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Why is this hex dump being used as a verification rather than just showing the two (supposedly the same) hashes of the entire executable themselves? Should be a

Why is this hex dump being used as a verification rather than just showing the two (supposedly the same) hashes of the entire executable themselves? Should be a quick 20 minute job for whoever call themselves "journalists" today. I suppose it's possible for that particular string to get into the binary by some other means. Maybe failed anti-circumvention that checks for known strings in its own directory or something similar?

Zetobal 3y ago
I don't know why I have to write this comment but not every twitter user is a journalist...
wtallis 3y ago
The location of the string is pretty telling: right after a 256 byte header, and occupying the first few bytes of a long run of zeroes. This isn't how you'd expect to find a constant embedded by a compiler or linker as part of code implementing a check for the presence of a crack.
- capableweb 3y ago
  That's a pretty good point actually.
Twirrim 3y ago
I don't see any reference to them being a journalist, anywhere? Why are you expecting some random person who saw and got frustrated with something and shared it, to be a journalist? Are you a journalist because you're frustrated that this person isn't being a journalist...? That's kind of the same logic.
sjsdaiuasgdia 3y ago
First problem: You presume this person has another executable of provable provenance to check against. Second problem: There could be many different official executables for this game. Each would have a different hash. Provenance proving applies here too. Third problem: Two hash values doesn't communicate the actual story as well as what this person (who may or may not be a journalist, that appears to be your assumption) chose to do.
- capableweb 3y ago
  First solution: Yes, finding the PC CD for this game took me like 20 minutes, both new/old in even my country for something like 20 EUR. If the author wanted to, I'm sure they could have found it equally easy. Second solution: Not really, when you do CD releases you have a "gold master" which is the final burned CD that the other CDs are copied from. That's the one you use as the official one, as that's the one most people on PC actually have. If the game had multiple regions (something PC games usually don't), you have multiple executables. But this happens mostly for console games, but again wouldn't be difficult to acquire a specific one for one of the ~4/5 regions there is. Re third problem, you're probably right about this. But I'd still argue that verifying information after a finding would add more credence to the story itself and cement it better, it wouldn't take anything away from the story (unless it proved that there isn't actually any story).
  - sjsdaiuasgdia 3y ago
    What responsibility do you feel this person has to you to spend money to validate this in the specific way you would prefer? > Not really, when you do CD releases you have a "gold master" This is an oversimplification. In the late 90s / early 00s when 3D APIs were more fragmented than they are today, many games had different releases built to support different GPUs. There's also versions distributed with hardware that include checks that the PC contains the specific hardware. MC2 had separate NA and EU releases, there is at least the chance of multiple versions from internationalization.
usrusr 3y ago
First time I hear someone suggest that hashes might be a superior form of journalism. The cracking group signature is a smoking gun. Hashes would only show that the steam binary isn't bit-wise identical with the original release, which any solution to "steam release can't require a CD check" would imply. (well, "smoking gun" in quotes, because I don't really see Rockstar doing anything wrong here. Would it have been better if they had zeroed out that string?)
asddubs 3y ago
why not use the hex dump, it says the name of the cracking group, that's more easily verifiable than comparing hashes to files you might not have

Zetobal 3y ago

I don't know why I have to write this comment but not every twitter user is a journalist...

wtallis 3y ago

The location of the string is pretty telling: right after a 256 byte header, and occupying the first few bytes of a long run of zeroes. This isn't how you'd expect to find a constant embedded by a compiler or linker as part of code implementing a check for the presence of a crack.

capableweb 3y ago
That's a pretty good point actually.

Twirrim 3y ago

I don't see any reference to them being a journalist, anywhere? Why are you expecting some random person who saw and got frustrated with something and shared it, to be a journalist? Are you a journalist because you're frustrated that this person isn't being a journalist...? That's kind of the same logic.

sjsdaiuasgdia 3y ago

First problem: You presume this person has another executable of provable provenance to check against. Second problem: There could be many different official executables for this game. Each would have a different hash. Provenance proving applies here too. Third problem: Two hash values doesn't communicate the actual story as well as what this person (who may or may not be a journalist, that appears to be your assumption) chose to do.

capableweb 3y ago
First solution: Yes, finding the PC CD for this game took me like 20 minutes, both new/old in even my country for something like 20 EUR. If the author wanted to, I'm sure they could have found it equally easy. Second solution: Not really, when you do CD releases you have a "gold master" which is the final burned CD that the other CDs are copied from. That's the one you use as the official one, as that's the one most people on PC actually have. If the game had multiple regions (something PC games usually don't), you have multiple executables. But this happens mostly for console games, but again wouldn't be difficult to acquire a specific one for one of the ~4/5 regions there is. Re third problem, you're probably right about this. But I'd still argue that verifying information after a finding would add more credence to the story itself and cement it better, it wouldn't take anything away from the story (unless it proved that there isn't actually any story).
- sjsdaiuasgdia 3y ago
  What responsibility do you feel this person has to you to spend money to validate this in the specific way you would prefer? > Not really, when you do CD releases you have a "gold master" This is an oversimplification. In the late 90s / early 00s when 3D APIs were more fragmented than they are today, many games had different releases built to support different GPUs. There's also versions distributed with hardware that include checks that the PC contains the specific hardware. MC2 had separate NA and EU releases, there is at least the chance of multiple versions from internationalization.

usrusr 3y ago

First time I hear someone suggest that hashes might be a superior form of journalism. The cracking group signature is a smoking gun. Hashes would only show that the steam binary isn't bit-wise identical with the original release, which any solution to "steam release can't require a CD check" would imply. (well, "smoking gun" in quotes, because I don't really see Rockstar doing anything wrong here. Would it have been better if they had zeroed out that string?)

asddubs 3y ago

why not use the hex dump, it says the name of the cracking group, that's more easily verifiable than comparing hashes to files you might not have