Copy protection/DRM & Stardock

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: lupi

Originally posted by: Timorous

Originally posted by: lupi
Why don't you post a link to the page for their patch downloads.

Better yet, why don't you go and buy a used copy of one of their games.

As Martimus said you patch their games through Impulse/Stardock Central. This is so that only legitmate customers get patches through there servers.

As for buying one of their games second hand, its no different to most other games. Just buy it and install it, if you want to update it through Impulse you enter the cdkey the 1st time and it gets tied to your account. Again if you email customer service they can probably transfer it so that its associated to your account (would probably imagine they need a photo of the game/cdkey or something to confirm that you own it)

Better than trying to buy a used copy of Half-Life 2.

ah the naiveness here is so refreshing.

Troll? Stupidity? Drunk?

 

[Manticorps]

Stardock doesn't allow the tranfer of cd keys.

 

[Martimus]

I hope you have luck is whatever you are trying to accomplish here.

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: lupi
ah the naiveness here is so refreshing.

What are you talking about?

I answered all of your questions, and tried to help you. I have a couple of Stardock games I can even sell you, since you wanted to buy a used copy.

I even told you how to get the patches without using Impulse. The 1.0X patch for GC2 is available for all to download. It isn't the most recent patch, but it did solve nearly all stability issues. More recent patches are mainly to add functionality, but GC2 with 1.0X should run perfectly fine for just about anyone.

Maybe you just want to bitch, and weren't asking for help? I don't understand why women like to do that, but then I guess I never will understand women. It is something that you girls do that baffles me. Maybe it makes you feel better?

you could start by being less of a dumbass and read the reply before yours.



Leave the flaming out of the PC Gaming Forum, take it to OT. Oakenfold PC Gaming and Security Moderator

 

[magicrat03]

So you install GalCiv2, any expansions with that?, you enter in your numbers and it works or it does not. Then you want patches, for just GalCiv2 or for all the expansions also? They had patches for GalCiv2 up to Twilight of the Arnor up for the longest time, only the most recent patch for Arnor did they make you go through Impulse/Stardock to get it. You did back up your patches right? No I guess you will never ever need them again either.

If you had registered your serial with Stardock, all you had to do was install Impulse, enter email and password and download the latest version of the game and off you go you do not even need the CD's to install. I downloaded GalCiv thru GalCiv2: Twilight of Arnor all for downloading Impulse, typing in an email address and a password. After installing I unplugged my laptop from my router and took it back to work and I play GalCiv2 without a CD or internet connection all the time.

If you did not register before they removed the patches from the public all its takes is downloading Impulse, entering your serials like you do for most any game you did not buy through Steam or the like, downloading the game(s) and playing. How hard is any of this?

If you got stuck anywhere during the install or looking for patches, an email to Stardock would have most likely fixed any problem you had.

OK so you can not transfer CD keys. Big wow there.

If this was supposed to be some kind of I got screwed because they don't let anybody download a patch rant or something vague like your first post, I will give it a 1.5 out of 10.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: quadomatic

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Now if only steam would stop putting 3rd part DRM into games they host (eg, securom + EA games).

Unfortunately, that's really not up to Steam. Luckily EA has been pretty cool and dropped 3rd party DRM from games like Spore.

While still forcing it into Clear Sky, RA3, and FarCry 2.

Steam often has better sales than Impulse does as well, plus a bigger selection. I like Stardock and Impulse, and I will buy products through it, but their selection and pricing needs to grow. Unfortunately, given Stardock's stances, I don't think they are going to be as large as Steam.

Except EA don't publish Stalker or Farcry 2.
And there's no mention of SecuROM on the RA3 page, just that the game needs to be authenticated online.
There isn't a section listed for "3rd-Party DRM" for any EA games except Crysis/Warhead that I can see.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: quadomatic

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Now if only steam would stop putting 3rd part DRM into games they host (eg, securom + EA games).

Unfortunately, that's really not up to Steam. Luckily EA has been pretty cool and dropped 3rd party DRM from games like Spore.

While still forcing it into Clear Sky, RA3, and FarCry 2.

Steam often has better sales than Impulse does as well, plus a bigger selection. I like Stardock and Impulse, and I will buy products through it, but their selection and pricing needs to grow. Unfortunately, given Stardock's stances, I don't think they are going to be as large as Steam.

Except EA don't publish Stalker or Farcry 2.
And there's no mention of SecuROM on the RA3 page, just that the game needs to be authenticated online.
There isn't a section listed for "3rd-Party DRM" for any EA games except Crysis/Warhead that I can see.

The two games that use SecuROM that I have bought on Steam (Bioshock and Fallout 3) did not install SecuROM on my computer, but they do occasionally state that they are verifying the game when I run it.

 

[coldmeat]

Originally posted by: zerogear
No, Impulse just gives you the choice of installing the updates or not, while Steam forces the updates unless you right-click->properties then some tabs then disable it.

So what's your argument? They both give you the choice.

Can you tell Impulse to update automatically? If you can't then I think Steam is the better option.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Lonyo


Except EA don't publish Stalker or Farcry 2.
And there's no mention of SecuROM on the RA3 page, just that the game needs to be authenticated online.
There isn't a section listed for "3rd-Party DRM" for any EA games except Crysis/Warhead that I can see.

You are correct, Ubi Soft publishes FC2, GSC publishes Clear Sky.

You second comment is part of the problem. People are uncertain about whether many games on Steam contain 3rd party DRM. There's little consistancy and customers are often left either rolling the dice or waiting for other people to buy the titles and post their experience. And waiting for other customers to post their experiences is risky, as we all know, not everyone really knows what their doing. There's a lot of misinformation and false information because there isn't a full disclosure policy in effect.

Edit - Valve seems to confirm that there is no 3rd party DRM in RA3 on Steam. Page 2 of this thread.

 

[shingletingle]

Originally posted by: ZzZGuy

Originally posted by: lupi

Originally posted by: Timorous

Originally posted by: lupi
Why don't you post a link to the page for their patch downloads.

Better yet, why don't you go and buy a used copy of one of their games.

As Martimus said you patch their games through Impulse/Stardock Central. This is so that only legitmate customers get patches through there servers.

As for buying one of their games second hand, its no different to most other games. Just buy it and install it, if you want to update it through Impulse you enter the cdkey the 1st time and it gets tied to your account. Again if you email customer service they can probably transfer it so that its associated to your account (would probably imagine they need a photo of the game/cdkey or something to confirm that you own it)

Better than trying to buy a used copy of Half-Life 2.

ah the naiveness here is so refreshing.

Troll? Stupidity? Drunk?

It's a combination of the first 2.

 

[idiotekniQues]

hi, i like windowblinds and iconpackager

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: magicrat03
So you install GalCiv2, any expansions with that?, you enter in your numbers and it works or it does not. Then you want patches, for just GalCiv2 or for all the expansions also? They had patches for GalCiv2 up to Twilight of the Arnor up for the longest time, only the most recent patch for Arnor did they make you go through Impulse/Stardock to get it. You did back up your patches right? No I guess you will never ever need them again either.

If you had registered your serial with Stardock, all you had to do was install Impulse, enter email and password and download the latest version of the game and off you go you do not even need the CD's to install. I downloaded GalCiv thru GalCiv2: Twilight of Arnor all for downloading Impulse, typing in an email address and a password. After installing I unplugged my laptop from my router and took it back to work and I play GalCiv2 without a CD or internet connection all the time.

If you did not register before they removed the patches from the public all its takes is downloading Impulse, entering your serials like you do for most any game you did not buy through Steam or the like, downloading the game(s) and playing. How hard is any of this?

If you got stuck anywhere during the install or looking for patches, an email to Stardock would have most likely fixed any problem you had.

OK so you can not transfer CD keys. Big wow there.

If this was supposed to be some kind of I got screwed because they don't let anybody download a patch rant or something vague like your first post, I will give it a 1.5 out of 10.

ugh that was painful to read. i did personally like the "all you have to do is" followed by half a dozen steps, absolutely no burden placed onto the user there by the defender of pc games.

and this is truly priceless "OK so you can not transfer CD keys. Big wow there." let's just have a hypothetical thought, and imagine some company decided to do the same thing with a console title; i wonder how that would be received.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: lupi

and this is truly priceless "OK so you can not transfer CD keys. Big wow there." let's just have a hypothetical thought, and imagine some company decided to do the same thing with a console title; i wonder how that would be received.

Can you transfer your Xbox Live account to someone else? Can you transfer games you bought through Xbox Live to someone else? Can you even transfer unspent points you bought to someone else?

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: lupi

Originally posted by: magicrat03
So you install GalCiv2, any expansions with that?, you enter in your numbers and it works or it does not. Then you want patches, for just GalCiv2 or for all the expansions also? They had patches for GalCiv2 up to Twilight of the Arnor up for the longest time, only the most recent patch for Arnor did they make you go through Impulse/Stardock to get it. You did back up your patches right? No I guess you will never ever need them again either.

If you had registered your serial with Stardock, all you had to do was install Impulse, enter email and password and download the latest version of the game and off you go you do not even need the CD's to install. I downloaded GalCiv thru GalCiv2: Twilight of Arnor all for downloading Impulse, typing in an email address and a password. After installing I unplugged my laptop from my router and took it back to work and I play GalCiv2 without a CD or internet connection all the time.

If you did not register before they removed the patches from the public all its takes is downloading Impulse, entering your serials like you do for most any game you did not buy through Steam or the like, downloading the game(s) and playing. How hard is any of this?

If you got stuck anywhere during the install or looking for patches, an email to Stardock would have most likely fixed any problem you had.

OK so you can not transfer CD keys. Big wow there.

If this was supposed to be some kind of I got screwed because they don't let anybody download a patch rant or something vague like your first post, I will give it a 1.5 out of 10.

ugh that was painful to read. i did personally like the "all you have to do is" followed by half a dozen steps, absolutely no burden placed onto the user there by the defender of pc games.

and this is truly priceless "OK so you can not transfer CD keys. Big wow there." let's just have a hypothetical thought, and imagine some company decided to do the same thing with a console title; i wonder how that would be received.

You don't need a CD key to play any Stardock game. You only need it to download patches. Also, the first patch for each of their games are available without the CD key, so even pirates can get a relatively bugfree game.

I don't have a problem with registering your game to get additional content. If you have something against registering, then you can still play the game you paid for without it. You are only missing out on additional content that was created after the game was finished.

I don't think they are the greatest game company by any means, but to attack that part of their company is assinine. If anything you could attack the quality and quantity of thier releases, but to attack the so-called DRM scheme seems stupid. The company has plenty of flaws, but draconian DRM is not one of them.

I admit that Stardock Central was a far superior program to Impulse. SDC just worked, and was simple and intuitive. Impulse is buggier, and less intuitive. Impulse seems more like a Steam clone than an improvement on SDC. I always prefered SDC to Steam, but now I prefer Steam to Impulse.