One of the most common and best known copy-protections found on games today is the SafeDisc protection which you must all have encountered sooner or later when you wanted to copy a game. SafeDisc is a protection that (in short) relies on read errors on the original disc and in order to copy this disc you needed a burner that could (read and) write uncorrected data so the errors were also present on the back-up. Since a couple of months now there's a new version of this protection called (how original) SafeDisc 2. In this article I want to explain what it is, how you can defeat it and which alternatives there are. First a little background info on the company that developed this protection:
Macrovision
Macrovision is a Californian company that earns its living by designing various protections for media content like VHS tapes and Compact Discs. SafeDisc is one of their best known CD protections and one of their recent developments is the Audio Disc protection called SafeAudio. This protection has already been cracked (for more information check here) and SafeDisc 2 is no exception.
Well you gotta love 'em for trying
SafeDisc vs. SafeDisc 2: The Technique Explained
SafeDisc 2 was first encountered on the game 'Red Alert 2' by Electronic Arts which caused a little shock in the back-up world… There were a lot of people who had problems copying this game while some seemed to copy it without any problems whatsoever. What was the deal here?
SafeDisc has a few hundred errors in the first 10.000 sectors of the disc but so does SafeDisc 2. The difference (and problem) lies in the first, what appear to be 'good,' 500 sectors of the disc. The reading of the disc is not really a problem but when you want to write these sectors something goes wrong. We have to get a bit technical now but I'll keep it simple so you can understand it:
The (estimated) first 500 sectors of a SafeDisc 2 protected game at first sight look like a collection of crappy data. It has a lot of zero's but is also has special 10 sector groups containing a regular bit pattern. When you read this data with a CD-ROM it will pass through a so-called 'sector scrambler' which is present in all CD-ROMs and Writers. A regular pattern like this will 'appear': XYXYXYXYXYXY…
But, like I said, the problem occurs when you want to write these regular bit patterns because there are a lot of burners that don't like to do this. A writer has to produce the same patterns and it uses a so-called 'EFM Encoder' for this. When a regular bit pattern goes through the EFM Encoder it is converted to a smaller value by converting bits to bytes (8 bit = 1 byte) in a pre-determined way. Now here's the problem: SafeDisc 2 tries to overload the EFM Encoder of the writer, by using the 10 sector groups, so it will loose synch and write wrong (irregular) bit patterns.
In short this is what happens when you write a SafeDisc 2 protected game. When you want to play a SafeDisc 2 back-up the game will check if there are regular bit patterns on the disc and if not it will give an error and refuse to play. We will call these sectors with regular bit patterns 'Weak Sectors' from now on.
Which Writer?
Some writers are more effected by the problem of writing regular bit patterns than others. Some writers (e.g. the Philips and Acer writers) have no problem at all copying these patterns while some simply can't do it (e.g. the Aopen and NEC writers). And then there are writers that will make a back-up that works in the recorder only like some Plextor models and Ricoh models. If you want to find out if your burner can handle SafeDisc 2 it's best to check the CloneCD Hardware Requirements and see if it supports 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit patterns.' This list doesn't mention writers that will make a back-up that works in the recorder only so here's another list that does…
Now for the interesting part: how do we defeat this SafeDisc 2 protection?
Now how to overcome the SafeDisc 2 protection… The easiest way would be to use a burner that supports correct EFM encoding. You could then use CloneCD to back-up the game with these settings:
- READ TAB:
- Fast Error Skip ON
There's no need to check the reading of the SubChannel Data's since they are not present on a SafeDisc 2 protected game (yet). But like I said there are only few burners that can do this.
Since some time now CloneCD has a new option called 'Amplify Weak Sectors' which was intended to help writers that normally couln't make a good (read: working) back-up. For more info on this new option read this article.
If you have a burner that cannot reproduce the weak sectors and doesn't work with 'Amplify Weak Sectors' you'll need to use another tool. These tools are available and I'll briefly explain them all:
- BetaBlocker
- DAEMON Tools
- InseKtorS
- PlayBackup
There are some more tools to copy SafeDisc 2 but above programs are the best ones. We will begin with BetaBlocker:
BetaBlocker
This is the latest (German) SafeDisc 2 tool and very simple to use. An English version of this tool is also available but the program only has two buttons so it's not very difficult to understand and/or use.
Usage
- Create an image of the SafeDisc 2 protected game with CloneCD (Fast Error Skip enabled). Three files will appear on your harddisk after a while called 'IMAGE.SUB, IMAGE.CCD and IMAGE.IMG.'
- Copy the BetaBlocker file to the same folder as where the image files are located. You don't have to do this but it's easier this way.
- Start BetaBlocker and drag the IMAGE.IMG file to the BetaBlocker main screen.
- Now press the first button to scan for weak sectors. The default range of 1000 sectors is ok since the weak sectors are in the first 500 sectors of the disc. After a few seconds BetaBlocker will report the weak sectors that were found.
- Now press the second button to patch these sectors. This will again only take a few seconds.
- You can close BetaBlocker now and use CloneCD to burn the modified image to a CD-R.
Advantages
BetaBlocker is a small file and easy to use. You don't need an extra program installed or running in the background to play the back-up.
Disadvantages
It doesn't work with all SafeDisc 2 protected games! I tested it myself and found it worked great with 'Max Payne' but it failed with 'The Sims Party.' You'll have to try and see if it works or not. Here's a tip: use a CD-ReWritable so you don't waste CD-Recordables.
DAEMON Tools
URL: www.daemon-tools.com
This is a very good and well known program to emulate common copy protections and SafeDisc 2 is one of them. An English manual is included in the download of the program so I won't explain how to use this program. DAEMON Tools is an emulator which means it uses a virtual CD-ROM drive (called V386 PHANTOM CDROM) to simulate the protection and play back-ups created with for instance CloneCD, DiscJuggler, CDRWin or BlindSuite.
Advantages
Besides SafeDisc 2 DAEMON Tools can also emulate other copy protections like the LaserLock, SecuRom, SecuRom NEW and the normal SafeDisc protection. DAEMON Tools is frequently updated when Macrovision for instance brings out an update of their SafeDisc 2 protection blacklisting this program. Another big advantage of DAEMON Tools is that it can also play (created or downloaded) images before you burn them! You can load these images with your virtual CD-ROM and see if they work properly before burning them to a CD-R.
Disadvantages
Not a very big disadvantage but you need to have DAEMON Tools installed and running to play the back-ups. DAEMON Tools can be automatically loaded at start-up if you wish to.
InseKtorS
URL: go.to/insektors
This is a so-called 'image patcher' for the SafeDisc (2) and SecuRom protection. It supports images created with CloneCD, BlindSuite, CDRWin, Nero and ISO@2352 but BlindSuite is recommended.
Usage
- Again a simple to use program. First create an image of your SafeDisc 2 protected game with your desired program. BlindSuite is recommended but other programs are also supported.
- Start InseKtorS and go to the last tab (Installation/Check) to see if the InseKtorS driver is installed which is needed to play the back-ups. If not press 'Install/Update driver' to install the driver. Your computer has to be restarted.
- After the restart, start InseKtorS again and use the first tab (CD image patch) to select your image created in the first step.
- Press 'Prepare' to modify the image.
- Now burn the modified image back to a CD-R with the same program you used to create it with in the first step.
- After burning the image start InseKtorS again and go to the second tab (CD Drives control & Status) to select the drives you're going to use to play the back-up with.
Advantages
InseKtorS supports several image files and both the SafeDisc and SecuRom protections are supported. It's easy to use and works fast (e.g. the back-up will run quicker than the original when you start the game).
Disadvantages
You need to install a driver and select which drives you're going to use to play the back-up with.
PlayBackup
URL: N/A
This was the first successful SafeDisc 2 tool which was the answer for a lot of people using CloneCD to back-up their SafeDisc 2 protected games. It works a bit like InseKtorS does but it has less capabilities.
Usage
- Install PlayBackup and restart your computer. If you installed it correctly a red smiley will appear in your Windows taskbar. We'll get back to this later.
- Create an image of your SafeDisc 2 protected game with CloneCD (Fast Error Skip enabled).
- Start 'PatchImage.EXE' (included in the PlayBackup download). If you're using a registered CloneCD version PatchImage will automatically find your CloneCD image but if not you'll need to select it manually.
- Now press the yellow arrow in the PatchImage main screen to patch the image.
- Burn the patched image back to a CD-R with CloneCD.
- Now right click on the red smiley in your Windows taskbar and choose 'Enable PlayBackup' so it turns into a yellow smiley (indicating PlayBackup is active).
- You can now play the back-up.
Advantages
Again very simple to use and it gets the job done.
Disadvantages
There's no download link or homepage for this program so you'll need to look for it somewhere on the net. PlayBackup only works on a Windows 95/98/ME based computer and not on a Windows NT/2000 based computer. And last but not least it only works with CloneCD images and it can only defeat the SafeDisc 2 protection.
Now for the conclusions…
That concludes our SafeDisc 2 tools and it's up to you to decide which one you're going to use. The easiest way of course is to use a burner that supports correct EFM encoding but if you haven't got one you could try one of the SafeDisc 2 tools.
I would suggest you first try BetaBlocker since this is the only tool that doesn't need to be running in the background or installed to play the back-up. If it works the back-up should play in every CD-ROM. If BetaBlocker fails I would use DAEMON Tools since this program has a lot of advantages like more supported protections and the ability to play images before burning them. But then again if you're only looking for a program that can defeat SafeDisc 2 (and that's what this article was intended for ) you could just as well go for InseKtorS or PlayBackup…
Notes
Not every SafeDisc 2 protected game is the same. There are different SafeDisc 2 versions out there and they're updated quite often. These updates frequently blacklist a SafeDisc 2 tool like DAEMON Tools because Macrovision knows they exist. Lucky for use the authors of these SafeDisc 2 tools don't sit still either and update their programs as well
CD Freaks doesn't support or encourage software piracy but people have the right to back-up their games (if they are the owner) for personal use. That's what this article was intended for.
If you have any comments, remarks or whatever on this article please post below or use our forum.
Signed,
G@M3FR3@K
