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:
(http://decisive-media.net/gameguy/lol.png)
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.
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
Trololo :troll:
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?
Its Enterbrain, since when have they ever been a serious company? :V
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You mean it's not against their agreement to use their software without paying for it?
exactly, just illegal to distribute a game until you pay
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!
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
positive surrounding = positive decisions. positive decisions = success. go get 'em killer.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Legal bump, this still works. They haven't fixed it in this latest version either.
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.
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.
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.
Are you using the trial from their new site? I dunno, I haven't tried this method for awhile.
New site, yes. I believe the old one isn't accessible anymore.
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.
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
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?
I have split the piracy related stuff into a new discussion: http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php/topic,13533.0.html
Its still works, if u have a backup from ur registry entry.
Whenever I boot up the program and click on 'Activate,' it doesn't load. Can you help?
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.
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
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.
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.
But it shouldn't even work anymore, as my previous post states
And updated OP to state that.
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!
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.
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.