Magellan MapSend Topo / MapSend Direct Route

No CD Patch (fix/crack) GPS

Eliminates having to keep CD disc in your drive!

MapSend has a built-in copy protection feature (*BUG* in my opinion) that requires the CD disc to be in your CD drive before the program will start. This is very annoying since you must always keep the disc handy (and risk losing it).

Allows you to make archival backup of your original CD!

Thanks to John Stevenson who let me know that the fixes on this page can enable you to make a backup copy of your original CD. Normally, MapSend detects a copied CD and and installation from a copied CD will not run; but, John advises that the fixes here will patch the installed product so it is useable. Thanks, John!

Fix #1—MapSend Topo 3D USA only

MapSend Topo 3D USA has a built-in copy protection feature (*BUG* in my opinion) that requires disc 3 to be in your CD drive before the program will start. This is very annoying since you must always keep disc 3 handy (and risk losing it).

To make life easy, I've created a program that automatically patches MapSend to fix the CD 3 annoyance!

1. Download this program for patching MapSend Topo 3D USA:

MapSendNoCDPatch.zip (7 kB)

2. If the program does not run, you may need the following install from Microsoft:

Service Pack 6 for Visual Basic 6.0: Run-Time Redistribution Pack (vbrun60sp6.exe)

3. Run the program, and you should see the following window (if you installed MapSend in the default location the program will find and highlight the MapSend.exe file exactly as shown. If this doesn't happen you'll need to navigate to find MapSend.exe):
screen shot

4. Click "Patch It!" and you are done! If there is a problem, the program should report it and should not damage anything. The program only patches MapSend.exe file dated 2004-Oct-18 version 1.0.0.5 having file size of 2,883,584 bytes. Help/About should state, "MapSend Topo 3D USA v.1.00 (build 1150)". Let me know if you happen across a different version.

-Kevin

Happy Customer Feedback

If you have any comments, click on "Contact Us" above. Here are some comments:

Kevin, Much thanks for your Magellan noCD. I patched my program & it is perfect. Having to put that disk in the computer ever time was a real pain. Dave

Thanks for that mapsend fix. I agree, it is a bug, that a program one would use on the road, or while traveling assumes you (a) remembered to bring the disk with you (b) you carry every disk you ever bought (c) you don't need your DVD slot for your extra battery. Again, many thanks! David

That did it. Thanks. Now I don't need the disk in the drive. Gord

Fix #2

If you are technically skilled and are afraid to run my software on your machine, you can accomplish the same patch manually by following the instructions below.

The following patch can be applied to the MapSend.exe file (typically located in the C:\Program Files\Magellan\MapSend Topo 3D USA directory. This patch will eliminate the need to keep disc 3 in your CD drive! You will need knowledge of using a basic hex editor to accomplish this patch, or you can simply download the small utility program MapSendNoCDPatch (above) that performs the patch for you.

WARNING :This patch only applies to MapSend.exe file dated 2004-Oct-18 version 1.0.0.5 having file size of 2,883,584 bytes. Help/About should state, "MapSend Topo 3D USA v.1.00 (build 1150)".

How The Fix Works

The patch itself is very simple. In the program disassembly below, one can see a call statement that calls a sub-routine which tests if disc 3 is present in the drive. If the disc is not present, the sub-routine displays the annoying Retry/Cancel dialog window. Upon returning, the program tests the result which must be one of: (1) CD was found; (2) CD not found---retry pressed; or, (3) CD not found---cancel pressed. The patch eliminates the call to the sub-routine, and eliminates the tests so that execution always falls through as if the disc were present.

Patching it Yourself

Simply open up MapSend.exe with any hex editor and navigate to the given offset (0x75C9E). Then replace the unwanted instruction bytes with NOP (no-operation) instructions (hex 90) as shown below. Save the modified file.

Program disassembly before patching:

00075C9E E8 AD CD FF FF   call 00472A50 ; this call checks for CD (pops up Retry/Cancel window if no CD)
00075CA3 83 C4 0C         add  esp,0Ch  ; don't remove! not related to CD check
00075CA6 83 F8 02         cmp  eax,2    ; eax=2 if "Cancel" pressed
00075CA9 74 96            je   00475C41 ; Cancel - jump to exit
00075CAB 83 FE 02         cmp  esi,2    ; esi=1 if "Retry" pressed
00075CAE 75 C6            jne  00475C76 ; Retry - jump backwards to test again
00075CB0 E8 FB 47 FB FF   call 0042A4B0 ; here is where we want to end up!

Program disassembly after patching:

00075C9E 90               nop
00075C9F 90               nop
00075CA0 90               nop
00075CA1 90               nop
00075CA2 90               nop
00075CA3 83 C4 0C         add  esp,0Ch  ; don't remove! not related to CD check
00075CA6 90               nop
00075CA7 90               nop
00075CA8 90               nop
00075CA9 90               nop
00075CAA 90               nop
00075CAB 90               nop
00075CAC 90               nop
00075CAD 90               nop
00075CAE 90               nop
00075CAF 90               nop
00075CB0 E8 FB 47 FB FF   call 0042A4B0 ; here is where we want to end up!

Fix #3

Here is an alternate patch that was given to me. I have confirmed it works for:

MapSend Direct Route North America v.1.00a (build 1048)
MapSend Topo Canada v.1.00e

With this fix a window will still appear asking for the CD; however, when you click cancel the window goes away and the program works!

Open Mapsend with your favorite hex editor
Search for 00 84 C0 75 11 6A as a Hex String
Replace 75 with EB
Save and quit

The string appears in a different place in each flavor of MapSend, but regardless of where it is, replacing the 75 with EB seems to do the trick.