Abandonware Assistance Request

[JDW]

There's a nifty B&W Lucasfilm game called "Pipe Dream" (version 1.1) available for download at Macintosh Garden, Le Grenier du Mac and other sources. This nifty classic game runs nicely on my SE/30 and my 5-year-old absolutely loves it. The problem is that it requires 3 picture codes to be properly entered at startup otherwise the game only lets you play three levels. Clearly, the original game come with a booklet of some sort which describes how to enter the codes properly. Would any of you have access to that booklet or otherwise have a patch to bypass it?

 

[Dennis Nedry]

I downloaded it from both the places you listed and the password entry screen immediately dismisses itself before I can do anything. I haven't actually gotten past level 3 to see what happens, but this leads me to wonder if both of those downloads MIGHT be cracked already.

If you systematically guessed, I believe it would take only 343 attempts to figure out the 3-block code for each master block, which is tedious but certainly humanly possible, especially with a Mac emulator with freeze/defrost capability. (Each block in each 3-block code has 7 possibilities, so 7 * 7 * 7 = 343.)

 

[superpantoufle]

Hi JDW,

I downloaded it from the "Grenier du Mac" just out of criosity and quickly tried it on a 7.1 mini vMac image (too much of a hassle to start up one of my vintage friends today…). And just as Dennis said, it quickly shows and dismisses the password screen.

I guess most protected games on the Grenier du Mac are already cracked. I just checked their FAQ and couldn't find anything about that, but I do remember having seen something like this in the past.

And just in case you or your kid care, the page you linked points to nice recent clone of Pipe Dreams called MacPipes…

 

[JDW]

I swore that I downloaded my Pipe Dream 1.1 copy from Le Grenier du Mac in the past, but after downloading it again yesterday I found that you are correct -- the password screen fades away a couple seconds after appearing. Now I just need to figure out how to get past level 1. Keeps telling me Game Over!

Thank you for the assistance!

 

[Dennis Nedry]

I have verified that it is possible to get to level 2, unfortunately I may need to "underclock" the Mac to be able to do it all in time!