Defeating a 40-year-old copy protection dongle

Post by samplatt » Tue, Feb 03, 2026, 4:32 AM UTC

wongarsu wrote: post #207

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unity has always had janky shaders, the fact people still use it over Unreal Engine or even Godot is completely baffling. Unity is getting way too cheeky considering how they started out. =3

For anything smaller than AAA, C# is just generally much more pleasant to work in than C++. That's Unity's edge. And Godot is the "new" kid on the block I'd agree that between Unreal and Godot, Unity doesn't look very attractive right now. But inertia will carry them for a long time

Post by bombcar » Tue, Feb 03, 2026, 6:02 AM UTC

jasomill wrote: post #275

ale42 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember an icon editor (or something similar) for Windows 3.1, it was a shareware where you could enter a code to remove the nag screen. No crack was necessary, I basically managed to enter valid registration codes by just typing random numbers. In the end I had enough valid numbers that I could figure out the logic, it was something about the sums of digit groups.

This was true for the 10-digit CD keys Microsoft used for many products in the 90s: the first three digits could be almost anything, and the last seven digits had to sum to a multiple of 7, so, e.g., 111-1111111 was a valid product key (for any product that used the scheme).

Post by Joel_Mckay » Tue, Feb 03, 2026, 10:19 AM UTC

samplatt wrote: post #281

wongarsu wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anything smaller than AAA, C# is just generally much more pleasant to work in than C++. That's Unity's edge. And Godot is the "new" kid on the block I'd agree that between Unreal and Godot, Unity doesn't look very attractive right now. But inertia will carry them for a long time

Programming semantics is a large part of the equation, but it's a secondary part. Unity is just too damn EASY for spinning up a prototype and gluing other modules onto it. C# is a part of that but simple implementation is so much easier and powerful than other engines. This goes out the window for polished end products but that's a different argument... but by then the ship has often already sailed and you're already…

Post by miki123211 » Tue, Feb 03, 2026, 10:51 AM UTC

Thorrez wrote: post #187

miki123211 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another method (much more common for software that asks for two pieces of information, like a name and a key) is to take a memdump of the process at the "your key is invalid" dialog, find the invalid key you just typed, and hope that a valid key is somewhere nearby in memory. Unlike the assembly trick, this requires 0 programming expertise beyond the ability to type `strings` on the command line. This works because s…

The proper thing to do is not to zeroize the correct string memory before comparing. The proper thing is to only store the hash in the binary in the first place, not the correct string. (Although having a 2nd layer of hashing before comparing might also be a good idea, and in that case you would want to zeroize the 1st hash before comparing the 2nd hash.)

Post by direwolf20 » Tue, Feb 03, 2026, 11:47 AM UTC

charcircuit wrote: post #250

direwolf20 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could the molecules from the food stop forming parts of my body?

I am not chemist or biologist but I don't think that is possible.