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[Tanara Kuranov]

Ah...hah...oh, great. http://www.digibarn.com/collections/...ers/index.html This could be why I've had no answer. As of 2006, seems that Brooke Boering's moved out of Santa Cruz. As for where to, I haven't the foggiest idea. Fun. I'm not really quite sure where to go from here, really.

Not sure how to figure out where Mr. Boering is now, and I'm certainly not nearly advanced enough to poke around in a debugger and figure out what's going on in this thing, either, haha. Oh, I tried, but I don't claim to understand what's happening, so...yeah. As far as I can tell, it checks something in the player's save file (along with a checksum somewhere to try and prevent tampering) to check if its registered or not. Maybe if I brute-force registered it in the older version, I'd be able to find the difference?

Wonder if the DigiBarn people or his old apartments would know where he is? The DigiBarn museum looks to still be around, at least! Hrm, the mystery continues...

[Tanara Kuranov]

Sorry about the double post, but...I think I might have at least figured out how to get this working! I don't know why it works, it's a little convoluted...but it seems to work now.

What you do is you take the savefile (mine's called 'PLAYERK1.YOU') and you put it in the folder of the older version of Klondike Pro. You type in the number that shows up as the key number...don't know why that works...maybe it's cracked? Anyway, this makes the file recognized as 'registered'. Then you put this file back in the newer version of Klondike Pro, and voila, it's registered, and you can play in the Gold Fellow rank...and probably beyond, I'll have to test more, and brush up on my Klondike skill, to find out.

I still want to get a hold of Brooke Boering somehow, if I can, but I think the game is working as a full version now, at least. If someone wants to analyze exactly how the registration works, more power to them (it changes several values in the save file when you register!). I just know a way to get it working.

QUICK EDIT: I did, in fact, try this method with a couple of other save files with different names, and the method seems to work for each one, I didn't just get really lucky somehow. Though, on the downside, now I'm going to be addicted to this thing again, hah~

[marko river]

Originally Posted by Tanara Kuranov

Though, on the downside, now I'm going to be addicted to this thing again, hah~

Well, you wanted to play with fire, didn't you?

Anyway, congrats on finding any kind of solution. The best solution is finding Brooke and he fixes the supposedly freeware to lets you play, but it is possible that he won't be interested in that when you finally reach him. However, it is good that there is any kind of solution. It is actually awesome.

Do play a bit more and let us know if there are any problems, but I doubt it really. It is probably full version and author probably forgot to remove registration check after releasing the game for free.

Also, we will need to summarize this registration process in a few lines and add it to review. Older version will be offered for download as extra probably. You said "type in the number that shows up as the key number", I'm not sure I understand, but I'll get to trying this out before uploading the game.

[Tanara Kuranov]

Originally Posted by marko river

Also, we will need to summarize this registration process in a few lines and add it to review. Older version will be offered for download as extra probably. You said "type in the number that shows up as the key number", I'm not sure I understand, but I'll get to trying this out before uploading the game.

Heh, it's much easier to explain with a screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0bxg87rxpo...tionScreen.PNG

Basically, that 5-digit number right there? That's what you type in! I assume either, a) I found a cracked version or, b) Brooke went for the 'so easy no one would guess' method of registration, haha.

You just have to put the savefile from 2.5.3 in the folder of 2.1.4, register with 2.1.4, and put that file back in the folder of 2.5.3, and your game is registered!

EDIT: Played it a bit, leveled up from Gold Fellow to Green Master, hasn't given me problems. Seems to be working nicely. Only trouble anyone will have now is winning enough to get past those higher ranks, hah~

Also, if it complains about any missing files, just copy the file from the old version's folder to the new version's, it seems to work just fine.

[marko river]

Originally Posted by Tanara Kuranov

Heh, it's much easier to explain with a screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0bxg87rxpo...tionScreen.PNG

Basically, that 5-digit number right there? That's what you type in! I assume either, a) I found a cracked version or, b) Brooke went for the 'so easy no one would guess' method of registration, haha.

You're kidding Funny indeed, and it's working

Just wondering, is it possible to create one "Registered" savefile with 0 points, so people can load that file which gives them registered version and they are still playing from the beginning, or they have to do it once the game asks for registration?

Originally Posted by Tanara Kuranov

Also, if it complains about any missing files, just copy the file from the old version's folder to the new version's, it seems to work just fine.

Well, if you already know some files which are already missing, besides that texttext file, add them to new version and re-upload it please. We'll put the warning about missing files in review anyway, but it is better to have the archive "less broken", if I can call it that way.

Also, why is there DOSBOX file in newer archive? I just noticed it is much bigger that old version. I understand you supplied dosbox.conf file, although still it shouldn't be in archive, but why Dosbox.exe?

If game needs this specific dosbox configuration, it is better to state it in review. So, what's the story with this conf file, what is needed to get the game running?

[Tanara Kuranov]

Originally Posted by marko river

Just wondering, is it possible to create one "Registered" savefile with 0 points, so people can load that file which gives them registered version and they are still playing from the beginning, or they have to do it once the game asks for registration?

Well, if you already know some files which are already missing, besides that texttext file, add them to new version and re-upload it please. We'll put the warning about missing files in review anyway, but it is better to have the archive "less broken", if I can call it that way.

Also, why is there DOSBOX file in newer archive? I just noticed it is much bigger that old version. I understand you supplied dosbox.conf file, although still it shouldn't be in archive, but why Dosbox.exe?

If game needs this specific dosbox configuration, it is better to state it in review. So, what's the story with this conf file, what is needed to get the game running?

Well, I could, if people don't mind not putting their own name in. And, yeah, I could re-upload, it's only one file I forgot, I think.

I'm not really sure why DoSBOX is in there, actually. That's what came with the archive when I downloaded it from the Klondike Pro site. I'll have to test it with a stock DoSBOX installation before I upload again. If it works with a fresh DoSBOX install, I can probably get rid of the DoSBOX exe and conf files in there.

[Tanara Kuranov]

Okay, I'm making a new post so it actually does notify that I did something, since an edit doesn't.

Uploaded a new zip file, "KPro253Archive.zip", in which I took out DoSBOX and the config files, since I ran it from stock DoSBOX 0.74 and it ran exactly the same. The config file seems to be meant for the batch file (which I also took out) to mount the folder automatically, and the batch file didn't work properly, anyways. It has a pre-registered, zero game save file under the name "Tanara Kuranov". Yes, the Green Rookie rank does start you off with 90 nuggets. The later ranks give you no such courtesy, haha. It also should have no missing file errors.

If somebody wants to use a different name and/or see the intro screens, they'll have to take out (or rename) the "PLAYERK1.YOU" and "VDATA.YOU" files, launch the game to create new ones, and follow the steps to register their own file with the old version. Not that it has to be done immediately, you can go halfway through the ranks (all the Rookie and Fellow ranks) before you have to register, or even know you have to.