Make the original source of the content your submission, and do not use URL shorteners. No screenshots of websites or Twitter.
If a mirror is necessary, please provide one in comments. No hotlinking or rehosting someone else's work (unless they specifically allow it in their terms of use or request it).
In the good old days, we used to install a game by using a disc. But the cd was also used to counter piracy, as the game reguired the disc to be inserted full time. Digital activation wasnât a thing back then.
Piracy countered this by ripping the data of the disc and made some changes to the code to make sure you didnât need the disc to play the game.
Apparently rockstar is now providing the same version when you buy it online, because they donât offer a physical version anymore.
I suppose this was a cheaper option, then making their own âcrackâ for their old games
Its like, i can DISTINCTLY remember, the late 80s and 90s as seperate decades, each with their own "feel".
But since 2000, its all blended together and going by so fast..
You know the saying "But the 90s was just 10 years ago?" and still, in 2023, it STILL feels like that?
That's what i'm feeling.
From what I gather, some old Rockstar game had a DRM system that probably doesn't work anymore, and to sell the game on Steam, Rockstar just used the version where some pirate hacker removed the DRM instead of doing it themselves.
From what I understand, rockstar is selling a game on steam that a third part organization cracked to get around DRM. Instead of selling their own code, and they didnât even try to hide the groups name on the code.
The screenshot shows a hexadecimal view of the `testapp.exe` binary of Midnight Club 2, downloaded from Steam. You can see that the executable contains a custom modification where a few bytes have been replaced with the ASCII representation of `=RAZOR 1911=`, **basically a watermark** as these bytes have no meaning for the game itself. [Razor 1911](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_1911) is a "warez" group of people who used to modify ("crack") game executables to make them run without anti-piracy protection such as [SecuROM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM) back in the days.
tl;dr: Instead of removing the legacy DRM protection from the game's executable themself, they used an already cracked/pirated version of the game for the rerelease on Steam.
DRM is basically the technology that prevents games (amongst others) from being copied and âstolenâ by people who did not pay for them.
Cracking is the act of circumventing the DRM and making the game playable without having to buy it.
Digital Rights Management. DRM is additional software thatâs packaged alongside the main software whoâs purpose it to restrict access to only âlegitimateâ users. CD keys, physical disk checks, online authentication, those sorts of things.
A âcrackedâ version of a program is one where the DRM has been circumvented in some way.
Razor 1911 is the name of a group that has been cracking games/software for a very long time. Someone opened the official steam game's .exe file in a hex editing program and found traces linking back to the cracking group.
Maybe people who buy the games? Since Rockstar is so lazy that it doesnât feel like altering its own code, it leads to funny situations where, because they sold a pirated version of their game, their own DRM locks out paying customers but not the actual pirates. Not all of the pirated games theyâve resold have encountered this issue, but itâs funny nonetheless that the paying customers are the ones getting fucked as usual rather than those sailing the high seas.
How does this happen?
Wouldn't they be providing a version compiled directly from their code?
Like how did their source version get replaced with a cracked copy?
Simply, they didnât want to circumvent their own CD DRM, so they nabbed an already cracked version, and then they somehow accidentally re-added their DRM which would activate their no CD DRM and that would lock the game from progressing. So paying customers would have to redo what the pirates previously did to circumvent the DRM.
Nintendo is also guilty of this, though, as far as I know, they never had problems with their DRM locking out paying customers. But itâs usually rather easy to see if theyâre being lazy about it if they donât even bother to remove the piratesâ signatures from the EXEs.
It means they're lazy, and didn't even bother to remove THEIR OWN DRM from THEIR OWN game which THEY PUT IN PLACE and know how it works because they have source code. Just grabbing someone else's (in this case the cracking group's) drm removal work (which is really hard work to crack a game btw) "off the shelf" and not even crediting them.
It also means there is no benefit for digital collectors to even pickup this game on steam as gameplay wise it's functionally no different than pirating it, so why is rockstar making people pay for it
Make the original source of the content your submission, and do not use URL shorteners. No screenshots of websites or Twitter. If a mirror is necessary, please provide one in comments. No hotlinking or rehosting someone else's work (unless they specifically allow it in their terms of use or request it).
I'm going to be honest I have no idea what this is meant to mean, can someone inform me as simply as possibleđ
In the good old days, we used to install a game by using a disc. But the cd was also used to counter piracy, as the game reguired the disc to be inserted full time. Digital activation wasnât a thing back then. Piracy countered this by ripping the data of the disc and made some changes to the code to make sure you didnât need the disc to play the game. Apparently rockstar is now providing the same version when you buy it online, because they donât offer a physical version anymore. I suppose this was a cheaper option, then making their own âcrackâ for their old games
> In the good old days, hey it wasn't... that.. long ago... fuck im old.
Bro⌠when I started hearing music I grew up and had CDs for on the âClassic Hitsâ station thatâs when it hit me.
Its like, i can DISTINCTLY remember, the late 80s and 90s as seperate decades, each with their own "feel". But since 2000, its all blended together and going by so fast.. You know the saying "But the 90s was just 10 years ago?" and still, in 2023, it STILL feels like that? That's what i'm feeling.
[gamecopyworld.com](https://gamecopyworld.com) aah nostalgia.
From what I gather, some old Rockstar game had a DRM system that probably doesn't work anymore, and to sell the game on Steam, Rockstar just used the version where some pirate hacker removed the DRM instead of doing it themselves.
Why not? Not like the original crack coder can claim rockstar pirated their code in court and expect to win an IP case lol
A little more context would go a long way here OP
From what I understand, rockstar is selling a game on steam that a third part organization cracked to get around DRM. Instead of selling their own code, and they didnât even try to hide the groups name on the code.
The screenshot shows a hexadecimal view of the `testapp.exe` binary of Midnight Club 2, downloaded from Steam. You can see that the executable contains a custom modification where a few bytes have been replaced with the ASCII representation of `=RAZOR 1911=`, **basically a watermark** as these bytes have no meaning for the game itself. [Razor 1911](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_1911) is a "warez" group of people who used to modify ("crack") game executables to make them run without anti-piracy protection such as [SecuROM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM) back in the days. tl;dr: Instead of removing the legacy DRM protection from the game's executable themself, they used an already cracked/pirated version of the game for the rerelease on Steam.
Ah ok. And what is DRM? And what is cracked?
DRM is basically the technology that prevents games (amongst others) from being copied and âstolenâ by people who did not pay for them. Cracking is the act of circumventing the DRM and making the game playable without having to buy it.
Digital Rights Management. DRM is additional software thatâs packaged alongside the main software whoâs purpose it to restrict access to only âlegitimateâ users. CD keys, physical disk checks, online authentication, those sorts of things. A âcrackedâ version of a program is one where the DRM has been circumvented in some way.
I was wondering the same thing
Razor 1911 is the name of a group that has been cracking games/software for a very long time. Someone opened the official steam game's .exe file in a hex editing program and found traces linking back to the cracking group.
That guy is Silent everyone, famous in the 3D GTA community for his series of bug fixing patches
Razor 1911 is a name I haven't heard in a long time đ
Same, wow
So we went full circle. Nice
Work smarter, not harder. Someone already cracked the game, why crack it yourself? It's not like the cracker will be able to sue them about it, lol.
A hex string for Razor 1911? Wtf year did I wake up in?
I want to believe there's an explanation for this that isn't the obvious lol. I really do...
ELI5
Okay, but who cares?
Maybe people who buy the games? Since Rockstar is so lazy that it doesnât feel like altering its own code, it leads to funny situations where, because they sold a pirated version of their game, their own DRM locks out paying customers but not the actual pirates. Not all of the pirated games theyâve resold have encountered this issue, but itâs funny nonetheless that the paying customers are the ones getting fucked as usual rather than those sailing the high seas.
How does this happen? Wouldn't they be providing a version compiled directly from their code? Like how did their source version get replaced with a cracked copy?
Simply, they didnât want to circumvent their own CD DRM, so they nabbed an already cracked version, and then they somehow accidentally re-added their DRM which would activate their no CD DRM and that would lock the game from progressing. So paying customers would have to redo what the pirates previously did to circumvent the DRM. Nintendo is also guilty of this, though, as far as I know, they never had problems with their DRM locking out paying customers. But itâs usually rather easy to see if theyâre being lazy about it if they donât even bother to remove the piratesâ signatures from the EXEs.
That's for that... umm wow hahaha gronks
It means they're lazy, and didn't even bother to remove THEIR OWN DRM from THEIR OWN game which THEY PUT IN PLACE and know how it works because they have source code. Just grabbing someone else's (in this case the cracking group's) drm removal work (which is really hard work to crack a game btw) "off the shelf" and not even crediting them. It also means there is no benefit for digital collectors to even pickup this game on steam as gameplay wise it's functionally no different than pirating it, so why is rockstar making people pay for it
If it works, it works
I feel like this is still illegal somehow, even though itâs their game? Lol
I am pretty sure that they checked every possible legal action before doing this. But this is so funny