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Mysteries of Westgate - no longer available for sale from Atari, but still downloadable

Gragt

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin
I dunno. I just launched the module and had the authentication screen, which allowed me to load the demo if authentication failed, and it switched to character creation after a couple of seconds. If it does, a couple of second isn't too annoying, especially for something I didn't pay for.
 

Thrasher

Erudite
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Jan 17, 2008
Messages
1,407
Thanks for the links, Infinitron. One day I may fire up NWN again. Was so annoyed when the premium modules became unavailable...
 

lefthandblack

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Domestic Terrorist HQ
I just tried it and yes, though the authentication is successful, they still require phoning home to daddy Bioware for permission to play every time you start a new game or load a save.
Thanks, but no thanks.

At least I got to experience the novel situation of getting fucked by drm without actually getting fucked. :paradox:
 

Stabwound

Arcane
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
3,240
Crazy shit. This is exactly the number one agrument against DRM like this. How long will these authentication servers be running? These mods will be lost to the annuls of time to legit customers, or will work forever for those of the pirate persuasion. Sad.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Crazy shit. This is exactly the number one agrument against DRM like this. How long will these authentication servers be running? These mods will be lost to the annuls of time to legit customers, or will work forever for those of the pirate persuasion. Sad.

At this point I'm not sure if they are actually running.

This is exactly the number one argument against digital download. Love my boxes.

Irrelevant. This is about DRM, not distribution method.
 
Last edited:

lefthandblack

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At this point I'm not sure if they are actually running.

Something is happening. I tried it with my network off and just got to stare at the authentication screen for ~5 minutes before I gave up. Turned on my network, let the game through my firewall, playing in less than 30 seconds. Blocked NWN master server in hosts, no load. Tried all of this both with a new game and a save at the beginning of Infinite Dungeons.
 

Gragt

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Crazy shit. This is exactly the number one agrument against DRM like this. How long will these authentication servers be running? These mods will be lost to the annuls of time to legit customers, or will work forever for those of the pirate persuasion. Sad.

That's the thing: it appears that the authentication servers aren't running anymore but the game attempts to authenticate the modules and gives me access to the full version a couple of seconds later despite the fact that I never purchased those. As far as I can see, the DRM check is still in place but lets you play anyway whether you own that content or not. The servers may be down and in that case the authentication defaults to allow all, or that behaviour was introduced in the last patch (1.69), or maybe they are still running in some way and defaulted to approve every copy. Whatever the reason, it works and looks like an instance where DRM was removed or made in such a way to not hinder people if something breaks down the line.
 

Stabwound

Arcane
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Dec 17, 2008
Messages
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That's actually pretty interesting. I wonder what the case is: it seems odd that they'd completely remove all references to the premium modules from the sites and then basically remove the DRM from them. If it was simply a case of the DRM server being down then that would be the shittiest DRM scheme ever. If I had NWN installed I'd check this out for myself out of sheer curiosity.
 
Joined
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That's actually pretty interesting. I wonder what the case is: it seems odd that they'd completely remove all references to the premium modules from the sites and then basically remove the DRM from them. If it was simply a case of the DRM server being down then that would be the shittiest DRM scheme ever. If I had NWN installed I'd check this out for myself out of sheer curiosity.

Something is happening. I tried it with my network off and just got to stare at the authentication screen for ~5 minutes before I gave up. Turned on my network, let the game through my firewall, playing in less than 30 seconds. Blocked NWN master server in hosts, no load. Tried all of this both with a new game and a save at the beginning of Infinite Dungeons.

I think Gragt got it, most likely the modules just weren't programmed to go "NOPE" if the servers aren't running anymore, as that wouldn't achieve anything anyway (except maybe prevent legit buyers from playing). But the loading can't reach that stage if you prevent the modules from trying to connect in the first place.
 

sgc_meltdown

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May 8, 2003
Messages
6,000
I bought MoW day 1 and immediately burn the installer on a dvd, its better to be safe then sorry.

not thread related:

so dude have dvds gotten better at not degrading and if so what brands

last I heard they crap out in two years max, faster if you're somewhere really tropical

right now I have my crap backed up on external harddrives
 
Joined
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Messages
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Strap Yourselves In Codex+ Now Streaming!
How does gamersgate work? Do they let you download a full working copy of the game that you can burn on a backup-dvd (like gog) or does the installation require a client software that has to be connected with their servers?

I'm curious because I'd like to buy a legitimate copy of MoW, but without DRM (besides the authentication done by atari servers obviously).

Edit: Actually, the page doesn't work. There is no buy button, only a "alert me on release" button. Also, the game doesn't show up when browsing or searching the gamersgate catalogue.

So I guess piratebay it is then for anyone who didn't buy the game yet.

sgc_meltdown I'm no expert but aren't gold layered DVDs supposed to be long-lasting? I keep my stuff on gold layered Verbatims. Verbatim claims they do have 100 years lifetime.
 
Joined
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Strap Yourselves In Codex+ Now Streaming!
Yeah, too bad they don't specify what those proper environmental conditions are.
I'm keeping my stuff in a dry, dark place at room temperature and I live in a temperate european climate zone, so I hope that those DVDs will last for at least 20 or 30 years, but who knows.
 

Falkner

Thread Decliner
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658
Wasteland 2
How does gamersgate work? Do they let you download a full working copy of the game that you can burn on a backup-dvd (like gog) or does the installation require a client software that has to be connected with their servers?

I'm curious because I'd like to buy a legitimate copy of MoW, but without DRM (besides the authentication done by atari servers obviously).

Edit: Actually, the page doesn't work. There is no buy button, only a "alert me on release" button. Also, the game doesn't show up when browsing or searching the gamersgate catalogue.

So I guess piratebay it is then for anyone who didn't buy the game yet.

sgc_meltdown I'm no expert but aren't gold layered DVDs supposed to be long-lasting? I keep my stuff on gold layered Verbatims. Verbatim claims they do have 100 years lifetime.
There seems to be a license problem, you can't even buy Neverwinter Nights 2 on Steam right now.
 

GarfunkeL

Racism Expert
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Insert clever insult here
GamersGate gets you to download a web-installer but that installer saves the files required to install the game itself, if you tell it to do so. You can then just copy those files somewhere for safe keeping. GG doesn't add any DRM on the games they sell - the only DRM present is what the developer wanted (or publisher if it's not being published by Paradox).

Hence why GG and GoG are the only two digital distribution sites I use.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
I bought MoW day 1 and immediately burn the installer on a dvd, its better to be safe then sorry.

not thread related:

so dude have dvds gotten better at not degrading and if so what brands

last I heard they crap out in two years max, faster if you're somewhere really tropical

right now I have my crap backed up on external harddrives

Well, I've got several 5+ years old DVDs that don't give troubles (in temperate climate conditions).
A few are not working anymore, but I always attributed this to problems with the drive I used to burn them - it used to be somewhat "special" and many DVDs I burned with it only worked with that drive, but not in other computers.

Still, it's anyway better to keep multiple copies of the really important stuff, best across several media.
 

Raghar

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Messages
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gold layered Verbatims

cool, I've used verbatims in the past. these should be good
Normal Verbatims are 0.4 bucks. Gold plated are 1.5 bucks. Are you sure you'd like to pay this price?
Normal Verbatims in proper conditions can last 25 years, at least these with AZO. However they can't be sure, they estimated it from cooking DVDs, which don't properly reflect a normal storage.
 
Joined
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Strap Yourselves In Codex+ Now Streaming!
Actually, how long do CD-ROMs live? Some of the oldest CD games in my collection will be hitting the two decades mark in a few years. Should I worry about my games collection turning into dust soon? :(
 

Raghar

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
22,503
A lot of my CD are in dust already. Seems like fat is killing them, thus a fingermarks can be deadly. Others were corroded from sides. Pressed CD were made by different technology, thus they were more lasting.
 

Forest Dweller

Smoking Dicks
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
12,196
Torrents are our insurance for games, old and new alike.
 

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