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Freelock.md

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Names:

Freelock1, FREELOCK1, FreeLock2

Categories:

DRM Builder, Optical Copy Protection

Developers:

Scooby II3, Xperience1

Years Active:

19991 - 20003

Known Versions & Differences:

  • Version 1.0: Initial release.

  • Version 1.1: There is no known reference to this version ever having existed.

  • Version 1.2: Added "overburn" protection and added a new option to improve compatibility with some drives.4

  • Version 1.2a: Patch to 1.2 that's seemingly more common, exact change unknown.

  • Version 1.3: Separate intentionally bad data from main executable.5

Known Samples:

Confirmed:

  • Freelock 1.0. 6

  • Freelock 1.2. 7

  • Freelock 1.2a. 8

  • Freelock 1.3. 9

  • "Win Magazine 29" coverdisc that includes the Freelock 1.3 program. 10

Unconfirmed:

N/A.

Protection Features:

Copy Prevention; Misleading Tracks; Disc Errors; Overburn

Minimum Required Image Format to Run:

ISO (Assuming only the typical PSX data is needed) / CUE (Assuming multiple tracks contain actual audio/data)

Software Known to Detect:

BurnOut2, BinaryObjectScanner11

Detection Related Information:

https://github.com/SabreTools/BinaryObjectScanner/blob/master/BinaryObjectScanner/Protection/FreeLock.cs

Preservation Instructions:

[TODO]

Overall Description:

Freelock was a free DRM that allowed end-users to burn copy protected PSX CD-Rs. It accomplished this by adding additional dummy tracks (by default, one mode 1 and one mode 2 track) to an image before burning, and then attempting to use a corrupted file to burn to these tracks. This caused the write process to fail at the end, after the PSX data has already finished being burned. It also had an optional feature to instead overburn the disc to a total of 95 minutes as well, using random data in random types of tracks. All together, these features were intended to make it passively difficult for another person to copy the resulting CD-R.

Official description of how it worked:12

Freelock alters the layout of a CD image prior to recording, making the resulting copy virtually impossible to duplicate. This prevents most people making copies of your copies.

Freelock's standard protection works by adding two additional tracks to the CD, a "Mode 1" data track and a "Mode 2" data track. This is "illegal", and most writing software will refuse to copy the disc. Just for good measure, though, the file used for the tracks is deliberately damaged (have you tried copying it yet?), so the writing process will ALWAYS fail!

Freelock's "overburn" protection is different. This adds extra tracks to the CD, boosting it up to 95 minutes. Each of these extra tracks (a random mix of audio, "Mode 1" and "Mode 2" tracks) adds around 10Mb to the CD, potentially pushing the CD contents off the edge of the disc! When you write this CD, all of the PlayStation data will be written, then the CD will be filled up until the CD writer runs out of space and spits out the disc! The overburn feature of Freelock requires an extra 11Mb of your hard disk to store the track data. The file used for this can be created by running GENLOCK.EXE, found on the Freelock diskette. The file created by Genlock is of random length between 9 and 11Mb (but is a multiple of 2352 bytes in length - this is required by CDRWIN) and contains random data.

NOTE: When Freelock is used to protect a CD, the copying process will be abandoned when CDRWIN or DAO encounters the (deliberate) errors in the last tracks. In other words, CDRWIN OR DAO WILL ALWAYS STOP WITH AN "ERROR" WHEN YOU WRITE A FREELOCKED CD! This is normal.

A new option has been added to support drives such as the HP 8100, which cannot write Mode 1 and Mode 2 tracks on the same CD. Using the /M option forces FREELOCK to add either Audio or Mode 2 tracks, and prevents the addition of Mode 1 tracks. When used in conjunction with the /O option, only Audio tracks are added. This is a last-resort method of protection - if you have a drive that is particularly fussy when it comes to writing "strange" disks, it may be your only choice.

It is intended to be run off of a "key" floppy disk, with the first step being to install the provided IMG to a floppy disk. Next you use it to modify a CUE image with the protection options you want, and lastly burn the resulting image to a disc.

[TODO: Needs to be tested personally, currently untested due to OTVDM not currently working with Freelock.]

Known Associated Files:13

"FREELOCK.IMG":

The floppy disk image every version of Freelock is distributed in.

"FREELOCK":

The partition name for "FREELOCK.IMG" in Freelock 1.0-1.2a.

"FREELOCK.TXT"

A text file included with every version of Freelock.

"FREELOCK.EXE"

The main executable for every version of Freelock. Is intentionally corrupted in Freelock 1.0-1.2a.

"GENLOCK.EXE"

The executable that creates the "FREELOCK.DAT" file needed to use the overburn option in Freelock 1.2+.

"FREELOCK.DAT"

The file containing random data used by the overburn option in Freelock 1.2+.

"freelock.ico"

The icon for Freelock 1.2+.

"Freelock.pif"

The MS-DOS shortcut for Freelock 1.2+.

"FREELOCK.13"/"FREELOCK13"

The partition name for "FREELOCK.IMG" in Freelock 1.3.

"FL.DAT"

An intentionally corrupt file used instead of the main executable in Freelock 1.3.

Additional Resources & Documentation:

Official Resources:

Unofficial Resources:

Authors/Contributors:

  • TheRogueArchivist - Entry author.

Footnotes:

Footnotes

  1. Official Freelock site as indicated in "FREELOCK.TXT" in Freelock 1.0-1.2a. (Archived 1999-10-01) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Changelog for BurnOut that shows it supporting "FreeLock". (Archived 2023-10-02) ↩ ↩2

  3. Official Freelock site as indicated in "FREELOCK.TXT" in Freelock 1.3. (Archived 2001-08-01) ↩ ↩2

  4. Found by comparing the "FREELOCK.TXT" file present in 1.0 and 1.2. ↩

  5. Mentioned in the "FREELOCK.TXT" file present in version 1.3, personally confirmed. ↩

  6. Freelock 1.0. (Download) (Archived 2004-06-15) ↩

  7. Freelock 1.2. (Download) (Archived 2009-10-27) ↩

  8. Freelock 1.2a. (Download) (Archived 2004-06-13) ↩

  9. Freelock 1.3. (Download) (Archived 2004-06-13) ↩

  10. "Win Magazine 29" coverdisc that includes Freelock. ↩

  11. BinaryObjectScanner's Freelock detection code. ↩

  12. Found in the "FREELOCK.TXT" file present in version 1.3. ↩

  13. All of the listed files can be found within or when using the appropriate versions of Freelock. ↩