How to Get Enterbrain's Software Free

Started by G_G, March 17, 2012, 11:27:46 am

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G_G

March 17, 2012, 11:27:46 am Last Edit: November 05, 2016, 04:23:51 pm by G_G
This does NOT work anymore. Most (all?) of their software has been updated leaving this method unusable.



In my own opinion, the registry is part of my computer, so I can edit it as I see fit. Of course, this is just my opinion.



Step 1:

Download the trial software for any maker you choose.

VX, XP, and IG Maker
http://old.rpgmakerweb.com/download

RPG Maker VX Ace
http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/download

For XP, VX, and IG Maker, you will receive a serial in your e-mail to activate your 30-Day trial. You won't receive a serial to activate your trial for VX Ace. After installation, run your selected software and click Activate. For VX Ace, check the "Trial" radio button. For the other three, enter your name, e-mail, and serial number you received in e-mail. This will activate your 30 day trial. After that, go ahead and close the program.


Step 2:

Enterbrain's new activation software isn't very secure or hidden. It keeps all the values in plain sight and its pretty easy to find. Open up regedit. Traverse to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > CoGenMedia > DRM

Here you should see the sub folder for the maker you installed. Traverse through all the sub folders of the maker you installed. Once you reach the final sub folder, you will see various entries relating to the Trial. You should see a "Trial" value. If you have enough common sense, you'll know what to do. Due to the new activation software Enterbrain implemented, they basically gave their software for free.


step 3:

???


Step 4:
Profit. :troll:




Whether or not this is legal can be looked at from different points of views. I will leave it up to the administrators to take it down or not. This thread isn't to fight about the legality of this find, but to share info that I discovered and wanted to share for educational purposes. In all honesty, Enterbrain should have made sure their activation system was more secure or hidden and in their attempt to prevent their software from being cracked, they sure as hell made it easier to get it for free.

winkio

I think it's fine, it doesn't talk about downloading illegal copies, it's just playing around with your registry.

Also, that's hilariously fitting XD


ForeverZer0

What's funny is any n00b person, not even a programmer, anybody who knows enough to open the registry editor, could easily "crack" their "protection".  Seriously, what company sells a program for profit and does not know better?
I am done scripting for RMXP. I will likely not offer support for even my own scripts anymore, but feel free to ask on the forum, there are plenty of other talented scripters that can help you.

G_G

Its Enterbrain, since when have they ever been a serious company? :V

Magus

LMAO. I lol'd when I read this. It's not even illegal. It's really just playing around with YOUR reg editor that YOU payed for when you've bought your computer. 

lol, epic win. (Internet download manager is almost the same.)
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Blizzard

Technically you just told somebody how to crack their RM. If you are using it without limitations and haven't paid for it, it is illegal. But I won't remove this. If Enterbrain is stupid enough to make things this obvious, it's their own fault. It's almost like they want people to crack their software.
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Magus

Quote from: Blizzard on March 21, 2012, 02:31:13 am
Technically you just told somebody how to crack their RM. If you are using it without limitations and haven't paid for it, it is illegal. But I won't remove this. If Enterbrain is stupid enough to make things this obvious, it's their own fault. It's almost like they want people to crack their software.


For some reason, I feel like the Enterbrain's only coding experience is within the game creation software itself. The company/persons didn't considering hiring at least one programmer who could code a "cover" or security lock. If it's going to be like that, then ._. 90 bucks is a total freaking waste. 
LEVEL ME DOWN. THE ANTI-BLIZZ GROUP IS AMONG YOU... Do it for the chick below...She watches..<br />

Blizzard

I'm getting more and more the feeling that Enterbrain consists out of two programmers that hire a graphics artist or two along with a random composer for their next RM.
Check out Daygames and our games:

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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Magus

Quote from: Blizzard on March 21, 2012, 08:42:04 am
I'm getting more and more the feeling that Enterbrain consists out of two programmers that hire a graphics artist or two along with a random composer for their next RM.

My friend suspected the same thing.  He's like one of them is the actual programmer and the other guy is the artist which handles the sprites and the music.
LEVEL ME DOWN. THE ANTI-BLIZZ GROUP IS AMONG YOU... Do it for the chick below...She watches..<br />

ForeverZer0

Altering your own registry is not illegal, and it doesn't even contradict Enterbrain's EULA. Enterbrain has no authority over someone's registry, it is part of the OS, and it is not part of the agreement. The only thing is, you can't legally distribute a game with an unregistered copy, free or otherwise, because that is against the agreement.
I am done scripting for RMXP. I will likely not offer support for even my own scripts anymore, but feel free to ask on the forum, there are plenty of other talented scripters that can help you.

Blizzard

You mean it's not against their agreement to use their software without paying for it?
Check out Daygames and our games:

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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Ryex

exactly, just illegal to distribute a game until you pay
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

Calintz

maybe i shouldn't, but i'm gonna power you up for this. i remember roughly a year ago; when i was truly active here, you were still a beginner in the programming world (no offense)! since returning, i've seen great improvement from you already, in more places than just rpgmaker. great job game_guy. keep it up man!

G_G

Haha thanks! <3 I hope to dive into a career for game development. Might as well start young. I'm still in highschool too which amazes me how far I've progressed since I've joined this site. This community really has encouraged me and changed me over the few years I've been here. :3

Calintz

positive surrounding = positive decisions. positive decisions = success. go get 'em killer.

KingofHeartXIII

My sincerest apologies for bumping this, but I truly felt the need to reply, firstly because this topic has helped me and second of all for an actual reply:

"Wow."

Just....wow. I have absolutely zero programming experience, other than copy/paste of scripts in older RPG makers, and the fact that the trial can be....just ....this easily....by somebody with half a brain...

Good find.

GAX

Quote from: Blizzard on March 21, 2012, 08:42:04 am
I'm getting more and more the feeling that Enterbrain consists out of two programmers that hire a graphics artist or two along with a random composer for their next RM.


Well, that would describe their entire maker group.  I don't even want to think about what makes up their whole magazine base.

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zottel89

Haha, this is awesome.
Whenever I get bored of programming, I just need to read some stuff on Chaos Project
to get in the right mood again  :haha:

Ryex

Do you know how many bugs I've had to squash when dealing with RMXP and writing ARCed that arose from that assumption that the programmers at Enterbrain had an ounce of intelligence? too many to remember them all.
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

PhoenixFire

Legal bump, this still works. They haven't fixed it in this latest version either.
Quote from: Subsonic_Noise on July 01, 2011, 02:42:19 amNext off, how to create a first person shooter using microsoft excel.

Quote from: Zeriab on September 09, 2011, 02:58:58 pm<Remember when computers had turbo buttons?

AliveDrive

Multi-bump!

This...

Quote from: gameus on March 17, 2012, 03:27:37 pm
Its Enterbrain, since when have they ever been a serious company? :V


and this...

QuoteWhat's funny is any n00b person, not even a programmer, anybody who knows enough to open the registry editor, could easily "crack" their "protection".  Seriously, what company sells a program for profit and does not know better?


Confession time. I only felt the need to pay for a license if I ended up making a game worth selling.

Consequently, I have yet to pay for a license.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

G_G

It's not something they can really fix just for the fact that they are using a totally different DRM system. CoGen is their current decision, they'd either have to A) ditch GoGen and spend money on another DRM system which would cost them more money or B) Wait for CoGen to go an alternate route. Neither seem very likely so I don't think it'll be outdated anytime soon.

exile360

I'm not 100% sure, but they seem to have fixed this now. The trial (for rmxp at least) no longer requires any activation code from your e-mail, and doesn't seem to use CoGen at all. I guess they noticed, lol.

G_G

Are you using the trial from their new site? I dunno, I haven't tried this method for awhile.

exile360

New site, yes. I believe the old one isn't accessible anymore.

Zexion

They had talked about moving away from CoGen for a while because a huge mass of people who legit bought VxAce couldn't get it to work due to CoGen errors. (Usually from having a pirated RmXP/Vx already installed.) Since obviously no one was going to admit they had the pirated version I don't think they could find the problem and just stopped using CoGen all together.

orochii

This thing could actually help some people that bought the software...
http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/15486-activation-not-working/
Tickets... yeah. Better play a little with registry and voilà.

Asdf,
OZ

PhoenixFire

September 20, 2013, 05:51:10 pm #28 Last Edit: September 20, 2013, 06:18:18 pm by DigitalSoul
Looks like they finally did fix this issue, though some of us were smart and might just happen to have the old installers that should still work with this trick... Not that I'm endorsing software piracy or anything, but as stated, it's not illegal unless you distribute the games without buying it...

EDIT: I just checked with my copy of VX, and yeah, the trick still works. Looks like they didn't find a way to have the activation server check to see if it can determine what "version" of software you're installing (old DRM vs. Non). I would think the smart thing to do would be to have a trigger that detects if your trying to install the old DRM version, force the user to download and install the newest version, thereby bypassing the little trick itself. I mean, really, how hard could that be?
Quote from: Subsonic_Noise on July 01, 2011, 02:42:19 amNext off, how to create a first person shooter using microsoft excel.

Quote from: Zeriab on September 09, 2011, 02:58:58 pm<Remember when computers had turbo buttons?

Blizzard

Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

onashabuh

Its still works, if u have a backup from ur registry entry.

gavintendo

Whenever I boot up the program and click on 'Activate,' it doesn't load. Can you help?

KK20

September 19, 2016, 08:29:19 pm #32 Last Edit: September 19, 2016, 08:34:07 pm by KK20
You're probably using an older version of RMXP. Enterbrain changed their activation servers (or something like that) so the activation process never finishes.

While we're on that note, this doesn't work anymore. It only works if you insert a registry key from someone that did this process years ago. Good luck with that since asking would be against the rules.

Other Projects
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RigleyWoo

sorry I'm completly braindead and heard nothing of common sense,but which file do i find the product key/edit? Im in regedit and can see the following files and data:
Free ¦ false
reseller ¦ COGEN
S ¦ eb25ac9d0c58cf969b61d153e53605fd
SalesCode ¦ lite
Trial ¦ True
TrialExpiary ¦ 2020-12-01 00:00:00Z

RigleyWoo

hey sorry how braindead i am but idk what im supposed to do. ive found the exact folder that G_G described and can show a list of variables and data if it would help.

G_G

It says "Trial : True"
True means that its in trial mode. So changing it to "False" should fix it. Don't have to be a programmer to realize that lol.

KK20

But it shouldn't even work anymore, as my previous post states

Other Projects
RPG Maker XP Ace  Upgrade RMXP to RMVXA performance!
XPA Tilemap  Tilemap rewrite with many features, including custom resolution!

Nintendo Switch Friend Code: 8310-1917-5318
Discord: KK20 Tyler#8901

Join the CP Discord Server!

G_G


Netaro

Okay, hear me out. I'm some random guy completely out of nowhere and bumping a year old thread. I highly apologize.

But I found an old RPG Maker Vx Ace installer and it uses the old CoGen DRM. The only problem is that it won't make the Registry keys unless you activate the trial first which is impossible since the old activation servers are long dead.

I've searched for two weeks now and this seems like my only shot; I'm wondering if any of you have a backup of the full registry path. Can anyone give me the name of all the registry keys and folders inside CoGenMedia -> Drm so I can try and recreate all the registry stuff manually and see if I can fool the software.

Again, highly apologize if I seem rude and completely out of nowhere. I'm just completely losing my mind over this. I know I can easily get a cracked version online but I still wanted to do it as "legal" as possible. Any help is appreciated!

KK20

Quote from: KK20 on September 19, 2016, 08:29:19 pm
It only works if you insert a registry key from someone that did this process years ago. Good luck with that since asking would be against the rules.


I'm gonna go ahead and lock this topic too.

Other Projects
RPG Maker XP Ace  Upgrade RMXP to RMVXA performance!
XPA Tilemap  Tilemap rewrite with many features, including custom resolution!

Nintendo Switch Friend Code: 8310-1917-5318
Discord: KK20 Tyler#8901

Join the CP Discord Server!

Blizzard

Maybe we should even delete the topic.

Quote from: G_G on March 17, 2012, 11:27:46 am
This does NOT work anymore. Most (all?) of their software has been updated leaving this method unusable.



Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.