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Home » Stars! 2.6/7 » The Academy » DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. (DOSbox won't take a serial number)
DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 January 2020 18:16 Go to next message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
Registered: August 2012
I have a couple of DOSBox instances that I am trying to set up - one of which could turn into a rather nicely packaged docker container with a VNC over HTTP interface (it mostly works, except that it isn't all that stable at the moment and the serial number issue listed herein).

Neither of them are accepting the serial number.
Both are writing to the stars.ini file, but repeatedly generate the various errors associated with being a software pirate (I hadn't seen ships captains selling cargo on the black market before!)

Doesn't seem to matter which key I use, it is accepted, but the copy protection kicks in...

Ideas anyone?
Gible maybe?

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 January 2020 21:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
raptor is currently offline raptor

 
Chief Warrant Officer 1
Creator of StarsWine
Created StarsWine

Messages: 138
Registered: June 2014
Which stars executable are you running? Is it 2.7jrc3 or 2.6jrc4?

Copy protecton also kicks in if multiple instances in the same game have the same serial

654f494482c7904c4f0f265d6c081582 stars.exe // 2.7jRC3
df40ce50f5117acfbad8de00c37c8730 stars.exe // 2.6jRC4

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 January 2020 21:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
raptor is currently offline raptor

 
Chief Warrant Officer 1
Creator of StarsWine
Created StarsWine

Messages: 138
Registered: June 2014
Curious, are you trying to get Stars! in a browser? I started an in-browser stars project here:

https://github.com/stars-4x/stars-browser/

It works OK for single-player, but multi-player needs more work on the JS wrapper to get files into/out of the dosbox emulator.

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 January 2020 21:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ricks03 is currently offline ricks03

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year
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Created TotalHost and Stars! utilities

Messages: 222
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Location: NC
 As long as all the turns are submitted from the same computer, you won't trigger the copy protection.

If you're trying to run the same serial number in more than one DOXbox session, Stars! likely is detecting each of them as separate machines, which means you have the same serial number on more than one "computer" which will trigger that effect.




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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 January 2020 21:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
raptor is currently offline raptor

 
Chief Warrant Officer 1
Creator of StarsWine
Created StarsWine

Messages: 138
Registered: June 2014
Ah, I forgot about the hardware ID. This says that you can change the disk label to calc a new hardware hash:

https://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Copy_Protection_Features

I wonder if that can be automated

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 January 2020 22:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ricks03 is currently offline ricks03

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year
Creator of TotalHost and Stars! utilities
Created TotalHost and Stars! utilities

Messages: 222
Registered: January 2012
Location: NC
 It sounds like there's more than one serial number available...

With stars closed:
delete all stars.ini files
delete all .x files (the serial hash doesn't get rewritten if you save again)
open stars on each vm, and enter a different serial number.
Save and submit all turns.

Should be ok then.

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Fri, 10 January 2020 03:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
Registered: August 2012
Making a way for me to play easily.

And for that ease to be portable...

It's not a multiplayer game - just me vs the computer, and copy protection keeps kicking in - even within a single session.


Just deleted the stars.ini file, and started Dosbox... Asked for the serial, gave it one. It took it.
Started a new, completely stock game.
Genned the first turn: Usurper message...

[Updated on: Fri, 10 January 2020 04:28]

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Fri, 10 January 2020 10:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ricks03 is currently offline ricks03

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year
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Messages: 222
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 XAPBob wrote on Fri, 10 January 2020 03:17
Making a way for me to play easily.

And for that ease to be portable...

It's not a multiplayer game - just me vs the computer, and copy protection keeps kicking in - even within a single session.


Just deleted the stars.ini file, and started Dosbox... Asked for the serial, gave it one. It took it.
Started a new, completely stock game.
Genned the first turn: Usurper message...
Hmm. I think there was a point that a number of the "in the wild" serials got banned. A fresh serial number?


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http://totalhost.sinister.net:999
https://github.com/ricks03/TotalHost

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Fri, 10 January 2020 13:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
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Really?

I'd have expected them to show up as invalid when entered, rather than to be accepted and then trigger the bug.

Will dig through my backups for my serial then.

That took less time than I expected, and did indeed work. That's irritating (how long it took to figure out). No doubt there is another post on here about the serials which have been banned

[Updated on: Fri, 10 January 2020 13:17]

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Fri, 10 January 2020 13:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ricks03 is currently offline ricks03

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year
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Created TotalHost and Stars! utilities

Messages: 222
Registered: January 2012
Location: NC
 The community (especially back then) was VERY protective of serial numbers, and very supportive of the Jeffs. Because you never knew how your game would be screwed up by sharing them, and because the game wasn't expensive. So you won't see a lot of support for figuring out banned serials.

And even back then, serials were relatively cheap--you could buy them at discounted rates in blocks of 16! (I still have my printout of the email with them).

[Updated on: Fri, 10 January 2020 13:22]



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http://totalhost.sinister.net:999
https://github.com/ricks03/TotalHost

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Fri, 10 January 2020 13:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
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I don't have an issue with them no longer being valid, just that it would be nice to be told that, rather than just to have the copy protection kick in.

Glad it was something so simple


I wonder if all DOSBox "hardware" is the same...

[Updated on: Fri, 10 January 2020 13:45]

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Mon, 10 February 2020 09:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ccmaster is currently offline ccmaster

 
Lt. Commander
Dueling Club Administrator

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 Single games never have the problem with copy protection, so it has to be something else as you already find outt now.

Searching for serials is illegal so there will be no support from the Home World Forum.

ccmaster

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Mon, 10 February 2020 10:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
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No need for support for searching - I found my serial in my backups... wasn't as hard to find as I'd expected (hence the pulling one offline)

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 02 April 2020 07:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
magic9mushroom is currently offline magic9mushroom

 
Commander

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ccmaster wrote on Tue, 11 February 2020 01:59
Searching for serials is illegal so there will be no support from the Home World Forum.

As illegal as, say, a third-party selling serials he got from a pirate keygen?

Laughing Laughing Laughing

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Wed, 08 April 2020 21:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ron is currently offline Ron

 
Commander
Forum Administrator
Stars! AutoHost Administrator

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Location: Collegedale, TN
 magic9mushroom wrote on Thu, 02 April 2020 07:37
ccmaster wrote on Tue, 11 February 2020 01:59
Searching for serials is illegal so there will be no support from the Home World Forum.

As illegal as, say, a third-party selling serials he got from a pirate keygen?

Laughing Laughing Laughing

I have permission from Jeff McBride.

Ron Miller
Stars! AutoHost

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 April 2020 03:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
magic9mushroom is currently offline magic9mushroom

 
Commander

Messages: 1361
Registered: May 2008
Ron wrote on Thu, 09 April 2020 11:39
magic9mushroom wrote on Thu, 02 April 2020 07:37
ccmaster wrote on Tue, 11 February 2020 01:59
Searching for serials is illegal so there will be no support from the Home World Forum.

As illegal as, say, a third-party selling serials he got from a pirate keygen?

Laughing Laughing Laughing

I have permission from Jeff McBride.


I know. I also know how little that means legally, and that the Jeffs (or whoever owns the rights to Empire, for that matter; I don't even know who that is since indiePub went bust) are no more likely to sue anybody else trying to keep Stars! alive. I was pointing out ccmaster's absurd hypocrisy, not taking a dig at you (running SAH is good work).

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 April 2020 08:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
theene is currently offline theene

 
Crewman 1st Class

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 The Jeff's don't own the rights.

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 April 2020 08:51 Go to previous messageGo to next message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
Registered: August 2012
theene wrote on Thu, 09 April 2020 13:46
The Jeff's don't own the rights.


You assume they don't.
They might have retained them, but we can't know without a Jeff confirming that (and giving permission to release serials sounds a lot like that confirmation).

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 April 2020 10:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ricks03 is currently offline ricks03

 
Officer Cadet 1st Year
Creator of TotalHost and Stars! utilities
Created TotalHost and Stars! utilities

Messages: 222
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Location: NC
 Ron's done an awesome job at running the site, and maintaining the community, and anything that's even vaguely not completely positive does him a disservice. Having a tool to generate serials from the developer in no way deserves "a third-party selling serials he got from a pirate keygen"

Bickering here is a sign people have spent too much time with Stay at Home orders. Either get outside, or go play Stars!

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 April 2020 12:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
magic9mushroom is currently offline magic9mushroom

 
Commander

Messages: 1361
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ricks03 wrote on Fri, 10 April 2020 00:36
Having a tool to generate serials from the developer in no way deserves "a third-party selling serials he got from a pirate keygen"


The keygen came from a pirate site, and no-one knows who called Ron's attention to it (they used a throwaway email). It's not the Jeffs' own tool, though they did give Ron their blessing when he suggested using it to keep Stars! alive (a conversation for which I am very grateful). Ron's been perfectly open about all of this in that Stars - Must Know thread.

You seem to also view piracy rather less favorably than I do, if you consider it such a stain. I taunted ccmaster because I didn't like his judgemental tone in condemning piracy. It just seemed a little quicker (and less of a derail) to point out the glass house than to write another thousand-word essay about why copyright needs to be burned down and why people who think piracy's a moral issue have fallen victim to corporate propaganda. Apparently that wasn't so solid a hunch. Sad
Pirate

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Re: DOS Box Serial shenanigans.. Thu, 09 April 2020 12:14 Go to previous message
XAPBob is currently offline XAPBob

 
Lt. Commander

Messages: 957
Registered: August 2012
Copyright doesn't need to be burned down - the current laws do needs to rewritten from scratch.

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