[CSDb] - User Forums - And people wonder why...

Welcome to our latest new user eightbitswide ! (Registered 2024-12-24)

You are not logged in - nap

CSDb User Forums

Forums > C64 Coding > And people wonder why...

2005-06-07 20:49

Wanderer
Account closed

Registered: Apr 2003
Posts: 478

And people wonder why...

I sometimes feel that the scene is 'lame'. I'm not going to get into that argument all over again.

This time, I'm blowing off steam. I released two games on the C64. One was called Jailbreak and the other called Virus. Both were basic attempts at a game, nothing extraordinary.

Years later, in 2005, I would come back to the scene to try to find some of my old releases. I found that Jailbreak had been "cracked" by another group and trained.

Jailbreak was never protected to begin with. It was uploaded to all of the warez boards when I released it. It even says "RFO" for Rage for Order on the wall of the prison. The level packing looks like shit and it spends more time processing the packer that the original did. The original was already packed (individual files crunched) and did not need a level packer.

Yet it was re-released with a trainer. Back in my day we would never re-release anything that had already been put out.

I also found Virus (thanks to Sailor of Triad). And low and behold, someone informs me there is a Virus 2. I checked and sure enough there is a sequal to my game.

EPIC (Warlord and Mendrake) managed to "crack" and "train" this game. Here's the kicker... it's the same game as mine, exactly. All they did was change the music and a few sprites. How does a public domain game with no protection get "CRACKED" ? And the trainer is the exact same trainer I had INCLUDED in the game to prevent people from re-releasing.

This is the second program I've put out that, years later, I would find "cracked and trained" when there was no crack, and using my own trainer. Changing sprites and music and calling it a sequel is pathetic.

Can you now see why I feel the way I do about the scene at times? If you're going to do this, at least don't pretend you cracked anything and leave the intro on from the person who wrote it.

Oh and guess what, Virus 2 was NTSC fixed by EPIC too. That's good because as I live in Canada and my c64 is NTSC, I would sure hate to release a game that didn't work on NTSC machines to begin with LMFAO.

And less than 24 hours after I found a copy of Virus and uploaded it to CSDB, some group re-released it in less than 24 hours with one more trainer.

It's pretty sad when a programmer has to include every single conceivable trainer known to man in his work, for if he doesn't someone will come along and strip off his intro and put it out with another trainer.

If I wanted Jailbreak +20 and Virus +22 I would have written it that way. :)

If the scene has not (partially) become lame, someone tell me how you can crack and train a public domain game, twice, taken from a BBS and already trained? When I left the scene this was unheard of, and today it seems the norm.

http://www.ontarioghosttowns.com/c64

... 37 posts hidden. Click here to view all posts....

2005-06-08 23:55

Derision

Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 69

Unfortunately, this is the way the scene goes these days. The crackers are desperate for anything to come out. Personally, I don't see a need to crack SEUCK games -- or even to play them most of the time -- but that's the way things go.

Incidentally, NTSC-fixing an NTSC release is one of the most hillarious things I've ever heard.

I don't pretend to be any kind of a cracker (except perhaps of the ethnic variety), but I understand both sides of this argument. The crackers need something to crack, but seriously... even just ten years ago releasing PD games was "below" a lot of groups, and I recall a lot of bitching on the boards when stuff like that was put out. And to take a trainer that's already there and just... futz with it a tad and say you did it... well, I don't think that's indicitive of the entire scene, but simply of the individual that did it, and yeah, I agree that it's a load of shite. I'd probably unleash a verbal smackdown, too.

Just my bit. I'll go and eat now. Carry on, Gents.

2005-06-09 01:22

T.M.R
Account closed

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749

Derision: "Unfortunately, this is the way the scene goes these days. The crackers are desperate for anything to come out. [...] The crackers need something to crack, but seriously... even just ten years ago releasing PD games was "below" a lot of groups, and I recall a lot of bitching on the boards when stuff like that was put out."

Only problem with saying that is that we're not talking about these days - the cracks in question were done in the late 1980s and early 1990s, so this did indeed happen over ten years ago and we're talking groups like Epic who weren't nobodies in the scene. That said, Mayhem used to churn out SEUCK "cracks" like there was no tomorrow, people like Avantgarde and so forth did Commodore Format covermount games and getting a nearly complete preview from the programmer or the software house still got called a crack by the likes of Ikari or RTI despite the ori turning up unprotected most of the time.

2005-06-09 07:11

V-12

Registered: Nov 2003
Posts: 206

"However taking a SCENER'S GAME, without any protection and saying "hey I cracked this" is just wrong and pathetic."

Absolutely right, but you Wanderer just can't do nothing. I experienced the same with my own game so I know how you feel. Some people growing up from that, some not.

2005-06-09 12:35

Mason

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 461

...and Murdock did a nice opinion without knowing a dime what hes talking about.

Go do some research first and then write something useful instead of bla bla. And oh it seems other could need to do that.

2005-06-09 14:25

V-12

Registered: Nov 2003
Posts: 206

I know what I'm talking about. I don;t understand your post. What you want from me ? I'm free to place here my own opinon about some problems and I know how it is stupid to release "cracks" where are only linked intro to the unprotected games released by a scener just to increase amount of the releases from the group. Like Onslaught does, like Axelerate did in the past and some others..... quality, not the quantity for me....

2005-06-10 09:59

Jazzcat

Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1044

Murdock: no offence, but it seems you don't understand the first release cracking scene. To narrow it down, Onslaught's role in the first release cracking scene. Onslaught releases games not to bump-up the amount of releases, otherwise we would release Bayliss games all the time or other such crap like Wood Shot, a full one-side game we spread in it's original form for anyone to crack with an issue of Vandalism News. We release games for the fun of it, in most cases these games are things that are unfinished and laying around in a disk box not doing anything. To some people it is a pleasure to see these projects for the first time. As far as "cracking" is concerned, we have done that in the past too. If the game is protected then we "crack" it. If it is a game that has no protection (like most) then we release it.

2005-06-10 15:56

V-12

Registered: Nov 2003
Posts: 206

Jazzcat: I know what you mean, you are right by releasing missed games,fixed etc. But for me it's quite odd to release unprotected games from Protovision as a cracks.

2005-06-10 23:48

Jazzcat

Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1044

Who has claimed to crack a Protovision game? It is not our fault that CSDB categories only give us "C64 crack" not "C64 release" and when I have tried to change it just to "C64 game" I get a message from the administration saying change it.

Releasing Protovision games, trained, level packed etc is fine. Nothing wrong with this. As far as crackers are concerned, we're the ones looking at how lame the game coders are, who cannot even write a decent protection like in the old days to protect their software that they complain about be intro-linked (e.g. V-Max).

2005-06-11 00:17

Slartibartfast
Account closed

Registered: Jul 2002
Posts: 230

Quote: Who has claimed to crack a Protovision game? It is not our fault that CSDB categories only give us "C64 crack" not "C64 release" and when I have tried to change it just to "C64 game" I get a message from the administration saying change it.

Releasing Protovision games, trained, level packed etc is fine. Nothing wrong with this. As far as crackers are concerned, we're the ones looking at how lame the game coders are, who cannot even write a decent protection like in the old days to protect their software that they complain about be intro-linked (e.g. V-Max).

You're a cracker? No mention of that in your CSDb entry...

Functions :
Co-Sysop, Cover Designer, Diskmag Editor, FTP Administrator, Graphician, Hacker, Importer, Mega Swapper, Modem Trader, Organizer, Original Supplier, Phreaker, Public Relations Manager, Swapper, Webmaster

Possibly it's out of date.

2005-06-11 19:16

Jazzcat

Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1044

Slarti: I'm an original supplier who is part of the cracking scene.

Previous - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 - Next

Refresh

Subscribe to this thread: