Question about removing DRM?

83TropicStorm · Feb 4, 2020

Hello GBATemp community! I don't know if this is against the rules but are there tools to crack DRM on games I already have installed? I would like to burn my steam games onto a disc without having to deal with Steam's (and any other form) of DRM. Is there a universal tool or do I need to look for them on a game by game basis? Is there a particular website I can go to that JUST hosts these cracks and not the full game + crack.

Again, I'm not asking for full downloads to the cracked versions of games, I know where to find that. I am JUST looking for tools to crack the DRM. I figured this would be okay to ask about considering the tolerance to back up loaders and any help would be greatly appreciated.

KleinesSinchen · Feb 4, 2020

The Rules said:
These rules also account for "keygens" and "cracks" including how to obtain, apply or install them.

I've always wondered how this rule has to be interpreted.

Back when I was still interested in PC gaming (it was copy protection/DRM that made me stop buying such games) there were these horrible non-standard CDs/DVDs. The first protection methods could be easily bypassed by either RAW CD copies or by generic decryptors. Such decryptors existed for early version of SafeDisc and SecuRom and some other. Later disc based DRM were not easily circumvented by either method and required on by game basis specific cracks. From what I've heard the Steam protection alone is not very hard to crack but there may be additional DRM garbage in place such as the controversial Denuvo.

Problem with other kinds of cracks, No-CD patches or similar is that they often come in form of a "fixed" or prepatched Windows .exe file (or even more modified game files). Linking such is completely against GBAtemp rules as the prepatched file (main executable of the game in question) is copyrighted material. I don't think this changed with the transition from disc based DRM to internet activation based methods – but again: I'm not into PC gaming any more and simply don't know what a "modern" crack looks like.

A decrpytor or a patch file containing only the differences between the protected and the cracked file normally contains no intellectual property of the (game) rights holders. Such a crack requires the user to already have the game.

It would be nice if someone from the staff would clarify this "no cracks rule". I always have wondered why countless "AP patches" are accepted (which I consider to be a good decision) despite this rule.

Mythical · Feb 4, 2020

AP Patches are acceptable because they only replace code and don't contain original code themselves.
You can crack your own games but I believe we aren't allowed to link to exclusively cracks for many of the reasons listed above.
Also it's highly likely any place that hosts cracks also hosts other such files so it would be hard to find a good place for that.
There's a certain MAJOR site that has just cracks generally(well they have both so you can download one or both). This is illegal, but it will have what you want. Use a vpn when doing such things of course (a paid for vpn not a free one)

the_randomizer · Feb 4, 2020

DRM is pretty useless for legit users, and only serve to make said legit users suffer as it does little to stop actual piracy in my opinion. I say if you own the game, you should be able to remove DRM as you please. But that's just me, how one goes about it is up to them *shrug*

Dust2dust · Feb 4, 2020

Not to mention it's sometimes more fun to try to find a way to remove DRM than actually playing the game. I'm sure several users here would relate to that. Reminds me of this issue of Temper Tantrums > https://gbatemp.net/threads/temper-tantrums-13-the-perfect-setup.517492/

FAST6191 · Feb 4, 2020

KleinesSinchen said:
It would be nice if someone from the staff would clarify this "no cracks rule". I always have wondered why countless "AP patches" are accepted (which I consider to be a good decision) despite this rule.

Not staff but "yes" is the answer.

More likely such things for PC see you get pinged by a lot of services, and have traditionally been full of viruses and spiders which makes weeding them out annoying. Console game wise then these days it is mostly in the firmware (or "patches" to the firmware) but even without that it tends not to trouble things.

Other than that you answered the OP's question. Modern stuff looks much the same as old school stuff (search in your preferred means of downloading illicit things, download this, follow install instructions, repeat when updates roll around), there are a few generic options for a few things but as you mention there are some trickier ones that might take months to bypass rather than be ahead of street date, and some groups claim might never get done but I have heard that the entire time this has been happening over several decades now so going with "never say never" on that one. That said I think there are a few games that never got done and have since been taken offline because when you buy a game from a downloadable service it is available forever. The Scene still has good stuff but p2p also has some things worth considering here, though also cowboys.

83TropicStorm · Feb 4, 2020

So, from what I gather, I'm on my own for finding the patches and there is (most likely) nowhere that just distributes the patches so I'm going to have to end up going to the sketchy piracy sites or get the games without DRM to begin with?

Bummer, but it is what it is. Thanks for the help!

FAST6191 · Feb 4, 2020

Plenty of standalone patches, standalone updates or repacks (repack can mean a few things there so be aware of what goes) seem to exist if I go wandering around the internet.

PityOnU · Feb 4, 2020

Kind of orthogonal to the thread, but related:

Allow me to take this opportunity to highly recommend GoG.com as a marketplace for buying your PC games going forward. The store has a "No-DRM" policy, so anything you get from there is yours to manage as you wish (portable installations or otherwise).

I have had nothing but good experiences with them. Humble used to be similar, but they're now mostly a reseller for Steam codes.

It's also worth pointing out that while games on Steam require the launcher/service to be installed to download and install, many of them don't actually have any DRM and can be used portable once you have got them all set up (Hat in Time comes to mind).

Question about removing DRM?

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