rec.autos.simulators

by **John Walla** » Sat, 15 Aug 1998 04:00:00

This was an even worse disaster. I remember lots of "demo" versions of
products given away on magazine cover CDs - they were full programs
but worked only as a demo until a key was entered. The keys were
immediately hacked and published on usenet and thousands of people got
free software with no trip to the shops, mail order, long download or
whatever. Nightmare.

It wouldn't make any difference. Most warez stuff has the videos and
stuff removed anyway, and any CD checks are bypassed - I guess it
takes a couple of hours to do. Even if that is impossible it's also a
simple matter to make an ISO image of the whole CD and distribute
that, so then anyone with a burner can remake the original CD.

It's a very difficult issue. Perhaps NROS would be one answer, with
registration details being cross-checked against serial numbers or CD
check, but it is complicated and not very user-friendly. How to stop
piracy while minimising hassle for the user and cost for development

Cheers!
John

by **meij** » Tue, 18 Aug 1998 04:00:00

This would be pure, un***erated rubbish then?

I have a preview copy of GPL at home for a preview I am writing (kindly sent
to me by Sierra/Papyrus). There are enough of these floating around to tile
the floor of the Albert Hall but apparently are only available to trustworthy
members of the press to prevent the now de rigeur leaks. If there are this
many around the chances are someone will leak it eventually and even if they
didn't it would be out on the net 2 to 3 days before it hit the shelves
because of store workers getting hold of it to copy. Facist security measures,
whilst sounding impressive, are pretty much unlikely to be in place in CD
replication facilities. Of course you are aware that compulsory searching of
staff would be illegal in most countries...

M

>According to a highly-accurate but must-remain-nameless source, GP
>Legends is going for a simultaneous release in all areas of
>international distribution.

>At this time there are very, very few bugs left in the source code and
>most of the bugs were just alert messages in the wrong language.

>My source advises that the international sites (where the CDs will be
>produced for that distribution zone) have been very secretive about
>Legends: even the people working on the game are searched to make sure
>they don't take beta CDs home(to stop the pirates).

>It would appear that release could be expected, internationally, by as
>early as the end of August/first weeks of September.

>It is also most likely that the product could use a hardware
>protection system on the CD i.e. put a physical mark on the CD then get
>the program to look for that before starting the game. This would stop
>people from copying the game because the new CD wouldn't have the
>"watermark".

>There you have the latest....if my source provides any updates I'll
>advise.

by **meij** » Wed, 19 Aug 1998 04:00:00

I remember the "good old days" of manual protection. I had to keep all my
manuals within easy reach so whenever I wanted to play I could. I personally
remember getting my hex editor out and "fixing" one or two games to bypass the
copy protection because I was fed up of doing it (f1gp a prime example).

To be honest I haven't seen any copy protection that works yet. Someone can
crack almost anything and there is no way to stop it. To be honest, the number
of people who can be bothered downloading 100-200Mb of game is small and as
games get bigger exponentially by the year, this will reduce further. Gone are
the days when complete games were posted on Usenet.

What *I* hope is that games developers won't use DVD as an excuse for
bloatware like they did when CDROM started. No amount of music and pretty
video can disguise a bad game and there are plenty of those around already
without adding to the mix....

M

>A manual protection like in the old times, for instance it would ask
>for the third word on page 130 line 23 etc. Maybe that's the only way
>after awhile, which would reduce (but not totally get rid of) PC
>piracy.

>I'm becoming more and more FOR copy protection schemes now that it
>looks like PC piracy is once again raising its ugly head in force now
>that there are affordable CD-R drives available. Piracy is one of the
>reasons why software companies went to CD-ROMs anyway and I liked
>that, because it meant no manual check ups anymore like in most
>diskette games.

>As far as I know lots of PC companies are now feeling the pressure of
>piracy once again (very thin margins except for the very few games
>that do sell well like Starcraft), while console game makers are doing
>much better. I would find it unfortunate if in the future I could play
>only console games (no, I'm not talking about racing games only).

>IF they could find some trouble-free and working copy protection
>scheme, I would be happy because it would once again make PC games
>sell better, and only the *** warez d00dz would run the buggy and
>ripped warez versions anymore.

>Hopefully DVD games will give some more breathing room for PC game
>developers once again. I understand it has some kind of copy
>protection scheme because the movie and music industry demanded it,
>but I don't know if it really works.

rec.autos.simulators

"DEEP THROAT" speaks! (GPL info).

"DEEP THROAT" speaks! (GPL info).

"DEEP THROAT" speaks! (GPL info).

"DEEP THROAT" speaks! (GPL info).