> > > In fact I have shared all the data I had. At that time people seemed happy
> > with
> > > that until they realised it got them no closer to understanding the algo.
> > > Everything I know about the encryption has been shared and is also
> documented
> > in
> > > the MAME source, I cant share information that is unknown to me.
> > >
> >
> > consider that charles shared many gigabytes of data, most of the early table
> > dumps he provided were 1gb+ in size, you supplied a couple of meg of data,
> > having more data, from more than one game, obviously helps.
>
> Would it be possible to do the same thing for CPS2 Raz? Dump a large table of
> each possible input to a certain memory location and list the outputs. Nicola
> might be on a roll and could figure out CPS2 as well....

Both myself and OG requested some (specific, particular) data-tables, Raz refused to provide, claiming that he wouldn't help crack the actual encryption until CPS2 was no longer sold. Now, if he really cared about preservation, he would have dumped those sorts of data-tables necessary (which he claimed to be able to do, with his hardware setup), and h0ard3d them until such time as CPS2 was no longer being sold, and therefore fair game to work on breaking. Somehow, I doubt that he had that much foresight and wisdom. Especially if it would cut his chances of "Send Paypal" a second time.

> I have to admit that originally I supported XORs since I thought that having an
> 'in' to the system would help finding the algorithm... but several years on and
> there is still no algorithm, I have to doubt whether xors were ever a good idea
> :(
> Will the system truly be preserved in a non-hacky way till an algorithm is
> found?

While Raz may be to thank, for getting them playable, he may also be to blame, for them not getting properly preserved. Such confounding duality.