Anyone know what program he is using to view the dumps?
IDA Pro.
Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
61–70 of 232 posts
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#62As a Sega fanboy, this makes me happy. That copy protection scheme (outer ring spiral) is quite something. I find it amusing that Sega went with yet another proprietary disc format for the Dreamcast (GD-ROM) and that system is able to load homebrew code from any CD-R / CD-RW without any modifications to the hardware.
> That copy protection scheme (outer ring spiral) is quite something. Yeah about that, I don't get it. Is there data hidden in that spiral that acts as a checksum for the CD or something? Or is it of special material that lights up differently under certain light (like money)? To me it doesn't look that hard to duplicate a simple spiral, but then I know nothing about it.
Consumer CD writers and CD-R's don't have the ability to write anything similar to the disc.
Gamecube discs utilised a similar technology which you can easily see on the disc surface - http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/ngcdisc2.jpg & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_optical_discs#Burst_c...
Years before, companies actually did a similar thing with floppy discs, albeit in a slightly different way.
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that is something. They thought better hardware protection was unnecessary because they believed in the strength of their software solution (which was quickly cracked)? The games could be larger, so that CDs could not fit them without changes. IIRC early Soul Calibur burns had their music down-sampled to fit 650 MB. And was it Skies of Arcadia that really did have too much content to fit on a CD, without seriou…
Dreamcast games varied in size massively. Crazy Taxi was only around 100mb. So small in fact that when initially burnt to a CD the drive couldn't load files fast enough (as files were closer to the inner ring of the disc). Tools were then released to 'pad' the game files out to be closer to the outer edge with a dummy file. Files close to the outer edge can be read faster as the drive laser can cover more distance pe…
I believe they did no such thing(proof would be greatly appreciated).
What they did was downsample the audio files and the pvr game textures.
To achieve what you claim would more than likely mean game engine modification and without the source code I dont see that happening.
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#64Amazing work. Also highlights how paranoid DRM proponents often are going to such lengths to cripple the hardware.
Breaking DRM is like finding a cure for insanity ;)
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#65I was just thinking about the Saturn at a nerd memorabilia store, as this was the one system I saved my money up to buy at 11 years old. What an utter disappointment of a system (in terms of games), but what a great hack. Makes Dreamcast hacking look like Lego Logo.
The Saturn had great games what are you talking about?
Maybe it didnt have all those game your schoolmate was playing on his Playstation but does take away from some of the great games it did have
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#66I'm so so glad he mentions archiving in this video - I don't think enough thought has been given to the impact of DRM on museum collections in 10-50 years.
I'm going through this as a relatively new PS Vita owner. Sony decided to go with proprietary game cartridges, proprietary memory cards, and DRM'd digital distribution. Despite the quality of the games and hardware, the system didn't do well commercially and it appears Sony has lost interest in the system and it's sibling PS TV/Vita TV.
There are a lot of great games (including PS1 and PSP games) for the system, but once the hardware dies or the download servers are shut down, what is left for people who still want to play these games?
In the back of my mind I've been thinking what digital consumer rights look like. It seems like this point in history has laws that favor publishers more than consumers or the public good.
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's zero benefit in doing anything like this. I don't know. Winning people's hearts? For the fun of it?
>I don't know. Winning people's hearts? For the fun of it? That's true, but as long as they can still make money from their IP they won't (i.e. repackaging old source + game(s) into a VM for sale on Steam or next-gen consoles) Some of the source code/etc may be licensed from a third party, which means that releasing it is treading through a legal minefield.
What's strange is that a lot of the Sega games from this era are just missing completely. Try hunting down Skies of Arcadia (even the GC port) or anything Panzer Dragoon. They were never released in virtual consoles despite significant cult followings.
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#68Amazing work. Also highlights how paranoid DRM proponents often are going to such lengths to cripple the hardware. Breaking DRM is like finding a cure for insanity ;)
"Breaking DRM is like finding a cure for insanity ;)"
Well said.
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Non Open Source emulators are dead in the water in terms of archiving. 10 years later if the original author is not around anymore, you won't be able to rely on it nor improve on it. I wish all emulator writers understood that. PPSSPP and Dolphin have made great progress BECAUSE they were open.
I would imagine a fair few emulator writers don't much care about maintaining the "backups" fiction, even under the classier name "archiving"
Historians in 2200 will be thanking them none the less, we lost a lot of early film lets not let that happen to this art form.
Re: Sega Saturn CD Cracked after 20 Years
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that is something. They thought better hardware protection was unnecessary because they believed in the strength of their software solution (which was quickly cracked)? The games could be larger, so that CDs could not fit them without changes. IIRC early Soul Calibur burns had their music down-sampled to fit 650 MB. And was it Skies of Arcadia that really did have too much content to fit on a CD, without seriou…
Dreamcast games varied in size massively. Crazy Taxi was only around 100mb. So small in fact that when initially burnt to a CD the drive couldn't load files fast enough (as files were closer to the inner ring of the disc). Tools were then released to 'pad' the game files out to be closer to the outer edge with a dummy file. Files close to the outer edge can be read faster as the drive laser can cover more distance pe…
> "Skies of Arcadia was I believe the biggest ever 'released' - 2x1GB"
Bigger than Shenmue / Shenmue 2? IIRC both Shenmue games spanned 3 GD-ROMs.