to be keyed and those that don’t. Spaces that must be typed appear in COMPUTIST as special characters (0). All other spaces are there for easier reading. NOTE: Ifyou want your checksums to match, only type spaces within quotes or after DATA statements if they are shown as (0) charactors. SAVE the program at periodic intervals using the name given in the article. All characters after a REM are not checked by the checksum program so typing them is optional. Typing Hexdumps Machine language programs are printed in COMPUTIST as hexdumps, sometimes also as source code. Hexdumps are the shortest and easiest format to type in, You must first enter the monitor: CALL -151 Key in the hexdump exactly as it appears in the magazine, ignoring the four-digit checksum ($ and four digits) at the end of each line. When finished, retum to BASIC with: 3D0G BSAVE the program with the filename, ad- dress and length parameters given in the article. Typing Source Code The source code is printed to help explain a program's operation. To enter it, you need an “Assembler”. Most of the source code in older issues is in S-C Assembler format. If you use a different assembler, you will have to translate portions of the source code into something your assembler will understand. Computing checksums Checksums are 4-digit hexadecimal numbers which tell if you typed a program correctly and help you locate any errors. There are two types of checksums: one created by the CHECKBIN pro- gram (for machine language programs) and the other created by the CHECKSOFT program (for BASIC programs). Both are on the “Starter Kit”. If your checksums do not match the published checksums then the line where the first checksum differs is incorrect. CHECKSOFT instructions: Install Checksoft (BRUN CHECKSOFT) then LOAD your pro- gram. Press & to get the checksums. Correct the program line where the checksums first differ. CHECKBIN instructions: Enter the monitor (CALL -151), install Checkbin at some outof the way place (BRUN CHECKBIN, A$6000), and then LOAD your program. Get the checksums by typing the Starting address, a period and the Ending address of the file followed by actrl Y . SSSS.EEEE ctrl Y Correct the lines where the checksums differ. Writing to the RDEX editor RDEX (are-decks) stands for: Reader's Data EXchange. We print what you write. When you send in articles, softkeys, APTs, etc., you are submitting them for free publication in this magazine. RDEX does not purchase submissions nor do we verify data submitted by readers. Ifyou discover any errors, please let us know so that we may inform our other readers. Remember that your letters or parts of them. may be used in RDEX even ifnot addressed to the RDEX editor. Correspondence that gets pub- lished may be edited for clarity, grammar and space requirements. Because of the great number of letters we receive and the ephemeral and unpredictable appearance of our volunteer staff, any response to your queries will appear only in RDEX, so it would be more appropriate for you to present technical questions to the readers and ask for their responses which will then be placed in the Apple-RDEX. How to get a free library disk ‘Whenever possible, send everything on Ap- ple format (5.25" - DOS/ProDOS or 3.5” - Pro- DOS) or IBM format (3.5") disks. Other formats are acceptable but there may be some delay as we look for someone to translate it for us. (If you use a 5.25" disk, when we print your letter,we will return your disk with the current library disk copied onto it.) Use whatever text editor you like, but tell us which one. Put a label on the disk with your name (or pseudonym) and address (if you ‘want to receive mail). Don’t reformat any pro- grams or include them in the text of your letter. Send Applesoft programs as normal Applesoft files and machine language programs as normal binary files. We have programs to convert them to the proper format for printing. If you are sending source code files, and you are not using the S-C Assembler, send them as normal text files. When to include a printed letter Don’t include hardcopy (printout) unless: a. You are writing about a bug or other printing error. b. You are writing to ask for help. c. You are answering another readers help re- quest. d. You are writing about your subscription or sending an order for back issues or software. Bugs, requests for help and answers to re- quests for help are bumped to the head of the line and go in the very next issue. Alll other letters are printed in the order that we receive them. Writing to get help When writing to request help, be sure to include ALL relevent information. The more information you include, the easier it is to find a solution. There’s an old saying that goes “A properly framed question includes 90% of the answer". How to get mail If you are interested in receiving mail from other readers, be sure that we have a current address. If you use a pen name and want to receive mail, we need to have your address. Our readers privacy is important, so we will not print your address unless you specifically say too. How to write to RDEX authors When writing to one of the RDEX authors. Write your letter and seal it in an envelope. Put your return address, the authors name (as it appears in RDEX) and the correct postage onthe envelope. Put this envelope into another and send it to RDEX. We will put the correct address on your letter and mail it for you. Check to the right of the authors name to see if the author is writing from a foreign country and include the proper postage. Help Line These readers have volunteered their time to help you. Please call only within the given time frames (corrected for your time zone). No collect calls. Jack Nissel (Disk Protection, 7-10PM EST) (215) 365-8160 The BBS (Bulletin Board System) Dave Goforth is the sysop for the Computist BBS. The number is: (206) 581-9292. If you already have a User ID# and password, sign-on using the User ID#, If you are a new user, it may take a day or so to validate your new ID# and password. la copy: rightful. * \ You have a LEGAL RIGHT to an unlocked backup copy of your commercial software. Our editorial policy is that we do NOT condone software piracy, but we do believe that users are entitled to backup commercial disks they have purchased. In addition to the security of a backup disk, the removal of copy-protection gives the user the option of modifying programs to meet his or her needs. Furthermore, the copyright laws guarantee your right to such a DEPROTECTED backup .»‘Itis not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: 1) thatsuch anew copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or 2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be Any exact copies prepared in accordance with the provisions of this section may be leased, sold, or otherwise transferred, along with the copy from which such copies were prepared, only as part of the lease, sale, or other transfer of all rights in the program. Adaptations so prepared may be transferred only with the authorization of the copyright owner.” United States Code title 17, §117 ~ Readers Data Exchange COMPUTIST #77 Canada & Mexico $7 U.S. $3.75 [77 |COMPUTIST Table of Contents 21 22 22 22 Editorial Notes .........« Apple II Supercharger .. Charge It! Hardware? IRS? .. 22 Non-Subscriber? 22 The End of Year Book.. 22 USPS and mail forwarding .. 21 RDEX Contributors 23 23 .23 unClassifieds.........+. Most Wanted Softkeys Bugs: BUG in Super 6.0 Fastcopy .......cssssesseseeseenees 4 Answers: Bill Jetzer Bob Igo... Carl D. Purdy .. Dave Grenda Duane E. Spencer . Gary M. Thorpe . George Bigelow . Groucho Tarz. J.P. Mulder... John Windle Kathi Quan... Keith Leonard R. Simon. Marc Batchelor .. Randy......... «ll Randy Flood wll Rex Creekmur 13 Rob Fiduccia... 4 Ron Stankiewicz.... “12 COMPUTIST #77 Stephen M. Caraco ... Steven T. Romanos! The Executioner. meena 4, 5, 11, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22 Features, Notes & such: An close look at the protection on Fay’s Word Rally .......ssscssesssessestsessesseessees 9 Copy II+ (9.0) and hard drives (with GS/OS) Deluxepaint II— A patch for the IIgs. Epson Label Printer .. Help with Stickybears Disks IIgs monitor commands (partial list) .. Krakowicz: Basics of Kracking ROMs, PROMs & F8s (part 1) Single load games & locations (part 2) . Menu Program Note to Personal Newsletter Users Notes for The Legend of Blacksilver . Notes on Les Secrets de Gertrude Printing Maps for Under Fire ... Put Carmen (Time) on a 3.5" disk .. Put Carmen (USA) on a 3.5" disk .. Bitkeys: Prince of Persia The Usurper: Mines of Qyntarr War in the South Pacific .. Softkeys: Alphabet Circus ..... Animal Kingdom .. Apple Panic Challenge Math.........cccccssssssesessesenesseneeeeneneee 1 Champions of Krynn. .......... Chariots, Cougars, and Kings . Cloze Plus Program ...........+ Code Quest: Practice in Problem Solving . Cotton’s First Files ... Crosscountry USA Double Check Dungeon Master Early Games - Music for Children . European Nations And Locations Explorer Metros: A Metric Adventure .. Fay: That Math Woman Fay’s Word Rally French - Basic Vocabulary Builder on Computer .... French Grammar I-VI. 5 French Word Games .......sssecssssesesneetesneeteeneense 5 Fun House Maze: Strategies in Problem Solving Gamma Force ... Garfield, Eat Your Words Ikari Warriors II (Victory Road) Incredible Laboratory: Strategies in Problem Solving Kidwriter 1.0.0.0... Kittens, Kids, and a Frog . Life Coping Skills Series Building Relationships ... Communication Skills .. Forming Positive Behavior . Increasing Self Esteem MECC 3.5" Disks (1990). Designer Prints (1989) . Designer Puzzles Estimation: Quick Solve I Estimation: Quick Solve II . Readers Data Exchange Five-Star Forecast ........ccscsssssessesseseeseeseneeee 13 Fossil Hunters ... Mercury (1989). Murphy’s Minerals ... 13 Probability Lab . 13 Spelling Puzzles & Tests 13 Sun and Seasons ......... Time Navigator Leaps Back Memory Building Blocks Mighty Math......... Moptown Hotel v1.3 MuppetVille Number Quest: Binary Search Games... Puzzle Tanks .......s.00e+ QUIK cececeeeseseeeeee Scrambled Words.. Shiloh............. Slide Shop (GS) Star Rank Boxing I. Stickybears Math 1... Math 2.... Math Word Problem: Parts of Speech Reading Reading Comprehension . Spellgrabber ... Spelling Rules... Spelling Rules 3.5 Town Builder Typing... Volcabulary Development... Word Problems ............... Studymate (The grade booster).. Terrapin Logo Language The Factory: Strategies in Problem Solving The Kings Rule: Mathematics & Discovery . The Muppet Word Book......... The Pond: Strategies in Problem Solving The Usurper: Mines of Qyntarr . The Whatsit Corporation: Survival Math Skills Tic Tac Show... Typewriter ..... Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego (//e) Zork Quests scanners 11 APTs: Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh GS ........eee 10 Qix GS Warlock GS .. Wizardry V ... Playing Tips: Ancient Land of Y’s Dungeon Master Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom... IBM Softkeys: 1DIR.UNP Indianapolis 500 “The Simulation” Microstation v3.0D . Ultima V Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego .. Ed Lee IX Advanced Playing Technique for... Warlock GS Three Sixty Here is a revision to the Warlock APT in issue #73 by Don Westcott. I tried to use Don’s APT, but the bytes were not at the Tight locations on my version. So I whipped out the old trusty Copy II+ and scanned for bytes ED 23 01 8D as Don had on his APT. When the search didn’t find them, I thought, it’saProDOS 16 program, why not look for it with relocatable code. Sure enough, when I scanned for bytes ED 00 00 8D it showed up 3 times. Once I changed the bytes it worked! So here goes, make these edits (on a backup disk of course.) Bk Byte = Erom Ie $240 $1D1 ED00008D ADO0000AD $241 $068 + £D00008D AD0000AD $0c6 = ED00008D + AD0000AD Just goes to show, that you should send allinformation youcan on APTsorsoftkeys. Thanks again to Don for this APT. To Rob Fiduccia: On his question in issue 73 about searching memory with the monitor on the IIgs (best thing around to do APTs with). Here goes: \ bytes \< start addr . end addr P This will allow you to search an address range for a sequence of bytes. For example: to search for bytes 00 67 B1 ataddress range $0000 to $FFFF you would type (while in the monitor): \00 67 B1\<0000.FFFFP If the bytes are found, the address loca- tion of every occurrence will be displayed on the screen. So have pen and paper ready, they scroll by real fast. Here are some more useful monitor com- mands I have discovered. The list may not be complete if someone has more, please send them in for the rest of us to see, also is there is a reference manual or anything in using the monitor and where can I geta hold ofone? And what function does the Memory Peeker CDA serve? IIgs monitor commands (partial list): ctrlE Displays all registers and values in them. (Idon’tknow how tochange them) ctr1B Cold starts into BASIC (you lose any basic program in memory.) ctrlC Warmstarts into BASIC (youkeep any basic program in memory.) ctr!R Restores registers to startup values (OK,.. so I can reset them) ctrIT Sets screen to text page one (useful for program crashes) N Sets screen to normal mode I Sets screen to inverse mode ! Goes into the mini assembler = decimal value Decimal to Hex conver- sion (very useful) hex value = Hex to decimal conver- sion (bank/address) addrL Disassemble code starting at ad- dress bankladdress . bank/address range of memory esc8 Sets screen to 80 column mode, also works while in BASIC esc4 Sets screen to 40 column mode, also works while in BASIC Displays Playing Tip for... Ancient Land of Y’s ? Last but not least is a playing tip for Ancient Land of Y’s using the handy dandy Visit Monitor CDA. (I‘d rather use the mon- itor than editing the save disk as this will save time. I can edit and go right back into the game instead of having to reboot.) En- able your CDA for Visit Monitor. The character is located in memory locations 01/ 71E4 to 01/71F4? This is a breakdown of what I’ve found so far. 01/71E4 Char Hit Point (max $FF) 01/71E6 Char Hit Point minus damage 01/71E8-9 Experience points 01/71EE-F Money 01/71F2 Strength 4 Changing your experience points seems to be the best bet, since when you move up a level your hit points and strength are reset to what they should be plus a gain for level advancement. The maximum experience points is FF FF which is 65535 in decimal. This will give you 255 hit points and a level of 7. 1 haven’t found the location for weap- ons or armor, but increasing experience points and boosting money seems to work for me. @ After playing the game for a while I am now stuck in the mines (try to map Tealistic caverns on graph paper) and if anyone knows how to get through, your experiences would be greatly appreciated. Well, that’s it. Hope this helps someone. Keer on computing. ison NE BUG in Super 6.0 Fastcopy There are two errors in the program SU- PER 6.0 FASTCOPYA both on the disk and in the listing of issue #72 page 21. They are corrected here, 500 VI=9: FOR I=7 TO 12 530 IF CH$ = "N" AND I=12 THEN 580 Softkey for... Double Check tg Upon booting this disk you see the “]” meaning, hopefully, a near normal DOS. I tried to copy the disk with Locksmith Fast- copy and got all errors. This tells me to suspect everything. Looking atthe disk with anibble editor, (CopylI+, The Nibbler) you will find the normal bytes are changed from DE AA to AA AA on both the Address and Dataepilogs. Very easy to correct but which method should I use? Try any of these. The COPYA method The COPYA method may or may not produce errors on the duplicate. 1. Boot a DOS 3.3 system disk. 2. Tell DOS to ignore checksum and epilog errors and use COPY A to copy the disk. POKE 47426,24 i. RUN COPYA Using SUPER 6.0 FASTCOPY Select (L)ocksmith read bytes Alter Address bytes Change from DE Alter Data bytes Change from DE ePZzpzzz<zpzzz<-+r Enter LS Fastcopy Super IOB method Merge the following controller with SUPER IOB and run it. Controller 1000 REM DOUBLE CHECK.CON 1010 TK = 0:ST = O:LT = 35:CD = WR 1020 Ti = TK: GOSUB 490: RESTORE : GOSUB 170 1030 GOSUB 430: GOSUB 100:ST = ST + 1: IF ST < DOS THEN 1030 1040 IF BF THEN 1060 1050 ST = O:TK = TK + 2: LT THEN 1030 1060 GOSUB 230: GOSUB 490:TK T1:ST = 0 IF TK < 1070 GOSUB 430: GOSUB 100:ST = ST + 1: IF ST < DOS THEN 1070 1080 ST = 0:TK = TK + 1: IF BF = 0 AND TK < LT THEN 1070 1090 IF TK < LT THEN 1020 1100 HOME : PRINT "DONEOWITHOCOPY" : END 5000 DATA 170,170,170,170 Checksums 1040-$51E4 1050-$FDC1 1080-SBA6E 1090-$cD24 1020-$7FOA 1060-$4016 1100-$83FF 1030-$690B 1070-$4813 5000-$6139 The edits are not in this controller be- cause I didn’t think you would want to type 78 Data statements. Boot a sector editor and change all these locations. 1000-$356B 1010-$3266 Itk Sct Bye From Io $03 $06 $CB =. 313730 32 32 32 $06 313730 32 3232 $07 $02 $60 313730 32 32 32 $68 31.3730 32 32 32 $07 $03 $18 313730 32 32 32 $23 31.3730 32 32 32 $12 $08 $BD 313730 32 92 32 $c8 31 3730 32 32 32 $12 $0C $26 31 3730 32 32 32 $31 313730 32 32 32 $13 $0B $33 313730 32 32 32 $36 313730 32 32 32 $13 $0E $4A 31 3730 32 32 32 $55 31 3730 32 32 32 $0F =. 313730 32 32 32 $EA 31.3730 32 32 32 $18 $0B $C5 313730 32 3232 $D0 313730 32 32 32 $1B $01 $39 313730 32 3232 $44 31 3730 32 32 32 $4F 313730 32 32 32 $54 3t 3730 32 32 32 $1E $0C $D0 313730 32 32 32 $0B 313730 32 3232 $21 $0C $F2 31.3730 32.3232 $FO =. 31.3730 32 3232 After converting this disk to normal for- mat AND editing it, you may copy the files to a fast DOS that has the VERIFY com- mand intact. These programs change control from one another by BLOADing code into memory then changing the Applesoft start of program pointer to the new code, leaving all variables intact. I think it is a very nifty trick. It also made it VERY difficult to change the POKEs that mess up DOS when its looking for the original. ad Menu Program When I booted the disk for issue #72, I noticed a small seven sector menu program that does nothing but run a choice from the Catalog. I thought to myself what a waste of space, I have been using a three sector menu program for several years that does that! Wondering if someone else could use it, I decided to send it in. Then I thought to myself ‘this could be a lot better’, so I rewrote it and now it loads, locks, unlocks, deletes, and renames files also. It still only takes five sectors, plus it is easily modified. Line 100 - CATALOG the disk. Line 110 & 120-printthe lettersand brackets then set the string that prints at the bot- tom. Line 130 - print the string while waiting for a key press. Line 140 - set command, if not a number then 220. Lines 150-200 - reset command. Line 210 - get letter of program. Line 220 - check if letter is on the menu. Line230 - check if program is binary. Line 240 - check if text. Line 250 - read name of file and add to command string, if rename command then 270. Line 260 - print command then do it, END. Line 270 - get new name for file then 260. Line 280 - subroutine that checks the screen, Menu 100 CLEAR : SPEED= 255: NORMAL : HOME :D$ = CHR$ (4): PRINT DS "CATALOG" 110 T = 0:CH = 4: FOR CV = 0 TO 23: GOSUB 280: IF C > 175 AND C < 186 THEN POKE P - 1,219: POKE P,T + 193: POKE P + 1,221:T =T + 1:8 = CW 120 NEXT CV: VTAB 24:AS = "TYPEO LETTEROTOORUN, OOROLOAD=10LOCK=20 UNLOCK=30DELETE=40RENAME=5QEXIT 6.4..." 130 HTAB 1: PRINT LEFTS Readers Data Exchange (A$, 39) ;:A$ = MIDS (AS$,2) + LEFT$ (A$,1):K = PEEK ( — 16384): IF K < 128 THEN FOR K = 1 TO 75: NEXT K:K = FRE (0): GOTO 130 140 TEXT :BS = "RUN" : POKE — 16368,0:K = K - 176: IFK <1 OR K > 6 THEN 220 150 HTAB 1: CALL - 868: IF K = 6 THEN END 160 PRINT "OPRESSO’ LETTER’ 0YOUOWISH OToo" ;: IF K = 1 THEN BS = "TOAD" 170 IF K = 2 THEN BS = "LOCK" 180 IF K = 3 THEN B$ = "UNLOCK" 190 IF K = 4 THEN BS = "DELETE" : FLASH 200 IF K = 5 THEN BS = "RENAME" 210 PRINT BS;: CALL ~ 198: NORMAL : GET K$:K = ASC (KS) - 48 220 IF K< 17 ORK > T + 16 THEN 130 230 CH= 1:CV=S-T+K- 16: GOSUB 280: IF C = 194 AND (BS = "LOAD" OR BS = "RUN" ) THEN BS = "BY + BS 240 IF C = 212 AND BS = "RUN" THEN BS = "EXEC" 250 FOR CH = 6 TO 39: GOSUB 280:B$ = BS + CHRS (C): NEXT CH: IF GE = 1 THEN 270 260 HTAB 1: CALL - 868: PRINT BS: PRINT D$;B$: END 270 BS = BS + "," : PRINT : INPUT “WHATODOOYOUOWANTOTHISOPROGRAMO RENAMEDOTO" ;T$:B$ = BS + TS: Goro 260 280 Cl = INT (CV / 8):C2 = CV - cL * @:P = 1024 + 128 * C2 + 40 * Cl + CH:C = PEEK (P): RETURN Checksums 100-$7FOF 170-$OEAl 240-$589B 110-$606F 180-$523B 250-$E247 120-$2607 190-$2F05 260-$6B89 130-$8907 200-SF3F8 270-$2FFC 140-$3A84 210-$4C72 280-$1A23 150-S$1A3D 220-$1B18 160-$C89D 230-$45DC I use this almost exclusively. The only thing I didn’t really like about the program was that it shows a standard catalog of all files. I used to rename secondary files ‘A’ with several ctrl Hs to hide the names, but the only way to access these was with spe- cial loader programs. Now thanks to Zorro in #72, all I have to do is Unlock the files I don’t want showing and add these two lines to menu for locked files only. Patch DOS to not show unlocked files. 95 POKE 44452, 255:POKE 44513, 67 Fix DOS. 105 POKE 44452,22:POKE 44513, 2 Add this if you have a Pronto-Dos that uses the TYPE command. 245 IF C=212 AND B$="LOAD" THEN BS="TYPE" Otherwords for oneam sick of looking at that LONG Most Wanted List. It seems most have been covered before in back issues and in the books of softkeys. Please look in the back issues first! For those who don’t know, you may get a complete back-issue list from Computist for the amazing low price of one self addressed 9 x 12" envelope with $.45 postage on it. The easiest way is to send a 65¢ stamp (only) and ask for the back issue list. No point in paying the postage for a 9" x 12" envelope twice. .... RDEXed Help needed @I need help with Clue Master Detec- tive v1.5 by Leisure Games. Here’s how far I got. Booting this disk you see itis ProDOS based. So I tried to copy the disk with Locksmith Fastcopy and got Data errors. This tells me the address headers (epilogs) and trailers (prologs) are OK. That leaves the Data epilogs and/or data check sums and/or prologs at fault. Looking at the disk with anibble editor, (Copyll+, The Nibbler) you will find the Data epilog bytes are at fault. The normal bytes are changed from DEAAEB to AA DEEB. Through trial and COMPUTIST #77 error I found out this disk MUST be format- ted with a volume number of one. (Is that a ProDOS limitation?) Boot a sector editor and change this byte in the ProDOS file soit will load from the disk. Change track $21, sector $07, byte $C8 from AA to DE. Here’s where I need help. Thecopy will ‘randomly’ freeze the game or select two rooms instead of aroom and a weapon. There is some code ontrack one that I think is a signature check. It starts like this... AD 30 BF LDA $BF30 | 207F AND #$7F [>= get slot AA TAX 1 BD 8960 LDA $C089,X tum on drive More help needed Thave decided that I am tired of looking at my stack of unused software. I am in serious need of clues, hints, patches, and outright answers to several computer video games and almost all of my text adventure games. @A good example would be Zorro by Datasoft 1985. I am confident that I have mastered the game. My high score is over 78,000 but I still can’t finish the game! How do I get the rose? Here is what I have collected, in order- handkerchief, boulder to last pully, wine glass, horseshoe, 2 Bells, 6 bags of money, and the boot. What have I missed? @ Dark Lord by Datasoft 1987 has de- fied completion for over two years by me, a friend with an apple, and my cousin to whom I must loan my computer. How do I get past the Guard? Is there another way in? @I purchased the Zork Trilogy because I liked the Eamon text adventures. After playing Zork I for a few weeks I was ex- tremely frustrated soI purchased Zork with on screen hints. I have cheated and read all the clues so I am sure I have mapped every- thing and been everywhere but I still haven't completed the game. That #@*&% thief keeps stealing the torch then my lantern goes out. @ Deciding Zork was too hard I pur- chased Wishbringer by Infocom 1985. It says ‘Introductory Level’ but Ican’t seem to get any where. I have gotten back across the bridge but J am lost from there on. What am T supposed to be doing? I like to consider myself of above aver- age intelligence and I love the challenge of mapping these games, but my skills as an adventurer are nil. It should be noted that I almost always win at Conan, Karateka, 221 B Baker St., Clue Master Detective, and Wheel of Fortune. I had an almost complete map for Below the Root before it blew up. A lot of my software is old so clue books are hard to find. I would like to see enough interest gener- ated from my tales of frustration to add a Questions and Answers section toComputist. Maybe a half a page or so, not too big, just enough to help all of us who are quietly pulling our hair out. I would love to hear from people who have completed these games, either directly or through Comput- ist. Here are a few of the games I need help with. Ultima I - III, Zork I - III, Wizardry Proving Grounds, Gemstone Warrior, Plundered Hearts Ephraim Santiago Softkey for... Moptown Hotel v1.3 The Learning Company Requirements: The original Moptown Hotel disk (5.25") 1 blank disk COPYA Copy II Plus Any disk with normal DOS 3.3 This softkey would not be possible if it weren’t for the softkey from Jack R. Nissel on Reader Rabbit in issue #68, page 22. I’ve tried all those other softkeys in previous issues and got nowhere with those compli- cated methods. 1. Boot your DOS 3.3, system master disk and at the “)” prompt enter. IL COMPUTIST #77 POKE 47426,24 ignore checksums and epilogues _ RUN COPYA 2. Put your original away and boot Copy II Plus. Use the COPY DOS function to copy normal DOS 3.3 from any disk to your copy, (target disk). 3. Now select the Change Boot Program function from Copy II Plus to make sure that the Boot Program name is HELLO. If itis not, then use this function to change it to HELLO. The Last Print I’ve been a subscriber for about a year now and I’ve been reading all these negative comments about the way Computist is print- ed or how the price is outrageous. Let’s not mention any names, you know who you are and your complaints, J appreciate the hard work that’s put into this paper and the information. After all if it weren’t for Computist where else could we look forward to for Apple Ile, Ilgs, Mac, and IBMandits programs in terms of backing up your software and the vast amount of technical information. Do you ever stop and think what would you do without Computist or if it just went under because of lost subscribers or finan- cial reasons, or maybe the volunteers who donate their time and effort so that we could just sit back and wait for that next great issue of Computist that we take for granted, I think it’s that time again where we should be asking ourselves how can we help to insure the survival of this subscriber supported magazine, tabloid, or call it what you like, butone thing’s for sure “When it’s gone, it’s gone!” Softkey for... Animal Kingdom Unicorn Software Requirements: DOS 3.3 Copy Il+ One blank disk The credit goes out to Spike. In issue #69, Spike informs us on how to backup All about America for the Apple Ile 5.25” disk. Animal Kingdom uses only one disk which is doubled sided. To make a back up use the following steps. Remember: ALWAYS write protect your original disk. 1. Boot your DOS 3.3 system disk. 2. Tell DOS to ignore checksum and epilog errors and use COPY A tocopy both sides. POKE 47426,24 RUN COPYA 3. Boot Copy II+ and delete the DOS image from your target disk. (Not your original disk) 4. Copy DOS from your DOS 3.3 system disk onto your target disk. 5. Rename the file “Jello” (on your target disk) to “Hello”. That’s it! You know have a deprotected backup. Have fun! The CPR Agent Canada Softkey for... French Grammar I-VII Queue/Intellectual Software These programs are designed to review the basic grammar structures of the French that is studied in schools. There are ten lessons on each disk which includes a re- view lesson. The form of the program is very standard and has a no-bells-and-whistles approach. A teacher management module can be purchased separately (for $10 a disk) but you must send your disk back to have it installed. Luckily one of the disks in the set that I worked with had the management unit installed. It took no time at all to figure out that the other disks were only missing a couple of files. After transferring these files to the other disks, they too had a teacher management module to keep track of the averages of the students who used the disk — and it didn’t cost $10 a disk! The de-protection of these disks (and all Queue or Intellectual Software disks that I have worked with) is very standard and, in fact, can be used on all the disks. 1. Capture the RWTS from one of the disks using your favorite technique. (If you have trouble getting this, find a friend or neighbor who has a Laser computer. The CONTROL-RESET M technique for get- ting into the monitor on these machines, works marvelously. well!) Keep this RWTS around as it seems to work on everything Queue puts out! 2. Once you have the RWTS, simply use it with Super IOB and one of the SWAP CONTROLLERS to copy the disk. 3. Use Copy II Plus (or a similar utility) to change the boot file from “HELLO” to “BTUT” (or the first file in the list - it was BTUT onevery disk that I worked with in this series.) The de-protection is done — unless you want that teacher management module on each of your disks. To get it, you first have to have it already installed on one of your programs or one of your friends programs. Simply copy the TUT file and the ACSES file (both Applesoft) from the disk with the teacher management module to your disk. You will find that your copy program will tell you that the TUT file already exits on your disk. Copy over it with the new TUT file. Your original TUT file occupies only 50 sectors while the one with the manage- ment module covers 59. The code for ac- cessing this managementareaisctrlMatany time the program is not asking for a specific answer to a question. I should say, it is ctrl M forall Apple II’s and II+’s. For the Apple Tle’s, IIc’s, and the Laser computers, it’s ctrl }. After copying the files, it would be a good idea to check it out to make sure it works, One word of caution. Be careful with the lesson files on the disk as they all have control characters embedded in their names. There is really no reason to touch them unless you are that enterprising teacher out to add a little character and flavor to these otherwise rather drab French exercises! Fi- nally, be sure to use a fast DOS — or patch DOS 3.3 with any one of several fast patch- es. Diversi DOS is a good choice since it handles text files particularly well andseems to be very compatible with most programs. The fast patch that comes as part of Ad- vanced Ideas’ Ultra Disk Pak works very well too. Softkey for... Alphabet Circus DLMINeosoft This is an excellent program for teaching pre-schoolers and first grade students the alphabet. There are six different programs on the disk to keep the learning activity varied and the motivation high. Requirements: fast copier (I used Copy II Plus) sector editor (I used Copy II Plus) 1, Fast copy the disk (there are no errors or glitches). 2. Sector edit: Ik Sct Bye From Te $06 $0D $5F-60 A956 60.60 Or search for BD 89 CO A9 56. It can be found in the file HELLO3. Details This program uses one of the shorter DOS’s and then fills the entire disk with program. Consequently, if you try to trans- fer all the files to another disk, you get the joyous DISK FULL message before you finish the file transfer. After several at- tempts to make enough space to actually transfer all the files, (and failing!) I discov- ered the best thing to do was to leave itall on the fast copied disk and search for the signa- ture check. I decided to begin this process by exam- ining the files on the disk, only to discover that track $11 was empty! I found the cata- log on Track $03 and moved a copy of it Readers Data Exchange sector by sector back to track $11 where it ought to be. (This is actually a pointless exercise since the program could care less what is on track $11 — it looks to Track $03 for its directions. But seeing the catalog on Track $11 makes ME feel much better about everything!) In looking over the catalog I noticed three Hello files — HELLO, GAME. HEL- LO, and HELLO3. The first two are Apple- soft BASIC, easily loaded and listed. Noth- ing seemed unusual in either. The third one, HELLO3, was a binary file occupying 2 sectors (one sector actually, since the first simply pointed to the second). I was imme- diately suspicious. I disassembled and there it was, a nice little signature check for sev- eral non-standard bytes. I placed two 60’s Tight after the instruction to tum the disk drive on and gave it a try. It loaded and ran more smoothly than the original. QED! Softkey for... Early Games - Music for Children Counterpoint Software Requirements: FID (from the DOS Master) an initialized disk (preferably with a fast DOS) Copy II Plus (or similar utility for changing the boot file on a DOS disk) This is an interesting piece of software that allows children to develop short musi- cal routines in the bass or treble clef, save them, and play them back. It also has a routine for putting kaleidoscopic graphics to the music — something children would very much enjoy. Finally ithas the facility to quiz children on musical notes, sounds, etc. Of course, the real problem with this pro- gram is that it is copy protected. Once again we have a potentially excellent program delicately balanced under the umbrella of a copy protection scheme that will crash the whole disk the minutea youngster (for whom the program was designed) does something outof the ordinary that the computer doesn’t expect. A very intelligent move, Counter- point! Step-by-step 1. Boot your DOS Master and. CALL -151 enter the monitor B954:2900 ignore Ist byte of Addr Prologue BRUN FID 2. Use FID to copy the files. Follow the prompts (Use the wildcard “=” for the file name and answer “N” to the “Do you want to be prompted?” question). 3. Use Copy II Plus (or similar facility) to rename the boot file the first file on the list. Details There are really only two or three poten- tial problems to de-protecting this disk. I used FID rather than COPY A because track $04 was all FF’s and the first three tracks had an altered Address Epilogue. Rather than have my disk drive “rattle” through track $04 and rather than try to get the somewhat delicate balance of ignoring pro- logue AND epilogue changes, it seemed a better idea to go with FID. However, it was abitofa surprise to watch FID copy the first several “blank” files! FID seemed to be copying files that had no name! This, I remembered, was a sure sign of files that were masked by control characters. The best way to handle these files is to NOT get into aposition where you have to enter the name of the file. Hence, let Copy II Plus (or other similar utility) identify the first file as the new boot file. After that final change, the disk works fine. Softkey for... French Word Games EMC Requirements: COPYA DOS System Master disk Copy II Plus This is another of those review programs that helps get away from the classroom 5 Toutine and yet provides some very valuable instruction. There are three games on the disk — students can play by themselves or against a partner (a good choice if there are Not enough computers to go around!). The games include matching, choosing the one that does not fit, and opposites. About 1500 words are taught and no specialized com- puter skills are required. Step-by-step 1. Boot your DOS 3.3 system disk. 2. Remove the master disk and insert a blank disk in the drive. Initialize a disk with HELLO1. Set the disk aside. INIT HELLO! 3. Tell DOS to ignore address epilogs and use COPYA to copy the disk. POKE 47503,14 RUN COPYA 4, Use Copy IT Plus, FID, or similar utility to transfer all the files from the COPYA disk to the initialized disk. Details A fast DOS is not necessary as this pro- gram has 2 short routines that it loads imme- diately upon booting that put regular DOS 3.3 into hyper-drive! Perhaps they could be used in other places on other disks?!! They arecalled SPEEDOS1.0BJ and SPEEDOS2 OBJ and each is a binary file of 2 sectors. Softkey for... Garfield, Eat Your Words Random House Requirements: COPYA sector editor (1 used Copy II Plus) Step-by-step 1. Boot your DOS 3.3 system disk. 2. Tell DOS to ignore checksum and epilog errors and use COPYA to copy the disk. POKE 47426,24 RUN COPYA 3. Make the following sector edits to the copy. Ik Sct Byte From Ig $00 $03 $91 AA DE $98 DE AA $06 $AE AA DE $83. DE AA That’s it! Notes on Les Secrets de Gertrude Two of the programs that caused me the greatest consternation in de-protection were. Gertrude’s Secrets and Gertrude’s Puzzles, both by the Learning Company. The reason they were suchachallenge was because they both used half tracks as part of the encryp- tion - at least the copies that I had both used half tracks. I spent many hours devising ways to access the data from the originals and getting it back on toa standard disk. All to no avail. Since Copy II Plus would back the disk up, I was in no rush to have a de- protected copy. But like a tiny rock in your shoe, it is always a bit of a pain. So when our media center acquired a copy of Les Secrets de Gertrude (Gertrude’s Secrets in French!), some lights came on and the laboratory of my mind began conjur- ing ascheme! The big bonus with the French program was that I noticed the distributor was Gessler - a company that I had encoun- tered before and had little trouble with. The plan that chased around in my mind as I drove the disk home was to rid the disk of Gessler’s protection technique, call up the sectors that had the instructions witha sector editor, change (translate) the instructions from French back to English, write it all back to the disk, and PRESTO an English version of the program without the pain of half tracks! Since I could handle myself reasonably well with the written form of the French language, I was confident that with a little luck I could perform one of the ulti- mate sneaky hacking tricks. As] examined the disk there were, as you may have guessed, a number of surprises. This time, however, they were all in my favor. Surprise number one was that the disk 6 was not copy protected at all! I was elated. I checked and rechecked as I could not, at first, believe it. The second surprise came as I located the French instructions using the sector editor. I began carefully substituting words and letters, hoping that I wouldn’t Mess up some call routine by not enough of one or too many of the other. During this process, I began searching for the proper value to enter for an “x” and not finding iton the sector where I was presently working, I wrote what I had changed to the disk and began backing up through other sectors, looking for an “x” somewhere. Lo and behold I ran into a sector in English! I stared in disbelief again! What recklessness was this? I determined that the program probably had some key press that you could enter in the middle of whatever you were doing, and you could “help” your- self with your problem by having an instant English translation. It was a good idea but I was wrong. As it turned out, the whole of that particular file was English. I asked an immediate question (out loud, I might add) “How many other files do we have on this disk that are in English?” After several minutes of careful rummaging through files and sectors the answer tumed out to be “All the necessary files (including the HELLO file) for an English version of this program are already hereon the disk!!” I was stunned! I have no idea why a software company would do this but] am most MOST grateful to them! What is to be learned from all this? Two things. First and most important is that sometimes the answer to our immediate problem is so obvious that it is overlooked. (I may have spent hours and hours translat- ing the instructions and never ever even realized that the solution was next door in the previous sector!) Secondly, there may be more information on an innocent disk than we even realize. Since this particular program is fairly short, there is room on the disk for both versions and then some. Finally, it is sometimes interesting and very worth- while tocheckade-protected disk for deleted files. On one of my programs I found three deleted files that proved to be evolutionary stages of growth for one of the actual func- tional files in the program. It was an educa- tion in programming to follow the “thinking” of the programmer as he developed the file. Now for Gertrude’s best guarded secret. If you have the program Les Secrets de Gertrude in your library, here’s how to have two programs for the price of one! 1. Boot a DOS 3.3 disk. Insert a blank disk and initialize it (with a fast DOS) so that it will BRUN FRESHSTART.O as its Helio file. POKE 40514,52 INIT FRESHSTART.O DELETE FRESHSTART.O 2. Copy the following files from your orig- inal disk to the copy. FRESHSTART .O SECRETSHELLO.O SECRETLOGO OLD SECRET WORLD.IIE OLD SECRET WORLD SECRETCODE.O SECRETSGOOSE .O SECRETSRANDOM.O OLD SECRETFONT ADV #108 3. Rename the following files: to let the hello be binary fo OLD SECRET WORLD.IIE SECRET WORLD.IE OLD SECRETWORLD SECRET WORLD OLD SECRETFONT SECRETFONT Please note that it is the letter “O” that follows the period in several of the files and NOT the number “0”. That’s it! Whoever would have guessed that the French were the guardians of Ger- trude’s best kept secret?! Viva le hacking! Softkey for... Chariots, Cougars, and Kings Kittens, Kids, and a Frog Hartley Requirements: COPYA (or COPYA+) sector editor These are two fairly good programs that address reading comprehension in the pri- mary grades, They are essentially stories (short) that the student is required to read and then there area numberof questions that the student is required to answer. Some educators would say that you could do just as well on paper witha lotless hassle. Others would say that the immediate feedback of- fered by the computer toan incorrect answer is much better than the red X — and the computer keeps track of it all. Further, there are some (a few) excellent graphics that go with the program. The biggest problem is that they are both copy protected which means that the disk will go down in no time at the hands of the “litte people.” So we shall do away with that problem. Step-by-step 1. Use your System Master, your favorite method, or whatever to get to COPYA. (Note: use COPY A+ to achieve the same results as below if you wish.) RUN COPYA etic At the first prompt 70 to prevent reloading COPY.OBJ CALL-151 enter the monitor B925:18 60 to ignore data epilogues B988:18 60 10 ignore address epilogues BE48:18 to ignore errors ctrl C to get back to BASIC RUN to start up COPYA again Follow the prompts and copy both disks. 2. Make the following sector edits to the copy. Tt Sct Bye From Ig $00 $02 $9E DS DE $00 $03 $35 05 DE $00 $03 $91 0S DE Details These programs were embarrassingly easy. There was a single technique used for copy protection and it was probably one of the oldest and simplest — changing the epilogues to the address and data portions of the sector. Perhaps it is yet another sign that companies are tiring of the “game” and are going to be more cooperative in the future, especially in the field of education. Any one who is at all familiar with BA- SIC could have some real fun as most of the files are written in BASIC on these disks. Changing the way some of the files work and perform would certainly add a local flavor to the stories and routines. Enjoy! Softkey for... Kidwriter 1.0 Spinnaker Requirements: Fast copier DOS (a fast one helps) a way to change the boot program Since none of the previous Spinnaker information helped me with this one, I thought I would send this in just in case someone else out there had the same prob- tems I had. Step-by-step 1. Fast copy the disk (ignore the error on track $00). 2. Copy all the files from your copy to another disk that has your DOS already on it 3. Use your boot program changer to change the boot file from “G” to“J”. (See below.) Details The trick to getting this program working properly is being able to work around the control characters in the files. If you are using a copy program other than Copy II Plus, please modify the explanation accord- ingly. Readers Data Exchange The fast copy part of the deprotection is very straight forward. Ignore the error on track $00. Once you have your fast copy, tell Copy II Plus to CATALOG the disk show- ing the hidden characters. Surprise! How about that mess of sneaky glitches! Not to worry. When we copy these files to another disk using Copy II Plus, the file names are left intact and we don’t have to worry about getting the proper control characters in the right places. So initialize another disk with your fa- vorite DOS (I noticed that they used Pronto DOS. You may have to try a different one if your favorite doesn’t work. I used a patched DOS 3.3 and it seemed to work fine.) Then copy all the files from your fast copied disk to this new disk. As I said before, Copy II Plus handles the control characters in the file names just fine. Once you are finished copying all the files over, tell Copy II Plus that you want to CHANGE THE BOOT PROGRAM. When itgives you the list of files, highlight the “J” file and press the “G” for GO. (The reason I placed this filein quotation marks is because the file really isn’t just a “J” but has several control characters surrounding it. But it ap- pears as a “J” on the file menu.) This proce- dure bypasses the regular boot file which appears on the menu as a “G” and also contains the signature check routine. Leav- ing it out simply puts the program into motion without the disk check and the pro- gram now boots up faster. You now have a perfectly COPYA-able deprotected KID- WRITER that you can safely allow children to use (without all those nightmares about replacement costs and delays!). Softkey for... Cloze Plus Program Milliken Requirements: COPYA sector editor This program is a “context analysis” reading program made up of 6 sets of dis- kettes with 4 diskettes in each set. Each set of diskettes is designed for a specific read- ing level, starting at reading level 3 and proceeding up through reading level 8. Each diskette has a Manager routine built in such that the teacher cankeep track of the progress of up to 100 students. It is an impressive program but has two flaws: 1. The program and the student data are all on the same side of the disk. If a student “diddles” the disk, the teacher loses all his/ her data! 2. The program is copy protected which multiplies the hazard in 1. I can’t do too much about #1 except recommend you keep backups of the depro- tected disk. And here is how to obtain your deprotected disk. Step-by-step 1, Copy the disk using COPY A and ignore address and data epilogues. POKE 47426,24 RUN COPYA 2. Make the following sector edits: ‘Ick Sct Byte From Ig $11 $00 $01 FA W $00 $02 $9E OF DE $03 $35 «OF DE $03 $91 OF DE $06 $AE DF DE Details The deprotection of this disk was very standard except for two details. The first detail is that the first sector edit above fixes the catalog such that files (especially those thatcontain important student data) cannow be removed from the disk on a regular basis if necessary (or files can now be manipulat- ed in any number of ways by enterprising teachers). Secondly, the teacher handbook that comes with the program draws special attention to the speed of disk drives and how important the proper speed is to the opera- tion of the program. I was suspicious about this warning and determined that would try COMPUTIST #77 it out once I had the deprotection intact. I found the disk speed check on track $00, sector $OA at the end of the sector. As the program checks for the standard Ad- dress and Data marks, it goes on to check for two FF bytes. I thought to myself that this would be a rather ingenious way of slipping ina protection scheme under the disguise of adisk speed check and consequently fooling the apprehensive hacker. I decided the best way to check would be to change my disk drive speed, edit the routine out of a copy, then see if the original disk and the copy gave the same results. I did just that. How- ever, to my surprise the routine proved to be genuine. So all I will say now is if anyone wants to rid their program of the check and live dangerously or if you havea touchy disk drive that you are quite certain is not going to be a problem with this program, simply replace the DO 10 at bytes $F1-F2 and D007 at bytes SFA-FB (both on track $00 in sector $0A) with EA’s. (Keepaneyeon the re-boot instruction at byte $OE of sector $OB, track $00 as well!) Softkey for... Mighty Math Discovery Software/World Book Requirements: COPYA or COPYA+ Sector editor (I use COPY II PLUS) DOS System Master Note: COPYA+ is an excellent tool from COMPUTIST #67 page 20, compliments of Gerald Berry and well worth the time to type itin. Mighty Math is an excellent tool for teaching mathematical concepts and for drill exercises in basic math. It is designed for students at the primary level (ages 6-10) and has excellent options (varying speed levels, varying difficulty levels, and six different activities) for keeping the program interest- ing. It is one of the few programs that is worthwhile in the field of education. So many are a complete waste of time and money. The one problem with this program is that it is copy protected, so let’s take care of that right now. Step-by-step 1. Boot your DOS SYSTEM MASTER and RUN COPYA (or use your COPYA+ to achieve the same results as explained be- low) RUN COPYA etric At the first prompt 70 to prevent reloading COPY.OBJ CALL-151 enter the monitor B988:18 60 to ignore address epilogues BE48:18 to ignore errors ctrl C to get back to BASIC RUN to start up COPYA again 2. Follow the prompts and copy the disk. Note: Track $03 has a special format that will not copy using COPYA. But since we have instructed our program to ignore er- rors, COPYA will “rattle” over the track -32 “rattles” in all as it tries each sector twice. Donotbealarmed atthe noise. Go ahead and count if it makes you feel better! Once it passes this track, all should proceed very quietly and efficiently. 3. When the copy is finished, start up your sector editor. Tk Sat Bye From To $11 $00 $01 00 11 4. Write the sector back to the disk. 5. Using your System Master or the Delete function on your COPY II PLUS, delete files HELLO, SSPROTS$A, and SSPROTS$1. 6. Use your System Master to get into BA- SIC. Replace your System Master with your new copy of the program. Type the following HELLO program: 10 HOME: POKE 34,23 20 PRINT CHRS$ (4) "MAXFILES1" 30 PRINT CHR$(4)"BLOAD SPEED1" 40 PRINT CHR$(4)"BLOAD SPEED2" 50 PRINT CHR$(4)"BRUN MAIN" 60 END SAVE HELLO COMPUTIST #77 7. Finally copy the DOS from your System Master to the new copy of the program that you have been making, or better yet, copy a fast DOS to the new disk. Details: This program gave me four hours of trouble. It was easy to get the COPYAed version. A quick look from the Nibble Edi- tor of Copy II Plus showed the changes in track $03 and the epilogue changes to the address header on track $11. When I spotted the files SSPROT$$A and SSPROTSS1 it rang a bell in the back of my mind from a previous encounter I had several months ago with Walt Disney’s Card and Party Shop. Since I didn’t at that time have the back issues of COMPUTIST #50 and #51 to help me, it wasamemorable wrestling match that took a full day to win. This time I did some homework — some research with some of the best material available — back issues of COMPUTIST. Edward Teach in COMPUTIST #51 has some important observations with his en- counter with the “SS” files in Walt Disney’s Cartoon Maker. Also his HELLO program is useful. Secondly, A.L. Head’s detailed explanation of the purpose and nature of the “SS” files in Walt Disney’s Card and Party Shop is invaluable. Many thanks to both of these excellent operators for their help. My own experience with “SS” files was limited toa BASIC version of both. Ihad not seen a binary form of either until I encoun- tered this program. As I checked them out under the Sector Editor and disassembled them, it was obvious that they were not only inbinary form but they werealso encrypted! Hoping that they simply performed the same function, I took a guess and deleted them. Next I chose the first file from the list in the catalogue and (after loading a regular DOS) typed BRUN BOOT. The file loaded and I was then greeted with the final screen and music that ended the program! Bad guess!! Next I simply did some more guessing. From what I had gleaned from Ed Teach, AL. Head and others, it was simply amatter of trial and error until I got the correct combination. Nothing seemed to work, however. I even tried backing up and un- deleting the “SS” files and then disabling their functions. Again, a bad choice! Finally itoccurred to me that the only two. files on the whole list that were locked were SPEED1 and SPEED2. I did the BRUN on SPEED] and was landed in the monitor. In an effort to circumvent reloading DOS and going through the same procedure with SPEED2, I simply used a ctrl C to get out of the monitor and back into BASIC, a CALL -25153 to connect the DOS that I hoped would still be intact, and then I typed the command BRUN SPEED2. This time I was met with a BASIC prompt. I was elated. All I had to do now was to guess the right file that would come next and I was home free. From some of my previous efforts I remem- bered seeing that the file called MAIN was one of the ones that the others often defaulted to at the end of their routines. So I typed BRUN MAIN and away the program went! Next I quickly wrote a new HELLO file that summarized what I had learned and what Ed Teach and A.L. Head had also observed. I saved it to disk and then booted the disk. It sang like a riverboat sweetheart! Softkey for... Cotton’s First Files Mindplay Requirements: Fast copier (I use Copy II Plus) Sector editor (I use Copy Il Plus) This program is a data base management system for beginning readers aged 4 to 9. Good start in the philosophy of data bases. Step-by-step 1. Fast copy the disk (ignore the read error on track $0E). 2. Sector edit: Ik Sot Bye From Io $01 $01 $02-03 A901 18 60 Or search for 60 A9 01 8D 27 B7. Don’t forget to write the sector back to disk. En- joy! Softkey for... French - Basic Vocabulary Builder on Computer National Textbook Company Requirements: a way of capturing the disk’s RWTS Super IOB fast DOS (preferable but not necessary) slave disk (initialized DOS 3.3 disk with Hello file deleted) This is an excellent program for teaching and reviewing written vocabulary skills in French. (This company also has programs in Spanish, German, and Italian.) The program uses graphics, help, and context clues to assist the student in learning the written language. It is a good diversion from the regular classroom routine, Step-by-step 1. Boot the original and break into the mon- itor to capture the RWTS. 1900<B800.BFFFM move RWTS to a safe place 2. Warm boot the slave disk. 6 ctr P 3. Replace the slave disk with the disk that has the Super IOB program on it. BSAVE RWTS.FRENCH, A$1900, L$800 RUN SUPER IOB EXEC SWAP.CON 10010 PRINT CHR$(4) “BLOAD RWTS. FRENCH, A$1900” RUN 4. Follow the prompts and copy the disk. Details There are two disks in the package - Disk 1 and Disk 2. You must capture the new RWTS from Disk 2 in order to copy Disk 2. But the procedure is identical and the copy- ing is smooth and clean in both cases. I did have a problem with the opening graphic. In both cases this was scrambled for some reason. However, the rest of the program seemed unaffected. Both disks are almost impossible to back up with copy programs, and both disks are encrypted so as to make thecontents completely unintelligible.Once this “garbage” has been cleared away, files can be examined and modified if desired. Happy French lessons! Softkey for... Life Coping Skills Series: Forming Positive Behavior Increasing Self Esteem Building Relationships Communication Skills Plato/Control Data Corporation Requirements: initialized disks (as many as you have pro- grams- initialize with a fast DOS for best results) DEMUFFIN PLUS These programs all belong toa set called the Life Coping Skills Series. Each title is a kit of anywhere from 2 to 7 disks with a manual that is helpful butnot necessary. The disks all contain information and instruction with a few simple graphics. It is very in- formative but not very “inspiring”! Re- moving the protection was the same for all the disks in all the kits. Step-by-step 1. Boot one of the disks in the kit and use your favorite method to reset into the monitor. 6000<B800.BFFFM = move the RWTS toa safe place 2. Remove the original disk and replace it with an initialized disk with HELLO deleted. etl P to boot the disk from the monitor 3. Remove the slave disk and replace it with your disk that has DeMuffin Plus on it. BLOAD DEMUFFIN PLUS CALL -151 to get into the monitor B800<6000.67FFM move the RWTS back where DeMuffin+ can use it Readers Data Exchange 803G to start up DeMuffin Plus 4. Choose CONVERT FILES, follow the prompts, choose the wildcard for the file name, and answer “N” to the “DO YOU WANT TO BE PROMPTED?” question. The files will copy smoothly and easily and when the process is done, so is the deprotection! Details: The only detail that is important is that you must capture anew RWTS for each kit, but the same RWTS can be used for all the disks in each kit. Also I did notice that the kit called Building Relationships does not run on a Laser computer. After loading and listing the Applesoft files, I’m quite certain that by changing a couple of the CALLs in the program, all would run well on the Laser machines. Since I donot know enough about CALLs and POKEs to really offer much help, I’ll leave this finer point to someone like Marc Batchelor who laughs at the sim- plicity of these tasks! Softkey for... Scrambled Words Learning Well Requirements: COPYA sector editor (I used Copy II Plus) This program is designed to teach and reinforce alphabetizing skills. It offers an excellent alternative to the traditional drill. There are 4 skill levels and the word lists can be personalized. Another excellent Learn- ing Well program! Step-by-step 1. RUN COPYA and use your favorite method to ignore Address and Data Epi- logues and Checksums. 2. Copy the disk. 3. Sector edit: Ick Sct Byte From Ie $00 $02 $9E BF DE $03 $35 BF DE ‘That's it! Softkey for... Puzzle Tanks Challenge Math Explorer Metros: A Metric Adventure The Whatsit Corporation: Survival Math Skills Number Quest: Binary Search Games The Kings Rule: Mathematics & Discovery Incredible Laboratory: Strategies in Problem Solving Fun House Maze: Strategies in Problem Solving Code Quest: Practice in Problem Solving The Pond: Strategies in Problem Solving The Factory: Strategies in Problem Solving Sunburst Requirements: original disk initialized disks - HELLO deleted (use a fast DOS) Super IOB with the Swap Controller Copy II Plus (or similar utility for changing boot files) All of the following Sunburst titles can be deprotected with the same RWTS cap- tured from any one of the disks: Step-by-step 1. Use your favorite method to capture the RWTS from any one of the above pro- grams. Save it to the same disk as your Super IOB program. 2. Run your Super IOB and install the Swap Controller. 3, Change line 10010 to PRINT CHRS(4) "BLOAD RWTS.xxxx, A$1900" (fill in the xxxx with the name you gave the RWTS file you BSAVEd earlier). 4. RUN the program and follow the prompts. You can use the same RWTS for all the disks. When one is finished, just be sure to place your Super IOB disk back in the drive 7 before you type the RUN for the next disk so it can load the RWTS again. 5. Finally use your Copy II Plus to change the boot program on all the disks to the first file in the list (for most of the pro- grams the file is called LOGO). Occa- sionally there will be a disk that already has a HELLO file. These can be left as they are, Softkey for... Terrapin Logo Language Terrapin, Inc. Requirements: Super IOB with Swap Controller initialized disk Step-by-step 1. Boot DOS (from your System Master or wherever) and INIT a slave disk with a binary hello name. POKE 4051452 so DOS will BRUN the initial- ized file INIT SDOS DELETE SDOS 2. Capture the RWTS of the Terrapin Lan- guage disk using your favorite method and BSAVE it to your Super IOB disk. 3. Remember toretype line 10010to BLOAD the file you have just saved. 4. RUN Super IOB and EXEC SWAP.CON 5. Follow the prompts and copy the disk. (Answer “N” to the FORMAT THE BACKUP? question.) That's it! Because of the nature of the program, adding a fast DOS doesn’t make a great deal of difference. The Utilities Disk that comes with the Language Disk isn’t copy-protected. The monstrous manual is excellent! Softkey for... Tic Tac Show Advanced Ideas Requirements: COPYA (from the System Master disk) a sector editor (I use Copy II Plus) This is an excellent program that is akin to the television game show Hollywood Squares. One or two players can play and X’s or O’s are earned on the board by correctly answering questions about a se- lected subject area. Data disks with the questionsalready prepared may be purchased separately or (and here is the big plus for teachers) disks can be created on your own with your own subject areas and questions. This makes an excellent teaching and re- view tool for any kind of factual material. Now for the “fix” to make the program truly valuable in the classroom (or wherever). Advanced Ideas uses three protection techniques on the disk - tracks $00 to $10 are all labelled track $00, secondly, address and data epilogues on all sectors from track $00 to track $10 have been changed from DE AAtoFF FF, and thirdly, there is asignature check on track $09 to keep you on your toes. Step-by-step 1. Boot your DOS 3.3 System Master disk and run COPYA. RUN COPYA 70 otic at the first prompt’ POKE 47426,24 to ignore epilogues POKE 48584,71 to ignore the track checker RUN 2. Copy the whole disk (there should be no “grinds” or other problems) 3. Make the following edits: Ink Sct Byte From Ig $00 $04 $CE FF OE $00 $05 $84 FF DE $00 $05 $8E FF AA $09 $02 $07-09 BD89CO 606060 Details Perhaps the most important rule of disk cracking is to do a careful analysis of the disk prior to attempting any copying proce- dure. I wish I could remember that rule a 8 © little better. Disks like this one certainly underscore the importance of the procedural basics! I spentnearly two hoursof “spinning my tires” with this program. After settling down and going back to Square 1, the whole thing was done 30 minutes later! The Nibble Editor of Copy II Plus uncov- ered the altered epilogues. The Trax program in Bag of Tricks II highlighted the repetition of Track $00 (as well as the altered epi- logues). After discovering these alterations, getting a copy using COPYA was easy. Then after making the sector edits from the FF FF back to DE AA in the appropriate places so DOS does not stumble while reading the disk, the loading “music” then gets an attentive ear. When you boot thedisk at this point, you will hear the program begin to load, pause, then you get the scrambled screen and the reboot. Both of these condi- tions are symptomatic of a signature check. Soload up your sector editor and scan for the 8C.CO that is very likely some “‘distance” beyond DOS since we did hear some load- ing taking place after DOS was in place. Sure enough on track $09 the program checks for some E7’s (C9 E7) after a disk read instruction. Further, the program returns (60) without any other special loading of the Aor Y register. With that in mind, we may simply back up to where the program gives the instruction to turn on the disk drive to start this whole procedure (BD 89 CO) and tell it to return without bothering to do the check (60 60 60). And lo and behold, the program not only runs, but does so much more quickly since it does not have this whole routine to go through before actually starting the game! Marc Batchelor FL Softkey for... Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego (//e) Broderbund I just received Computist #74 and wow am I disappointed. I was hoping to have this crack in to Computist by issue 75. Even though the crack is already out (good job Brian and Terry), perhaps this may show that there is more than one way to skin a cat (or crack a ware). Sorry for the lateness, but we're caught up now so anything new will be printed in the current or next issue. RDEXed The Protection Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego (Time) has a rather annoying protection. Thatis to say, finding the protection is fairly time consuming, removing the protection is simple, testing the product is a pain in the tush. The protection is not verified on star- tup, the disk is not perverted, the format is ProDOS and therefore hard drive compati- bie... it is... a key disk (oh no!). The only time that the protection shows up is when it is time to be promoted. At this time, the original disk needs to be inserted and veri- fied by the software. To get promoted, you must solve a case (not exactly a piece of cake). Locating the Protection After playing the game for approximate- ly 35 minutes, I finally caught the thief (whew!), and received the “Put disk ‘A’ in the drive” message. At this point, I pushed the switch on my Senior Prom, pressed ‘5’ {All Main to Aux), and then looked at where it was waiting. Ithad stopped somewhere in the AEAO page. Listing out the code here showed the following: AEA? LDA $C000 BPL -03 BIT $CO10 RET Essentially, this routine continuously monitors the key latch ($C000) until akey is. pressed, it then clears the strobe ($C010) and returns. Searching memory for refer- ences to this routine (via Senior Prom), tured up a reference at $71BE, $A049 and $AO9B. Listing at $71BE revealed: 71BE- JSR $4DE9 71C1- JSR $AEAQ << What we were just looking at. TIC4- JSR $ABF4 nNC7- IMP $7190 7i9c- USR $9600 <c- The Protection Routine. TOF. BOC 425 I discovered that typing 719CG tumed on the disk drive, and then revealed the “Put Disk ‘A’ in the drive” message. Following further found the JSR to $9600. Which is the actual protection check. Where is it at? I searched side ‘A’ and side ‘B’ for the protection without success. I then started to break-out my ‘EOR Scanner’ and search for it when I decided to search the “data” disks. Low and behold, I found the JSR $9600 on side ‘C’, Track $1F, Sector $F, byte $9C and side ‘D’, Track $20, Sector $E, Byte $9C. Changing the JSR $9600 to $18 EA EA worked like a champ. Extensive testing re- vealed that the pause for an original disk never shows up. This version can and has been played right up to acceptance into the hall of fame. Recap Search side ‘C’ & ‘D’ for8C 3544 207D TC 20 00 96 and change the 20 00 96 to 18 EA EA. That's it To Dave Grenda: (re: DOS 3.3 to Pro- DOS) Regarding your concerns about large DOS 3.3 programs receiving NO BUFF- ERS AVAILABLE message. This will oc- cur on files that have a starting address under $800. A great deal of single-load games have been cracked such that the code has been captured from $800 and above, and at $7FD is a JMP to the “un-packing” rou- tine that places all of the code in the correct places. Regardless of size, ProDOS has an built in safety feature that prevents BLOADing a file with a starting address below $800. This would overwrite/destroy certain screen “holes” where important variables are stored. The fix This is not for the faint-hearted. First, verify the load address of the game by cata- loging it with COPY }[+ “show file lengths” option. You should see a starting address of $7FD (usually). If this is the case, boot a standard DOS 3.3 diskand BLOAD the file. Take outa piece of paper and a pencil and be prepared to write. Enter the monitor: CALL-151 ‘7FD.802 Write down the series of bytes that you see. Separate the first three from the second three. The first three should be: 4C XX YY. This is the JuMP to the “un-packing” rou- tine. The next step is less straight forward and requires some machine language expe- Tience. Disassemble the code with: YYXXL You are probably looking at the move routine that places everything in the correct places. If the code doesn’t terminate with a JMPGGHH, type ‘L’ again. Keep doing this until you have reached the end of the routine (indicated by a JMP GGHH). The GGHH is important as well so write it down. Now, assuming that you have space at the end of the move routine to add the following code, you can type the following: 800:4C XX YY Then, at the end of the move routine, place the following pseudo-code. ADDR:A9 aa 8D 00 08 A9 bb 8D 01 08 A9 cc 8D 02 08 4C HH GG ADDR =address that the 4C HH GG was located on; aa is byte 4 that you wrote down; bb is byte 5 that you wrote down and cc is byte 6 that you wrote down. Assuming that you were able to follow the above instructions, this will solve your problems. To Kathi.Quan: (re: Didatech pro- grams) In this issue (hopefully) I outline and provide the crack for Fay: Word Hunter and Fay that math woman. I hope these help. Regarding your Pirates! problem, lexpe- rienced similar problems (and worse ones) Readers Data Exchange using Copy II+ 9.0 on a Ilgs. I wrote Central Point software and they sent me a free up- date. The update fixes some of these prob- lems, but ifI were you, I would use an earlier version until CPS gets some bugs worked out (like maybe a file compare routine that actually finds differences between files!?). Regarding the ‘D5 AA 96’, ‘DE AA’, and ‘D5 AA AD’ questions, here isa VERY brief explanation of these bytes: The ‘DS AA 96’ are called Address Headers. These headers are the Disk Oper- ating Systems (DOSs) way of knowing when a sector on a disk begins. The ‘D5 AA AD’ are called Data Headers. These headers are the DOSs way of knowing when the actual sector data starts. The ‘DE AA’ are called address/data epilogs. These tell DOS that this is either the end of the data or the end of the address field. While this sounds cryptic, a fair analogy is that of a record. A record is composed of several songs. These songs are analogous to individual sectors on a disk. Preceding each song isa ‘leader’ or a ‘pause’. This pause is analogous to the sector header. The sector header on a disk tells the operating system which track this is, and which sector it is — as well as a few other tid bits (tid bytes?). Anyway, to get to a particular song on a record, the user must lift the record player arm, and place it on the header of the next song. The disk drive however reads the disk until it encounters the address headers (mentioned above). To the disk drive, this is the same thing as the leader on arecord. The _ disk drive then makes sure that this is the correct track/sector (by reading the bytes after the address header), and if it is, reads the disk until it encounters the data headers. On a record, this is the ‘end of the pause’. Once the data headers are read, the operat- ing system ‘knows’ that it is reading data. But it needs some way to ‘know’ when the data ends (the next pause). This is the pur- pose of the data epilogs. When the operating system encounters these special markers, it ‘knows’ that the last piece of data has been read, Mind you, the above is a condensed version of what actually happens, and it has its shortcomings. The authoritative source. for the full picture (and I dare say a better explanation) is Don Worth and Pieter Lechners marvelous publication Beneath Apple ProDOS. Back to the question presented howev- er... Software publishers really enjoy play- ing around with these special markers. So much so that itis UNCOMMON to purchase a commercial piece of software that does NOT have alterations in these markers. The reason that changing these markers is so much ‘fun’ for them is because it is an easy first step in deterring the novice from prying into their code. Since normal DOS is look- ing for ‘D5 AA 96’, anda publisher changes their operating system to look for ‘D4 AA 95’, a normal operating system cannot properly read (without modification) their disk. I hope this has provided some insight into what some of the mumbo-jumbo means. To Steven T. Romanoski: (re: Sticky Bear Series) If it some consolation to you, I have cracked what I believe to be the entire series. If you are interested, send me your originals for about 2 days, and I'll send them back with cracked copies. Please send a blank disk with each. My address was pub- lished in Computist 73. Sierra On-Line generically used/uses two protections. One is a nibble count/signature check, and the other is a code checksum routine that detects code alterations (if not performed correctly). Softkey for... MuppetVille The Muppet Word Book Memory Building Blocks Sunburst Communications The above three packages by Sunburst Software can be de-protected using ProDOS 1OB, and a slight modification to the con- troller. COMPUTIST #77 1, Boot the software package. When the boot is complete, break into the monitor, and type in the memory move given in the ProDOS IOB article. 2. Boot your ProDOS IOB disk, move the controller down in memory and save it (outlined in the article). 3. Load in PRDS.IOB, and EXEC SWAP.PCON. 4, Edit line 2010 and add: ‘:;GOSUB 280’ (ignores un-readable blocks). 5.Edit line 10010 toread the correct name of the driver (saved in step 2). 6. Run. 7. When complete, copy a new ProDOS onto the disks. That’s All there is to it. An closer look at the protection on Fay’s Word Rally Preliminary Examination When I received this disk to crack froma good friend, my first impression was that it would be a cinch. Upon booting, it had a DOS prompt, it sounded normal, and reset could be pressed without the program re- booting. Using a fast copier yielded an error on track 2, sector 7, and the rest of the disk copied normally. Booting the copy resulted ina cleared screen and a DOS prompt after displaying the “Loading” message. In Depth Examination Since I religiously use Pronto DOS for as many programs as possible, my next step was to format a disk under Pronto DOS using POKE 40514,52 (load binary “hello” program”) and INIT DV (DV is the binary “hello” program). I then copied all files from the original to the formatted disk (don’t forget side 2). Booting this copy landed me into the monitor at $BCE1. Since this is normally an un-allocated region (per Be- neath Apple DOS), I examined this area on the original disk (track 0, sector 6, byte E1). What was stored here was an EOR routine used to decrypt the data stored at $6000. On track 0, sector 4 was a short routine to remove this code which is called after de- cryption. The binary file FWR is loaded by DV to $6000. Examining this file did show that it was encrypted, so I decrypted the file (using their routine) and re-saved it. Then, Ineeded to patch DV to jump into FWR instead of jumping to the decryption. After this was done, I booted my new copy. This had the sameresultas my fast copied version (cleared screen and a DOS prompt). My next step was to search the file FWR for BD 8C CO. No occurrences were locat- ed. The next step then was to trace the code (uggh!). Listing from $7893 (the entry point to the code), I traced until I. found this beauty: 85E8:A0 00 LDY #$00 — Setup indirect index to $5000 85EA‘84 56 STY $56 85EC:84 1B STY $1B ‘85EE:A9 50 LDA #§50 ‘85F0:85 57 STA $57 56.57 = $5000 ‘85F2:A9 BD LOA #$BD First part of BD 8C. CO (Read disk). 85F4:20B5 86 JSR $86B5 Store throughout $5000 page via 56.57 ‘85F7:A9 8C LDA #$8C Second part of BD 8C CO (Read disk). ‘85F9:20B5 86 JSR $86B5 Store throughout $5000 page via 6.57 85FC:A9 CO LDA #$CO Last part of BD 8C CO (Read disk). 85FE:20 B5 86 JSR $86B5 Store throughout $5000 page via 56.57 8601:A9 8D LOA #$8D First part of 8D CO 50 (Storage). 8603:20B586 JSR $86B5 Store throughout $5000 page via 56.57 8606:A9 CO LDA #$CO Second part of 8D CO 50 (Storage). 8608:18 cLo 8609:65 1B ADC $1B 860B:20B586 JSR $86B5 860E:A9 50 LDA #$50 — Final part of 8D CO 50 (Storage). COMPUTIST #77 8610:20 BS 86 8613:E6 1B ‘8615:A5 1B 8617.09 1E 8619:90 D7 ‘861B:A9 60 JSR $86B5 INC $1B LDA $1B CMP #$1E BCC $85F2 LDA #$60 Store $60 (RTS) at end of check) JSR $86B5 JSR $03E3 STY $CE STA $CF LDA #902 LDY #904 861D:20 BS 86 8620:20 E303 8623:84 CE 8625:85 CF 8627:A9 02 8629:A0 04 Find 1OB Store Location in CE.CF Track 2 Position in 1OB for Track. Number STA ($CE),Y Use CE.CF indirectly to rebuild KOB LDA #600 Command = SEEK LDY #$0C Position in 10B for COMMAND CODE STA ($CE),Y LDY #$03 Position in 10B for Volume ($00 = any) STA ($CE),Y JSR $03E3 JSR $03D9 Seek Drive to Track 2 BCS $8666 LDA $C089,X Turn On Drive LDA #$30 - Only do this $29 Times STA $0578 SEC DEC $0578 BEQ $8666 (YSR $8944 BCS $8647 LDA $2D CMP #$01 862B:91 CE 862D:A9 00 862F:A0 0C 863191 CE 8633:A0 03 8635:91 CE 863720 £3 03 863A:20 D9 03 863D:B0 27 ‘863F:BD 89 CO 8642:A9 30 8644:8D 78 05 8647338 8648:CE 78 05 864B:FO 19 864D:20 44 BO 865030 FS 8652:A5 2D 8654:C9 01 Read Address Field Sector Number Physical sector 1 (DOS Sector 7)? 8656.00 EF Nope... Try again! 8658.80 8E CO 865B:A9 06 865D:20 A8 FC 8660:20 0050 BNE $8647 LDA $CO8E,X LOA #506 JSR $FCAB JSR $5000 Go run funky Signature Check 8663:18 8664:90 04 8666:A0 0D 8668:B1 CE 866A:9D 88 CO ‘866D:A0 00 B66F:84 48 8671:8038 8673:84 56 STY $56 8675:A2 00 LDX #$00 At $5000 After 86E8-8620 is run. 5000:BD 8CCO LDA $CO8C,X 5003:8D CO50 STA $50C0 5006:BD 8CCO LDA $C08C,x §009:8D C150 STA $50C1 §00C:BD 8CCO LDA $CO08C,X 500F:3D C250 STA $50C2 5012:BD 8CCO LDA $CO08C,X 5015:8D C350 STA $50C3 5018:BD 8CCO LDA $C08C,X 501B:8D C450 STA $50C4 SO1E:BD8C.CO LDA $CO08C,X 5021:8D C550 STA $50C5 5024:BD 8BCCO LDA $C08C,X 5027:8D C650 STA $50C6 CLO BCC $866A Always Taken LOY #$0D LDA ($CE)Y STA $C088,X Shut Off Drive LOY #900 STY $48 BCS $86AB SOA8:BD 8C CO SOAB:8D DC 50 SOAE:BD 8C CO §0B1:8D DD 50 STA $50DD 50B4:60 RTS This software actually builds the signa- ture check on the fly. Notice however, that the signature check doesn’t wait to make sure that it has read a valid disk byte — that is, there is no BPL following the read of the disk. This indicates a timing dependency to get the correct bytes read. The Fix To see the above code is easy... just boot the disk, and when the drive stops, press reset. Kidsoft did not think to clear the signature check (or the bytes following it) in the reset handler that they have. When reset is pressed, you will be placed in DOS (via $E000). At this point, we need to save the results of the check into a file (called NI). We just insert the copy, and BSAVE NI,A$5000,LSEO. The only thing left is to patch the FWR program to BLOAD NI instead of performing the nibble count, and branch past the call to the nibble count. LDA $C08C,X STA $50DC LDA $C08C,X Softkey for... Fay: That Math Woman Didatech Software Requirements: Fast DOS which de-allocates most of track 2 Fay: That Math Woman Original Disk File Copier Step-by-step 1. Initialize a blank disk with Pronto DOS (or other DOS that de-allocates most of Track 2). POKE 40514,52 INIT COPYRIGHT 1986 DELETE COPYRIGHT 1986 2. Use a file copier to copy the files (There is only one side). 3. Boot a DOS disk. BLOAD COPYRIGHT 1986 CALL-151 846:4C 05 67 remove decryption call ‘AAGO.AA61 file length in YY XX format UNLOCK COPYRIGHT 1986 BSAVE COPYRIGHT 1986,A$802,L$XXYY LOCK COPYRIGHT 1986 3. Load the encrypted FMWS program. BLOAD FMWS 4, Type the following to decrypt the FMWS file: 2000:A2 35 AO 03 A9 62 59 00 60 99 00 60 200C:C8 DO F5 EE 08 20 EE 0B 20 CA D0 EC 00 20006 5. Determine the length of the FMWS file and save it. ‘AAGO.AA61 length in YY XX format UNLOCK FMWS BSAVE FMWS,A$6000,L$XXYY 6. Place the original in drive 1, and type in the following to capture the signature check. 889E:00 N6705G 7. Insert your copy and BSAVE the signa- ture check to side 1. BSAVE NI,A$5000,L$E0 14, 8. Patch FMWS to make it load the signature results. Save the patched code. BLOAD FMWS 8823:A2 00 BD 30 88 FO 74 20 ED FD E8 DO F5 8830:84 C2 CC CF C1 C4 AO CE C9 8D 00 ‘AAGO.AA61 length in YY XX format BSAVE FMWS,A$6000,L$XXYY LOCK FMWS That’s All for Fay: That Math Woman Softkey for... Fay’s Word Rally Didatech Software - Requirements: Fast DOS which de-allocates most of track 2 Fay’s Word Rally Original Disk File Copier Step-by-step 1. Initialize both sides of a blank disk with Pronto DOS (or other DOS that de-allo- cates the part of track 2 that is not used by DOS). POKE 40514,52 INIT DV DELETE DV 2. Use a file copier to copy the files. (Don’t forget to file copy side 2). 3. Boot the FWR disk. 4. When the drive stops, press RESET. 5. Insert your copy and BSAVE the signa- ture check to side 1. BSAVE NI,A$5000,L$E0 6. Boot a DOS disk. 7. Insert your copy, side 1. BLOAD DV 8. Patch to remove decryption call to DOS. CALL -151 934:4C 93 78 9. Determine file length. ‘AAGO.AA61 10. You will receive the length in YY XX format. UNLOCK DV for binary hello Readers Data Exchange BSAVE DV,A$802,L$XXYY LOCK DV 11. Load the encrypted FWR. BLOAD FWR 12. Type the following to decrypt the FWR file: 2000:A2 35 AO 03 A9 53 59 00 60 99 00 60 200C:C8 DO F5 EE 08 20 EE 0B 20 CA DO EC 00 20006 This disassembles to: 2000:A2 35 LOX #$35 2002:A0 03 LDY #03 2004:A9 53 LDA #53 2006590060 EOR $6000,Y 2009990060 STA $6000,Y 2000:C8 INY 200D:D0 FS BNE $2004 200F:EE 0820 INC $2008 2012:EE0B20 INC $200B 2015:CA DEX 2016:D0 EC BNE $2004 2018:00 BRK 13. Make the following patches to FWR to load the signature results. 85E8:A2 00 BD F8 85 FO 74 20 ED FD E8 DOFS 85F5:00 00 84 C2 CC CF C1 C4 AOCE C9 8D 00 8660:EA EAEA This disassembles to: ‘85E8:A2 00 LOX #00 85EA‘BD F885 LDA $85F8,X 85ED:FO 74 BEQ $8663 85EF:20EDFD JSR $FDED 85F2:E8 INX ‘85F3:D0 F5 BNE $85EA 85F5:00 BRK 85F6:00 BRK 85F7:00 BRK 85F8:"*DBLOAD NIM" 14. Determine Length of FWR file. AAGO.AA61 15. You will receive the length in YY XX format. UNLOCK FWR BSAVE FWR,A$6000,L$XXYY LOCK FWR That is all for Fay’s Word Rally. Alan Chaney Softkey for... Star RankBoxing II Gamestar Requirements: 1 side of a blank disk copy program that ignores errors sector editor I copied the original program using copy 2+ fast copy. Upon booting the copied pro- gram I was greeted with (PLEASE PUT ORIGINAL DISK IN DRIVE). I then searched the disk for the PLEASE partof the message, and found it in 2 places both on track one in sectors 5 and 8.1 noticed that there was a DO 01 that branched pass a RETURN (60) and seem torun the PLEASE part of the message. Sol tried Noping out the above branch and you guessed it. 1. Copy the disk. 2. Search for AS FF D001 602C and change D001 toEA EA. Youshould find ittwice. 3. Write the changes back to disk. (Copy only.) MD Softkey for... Ikari Warriors II (Victory Road) Data East Requirements: copy program that ignores errors sector edit I search my issues for a softkey to this program and found 2, one by Mr. Moolenaar issue #52, and one by Mr. Simon in issue #53, but both were for Ikari Warriors and not part II of the program. So I copied the program (both sides) and booted the copy. Almost instantly the pro- gram rebooted again and again even before a program screen showed up. So out came issue #68 and Mr. Karwoski’s crack bible forreferences. After reading page 29 aminute or two, I tried looking on the disk for the reboot code of 4C 00 C6. I found the code on 9 the disk and Noped it out. Altogether now, I can’t be this smart or can I? 1. Copy both sides of the disk. 2. Search for FO 03 4C 00 C6 A9 60 and change the 4C 00 C6 to EA EA EA. Put Carmen (USA) on a 3.5" disk Requirements: The deprotected 5.25" program. one inited 3.5" disk A program to sector edit with. 1. Name the 3.5" disk anything but Carmen.USA. 2. Create 2 subdirectories, one to be for side Band one tobe for side C (both directories should each come off of your Volume name. For example: / ANYTHING ANYTHING ->->-> ACARMEN.USA.S2 ->->-> ACARMEN.USA.S3 3. Copy all files except ProDOS from side A to your Volume name set in 1. 4. Copy all files from side B to sub ACARMEN.USA.S2 5. Copy all files from side C to sub ACARMEN.USA.S3 6. Copy a clean ProDOS to the Volume section of disk. 7, Search disk for “/CARMEN.USA..” (last period is a must). 8. Weare going to make the Volume look for “ACARMEN” instead of “/CARMEN”. 9. Change 2F or “/” to 41 or “A” (4 Changes only), (NOT block 29). 10. Search disk for lower case “/ carmen.usa.”. Same changes (2 changes only). 11. There should have been 4 “/C” and 2 “/ c” changes for a total of 6 changes. 12, Rename Volume to “CARMEN.USA”. Time for you to go to work! Note: Hope this wasn’t that hard to follow, because when Mr. Egnotovich of issue #72 per- formed the same thing it was simple enough for even the Wildman. Any questions? Call a CAB! Just joking. Softkey for... Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? (GS) Broderbund Requirements: One 3.5" disk Fast copier sector editor Issue #72, Page 30 (by Mr. Hodge) The sector patch for Where in. the USA (GS) also works for Where in time (GS). Just scan for the bytes to be changed. The article appeared in issue #72 (pg 30) and it was sent in by Mr. Hodge. On my disk the edit 8D to 60 is found easier by looking for AO CO 8D 24 9A on block 31F at byte 189. The big sector edit was on block 320 starting at byte 1F. Note: In the big sector edit EB was E8 on my disk. T hope I don’t get sued for Plagiarism, because my ship is stuck in the Persian gulf until further notice. Here is the patch by Mr. Hodge of issue #72 Bk $07 Byte $1DE From To A232A000 A248 AO 1E ADEECO10 A99F 8F DF FBC9D5FO 4300920 O6EBDOF4 8F Et 4300 C8DOFIAD A976 48 28 EECO10FB A900 18.60 $148 8D 60 Put Carmen (Time) on a 3.5" disk Requirements: One 3.5" disk Sector Editor Original program disks The Times disk has a file that will auto- matically copy the program to a Hard Drive, Ram disk, or 3.5” disk, the file if I can still remember is “IN”. But the copy continues to ask for the original program every time you advance to other floors (which is a promo- 10 tion in rank). So I decided to make the Program tnuly hard drive compatible even though I don’t own such a luxury. The protection is in file MP. Scan the disk for 7D 7C 2000 96 90 25 and change 20 to AD now the copy will promote you to the next floor without the original. I think I got it? Note: The byte change also works on the 5.25" copies. Scan disk “C” for the string. (Should I smile? Not yet!). Advanced Playing Technique for... Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh GS . Taito Requirements: Deprotected 3.5" copy of program. Unlimited men 03/0425:DE E3 OF toEA EAEA,. Make these changes in the Monitor. 03/0FE3:03 # of Men Player 1. 03/0FES5:03 # of Men Player 2. 03/1227 Highest score shown on screen. Where 5 high scores are kept. Level for present player. 00/1B28:01 Level for Player 1. 00/1B2A:01 _ Level for Player 2. 00/1B76-1B79 present score player 1. 00/1B7A-1B7D present score player 2, My subscription began at issue #69. You might think that there need to be more in the area of explanations, But this is all I have at this moment. Maybe after I get a few more issues under my skull cap, the articles will become alittle easier to understand. Thanks goes to Computist and the many others that helped me to this point. 03/A754 00/1B0A:01 Softkey for... Studymate (The grade booster) Compu-Teach Requirements: Two 3.5" disk 3.5" Fast copier 3.5" Sector Editor Copy both disks. The protection is on disk 1. The protection is akey word found in the manual. The program gives you the page, paragraph and the number of words to count toon that line, After typing in the word and pressing return the program starts. I tried with no luck to eliminate the check altogether. But I was able to make the pro- gram look in the same place every time for the key word to start the program. Scan the disk for 2022 FC 20 1B FD and change to EA EA EA EA EA EA. Now the program will always ask for 36, 1, 4 which is METHODS. Help with Stickybears Disk (Optimum Resources) Requirements: Copy program that ignores errors. Sector Editor (maybe issue # 68 if you have problems) This help is being brought to you in part by the fine article written by Ralph Supinski in Computist #68. I think that the particular area on a disk where a protection is located is important to some, but not all of us. This help will be in the form of scans for bytes, instead of track and sector locations. If you can’t find these bytes on your disk, you will have to consult a back issue for your p