rec.autos.simulators

Actually the FADE protection is in fact the first copy protection that
really seems to be effective - it can be cracked, eveything can be
cracked and it HAS been cracked, but it took quite a while before
someone managed that. And overruling the FADE system still requires
quite some hassle. Now the problems you had with the disc not being
recognized are stupid and annoying, but the FADE system was a very
clever protection.

I still have problems with N4 though, after I click the N4 icon
nothing happens, and it takes 30-60 seconds when N4 suddenly starts.

'Copy protections' are useless, allmost every game is being cracked
before it's even released in the stores. The only people having
problems with these copy protections are the buyers of the games.
If you want to protect your software / make life for the warez people
difficult, use some clever protections as the FADE system and not
these stupid, TOTALLY USELESS copy protections.

Derek Smart wrote on his Battlecruiser site that it was 'highly
unlikely' that the Battlecruiser 3000 protection would ever be
cracked. Right.. it was cracked before it was released.

A couple of years ago a game called Robocop (one of the first good 3d
action games) was released for the Amiga, with an 'unbeatable
protection system' the game was delivered with a dongle. The
protection system was much hyped by the publisher before the release
of the game as being 100% uncrackable'
But.. before the release of the game, cracked copies were send to a
couple of game mags to show how good the protection was.
Honest customers had to insert the dongle to play the game, ofcourse
with all sorts of hardware conflicts, while the warez people had nice
clean cracked copies that could be played without a dongle.

The best way to defeat your enemy is to know your enemy.. publishers
should look more into the warez world to see what's going on, what
would be effective and what would NOT be effective. FADE and online
key checks good, copy protections BAD. Releasing a patch? Make sure it
won't work with the warez copy. Yes, the patch will be cracked too,
but you can never avoid that, the best you can do is make life for the
warez people hard.

And release a representable demo of your game, so people don't have a
reason to try the warez version first.

Andre

--
Olav K. Malmin
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Seriously - I'd love to see EA try and prosecute a CUSTOMER for
running an "ease of use" tool to make their software more user friendly.
You remember what happened to Metallica with Napster?

It's not that my time is precious, it's just expensive.

FWIW - if I start the game less than 15 times between patches,
then you are correct, but I can download and install the no-cd
crack in 29 seconds (cable plus fast athlon).  As for warez sites
 - most no-cd files appear on FAN SITES.  Do you understand
yet?  Is the customer right yet?  Is the customer ever right with
EA?.

I think your responses to this thread pretty clearly advertise
the paradigm paralysis that yourself and EA are currently
experiencing.  If you wish to represent your employer well,
perhaps you should be intelligently discussing why EA take
this approach above others, how it has helped reduce piracy
(hahah) and therefore reduced game prices (ahahah) and
improved EA's bottom line and shareholder value.  Maybe
this would help us to understand and be reasonable about the
PITA that cd-checks are.

Put simply - the customer is right, EA is wrong.  EA are
slowing getting up there with M$ in terms of arrogance
and completely ignoring their customers (thank god for
the lads at ISI) and spouting policy at every turn.  So
depressing since Chuck Yeagers flight trainer - EA were
a cool company then.

iksteh

Codemasters *did good*.  They got rewarded by getting
my money.  If the software had never been cracked and
released there is a good chance I would never have tried
the game and codemasters would not have had that sale.

FADE was snazzy but really - do you think the "failure"
mechanism makes any difference when usually the code is
just removed, bypassed or replaced anyway?

iksteh

--
Olav K. Malmin
remove .spam when replying

Same here. But that's the good thing about the FADE system - you can
still give the game a good try, but still you have to buy it if you
want to get rid of the FADE.

In this case, yes. For fun, read the OF forums at gamecopyworld.com
and see how good the protection is compared to all the other
protections. OF is afaik the only game that was -really- difficult to
crack, and it still requires a lot of hassle to get it cracked, even
with instructions.

Oh, btw, I DO have OF original, because it's simply one of this years
best games. I had some superb online sessions, too bad that there are
still quite some multiplayer problems though :(

Andre

It's simple, release a fully working demo. After playing the IL2 demo
I can't wait for it to show up in the stores.

GPL? Like others I couldn't get the demo running on my pc.
A couple of months later I saw the warez version.. Wondered if it
would be worth the hassle of downloading, but I was totally bored so I
downloaded it. After the very first lap I was amazed.. I bought GPL
the very first day it was in the stores in Holland, about a month
after I downloaded that warez version..

Last game I bought on instinct, based on previews was SoS37.. says
enough I think :)

Andre

--
Olav K. Malmin
remove .spam when replying

Andre

Andr, you have no chance of getting hired!

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.racesimcentral.net/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Someone has suggested that before...can't remember who. :(

No, I'm not tidy, and I have 150+ games and programs that I've bought over the
years.  I've had MANY times that I couldn't find the CD that I wanted to play
at that moment.  So much for "playablilty"...<g>

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

"No, Sir, your CD drive is not compatibel to our software!"

--
l8er
ronny

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