Lovely, it doesn't work.

[General Ludd]

Re: ...

Originally posted by asonetuh
@Osweld - For you to stand there and say "Ethics" is why you won't purchase a game with cd copy protection *and yet still play it*, is stunningly hypocritical. "Greed" would be more accurate. The solution is simple - if the game has cd protection and you do not like that, then do not play it or buy it. You do not have an innate 'right' to play a game, especially when a lot of hard work went into its creation. If you believe in "ethics", perhaps you also believe in "karma". I sincerely hope something you pour a lot of time into is stolen, just so you understand the other side.
The sad thing is, copy protection exists because so many people have your kind of "ethics". If everyone had a more altruistic sense of ethics, copy protection wouldn't be needed.

It's all a matter of perspective. I see the corporate executives who inflate prices, make shody products, trick people with marketing gimicks, and invest money in useless and counter-productive things like copy protection as the real pirates. Software piracy is nothing but karma. Think of it as payback for all the extra bucks they've suckered out of me, and all the shody games I've bought over the years.

And I would not mind at all if something I pour a lot of time into is copied (piracy is not theft). You know what they say - imitation is the biggest form of flattery. Infact, I'd be quite proud to see something I put my soul into being exchanged over the net as much as a game like moo3.


We're getting a little off topic here, 'though. Don't pay much attention to my veiled threats of piracy, I just had to have somewhere to rant and release my frustration since I don't think they'd of appretiated it on the offical forums.

[Harry Seldon]

Re: ...

Originally posted by asonetuh
@Nephilim - No-cd cracks are, in fact, very illegal in the U.S. - please see the anti-circumvention clauses in the DMCA (see http://www.chillingeffects.org/anticircumvention/ for starters). I believe Britain also has a very similar law, that probably also makes no-cd cracks very illegal. It does not matter if you bought the game or not.

@Osweld - For you to stand there and say "Ethics" is why you won't purchase a game with cd copy protection *and yet still play it*, is stunningly hypocritical. "Greed" would be more accurate. The solution is simple - if the game has cd protection and you do not like that, then do not play it or buy it. You do not have an innate 'right' to play a game, especially when a lot of hard work went into its creation. If you believe in "ethics", perhaps you also believe in "karma". I sincerely hope something you pour a lot of time into is stolen, just so you understand the other side.
The sad thing is, copy protection exists because so many people have your kind of "ethics". If everyone had a more altruistic sense of ethics, copy protection wouldn't be needed.

Who are you, Jack Valenti? The DMCA usurps fair use for profit. If you own a copy of the game, fair use allows you to be able to use the game for any personal use you want. What's sad are people who feel sympathy for these mega corporations crying because their business model is outdated and they can't attain the heady profit margins their stockholders desire. Hopefully, the various groups fighting the DMCA will be successful in overturning its lucrative pro-business dialog and replace it with something that strikes a balance between business greed and consumer indifference.

For the record, I understand what it's like to see your hard worked code being passed around and enjoyed when you starve. Same with music, movies, etc. I'm not saying there isn't a problem with piracy. Until they find a way to punish the PIRATES and NOT the PAYING customers, I fully support any hack that will allow me to play the game I bought.

[Lemmy]

I sincerely hope something you pour a lot of time into is stolen, just so you understand the other side.

Didn't he just spend about $50 on a game that doesn't work?

Edit: Did you all HAVE to post at the same time as me?

[asonetuh]

@Harry - Believe me, I hate the DMCA. In fact, the reason I brought it up was because it seemed that Nephilim was not aware of it (or how restrictive it is) by saying no-cd cracks are legal (I *do* believe they should be legal for those who purchased the damn product - or better yet, not be needed at all). The more people who are aware of (and incensed by) what it does to fair use rights, the better.

@Osweld - Fair enough on the corporate comments (Electronic Arts has 'pirated' enough of my money, and I refuse to give them another penny). :-) I'll agree to disagree that piracy is/is not theft.

[Harry Seldon]

Fair enough, asonetuh. I follow a writer that flames up at the mere mention of DMCA; I'll have to send you some links.

[notyoueither]

The real losers are the people in small development shops who do not see a true return on thier investment of time to create the game. I would not shed a tear for Infogrames or their shareholders, but the guys at Firaxis and QuickSilver deserve better.

As for the copy protection, it is not there to keep well wired internet veterans from pirating the game. It is there to keep people less 'talanted' from knocking off a copy for everyone at school or in their extended family or group of friends. The old saying goes that locks are to keep honest people honest; they never stop real thieves.

[Ray K]

Originally posted by gunnergoz
Most games have copy protection. IIRC, the problem is apparently with certain CD drives and how they handle it. It's too bad that the manufacturer of the CD drives elected to not make them compatible with well-known software standards.

um, not always. I bought NWN a few months ago and it ran perfectly fine until the developer ADDED more copy protection in a patch release. The game stopped working and, for the first time ever, I hunted down and used a no-CD crack.

It's great. Now I can play NWN anytime I want without using a CD.

Developers have a right to protect their intellectual property, after all.

They also have a responsibility to ensure that their software will run on the platforms they claim.

The vast majority of buyers have no problems installing or running the game. Sorry some folks have this problem, but it is symptomatic of a peculiar hardware combination and not the game's fault.

my experience suggests otherwise.

[Ray K]

Re: Re: ...

Originally posted by Harry Seldon


Who are you, Jack Valenti? The DMCA usurps fair use for profit. If you own a copy of the game, fair use allows you to be able to use the game for any personal use you want.

Absolutely. The highest court in the land has already ruled on this issue.

Big corporations *know* that the DMCA is unconstitutional. They use it as a big stick to threaten individuals, but they have backed down every time someone was willing to defend themselves in court.

They do not want the DMCA to be tested in court, because it will be thrown out.

[azuldracul]

hey osweld

where and how did you get that nocd crack? I tried eMule I can not see the one you described

and since Iam buying the game but because of extream isolation I am forced to wait...and I need to check it out.

A: because I have been waiting three years already!
B: see if it is worth cancelling my pre buy.
c: so I can start practicing up to kick some multiplayer ass

I am almost 100% i will buy and enjoy the game as most of my fun comes from multiplayer...and in multi it all depends on how much personality the player has...sort of you get out what you put in thing...

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by notyoueither
The real losers are the people in small development shops who do not see a true return on thier investment of time to create the game. I would not shed a tear for Infogrames or their shareholders, but the guys at Firaxis and QuickSilver deserve better.

I've considered mailing $20 or so to a developer with a note saying "keep up the good work" with games I've pirated and liked... I haven't ever done that though, I always end up buying the retail copy. Maybe I ought to try that sometime, though.

I wonder how they would react if I tell them I've pirated the game in the note. Probably not a good idea to do that when you're giving them your address... then again, $20 for a copy of the game is probably more then they get from the developer.

[Corentor]

Originally posted by notyoueither
The real losers are the people in small development shops who do not see a true return on thier investment of time to create the game. I would not shed a tear for Infogrames or their shareholders, but the guys at Firaxis and QuickSilver deserve better.

Don't shed so many tears..... the developers actually only get a small portion of each sale that occurs as royalty. The way developers feed the family is by the publisher shelling out bucks to develope the game.

The publishers are the ones getting shafted by the pirates.

[Harry Seldon]

I've considered mailing $20 or so to a developer with a note saying "keep up the good work" with games I've pirated and liked...

Probably better you didn't. You'd hate to do the right thing and end up in court.

[fantasticAbyss]

Hey, I had this problem but was able to fix it. When I'd click on Moo3, it would just hang at the spinning CD icon.

Note, I'm using Win2K, you might need to adjust the instructions depending on your OS.

Try this, maybe it'll work:
CTR+ALT+DEL and hit the "task list" button. Go to the process tab. The key for me was to end these two processes:
SynTPEnh.exe
SynTPLpr.exe
Once I did this, MoO3 worked. Every time I reboot my machine, I have to kill those processes again.

Even if you don't have those exact processes, experimenting with killing processes might very well work for you. If you kill something important, just reboot and start over.

[CharlesBHoff]

The highest court in USA didnot either hear or rule on than case about how long than copyright can last before it become public domane. The court said it is up to congress to
correct this problem before we do. Than copyright can last the entire lifetime of author plus about 100 year afther he die. Instead of haveing one copyright cover evering have different type of copyright for the different media with different lenght of time their are vaid.