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Earthbound

 
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Li Wang
SnHX WiIYrd
SnHX WiIYrd


Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 798

PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:57 pm    Post subject: Earthbound Reply with quote

Hi, people. Does anyone remember where the first point that the nasty copyright screen comes up is? Not the Live Show one, the first one that everyone says is somewhere in the graveyard but I can't find for the life of me.

Anyone who actually knows this gets a cookie.
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Kitsune
FURRY


Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 318
Location: Mexico

PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nasty Copyright screen? I don't remember ever stumbling upon one, at least not on a real system.
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Richter Belmont



Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 285
Location: Murfreesboro, TN

PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't seen one on Earthbound, but I have seen one on Super Metroid, on my actual SNES. I put the game in once, and a text screen popped up. It said something like:

WARNING

Copying games is a serious crime and a violation of copyright law.
Please consult your instruction booklet for more information.
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KingMike



Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 898

PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 1:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm guessing Li Wang was referring to the NES proto, though I've never seen the copy-protection screen myself (though I also haven't beaten the game either, got as far as Youngtown. Decided in respect, I'd wait to see if Nintendo would release the GBA game here to finish the game, but it's starting to seem like that won't be happening...)

Supposedly, this was as a result of checksum protection, set off like when demi supposedly did the Earthbound "ZERO" hack (as well as possibly when the checksum failed because the original dump from the cart was bad I heard), but I've only seen the (assumably) unaltered title.

Apparently a copier (of course a copied ROM, but also the real cart) or even just a Game Genie could set it off.
I know when I bought a DKC1 cart off ebay, I got the copy-protection screen (even though I own neither a copier nor a Game Genie) the first time I put the cart in. I reset and all went well.
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Geist



Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Posts: 7
Location: NeoIcaria

PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Earthbound ZERO illegal copy screen, shown here:

came about due to a one byte hack to fix the text display.

Im told usually shows up at the Live House in Ellay about 80% into the game.
No one is quite sure about the graveyard one mostly because almost no one has the unfixed version anymore. Heck, this picture and info was hard as heck to find.

Of course, this only happens if you have the unfixed version of the rom which I imagine would be very hard to find. No one has the unfixed copy because, well, its unplayable and was only released for a day or two before the fixed version was released.

EDIT: Gah, the more searching I do about this the more I find that no one knows when or even if it occured in the graveyard. Some people say it only happens when the gang leader joins while others distinctly note it says it happened at "two crucial points" but I'll be damned if anyone will say where.

Have you ever seen it there?
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Kitsune
FURRY


Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 318
Location: Mexico

PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The rom must be among the dozens of copies of the rom in the GOODNES set. But which one is it? Who knows. Meh.
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BMF54123
Staff
Staff


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 743
Location: Henderson, NV

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Geist wrote:
No one has the unfixed copy because, well, its unplayable and was only released for a day or two before the fixed version was released.

Actually, it's quite playable, but NESticle chokes on it because it's old and stupid. That's the whole reason the "fix" was released (NESticle was easily the most popular emulator back then).
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Geist



Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Posts: 7
Location: NeoIcaria

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BMF54123 wrote:
Geist wrote:
No one has the unfixed copy because, well, its unplayable and was only released for a day or two before the fixed version was released.

Actually, it's quite playable, but NESticle chokes on it because it's old and stupid. That's the whole reason the "fix" was released (NESticle was easily the most popular emulator back then).

Well its unplayable in the sense that once you reach a certain point you keep getting illegal copy screens and most likely will be unable to continue to beat the game. Thats why the unfixed version is so rare.

Ok but wait technically there are three versions.

Original Rip with a faulty text display, but Im not sure this version was ever distributed.

Fixed Rip with text display patch that caused illegal copy screens at supposedly two critical points in the game, but was replaced the next day with-

Fixed Fixed Rip which is the fully playable copy that 99% of the players have.
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Skrybe
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Staff


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 1610

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know, Li, the more I think about it, the more doubts I have that there was anything in the graveyard that set off the warning screen. I believe the first place that caused it was at the Live Show, and the second was at the XX tombstone at the end of the game, not in the graveyard. I remember one of the hacks only prevents the Live Show warning, another one had to be made once people got further into the game and got the same screen at the tombstone. So there should be 4 versions of the game out there:

- The original dump
- Hack #1 that fixes the Nesticle issues but causes the warning screens
- Hack #2 that fixes Nesticle issues and the Live Show warning
- Hack #3 that fixes Nesticle issues and both the Live Show and tombstone warnings

So do I get a cookie?
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Geist



Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Posts: 7
Location: NeoIcaria

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well the hackers say they removed all the self-checking code so its odd that it would fix one location but not the other, but whatever.

I want half a cookie for spending way too many hours looking this stuff up. :roll:
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BMF54123
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Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 743
Location: Henderson, NV

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Geist wrote:
Original Rip with a faulty text display, but Im not sure this version was ever distributed.

Yes, it was, and it's not faulty. NESticle just couldn't handle whatever the game was trying to do. I tested it myself, FCE Ultra (and probably most other modern emulators) handles it just fine, and doesn't show any copy protection screens.

None of this copy protection crap and multiple release nonsense would have ever come up (aside from maybe the "ZERO" hack) had NESticle properly supported the game in the first place.
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