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Using resload_Protect#?
Theory
There are various situations in which it maybe very useful to get informed when
the installed program makes accesses to certain specific memory locations.
With the resload_Protect#? functions it
is possible to protect certain memory locations from reading and/or writing by
the processor. Protecting means that every access to such a protected area if
performed will create an Access Fault exception which will result in an
appropriate requester by WHDLoad. If you declare a memory area as protected
using a resload_Protect#? function
WHDLoad will modify the affected page descriptors in the MMU translation tree.
Now on every access to the protected page the CPU will create an Access Fault
exception. The exception handler inside WHDLoad will verify the reason for the
exception. If the reason was an access to a protected page but the access does
not match the protected area the access will be emulated, and normal program
execution continues. Otherwise WHDLoad will quit with an appropriate
requester. If the access was an access to the instruction stream (i.e. the cpu
attempts to load code) it will always be emulated, or with other words the resload_Protect#? functions only affects
reading and writing of data. The fact that every access to a protected page
(pagesize is currently 4096 bytes) will create an access fault, even if the protected
area has only a length of 1 byte, results in a strong slow down of the
execution speed of the program. Especially if parts of the code are located on
the same page. If the program depends on execution speed, differences in the
execution are possible. So it maybe possible that some programs will not work
with the resload_Protect feature.
Example: checksums over code
If you install a game using WHDLoad you have to patch the original loader
routines in the game in a way that these will use WHDLoad to load the game
data. Some games are performing checksums over certain code areas to detect if
the original code has been modified. These detection routines may sometimes be
hard to find. But using the resload_Protect#? functions in WHDLoad
it will be easy. All you have to do is to protect the bytes you
changed in the games code from reading. Now every routine which tries to make
a checksum and read your patched code will cause an access fault. And you will
know where the routine is located.
Limitations
You must not protect the memory page where the SSP points to. If you do so and
an exception occurs, a Double Bus Fault will happen because the CPU will be
unable to write the exception stackframe. After a Double Bus Fault only a reset
can be performed to continue execution. WHDLoad checks for a conflict of the
protected area with the SSP and terminates if the condition is met. But this
wont help if the SSP changes later.
For more limitations and information please check the Autodoc entries for the
different resload_Protect functions:
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