problem with DOTT copy protection

[badmojo]

Hi, I can't get past the DOTT copy protection! When Dr. Fred asks me to choose the right ingredients in his battery plan, the game keeps telling me that I'm wrong. What can I do to bypass that protection? I thinked that scummvm automatically bypass copy protection, or am I wrong?

[eriktorbjorn]

Hi, I can't get past the DOTT copy protection! When Dr. Fred asks me to choose the right ingredients in his battery plan, the game keeps telling me that I'm wrong. What can I do to bypass that protection? I thinked that scummvm automatically bypass copy protection, or am I wrong?

The general rule is that we bypass copy protection if we know the original interpreter did so in any case. This usually happened when the game was released as part of a compilation, e.g. The Monkey Island Bounty Pack or the Maniac Mansion included with The Day of the Tentacle.

So far, I haven't heard of any cases where the floppy version of The Day of the Tentacle was sold without the information needed to bypass the copy protection. (Though to be honest, I haven't paid much attention to the floppy versions of any games that were subsequently released on CD.)

[badmojo]

Excuse me, but Zak McKracken was never released on cd-rom, and the copy protection in the floppy version is bypassed by VScumm. So I thaught that was the same thing also for the floppy version of DOTT. I wanted to play it on my PSP mem card and since the DOTT cd rom version is too large in size, I wanted to use DOTT floppy version, but that was the copy protection problem. Could you help me, please?

[Kirben]

The enhanced versions of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken were released as part of the Selectware Classic Collection on CD. The copy protection was disabled, and replaced with CD checks as games started up.

Try using CD version of Day of Tentacle, without the 'MONSTER.SOU' file, to reduce the space required.

[eriktorbjorn]

Excuse me, but Zak McKracken was never released on cd-rom, and the copy protection in the floppy version is bypassed by VScumm. So I thaught that was the same thing also for the floppy version of DOTT. I wanted to play it on my PSP mem card and since the DOTT cd rom version is too large in size, I wanted to use DOTT floppy version, but that was the copy protection problem. Could you help me, please?

I wasn't directly involved with bypassing the Zak McKracken copy protection, there is a comment at the relevant part of the code:

Code: Select all

    if (_copyProtection) {
        // The enhanced version of Zak McKracken included in the
        // SelectWare Classic Collection bundle used CD check instead
        // of the usual key code check at airports.
        if ((_game.id == GID_ZAK) && (script == 15) && (_roomResource == 45))
            return;
    }

Which, assuming that it's accurate, would satisfy our guidelines. Until we hear of anything similar for the floppy version of The Day of the Tentacle, I really doubt that ScummVM will ever deliberately bypass the copy protection for it.

[WNivek]

Code: Select all

    if (_copyProtection) {
        // The enhanced version of Zak McKracken included in the
        // SelectWare Classic Collection bundle used CD check instead
        // of the usual key code check at airports.
        if ((_game.id == GID_ZAK) && (script == 15) && (_roomResource == 45))
            return;
    }

Which, assuming that it's accurate, would satisfy our guidelines.

As someone who owns this collection, I can attest that this is indeed correct. Zak and MM enhanced had their original copy protection schemes bypassed on that disc.

Incidentally, between WinXP' imperfect Dos emulation and limitations in Dosbox, the CD-based copy protection has rendered the game unplayable on my current machine. Thank goodness for ScummVM...