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BWAI Downgrader v1.1, Utilizing ShadowFlare's No-cd!

Creator: bajadulce
Time: Jul 25 2008, 10:07 pm

Post #1     bajadulce Jul 25 2008, 10:07 pm

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DOWNLOAD:

BWAI Downgrader v1.1
approx. 15mb

INFO:

A one-click Downgrader that utilizes ShadowFlare's No-cd utility.
Now you can play old mods without mounting some .iso or having to dig up that old CD.

DIRECTIONS:

Unzip to anywere and run! Jeez its that easy.

NO-CD INFO:

To utilize the no-cd follow Blizzard's 1.15.2 no-cd instructions:
1. copy install.exe from your Broodwar CD to your Starcraft folder
2. rename install.exe to Broodwar.mpq

What the hell does this program do?

The program simply copies/overwrites the following files to your starcraft folder:
patch_rt.mpq, starcraft.exe, storm.dll, standard.snp, battle.snp.
These are actual Blizzard files... just as if you had used their patchers.


Windows Vista Users and ToggleNX:

* ShadowFlare's no-cd utility automatically toggles this setting for Private PvPGN servers. So you're good to go!
* 1.15.2 option will bring you to a special screen that will allow you to toggle this should you want to play 1.15.2 on a Private server.

Upgrading to the latest BNET patch (1.15.2 as of this writing):

Because ShadowFlare's no-cd utility automatically togglesNX in starcraft.exe, users will not be able to connect to Bnet to return to 1.15.2 after downgrading.
Simply Select Scraft v1.15.2 option to return to a 100% authentic Bnet 1.15.2.

Why this program?

Good Question.
There are already proven Downgraders, but this one is unique in that it utilizes ShadowFlare's no-cd tool as well as a one-click operation. There is nothing to type or setup etc.. just choose your desired version, click an go. Anyways.. I built this for all those great Firegraft mods and all the great ones to come and all those ppl that have broken CD's :lol:

NOTE:
I am not a "programmer".. So if it doesn't work for 100% of you users... well tough luck :P Should work for 99% of the ppl tho... I hope.
This post was edited 4 times, last edit by bajadulce: Jul 28 2008, 7:25 pm.  Reason given: ToggleNX added + instructions on returning to 1.15.2 Bnet
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Post #2     Polaris[MM] Jul 25 2008, 10:21 pm

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Uh oh farty, you have some competition! :P

It looks great! Ill be sure to give it a go next time I need to.
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Post #3     Excalibur[MM] Jul 25 2008, 10:41 pm

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Does it work on vista?
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Post #4     FlyingHat Jul 25 2008, 11:38 pm

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Will version 1.12b be added for Free Market?
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Post #5     bajadulce Jul 26 2008, 1:09 am

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Quote from Polaris[MM]
Uh oh farty, you have some competition! :P
:lol: that's quite comical. His tool is a REAL program. Mine just basically copies stuff to your starcraft folder. This prog was just a fun little side project and allows some additional options; mainly the no-cd thing. Maybe Farty will be motivated to update his program tho! ... :rolleyes:

Quote from Excalibur[MM]
Does it work on vista?
No idea. I would assume so, since the files are genuine Blizzard files and I would expect the files generated by Shadowflare's no-cd tool would be too. If the DEP settings are set for a particular target .exe (in this case starcraft.exe) does that mean they have to be reset if the file is overwritten? Dunno. And is there anything additional besides DEP settings that require additional tweaking for starcraft.exe to work with Vista?

Quote from FlyingHat
Will version 1.12b be added for Free Market?
I doubt anything more will ever become of this. I didn't incorporate any means to "update" the .exe. Basically I was just goofing around last night and thought this would be a fun and quick project. The particular versions just seemed to be the most needed. Also some ppl were asking me for an easy way to downgrade to 1.10. I guess I could write an updater so that if you placed the Downgrader in your Starcraft folder, it would then be able to find it and enable "updating" without having to redownloading the whole .exe. The program is already pretty big (~15mb) for what it does. ... Free Market should be updated to the new FGraft anyways! .. :)
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Post #6     A_of-s_t Jul 26 2008, 1:16 am

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Quote
No idea. I would assume so, since the files are genuine Blizzard files and I would expect the files generated by Shadowflare's no-cd tool would be too. If the DEP settings are set for a particular target .exe (in this case starcraft.exe) does that mean they have to be reset if the file is overwritten? Dunno. And is there anything additional besides DEP settings that require additional tweaking for starcraft.exe to work with Vista?

Overwriting the .exe still allows it to run on my computer (I use Vista). The only problem is using ToggleNX for multiplayer.
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Post #7     bajadulce Jul 26 2008, 1:21 am

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Quote from A_of-s_t
The only problem is using ToggleNX for multiplayer.
What the hell is that? :-( :lol:
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Post #8     A_of-s_t Jul 26 2008, 1:29 am

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ToggleNX

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Post #9     bajadulce Jul 26 2008, 1:49 am

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ouch.. monster VISTA! :flamer: .

OK I just downloaded ToggleNX from Shadowflare's realm and dumped one starcraft.exe into it. Now the program says that it successfully toggled NX flag in executable. So does that mean the .exe was altered and is now fixed! :) ? (didn't see the file date change?) OR does starcraft.exe have to be run through the program every time? :-( I guess what I'm getting at is can I just dump each one of the starcraft.exe's through this program and then distribute them in my downgrader?

btw, I don't have windows Vista so is there some output I'm not seeing? Is it supposed to auto launch Scraft? Or is it something running in background? no clue. couldn't seem to find any documentation on this issue. :blush:
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Post #10     ShadowFlare Jul 26 2008, 4:05 pm

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It is already integrated into the no-cd patcher, except that it doesn't toggle (only goes one way). The reasoning behind this was that people were probably going to be using private servers when playing the older versions, which means you can't have Windows enabling that feature for SC.

Also, did you make sure you didn't use the patcher on 1.15.2, so it can still work on battle.net?
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Post #11     bajadulce Jul 26 2008, 4:42 pm

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It is already integrated into the no-cd patcher, except that it doesn't toggle (only goes one way)
So I guess Vista users will have to toggle this after running the downgrader? I wish there was a toggle that automatically targeted starcraft.exe? Then I could just call that program in downgrader as an option for Vista users.

Quote from ShadowFlare
Also, did you make sure you didn't use the patcher on 1.15.2, so it can still work on battle.net?
I did not use the patcher on the 1.15.2 starcraft.exe. When users select the 1.15.2 option, the program actually removes any nocd files.

1.15.2.ins:

Code

@SetupDat\GenDefs.ins

// Uninstall file.
    UninstallFile $(Unin_Star_Data);

// add patch Files to Starcraft folder
    FileBlock "SetupDat\files\1.15.2" = $(InstallPath) archived
        {
        ("starcraft.exe")
    }
    FileBlock "SetupDat\files\1.15.2" = $(InstallPath) archived
        {
        ("storm.dll")
    }
    FileBlock "SetupDat\files\1.15.2" = $(InstallPath) archived
        {
        ("patch_rt.mpq")
    }
    FileBlock "SetupDat\files\1.15.2" = $(InstallPath) archived
        {
        ("battle.snp")
    }
    FileBlock "SetupDat\files\1.15.2" = $(InstallPath) archived
        {
        ("standard.snp")
    }

// remove SFNOCD files from starcraft folder
     
          DeleteFile $(InstallPath)\"SFNoCD.dll";
    DeleteFile $(InstallPath)\"starcraft.exe.sfnocd";
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Post #12     ShadowFlare Jul 26 2008, 4:49 pm

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I meant that my no-cd patcher already applies that patch, meaning there is no need for an additional step, but simply does not include a method to reverse it
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Post #13     bajadulce Jul 26 2008, 5:02 pm

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Would there ever be any need to reverse this toggle?

And just to clarify; If Vista users run starcraft with the included nocd.dll and starcraft.exe.sfnocd, does this mean that they won't need to do any toggling?
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Post #14     Scottp45 Jul 26 2008, 5:46 pm

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What is togglenx sopposed to do? I dled it, draged SC onto it, says Succesfuly toggled nx flag in executable. Then what?
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Post #15     A_of-s_t Jul 26 2008, 8:06 pm

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Quote from Scottp45
What is togglenx sopposed to do? I dled it, draged SC onto it, says Succesfuly toggled nx flag in executable. Then what?
You use it to enable custom gateways.
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Post #16     ShadowFlare Jul 26 2008, 10:01 pm

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Quote from bajadulce
Would there ever be any need to reverse this toggle?
Not when using my no-cd patcher, as it currently has no included method to reverse any changes on disk, only in memory (though it keeps track of all the information necessary to do so). ToggleNX only performs a simple change of one bit in the file, so I decided to make that be able to undo the change it does.

Quote
And just to clarify; If Vista users run starcraft with the included nocd.dll and starcraft.exe.sfnocd, does this mean that they won't need to do any toggling?
That is correct (well, except that the modified starcraft.exe is a part of that as well).

Basically there are 3 parts to the patch: sfnocd.dll, where all the real work is done; the starcraft.exe patch, which includes injected code and the patch from ToggleNX; and the starcraft.exe.sfnocd file, which contains a list of all the changes to undo in memory after sfnocd.dll is loaded. starcraft.exe.sfnocd is specific to the version it was created for, while sfnocd.dll is not.

Quote from Scottp45
What is togglenx sopposed to do? I dled it, draged SC onto it, says Succesfuly toggled nx flag in executable. Then what?
It toggles a setting in starcraft.exe that is designed to tell Vista to not allow disabling Data Execution Prevention for the program. Basically it is a setting to indicate that the program is compatible (and it is indeed compatible, otherwise people would be complaining about it all the time). However, there is something that current versions of the server software run by private servers (PvPGN) send out to the game that is not compatible with Data Execution Prevention, so it needs to be disabled to connect, even though Starcraft is otherwise compatible with Data Execution Prevention..
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Post #17     A_of-s_t Jul 27 2008, 5:18 am

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Quote from ShadowFlare
even though Starcraft is otherwise compatible with Data Execution Prevention..

Some mods actually need to be put into the exception list for DEP on my computer. Some of these include AO, ITAS, and an older mod from Maplantis >.>
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Post #18     O)FaRTy1billion[MM] Jul 27 2008, 6:56 am

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Quote from bajadulce
Now you can play old mods without mounting some .iso or having to dig up that old CD.
My SCBW CDs case IS my computer. >.>
>The Game!<
>Taking SCD4 Suggestions!<
Clicky, Clicky!
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Post #19     bajadulce Jul 27 2008, 7:15 pm

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Quote from O)FaRTy1billion[MM]
My SCBW CDs case IS my computer. >.>
pics please!

Quote from ShadowFlare
Quote from bajadulce
And just to clarify; If Vista users run starcraft with the included nocd.dll and starcraft.exe.sfnocd, does this mean that they won't need to do any toggling?
That is correct.
Fantastic! Versions 1.07-1.15.1 should give Vista users no problems and no need to toggleNX! Perfect.

Quote from ShadowFlare
..It toggles a setting in starcraft.exe..
So the program actually DOES modify starcraft.exe? :) So I can supply users a toggledNX starcraft.exe for the 1.15.2 patch.

Quote from ShadowFlare
However, there is something that current versions of the server software run by private servers (PvPGN) send out to the game that is not compatible with Data Execution Prevention, so it needs to be disabled to connect.
Hmm.. ok so I should offer a toggled starcraft.exe and a non-toggled one? So for instance each patch should include the option to have the "no-cd" (togglenx built in) or the standard .exe (non-toggled)? In the case of the 1.15.2 patch, just the 2 starcraft.exes (toggle/not toggled)
This post was edited 1 time, last edit by bajadulce: Jul 28 2008, 7:03 pm.
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Post #20     O)FaRTy1billion[MM] Jul 28 2008, 5:13 am

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Quote from bajadulce
Quote from O)FaRTy1billion[MM]
My SCBW CDs case IS my computer. >.>
pics please!
What? I meant that my CD stays in my computer.
>The Game!<
>Taking SCD4 Suggestions!<
Clicky, Clicky!
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