how stardock figths warez

MarkG · April 2, 2003, 07:25

from Brad on the official forum

Quote:

Actually I had code in the betas and gold that if the serial # isn't valid I delete the galaxy class (Which crashes the game). The warez serial # floating around can get by the intaller but not GalCiv itself. When we did the bonuspak I updated this to show a cut scene event with the text describing the player going to prison. Then I delete the galaxy class so that they know why it's crashing.

go Stardock, go!

Lemmy · April 2, 2003, 07:42

That cutscene makes me wanna play the pirated version now.

yin26 · April 2, 2003, 09:00

LOL! Hilarious.

Daz · April 2, 2003, 09:18

Ooooo, I guess no pirated version of GalCiv then....

Harry Seldon · April 2, 2003, 10:26

Malleus · April 2, 2003, 11:34

Well, you should all know that I am very anti-pirate. But that being said, I am certain the pirates will find a way to cirumvent this. They have time and motivation on their side.

I echoed the call to release this cutscene so all can enjoy the fun!

M

Inverse Icarus · April 2, 2003, 12:12

oh so thats why i haven't seen the... uhh... i mean... never mind.

The Templar · April 2, 2003, 12:53

Does the cut scene feature a Drengin smoking a cigar in the cell, who says "Welcome to jail, honey ..."

Draginol · April 2, 2003, 15:18

We did 3 updates yesterday on GalCiv. Are warez people going to work 24/7 to keep cracking it?

Their best case scenario is that they'll always be well behind legitimate players.

And it's unlikely they'll get all of them. It's not like there's one check in there, there's dozens of them scattered throughout the game. So even after playing 30 years, one might pop up.

I used to crack copy protection (I didn't distribute them, I just don't like copy protection) when I was younger so I'm pretty familiar with what's involved. I also used to write trainers for games.

Nothing is impossible to crack. But you can make it pretty darn inconvenient. And given that the game is only 40 bucks, to anyone who has a job, it's not worth jumping through very many hoops to get around paying 40 dollars.

yin26 · April 2, 2003, 16:26

Brad: Genius! Love it!

You're right. I think most warez guys are happy to put some time into the occasional crack of a game, but to have to do to multiple times... The real issue will be with the stand-alone patches, but if you've got many checks in the game, that's cool!

Jon Shafer · April 2, 2003, 18:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
Actually, the game was too pricy for me. I had to return it to get my money back.

Not everyone has 40 bucks to just spend, you know

Did you even buy it to begin with?

Jon Shafer · April 2, 2003, 18:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Tassadar5000

Just more idiotic drivel from Trip. How surprising.

Idiodic drivel?

I'm glad I keep logs of everything you say.

MrWhereItsAt · April 2, 2003, 23:57

Ingenious. I'll love to see how this works. Whether GalCiv turns up in the Filesharers will be some indication, I guess, and whether cracsk can actually be found. Of course, this is one of those situations where you can't prove something is uncrackable. It only takes one instance of a crack that one person keeps to themselves for it to lose that status.

We may never really know (or then again we might know really soon!), but nice job anyway. Much better than screwing with the CD itself and stopping it working on some peoples' CD-ROM drives.

I guess this doesn't affect peoples' ability to make a backup copy wither, seeing as it is with the same serial #. The more I think of this measure, the better it seems. Why didn't soemthing think of something like this before?!

billybaruch1 · April 3, 2003, 00:31

Quote:

Actually, the game was too pricy for me. I had to return it to get my money back.

Not everyone has 40 bucks to just spend, you know

Which is it: you had "40 bucks to just spend" or "the game was too pricy for (you)"?

Go ahead, say it was both. Make my day, punk. You apologists for **** will say anything.

You've mastered the ridiculous re: people with $1,000 computers unable to afford $40 for a kid's game. What's your next project, comrade? Convincing GalCiv players of their dialectical materialism?

Trip, what a trip.

Urban Ranger · April 3, 2003, 11:41

I would think the best way to fight pirates is to make your game worth the $.

Harry Seldon · April 3, 2003, 11:58

Well, as proved by my eight hour oddessy last night in the face of an irate wife and numerous chores left undone, I'd say it's worth forty bucks.

MarkG · April 3, 2003, 11:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I would think the best way to fight pirates is to make your game worth the $.

not enough for some people....

UnOrthOdOx · April 3, 2003, 13:15

Quote:

Originally posted by billybaruch1

You've mastered the ridiculous re: people with $1,000 computers unable to afford $40 for a kid's game.

Rediculous? hardly.

I have a $1200 computer, make over $70,000/year, and CAN'T afford to spend $40 on a kids game whenever I want...

See, there are these things called BILLS...on average I am able to buy 2-3 games/year.

Fried-Psitalon · April 3, 2003, 13:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I would think the best way to fight pirates is to make your game worth the $.

Nope, this just means more of the scum who download warez will be attracted to it.

Jon Shafer · April 3, 2003, 14:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I would think the best way to fight pirates is to make your game worth the $.

Just like the same logic that CEOs of big corporations will be completely honest because they have everything they could ever want.

Right.

Jon Shafer · April 3, 2003, 14:11

Quote:

Originally posted by billybaruch1
Which is it: you had "40 bucks to just spend" or "the game was too pricy for (you)"?

Go ahead, say it was both. Make my day, punk. You apologists for **** will say anything.

You've mastered the ridiculous re: people with $1,000 computers unable to afford $40 for a kid's game. What's your next project, comrade? Convincing GalCiv players of their dialectical materialism?

Trip, what a trip.

Nice trap.

Right now I'm around 30 thousand dollars in debt, no job and make no money, and I could afford to sacrifice 40 bucks for a game I think will be enjoyable. I think other people can find the means to do so without stealing.

bonscott · April 3, 2003, 14:28

Awesome protection. Hope it really works.

I do have an interesting question though. There is a Babbages in town that actually allows you to return software for store credit within 7 days (I know, hard to believe now adays). Now if someone bought the game, installed it, with the serial number of course, then returns it and then the store sells the returned game to someone else, would they be able to use that serial number or is it labled as "compromised"?

Triphosphatase · April 3, 2003, 19:43

What is this person talking about? The pirated ISO has been available to the public since March 17th, and it will keep working into the infinite future. Why would people want to patch their pirated games inoperable if the original game wasn't too poorly written in the first place?

Should have stuck to SafeDisk and caused Fairlight to engage in a few moments of effort. (No matter how tiny a time it takes them to crack CD-Protections nowadays)

An ingenious solution to piracy? Why do you think that developers are opting to use expensive and sophisticated CD-Protection for their games? Sure, Deviance, Fairlight, Immersion, and Razor1911 seems to be cracking these protections with relative ease but the protection does stop individuals from making a dozen copies of his game with a simple CD burning application and an outdated CD burner.

With Galactic Civ, individuals can pop his copy into the drive and burn twelve fully functional copies for friends without the need for cracks. Serial number protections won't help the developer in this case as the serial number will be held in private, not available for the developer to spike for future patches.

Go team.

yin26 · April 3, 2003, 20:52

"Why would people want to patch their pirated games inoperable if the original game wasn't too poorly written in the first place?"

The game as released is more than playable, and this is a testament to Brad that the game was good out of the box ... or out of the warez scene. Now what Brad is doing in addition is releasing bonus packs, new morale decisions, new ships, significant AI updates, balances, etc. Warez folks will be out of luck.

Now, if you argue: "Why would they care about a few bonus packs, a new ship or two, and a bit better AI?"

Thieves wouldn't really care. They steal, play a few days, move on to the next stolen game. My guess is Brad could care less about that crowd in the first place, since his target audience is the one that will happily pay $40 for a game that is being given this much post-release TLC. And for the casual thief or 'full-demo tester,' Brad has given them an incredibly solid game to play and plenty of motivation to go out and buy a game that will keep them happy for many months to come.

Triphosphatase · April 3, 2003, 21:03

If he didn't care about the pirates, he woudn't have bothered himself with the protection that is in GalCiv. If your analysis of the game audience is true, no developer will bother with protections.

yin26 · April 3, 2003, 21:09

Read it again. He doesn't care about pirates in my view. He cares about the casual pirate and the full demo players who are looking to test a full version of a game before comitting to it.

Urban Ranger · April 5, 2003, 09:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Trip
Just like the same logic that CEOs of big corporations will be completely honest because they have everything they could ever want.

Clearly two very different situations. If there are any similarities, let me know.

Malleus · April 5, 2003, 11:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

Clearly two very different situations. If there are any similarities, let me know.

Both are criminals.

M

General Ludd · April 5, 2003, 12:16

This isn't anything new, it won't stop piracy, and most people won't even care that they miss out on some lame 'bonus pack', or have to wait an extra week or two before being able to use it. Maxis does this all the time.

Frankly, I think it's just as much a pain in the ass for the legitimate customers to have to download new content every couple of days - just put it all in the from the start and stop trying to make people's lives difficult.

MarkG · April 5, 2003, 14:19

Quote:

I think it's just as much a pain in the ass for the legitimate customers

yes, it's extremely annoying and time consuming to open the stardock central and click on an update button.....

Quote:

to have to download new content every couple of days

indeed, galciv refuses to open if it finds out that you havent updated....