(The third MEAN18 unprotect, for the current (11/87) EGA version) The current EGA version of MEAN18 (11/87) uses a more sophisticated means of copy protection than previous versions, but, as with most protection schemes, it is rather easy to break if you know what you are looking for. We do! To perform this unprotect, you will need the Norton Utilities or another file oriented editor. (Like FM, included onthis disk. PBS) Load GOLF.EXE into the editor, and search for the following byte pattern: E9 C9 00 BB F1 01 If you do not find this pattern, go no further; your version of MEAN18 is not compatible with this unprotect. Replace the bytes shown above with the following byte pattern: EB 7F 90 BB F1 01 Write out the altered file. GOLF.EXE is now unprotected, and will run off floppy or hard disk without the need for the key disk. It is hard to believe that after going to the trouble of protecting the two main programs that comprise MEAN18, they'd be silly enough to use the identical scheme for both, down to the byte locations, but they WERE that silly! ARCH.EXE may be unprotected in EXACTLY the same fashion. Search for the same byte pattern shown for GOLF.EXE, and replace it with the same replacement byte pattern given above. Write out the altered file. ---------------------------------------------------- This routine is a patch which breaks the copy protection of Accolade's Mean 18 golf game for the IBM PC. Written by Kent Briggs 8/21/88 ** Do not modify your original disk ** Copy all your files to another disk or to a subdirectory on your hard disk and put the original disk away in a safe place. Mean 18 does not indicate a version number but the file size for GOLF.EXE should be 89375 bytes. The copy protection scheme looks for a bad sector on drive A. We will patch 4 calls to this routine with NOP's (no operation) and patch 1 JUMP to an early exit with a NOP. Put DEBUG.COM (from your DOS disk) in the same directory or make sure it is in the DOS path. Type the following commands: Command Comments ======= ======== ren golf.exe golf.xxx Rename program for debug debug golf.xxx Load debug rcs Check contents of cs register (retype the 4 digits shown, but The code that we want to change add 1 to the left digit first) is beyond the current 64K segment e cs:4fe3 90 90 90 NOP the first call e cs:4fec 90 90 90 NOP the second call e cs:500a 90 90 90 NOP the third call e cs:5019 90 90 90 NOP the fourth call e cs:5058 90 90 NOP the early exit jump rcs Check cs register again (retype the 4 digits shown, but Restore the cs register to its subtract 1 from the left digit first) original state w Write file back to the disk q Quit debug ren golf.xxx golf.exe Restore file name ======= ======== Now run GOLF and confirm that the patch works. The Course Architect program (ARCH.EXE) is also copy protected with an identical scheme. The size of ARCH.EXE should be 49631 bytes. No segment registers have to be altered since all the code will fit into 1 segment. Command Comments ======= ======== ren arch.exe arch.xxx Rename program for debug debug arch.xxx Load debug e bd9a 90 90 90 NOP the first call e bda3 90 90 90 NOP the second call e bdc1 90 90 90 NOP the third call e bdd0 90 90 90 NOP the fourth call e be0f 90 90 NOP the early exit jump w Write file back to the disk q Quit debug ren arch.xxx arch.exe Restore file name ======= ======== Now run ARCH and confirm that the patch works. ---------------------------------------------------- There have been questions about unprotecting the 106,512 version of Mean-18. I thought the correct version was on this board but it's not. I have compared my busted version with the original and the following describes all the differences in the file s. I am NOT expert at this so if the instructions don't make sense, GET A COMPETENT FRIEND TO DO IT!!! First, ARCH.EXE, load debug and dump EA1C. It should start CD 13 72 49. If it does, start at EA1C and patch NOP's for EXACTLY 21 instructions. The command should read: e ea1c 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 Then save the file. Now for Mean-18. The instructions are basically the same as for ARCH. The EXACT same thing needs to be done at the proper place in Mean-18. Load debug and do the following: rcx add 1 to the left digit d cs:9aac you should see CD 13 etc. e cs:9aac <-- follow this with twenty-one 90's as above w q That should do the dirty deed. My copy has been working with no problems for about a year now. This is the only version of many patches I tried that worked. If you have the latest version og Mean-18 that is 89,375 bytes long, the break by Kent Briggs works fine. It broke my sister's copy. Glenn Rose 2/6/89