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Development Info Sacred boards the planes

Saint_Proverbius

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Tags: Encore Software; Sacred

<A href="http://www.sacred-game.com">Sacred</a> is heading out to retail outlets per <A href="http://www.encoresoftware.com/dbdriven/about_us/viewnews.asp?newsid=115">this press release</a> at <A href="http://www.encoresoftware.com/">Encore Software</a>. Here's the important bits:
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<br>
<blockquote><b>Sacredâ„¢ ships to retail</b>
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Your blade, bow and spells can save a kingdom in this action RPG
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<b>Los Angeles, CA - March 24, 2004</b> - Encore, a majority-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVR) and Ascaron Entertainment UK Ltd., today announced that Sacredâ„¢ has shipped to retail stores in North America.
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In this action-oriented RPG, play as one of six unique heroes - a brawling Gladiator, an angelic Seraphim, the arrow-slinging Wood Elf, the mysterious Dark Elf assassin, the wizened Battle Mage or a bloodthirsty Vampiress - and take up an epic quest to save the kingdom of Ancaria from both a renegade demon's wrath, as well as political intrigue behind the throne. Your quest will take you through an enormous and densely populated world, spanning 30 main missions, as well as over 200 sub-quests plus bonus quests that can be performed in any order.
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<br>
"Aligning ourselves with quality partners like Ascaron that deliver great content is at the core of our long-term business strategy," says Michael Bell, Encore CEO. "We're really excited about bringing the rich and action-packed world of Sacred to gamers."
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<br>
In addition to this huge gameplay world, Sacred features a unique tactical gameplay characteristic where your avatar can not only learn unique "combat arts", but combine them into devastating single-click combo maneuvers with lethal effect. A "Smithing" system also enables players to individualize weapons and armor by forging them with upgrade items, rings or other weapons. Characters can also fight while riding horseback, using both magic and weapons at range and up close. While up to four players can engage in the campaign in multiplayer, Sacred also has a hack 'n' slash multiplayer mode, as well as player vs. player for up to 16 combatants via LAN or Internet.
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Published for Windows® PC, Sacred should arrive on store shelves by the end of this week at a suggested retail price of $39.99. The game is rated "T" (for Teen) by the ESRB. For more information on the game, visit the website at www.sacred-game.com. </blockquote>
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Minus the gore, right, Mike?
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<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.ascaron-forum.com/">Ascaron forums</A>
 

HanoverF

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MCA Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Is it minus the copy protection that fubars you if you have cd burning software too?

otherwise, no sale
 

chrisbeddoes

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HanoverF said:
Is it minus the copy protection that fubars you if you have cd burning software too?

otherwise, no sale

No. And for everybody to be very sure. I have searched to the usual sites with google and this is no conflict or accidental fault. It is a blacklist.
It actually searches your registry for installation of alcohol 120 , daemon tools , nero burning rom and if you got these the whole installation gets a negative flag.
Even if you uninstall the software packages it will still not run.
You have to uninstall both and then reinstall.
 

Jed

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...because there's no non-piracy reason to own a CD burner, of course. Especially since it's illegal to buy one now. I only got mine in a random loot drop when I took down a Dire Racoon in my neighborhood.
 

Malak

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LlamaGod said:
Malak said:
The gore makes no difference.

You are, obviously, very very stupid.

Way to make a point. But go ahead and make a poll for the sacred fans. The ones who DID play it already said it makes no difference, for the same reason it makes no difference in any game. You don't notice it after a short while. And you won't miss it if you never had it. 100% of the people that complained of lack of gore had not even played it yet.

It's like saying SoF2 is far superior to AAO simply because it has the best gore in any FPS compared to an FPS that doesn't even have blood. It's ridiculous. I play them both and you know what? The only thing I notice is your head in my crosshair. I pull the trigger and move on.
 

Anonymous

Guest
Malak said:
LlamaGod said:
Malak said:
The gore makes no difference.

You are, obviously, very very stupid.

Way to make a point. But go ahead and make a poll for the sacred fans. The ones who DID play it already said it makes no difference, for the same reason it makes no difference in any game. You don't notice it after a short while. And you won't miss it if you never had it. 100% of the people that complained of lack of gore had not even played it yet.

It's like saying SoF2 is far superior to AAO simply because it has the best gore in any FPS compared to an FPS that doesn't even have blood. It's ridiculous. I play them both and you know what? The only thing I notice is your head in my crosshair. I pull the trigger and move on.

I've played around with the German version a bit, I dunno, the added blood and guts makes an action RPG alot more fun. The whole point of the game is to slay shit and be bad-ass, so it just hightens it for me.
 

Jarinor

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It actually searches your registry for installation of alcohol 120 , daemon tools , nero burning rom and if you got these the whole installation gets a negative flag.

Alcohol 120 I don't have, I'm not sure how I got daemon tools to run, and nero burning rom comes with pretty much every burner these days. How the hell do they expect anyone to play their game?

Meh, I'm sure there's some way to force an installation.
 

Saint_Proverbius

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chrisbeddoes said:
No. And for everybody to be very sure. I have searched to the usual sites with google and this is no conflict or accidental fault. It is a blacklist.
It actually searches your registry for installation of alcohol 120 , daemon tools , nero burning rom and if you got these the whole installation gets a negative flag.
Even if you uninstall the software packages it will still not run.
You have to uninstall both and then reinstall.

Provide links.

But go ahead and make a poll for the sacred fans. The ones who DID play it already said it makes no difference, for the same reason it makes no difference in any game. You don't notice it after a short while. And you won't miss it if you never had it. 100% of the people that complained of lack of gore had not even played it yet.

I beheaded a bear a few times in the demo. I'll certainly miss that. Also, considering the Wood Elf has an arrow which is supposed to make enemies explode, I'm not sure that's going to look right at all without the obligatory exploding of bodies. Maybe they renamed that CA, Really Bad Arrow or something.
 

Voss

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Wow thats a big deal , isn't it?
And obviously its raised a huge kerfuffle over at the Ascaron boards...

Ah the internet. Where making mountains out of molehills is simply thinking too small.
:roll:
 

chrisbeddoes

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Voss said:
Wow thats a big deal , isn't it?
And obviously its raised a huge kerfuffle over at the Ascaron boards...

Ah the internet. Where making mountains out of molehills is simply thinking too small.
:roll:


Welcome to the new era.
An era where the game companies can be coowners of your pc and can tell you what you can and cannot do with your pc.
 

Saint_Proverbius

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chrisbeddoes said:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88810

Did you miss this part, Chris?

original poster said:
well if that was true then the game shouldn't run with the original CD as well should it?
Well it does and so I don't think it's a blacklist problem (while running, Alcohol even has another image mounted and it works)

Any other thoughts?

He just can't install the game from a virtual CD, but installing from the original CD works just fine.. So.. Voss is right for making fun of you.
 

chrisbeddoes

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installing from the original CD works just fine.

But it will not run correctly.After 12 hours you have the water bottle problem and who knows what else.

Oh and did you guys missed that part ?

Andareed
Author of D-Tools Add-on Utilities



Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 234


Afaik, PCD just checks if daemon is installed (alcohol too i think). So check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3910E82F-43CB-409C-9147-0A536A89AC3C} and rename DisplayName to something else.

Not sure if this is valid only for virtual drive though.

__________________
DAEMON Tools Site Admin

The part that this guy is the developer of the infamus DAEMON Tools ?


Now this thing that i have said is not correct.

It actually searches your registry for installation of alcohol 120 , daemon tools , nero burning rom and if you got these the whole installation gets a negative flag.
Even if you uninstall the software packages it will still not run.

The installation will occur BUT the quests will be broken.
And it is a blacklist.
 

Malak

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An era where the game companies can be coowners of your pc and can tell you what you can and cannot do with your pc.

Now that's unfair. It's their software, they can make it do whatever they want. If you don't like it, don't get it. It's that simple. They do not impeach on your rights, because you still have the right to use or not to use. If you choose to use, you have to go with the way they want it to work or nothing at all. That is their right.
 

HanoverF

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MCA Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Maybe I missed the small print, but I read no where on the box where it says it's gonna scan the computer you install it on for software it doesn't like, and not give you the full game you just paid for if it finds any. That should be a big sticker on front, rather then a small question in the troubleshooting section of the readme.
 

chrisbeddoes

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Malak said:
An era where the game companies can be coowners of your pc and can tell you what you can and cannot do with your pc.

Now that's unfair. It's their software, they can make it do whatever they want. If you don't like it, don't get it. It's that simple. They do not impeach on your rights, because you still have the right to use or not to use. If you choose to use, you have to go with the way they want it to work or nothing at all. That is their right.

So if an iterplay game scanned your registry for games like Arcanum and TOEE and Avernum and did not play correctly if you had these games installed would this be right too ?
 

Sol Invictus

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The game uses a copy protection mechanism called Vob which does in fact search for the presence of the latest (and previous) versions Alcohol 120% as well as older versions of Daemon Tools. The latest version of D-Tools (v3.46) however is not blacklisted and installing the game with the original CD or virtual CD with that version installed on your computer will be fine.

The blacklist issue will be circumvented by the upcoming release of Alcohol 120%, but it is likely that months after that happens, Vob will probably upgrade their security measures to include the new version as well. In other words, if you have either of these software installed you're probably going to have to download whatever new versions that come out each time there's a patch for Sacred, assuming you use these software (for whatever means).

Also, the issue of the Water Flask in act 2 is easily circumvented via typing the trigger 'wasser' in the console at that location. I believe that the issue, and perhaps others similar to it come from a more built-in triggering mechanism from Vob which is based on the detection of the presence of the original CD in the drive.

It's rather silly that they chose to do this, considering that the prime reason for this game's sales is for LAN and Multiplayer gameplay on Ascaron, which requires a legitimate CD Key to operate. The problem with the water flask issue is that the trigger sometimes doesn't work due to the presence of CD Burning software and as such legitimate customers may be penalized unless they call tech support to give them the trigger.
 

Voss

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If and when a lot of people who bought Sacred start complaining about problems with the copy protection interacting with legit programs on the Ascaron boards, I'll start worrying.
Most of the few posts over there that mention it at all seem more along the lines of someone's sister's brother's cousin's former roommate heard that someone in a bunker hidden deep in the Black Forest had problems with the version he downloaded from a pirate server in Uzbekistan.

There needs to be more than 10 people in the troubleshooitng section who think the the protection might be interacting with their cd-burners. A handful compared to the thousands that seem to like the game just fine isn't worrisome. At the moment, at worst it seems like a unintential bug that affects a very small number of people- so I'm not going to worry about it.
 

HanoverF

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MCA Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Chris, a rotten analogy doesn't help your argument...

Every single player game should be allowed to scan the computer its being installed on to check for internet capabilities, and fail to install properly if it's found. What purpose could a internet connection serve, except to allow you to pirate the game.
 

Sol Invictus

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Malak said:
Now that's unfair. It's their software, they can make it do whatever they want. If you don't like it, don't get it. It's that simple. They do not impeach on your rights, because you still have the right to use or not to use. If you choose to use, you have to go with the way they want it to work or nothing at all. That is their right.

That settles it. You are a fucking idiot.

What you said is tantamount to saying that a mugger has the right to shoot you in the face if you refuse to pay him because he gives you the option to live or die by giving him your wallet, and by refusing to give him your wallet you are in fact choosing to pull the trigger on yourself.

Now, I know that's a little harsh but that's the most extreme example I could think of. To a lesser extreme, it would be a lot like if Microsoft bought a BIOS which denied the installation of any OS other than Microsoft Windows regardless of the system's capabilities. You would argue that Microsoft has the right to do whatever they want with their product and that you would have a right not to want to pay for such a piece of software which does that but what they are doing is in fact denying their competitors from selling their own product. Microsoft did in fact do something very similar to what I'm talking about and it's the reason why Microsoft is being sued by the federal governments of many countries including the United States for their attempt at having a monopoly on web browsers. The inclusion of Internet Explorer on every system meant that it would hijack the functions of any other web browsers installed after by retaining the file extentions to IE by incorporating file extentions into the Explorer as a default that cannot be altered without a whole lot of tweaking. This caused software like Mozilla and Netscape to function incorrectly and eventually stop functioning after awhile.

You could come up with some idiotic argument about how you as a customer have a right not to purchase Microsoft Windows and that their product is their property. But guess what, you shmuck, you paid for the product and nowhere on the box or even the fine print on the box does it even say that you cant use alternative internet browsers. It might say that in some technical manual buried somewhere on Microsoft's Support Web Page, but you'll need to know exactly what you're looking for, and you'll also need Internet Explorer to view the websites because of the ActiveX calls which purposefully debilitate other web browsers attempting to view the site. Mozilla and Netscape can in fact handle the software on MIcrosoft's website but the website won't allow you to access certain locations with non-IE software deliberately.

That, I think, is very similar to what Ascaron did with their copy protection.
 

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