Compression and Cracks for Dummies.    By  Bad Boy!                                            The WareZhouse BBS                                            (209) 772-9165**NOTE*****NOTE******NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE**This document has been completly updated as of 05-27-95 to include  Information on the instalation of CD-Rom rips. If you have read thisdocument reguarding Compression and Cracks and are have some problemswith some of the CD-Rom Rips proceed to the Authers notes #2 on page 16.**NOTE*****NOTE******NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE*****NOTE**                        January 23 1994      The following is a comprised collection of the many problems and solutions when working with .Zip and .Arj file compression and cracks.     First you should understand that most software comes on floppy disks stored as many files and subdirectories on each disk. Now days most of thesoftware is compressed on the floppies so the software manufactures don't haveto buy so many disks. There install programs usually uncompress the files asthere installed onto the hard disk. Therefore very few programs these days canbe file copied to a hard disk directory and expect the program to run. Therefore about the only reason we use programs like Pkzip and Arj is so that we can create one simple file per disk. This is the only way we can effectively work with these programs when Uploading and Downloading from the Bulletin boards.     The following is a detailed explanation of the process that takes placefrom the time a cracking group buys the originals and you type the command toplay the game on your hard drive. All examples given will be using a IBM orcompatible computer running MsDos Version 6.0.  If you don't have Dos 6.0or higher installed in your computer then get with it.      Before we start make sure you have MsDos version 6.0 or higherinstalled and that you have the following files in your C:\Dos Directory.Pkzip.exe   Version 2.04 or higherPkunzip.exe Version 2.04 or higherArj.exe     Version 2.41 or Higher     Also note that your C:\dos directory must be in your Path statement inyour autoexec.bat file. This is done so that from any dos prompt you can typePkzip, Pkunzip or Arj and that program will load. You see for example If youare in the C:\downloads Directory and you issue the Pkunzip command, Doslooks first in the current directory which is C:\downloads for the Pkzip.exe file and does not find it . It then looks every where your Path statement says tolook and finds it in your C:\dos directory and loads it.OK so the originals for the game SpaceX just arrived and the program consistsof four 1.44 kb floppy disks. A quick look at the disks shows that the diskscontain disk Labels as follows.spacex1spacex2spacex3spacex4As a quick test diskcopy was used to copy the disks to four formatted floppiesand the disk labels were removed by putting each floppy disk in the B: driveand then from the B: prompt typing Label and then return. Then instead ofgiving the disk a new name we just hit return to delete the volume label. Thenwe tried to install the game from the new floppies and the install program just kept saying please put disk 1 in drive B:  , OK this proved that the install program looks for the Volume Label so we will have to save the volumelabel when we Pkzip these disks for Uploading. After returning the volume labels to the copied disks we did a normal installand then ran the program. After the normal boot up sequence we were askedfor some word from the documentation on Page 3 line 6 word 3 or some shitlike that. This proved to us that the protection was the basic word look upversion and a simple crack patch was written by one of our Hackers to intercept the doc check and allow us to use the program no matter what our answer is. OK now that we have a good copy of the four floppies with the correct volumelabels and we have put the crack patch file spccrk.com and the Group.nfo fileon disk one we are now ready to .Zip the files and Upload them to our BBS. Putting Disk #1 in the B: Drive, and we have the file Pkzip.exe in the Dosdirectory or in any directory that is always in the Path command. from a dosprompt we issue the following command.c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-1.zip b:\*.* OK the first command calls the Pkzip program.The next commands are Switches for the Pkzip Command. -P is the Path switch. In other words if the files contained on the floppy disk are in subdirectories then by using the -P the directory structure will be saved in the .Zip file. -R is recurse subdirectories. This command switch always goes with the -Pswitch so that the directory structure remains intact. Note. even if the Floppy disk contains no subdirectories it is a good habit to always use the -P -R switches. -$B  is the Volume label switch which simply says store the volume label fromthe disk in drive B in the .Zip file.  Remember always use the -$(drive) switch so that the (drive) is the drive in which the Floppy you are zipping is in. In other words if you were to simply use the -$ switch with out a (drive)the volume label saved to the .Zip file would be the Volume label of your C:\ hard drive.OK so now you have a zip file Named Spacex-1.zip in the upload directory allyou need to do now is zip up the other 3 files and your done. These commandswill do the trick.c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-2.zip b:\*.*c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-3.zip b:\*.*c:\> Pkzip -P -R -$B c:\upload\spacex-4.zip b:\*.*OK so now you have just Downloaded the following four zip files and cant waitto install the damn thing and play the game. For now we will unzip to floppiesand install. Later I will explain how to install using a Subst drive. First judging by the size of the zip files its pretty easy to tell we will need four 1.44 floppies formatted for this game. With the first disk in Drive B: issue the following command.  Dir B:  return.  Hopefully you will receive a File not found from the dos . If not delete the files on the disk or format it, whichever you prefer. Taking into account that the four zip files are in you Download directory change to that directory and with your floppy in drive B: Issue the following command from dos. C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-1 b: OK well the following explanation will be as follows. The pkunzip commandcalls the program Pkunzip located in your c:\dos directory just the same aswhen you called the Pkzip program earlier. The Switches are as follows. -D simply tells Pkunzip to put the files back onto the disk with the correctdirectory structure and subdirectories as when it was created using the -r -pswitches. -$ tells Pkunzip to label the destination disk with the Volume label stored in the Zip file if it is . And in which in this instance it was stored.OK now so after that floppy number 1 is done issue the following commands todo the other 3 floppy disks and you will be ready to install.C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-2 b:C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-3 b:C:\download > pkunzip -d -$ spacex-4 b:Now remember after you Unzip all four disks you need to use some kind oftext file viewer to look for files on disk 1 for installation info or etc before you install and try to run the program.  In this example you would find the file on disk 1 called group.nfo and in that file would be the typical information as to when the program was cracked. Who cracked it and the most important thing is that you need to install the program as normal then copy the file strcrk.com into the game directory after installation and then switchto that directory and run that crack program once before you try to play the game so that you will be able to Bypass the protection. Will that's about it. for the first example . Most programs will be somewhatsimilar to that but below are some more detailed explanations of most of thethings you can expect to run up against.Answers to common asked questions.Q. Why are some Zip files larger that a 1.44 Floppy disk.A. Will most software companies will use the entire 1.44 floppy disk beforestarting another and because most companies use there own compressionmethod when they store the files zipping the disk does not make it any smaller. Then with the crack patch and .Nfo files added they are larger thanthe floppy. Then when the file is uploaded to some Elite BBS the BBS softwarewill automaticly append there BBS advertisement to the disks and over and over. Sometimes the zip files are 1.48 or so in size....  This is no problem and also the reason that when you are Unzipping a file to your floppy disk youget a Disk full error... That is not usually a problem as the files are unzipped to a floppy in the same order as they were zipped so the Programfiles are always restored and its usually the BBS advertisements that get left off. NOTE: Remember that the important crack files and .nfo files may also be left off and even though they are not required to install the game they will probably be required to defeat the protection. Just remember that afteryou install to the floppies and you receive a disk full message then Unzip thesame file to your Hard drive in a temporary directory so that you can read thefiles in case you need them. Then delete them after you are finished with them.Q. What do I do if the Install program wont work to install the program.A. I find that occasionally some people install the program and in doing so all the files from the program are copied into a directory on the hard drive.Then that person does not have the original disks decides to Pkzip the installed game and upload it to a BBS. The problem is that when you unzip it and try to run the Install program it looks for what used to be on the original floppy disks and cant find the original file structure, It either aborts, locks up or whatever. No Problem thou. Usually you can just unzip allthe files to your hard drive and run the executable program required to run the program. Often there is a Setup.exe or similar program that will allow you to configure for your hardware etc..Q. Sometimes the Install fails and wants you to keep putting in the correct    disk , Whats up. A. Usually there are two reasons for this. (1) No or incorrect disk volumelabels. Sometimes they forget to save the volume labels using the -$ switch onsome of the disks. Check the volume labels of each disk by typing Label at theDos prompt. If one of the disks has a label like disk_1 then make sure you Label the other disks Disk_2 Disk_3 etc.... If you cant find any then sometimes the error message will give you a clue. Ie. If during the install process it says please insert the disk gameII-1 into the B: drive then try labeling the disks gameII-1  gameII-2  etc.... I even found a game once that would not install if any volume labels were present. The disks I used were old disks and even Though all the files were deleted before I unzipped to themthey still had there old volume labels and until I deleted them I could notinstall the game. (2) the other reason is that you may have left out the -Dswitch when you unzipped the files and the install program is looking for thefiles on the floppy disk in a subdirectory that does not exist. If this is thecase just Pkunzip again using the -D switch.Q. What do I do if there are CRC errors when Unzipping the files.A. Will it depends on which files are affected but one things for sure . Ifthe file fails the CRC check then it no good. You can try to install the program but most cases if the install program tries to install a file that had CRC errors It will most likely fail. Sometimes only unimportant BBS advertisements and such are affected . If you download a file using the Zmodem protocol and it has CRC errors don't bother downloading it again it wasn't in the transfer. Q. Whats up with crack files and how do they work.A. Will as you know the days of putting Errors on the floppies so that youcould not copy them is long gone as you see if they do that then the gamecannot be installed on the hard drive.If a game now days cant be installed on a hard drive then no one will buy it period. So the ever popular doc checkwhich requires you to look up something in the book is there to help thwartsoftware piracy. Most of the cracks are small TSR Memory resident programsthat will intercept the doc check answers and issue the correct answers to theprogram so that it will continue.. The best cracks are Byte cracks where theactual program is modified so that when the answer is checked and compared tothe correct one the program will branch to the correct code. Example. If thecorrect answer is input the program may Branch if equal to go run game. and ifthe incorrect answer is input the program may branch not equal to go to dos.One byte changed in the program and the program Branches to run game nomatter what answer is given.  Even the most difficult programs can be crackedeven if the cracker has to code in all the correct answers in the crack file.Q. Sometimes the programs install perfectly and they still don't run. Why.A. Well there are many reasons that can happen. First off as I said before ifyou don't have Msdos V6.0 then get it. Use memmaker to get your conventualmemory. All the hype about conventional memory is Bullshit. Sure you can get632k with qemm7 or 386max version 7 but first off you will have problems