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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Mad Mekon Cracking
I'm looking for their productions, especially for MMC driver for Trilogic Expert. |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Oh! i thought it was just me remembered MMC...! i know that i have MMC Expert V2.10 around somewhere but i'm not sure where, after that the only other release i have at the moment is the the final release of the MMC No Blocks Boot and that's on TDD. i'm planning to email the Mad Mekon's brother about getting his disks at some point too, i really should get around to that... |
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chancer
Registered: Apr 2003
Posts: 347 |
I got this off a certain person years ago (I wonder who ;-) ).So if ya don't find the disk with it, I'll look for that. I'll just have to look for colourful disks, with drawings on.. which will narrow it down.hehe
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Colourful disks with drawings on? Nope, doesn't ring any bells [Whistles innocently]
If you have the time you're probably better off looking, i have a rough idea where it is but that'll probably mean a trip into the loft and i save those for special occasions! i've emailed the Mad Mekon's brother though, so fingers crossed he'll get nagged into sending disks. =-) |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Glad I'm not the only one who still remembers those releases. I'm really looking forward getting their Expert tool into my hands.
Thanks in advance guys! |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Quote: Glad I'm not the only one who still remembers those releases. I'm really looking forward getting their Expert tool into my hands.
Thanks in advance guys!
Wasn't really a "their" as such, MMC was just the Mad Mekon. The guy could crack and then some, i remember watching him taking apart Alleykat from tape and he was hardly concentrating on it! Granted i was probably a bit easier to impress in those days, but it was still bloody impressive. =-) |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Quote: Wasn't really a "their" as such, MMC was just the Mad Mekon. The guy could crack and then some, i remember watching him taking apart Alleykat from tape and he was hardly concentrating on it! Granted i was probably a bit easier to impress in those days, but it was still bloody impressive. =-)
I never realized that it was just one person operation. Thanks for info.
I'm want to get my hands on their Expert tools because somebody had told me that MMC driver is programming Expert when it is in off position. I wonder how it is done. Looking at Trilogic's v4 I've found only sei/inc $de00/jmp * - the rest of code is just relocator. Inside the cartridge is a flipflop that controls if it is active or not. This is why inc $de00 is there probably but I still can't figure out how it is possible to enable RAM in off position. |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
From what i remember, the cartridge is programmed in the on position; the switch gets thrown and it detects that and programs. The code was based on some protection the Mad Mekon found in, i think, Ubik's Musik from Firebird, it detected the cartridge being enabled and, i think, trashed the software to stop people freezing it...? |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Quote: From what i remember, the cartridge is programmed in the on position; the switch gets thrown and it detects that and programs. The code was based on some protection the Mad Mekon found in, i think, Ubik's Musik from Firebird, it detected the cartridge being enabled and, i think, trashed the software to stop people freezing it...?
So if I understand it correctly the MMC driver asked user to turn Expert on instead to switching it to PRG. This requires some preparations before touching the switch as turning on "empty" Expert freezes the whole system. Do you have the original protection code? I'd love to take a look at it. |
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chancer
Registered: Apr 2003
Posts: 347 |
Alex, might be some time before I get back to look for that disk.. but yer you did switch the 3 way switch on the top from what I recall, as to what position, well it was either ON/PRG, all I can recall was the MMC software was hhmm a grey screen.there was the additional button on the front as well. memory is hazy..
is it the tape loader on Ubiks that has the protection on it?, maybe like cyberload.. I bought Ubiks years ago, I'm pretty sure the loader was the standard firebird one, that looked like oceans or cyberload (with the 2 tone border) ironically the same guy who made cyberload / ikari warriors (+ a few more games) and the offical expert software was john twiddy, amazing coder =)
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
The protection in Ubiks is embedded into the program (the usual Cyberload protections were in place druring loading) and, if it detects anyone tampering, the program should disappear and lock into playing that port of PET Invaders that Ubik released onto Compunet - i think it even shovels that over to the Expert's RAM but it's been a hideously long time so i could well be wrong.
The three way switch has "program", "off" and "on" states, normally the software loads in the "program" state, then requests the cartridge be switched to "off" (it's switched on after the target program has been loaded for freezing) but the MMC Expert starts with it in the "off" position and detects the switch going to "on", whereupon it programs the cartridge. |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Thanks guys for the info. Take your time with disks too - I know how hard it is to find particular one (and to find time for searching it!).
I've already found out how to make system running after switching clean Expert into ON mode (as long as you don't touch ESM button). |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Ok I found out how to not hang the system after switching Expert to ON position (without code loaded) and how to detect change from ON/OFF to PRG and the other way around :) It is so simple I can't believe it. I'll post some code later (I wrote the routine using expert monitor so I need to clean it up a bit). It even works under Vice :) |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1790 |
here you have some info on it:
http://www.e.kth.se/~e93_msi/c64/expert.html
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Quote: here you have some info on it:
http://www.e.kth.se/~e93_msi/c64/expert.html
Thanks, I used this page to understand how switch is working o n hardware level - it also explains write protection mechanism (inc $de00). |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1790 |
There is also this: Expert Turbo Utility |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Quote: There is also this: Expert Turbo Utility
Didn't know about that one! Thanks tlr :) |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
I've seen that MMC has been finally added to CSDB :) |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Yeah, i thought i'd already done it to be honest! Fingers crossed, i'm hoping to borrow his entire disk collection with a mind to transferring it, that should get some of his cracks preserved along with probably some of his code too. |
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AlexC
Registered: Jan 2008
Posts: 299 |
Quote: Yeah, i thought i'd already done it to be honest! Fingers crossed, i'm hoping to borrow his entire disk collection with a mind to transferring it, that should get some of his cracks preserved along with probably some of his code too.
Great! I'll keep my fingers crossed than. |
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chancer
Registered: Apr 2003
Posts: 347 |
MMC Expert V2.10c
enjoy Alex. |
