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How do I patch an android game I paid for, but now doesn't work because the devs shut a server off?

I paid for Puzzle Quest 2 on android like a decade+ ago. It is a local single-player game. It has a validation check when you open the app. That check fails because this game is ancient and the servers are offline.

I want to replay the game I paid for. I have the APK from an APK site. It’s even been pulled from steam to push their crappy p2w pq3. Anyone have tricks to crank an APK and bypass a server check? I’ve decompiled the APK but am in a bit over my head.

I_Has_A_Hat ,

I bought roller coaster tycoon classic for mobile a few years back. When I upgraded my phone, it suddenly vanished because apparently Pixel 7’s and later are 64-bit only. I’ve heard I could root my phone and somehow restore access, but that seems like a pain and I’ve become pretty reliant on Google’s call screening service to block spam calls.

Just ridiculous that I can no longer play a game a purchased for arbitrary reasons.

floridaman ,

Idk about the mobile release but wasn’t roller coaster tycoon written mostly by hand in assembly? I’m probably wrong but I feel like that could be why, not arbitrary for that game lol

dangblingus ,

Yeah unfortunately RCT on modern systems is only playable if you have the original discs or if you have RCT2 you can get the OpenRCT2 mod for it to work on 64 bit systems. Not sure what one might be able to do on android to get it working.

CaptainBasculin ,

Try lucky patcher to remove licence verification. It’s a very hit&miss tool; but when it works it does well.

Engywuck ,

What would be a safe place where to download Lucky Patcher?

CaptainBasculin ,

Its official site is www.luckypatchers.com

Engywuck ,

Thanks. It may be official, but looks sketchy AF, lol

Bonehead ,

Is it because it automatically slams you over to a scam website that tells me my system is heavily damaged by 2 viruses?

jerrythegenius ,
@jerrythegenius@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I’d like to try that but it looks real dodge. Like a generic scam site by someone who took a month of english lessons and then made the website because they were the only one who knew any english.

catculation ,
@catculation@lemmy.zip avatar

I don’t think the link is legit. Lucky patcher is long gone. Better search on archives or some ru forums.

CaptainBasculin ,

The application from all versions link to there, that’s how I know it’s legit. Check info section of wherever you find the application from.

But the site looks really sketchy I agree with you on that. Unbrowsable without adblock

Gooey0210 ,

Lucky patcher is long gone

The latest version is released like yesterday 😂😂😂

KpntAutismus ,

with sonic runners, they had to reverse engineer the whole server infrastructure. i’d say the chances of you patching out server checks without decompiling the entire game are low.

but i’m not any kind of programmer, so i’d love to be proven wrong.

SpaceNoodle ,

I’m a few kinds of programmer, and that’s pretty much it.

bdonvr ,

It really depends on the app. Plenty of Android apps have very simple to do premium bypass.

kurwa ,

I wonder if in this case you could just mimic the OG server and return a 200. Could just do that with a hosts file change. Although if it’s looking for anything else from that verification endpoint then decompiling would be the answer.

Daxtron2 ,

I mean decompiling it isn’t really an issue. Adding changes and recompiling without breaking things is more of a challenge but still doable.

Paradachshund ,

Server checks aren’t always just an arbitrary gate at the start so this makes sense. For example, if the game has unlockable things (paid or not) and those things sync across multiple devices, then server checks to make sure your progress get saved and merged together properly can be woven through the whole game.

redditReallySucks ,
@redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I’m currently also looking at decompiling android apps and understand a bit of smali. If you send me the apk I might look into it.

If you want to do it yourself, I recommend apktool_m on android. It includes all tools required to decompile the app. It can even show a partially correct java code in apps that are not obfuscated.

surfrock66 OP ,
@surfrock66@lemmy.world avatar

I think the local copy I have (on a literal old samsung S3) is the same as what is downloaded from here, with the game cache files: sbenny.com/games/puzzle-quest-2.html

I was NOT able to make that work on my current OnePlus, even with the cache files. It fails a validation check on launch.

0xd34d ,

I have a copy that was part of a humble bundle. It doesn’t want to install on my phone, probably an issue with newer version of Android, but if you DM me I can share that with you if you want.

surfrock66 OP ,
@surfrock66@lemmy.world avatar

I would greatly appreciate that

Shady_Shiroe ,
@Shady_Shiroe@lemmy.world avatar

Reminds me of when I was a kid and played mono monsters 1 & 2, so sad they shut it down and due to tutorial requiring you go to the shop you get stuck and unable to proceed.

xrtxn ,

It already is modded.

Murkhat ,

Search all files for “http” and check how the URL is utilized, maybe you can comment out those Funktion calls

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