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Sims 2 Blocked by CD Copying Software
bairy writes "EA says The Sims 2 will refuse to run if you have Nero, CloneCD or Roxio's EasyCD installed on the same PC. Although they link to a patch to bypass this, a lot of people are upset by this."
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The original post is a little misleading. the software isn't blocked by cd burning software... it conflicts with cd emulation software, which is a compltely different thing. CD Emulation just happens to be included with a lot of cd burning software but can usually be disabled without uninstalling the program.
Um...that came with my wife's Gateway machine. It's not like we copied some "l33t" CD copy program hack. It fricken CAME with the machine!
What up? Then they list a patch that will bypass it anyway? What up? Why did they even include it in the first place?
Again, what up?
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
I'm a developer and as such I use some of the more obscure tools: including CloneCD (I have a library of my MSDN subscription CDs imaged on my server, for example). I back up to CD, so I have CD burning software on my machine. This isn't the first game where someone decided they know what is good for my machine better than I do. "You want to *use* your machine: then don't buy our game!" they say. I have learned my lesson: I don't buy your games. How exactly does that help your bottom line?
From the discussion board it appears it took two days for a NoCD crack to become available. How does *that* help your bottom line: you have people returning the game (rightfully so, many will have no clue why you want to cripple the computer just to play a game, even if they know *how* to cripple it) and yet the pirates didn't even skip a beat?
Nothing but bad press and bad customer service. Yes, the consoles are protected, but they are protected in a way that doesn't break the game and doesn't require gutting my machine's functionality to get there.
Sig under construction since 1998.
What's the point of not allowing CD emulation? If you have a legal copy of the game I don't see why you shouldn't be allowed to play it from an emulated CD, and if you do not have a legal copy the crack will take care of it anyway. So what are they trying to achieve?
Basically, it's checking for a registry entry. That's it. Very effective. :/
daemon tools works fine
I heard that people that have Doom3 and Unreal Tournament 2004 installed are refusing to install Sims 2. (no matter how much their girlfriend complains)
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Absolutely wonderful customer relations... "You have a complaint, so instead of trying to fix the problem and get a few customers back, we're just going to remove you from this board and pretend it never happened."
Dark Nexus
"Sanity is calming, but madness is more interesting."
This has got to be one of the most stupid copy protection mechinsizmes that i've ever heard of.
1. It's trival to remove/install software in windows
2. At least some people don't do cd copying on thier main computers and instead have a pc that is just for backing up stuff.
Don't all games have a little section of the box indicating the system requirements? Like:
1 Ghz CPU
Direct X 9 video card
1.2 GB free Hard Drive Space
NO Installed CD emulation software: (eg: Nero/Alcohol/CloneCD)
If they did something like that, then consumers would have no complaints. Sales may tank, but that should tell them something too...
And no fair adding emulation detection code in a patch like Ubisoft tried with Raven Shield. (It was retracted quickly after a good backlash from the users)
I had an old version of CloneCD installed and had to uninstall it. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I had this problem with DOOM 3 as well because I had an old version of CloneCD installed. Its emulation feature was disabled as well. A lot of people experienced this problem.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Why do they even bother anymore... a fully cracked version of Sims 2 was available via torrent before most places had the game in stores. People who WANT to copy the game illegally will do so. The only thing game companies do by adding crappy copy protection is annoy legitimate customers.
This is just lovely! Just another nail in the coffin of PC games. The usual sort of system setup woes are bad enough without the game publisher intentionally causing pain in the name of copy protection. The average user is not going to even try to figure this out, they'll just return the game. And given the large presence of casual gamers in the Sims demographic, that could be a lot of returns.
Yeah, I know most casual gamers probably wouldn't have CD emulation software installed themselves. But a lot of people share the computer with others who might have installed who knows what, especially kids. The Sims 2 scheme is just a recipe for disaster, which still won't stop the real pirates anyway! I won't be buying this for my PC, but I might check out Sims for Xbox which is going for $20 these days and got pretty good reviews.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
I had a similar experience with Madden 2005, and posted about it here: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=809182&p age=1&pp=30
The too long/didn't read version is that for Madden, at least, you don't have to uninstall Alcohol 120%, just set virtual drives to zero. I still find this an obnoxious and intrusive invasion on how I want to use my computer to play for a game I purchased legally. As I said in my parent post in that thread: I'm all in favor of 'normal' cd-checks, but this goes a step further. It only infringes upon the rights of legitimate users, not those who pirate.
That's weird... I went out and bought a DVD writer so that I could play the Sims 2 DVD edition (oh yeah, and my wife wanted it for making DVDs too). The DVD drive came with a bunch of Nero programs for creating DVDs, which I installed. Then I installed Sims 2 with no problems. I wonder why I didn't see this issue?
Use Ctrl-C instead of ESC in Vim!
Have you tried to play Far Cry yet? The game came free with a brand new video card I bought, the eVGA Nvidia Geforce 6800, and after I installed it and then patched it to version 1.1, it refused to load. It said something about detecting drive imaging software on my machine, and it said it would not load until said software was removed. I can't tell you how much that ticked me off. So, rather than uninstall the cd copying software because I NEED IT FOR LEGIMATE PURPOSES, I simply found a crack for the program I legally own, and was forced to use it. It's just wrong. There needs to be a class action law suit, I'd even help spring for the lawyer.
Currently got "The Sims 2" up and running -- Illegally. Works fine with CD-burning tools. Mounted the images with the latest version of Daemon Tools, installed it and can play it just fine as well. ( It is currently running in the background ) It even works fine with Nero still installed, though for the record it SHOULD be noted that this version of Nero is an OEM-handicapped version taht came with my Plextor burner. Won't burn anything on any other burner. Maybe it won't conflict because I use CD-drive emulation software? Don't know. Bottom line is, this protection is MASSIVELY uneffective. A large site that I frequent has counted at LEAST 10k hits so far on people who downloaded the game. Works fine for the majority of them, let's assume 80%.
Personally, I really like the game though. I'm not going in depth on that; this ain't no damn review. Suffice to say, I'm going to wait a few years, then pick up the fully patched and complete game ( What EA calls expansion packs ) on 2 DVDs for EUR 29,95 in 2006. Untill then, I'll just hobble about with this pirated version. :)
Hate me!
"Let's make the game more difficult to play with a pirated version which will prevent about 0% of piraters from playing the game illegaly, and prevent about 75% of legitimate users from easily playing the game after they have paid us their hard-earned money. Sound like a plan? Good, get on it. I expect to see large ROI numbers by next week."
This is another example of how copy protection does little to stop piracy, but pisses off honest customers for no reason. I'm sure if a crack isn't already up, it will be soon. It's the same situation with Windows activation. The customers who bought the software honestly deal with the hassles while the people who downloaded it illegally won't have to worry. It's like the audio CDs that restrict use on windows machines, but downloading MP3s lets you do whatever you want. It's like paying for songs off music distribution services gives you a product that is more restrictive than if you went on Kazaa and downloaded it.
One of these companies arguments against piracy is that you get a better experience if you're honest and buy the product. However, for these protection schemes, I fail to see how things are made easier or better.
It is interesting that this situation is similar to the ways that anti-virus and anti-spyware products detect bad stuff. I wonder how long it will be before cd imaging products have to adopt some of the sneakier ways of hiding their presence that spyware and viruses use?
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
the software isn't blocked by cd burning software... it conflicts with cd emulation software
:P
HA.... you're joking right? You think this isnt intentional on Maxis' behalf?? Give me a break. I can see why they would say it's just a conflict, so they try not to piss as many people off, but it's funny that anyone would actually buy that excuse. It's intentional and you know it.
Joseph?
Interestingly enough, all Mac games I've tried have played just fine with an image.
I have a laptop and I don't like carrying around the CDs.
I'm becoming more and more certain that the people pushing this are the companies selling "Copy Protection."
Fellowship 9/11
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
Now EA has gone and done this, making you actually uninstall software to play their game. I'm just glad I decided to stop buying or playing EA games long ago.
I havn't read any of the other comments yet, but if anyone brings up pirating, this has nothing to do with it. No company has ever made a CD Key/Lock/Security that someone hasn't found a way around (except for online authentication) so I don't see how this is any way helping to stop piracy, ahh its pointless I'm just gonna stop typing (lol...)
I have The Sims 2 and I also have both Nero and Clone CD installed. I haven't had any problems. As far as I'm aware there's nothing special about my copies of those programs, I wonder what's different.
True Crime: Streets of L.A. for PC did the exact same thing. Wouldn't load until I removed Daemon Tools and CloneCD. It wouldn't even tell me what the offending software was! Like one poster above, I just cracked the software.
P.S., if you use a No-CD crack in The Sims 2, you can't change flooring! Double whammy!
You know it's a sad day when you start missing those Monkey Island code wheels!
This makes me laugh. Genius probably thought that there piece of paper on the wall means hes 'educated'.
Seriously though, that kind of management shouldnt even be allowed to run a lemonade stand.
The crack was available with the warez release, well before the time the game reached the retailers.
Almost all games now-a-days come with the requirement that the CD be in the drive. UT(99) was like this. I wrote in to Epic, and the publisher (GT Interactive) and complained, and listed 5 legitimate reasons why that requirement made it impossible for a valid customer to play the game.
:) )
Epic, the developer said it was a requirement forced by the publisher. The tech support for the publisher actually pointed me at www.gamecopyworld.com to download the 'NoCD fix.' (That was good customer service.
In other news, when Tribes 2 came out it didn't have a CD check. However, it also flat out didn't work on a great number of PCs. And, on the PCs where the game actually worked, the online component (the whole game) was in very poor condition, and many of the features simply 'weren't in yet.' There was a massive public backlash and a mass 'returning' of the game to the retail outlets.
In the first patch, they implemented a CD-check. The reasoning..."Our retail partners are concerned with the large amount of returns they are getting on this game, and they feel it's because people are simply copying it to their harddrives because there was no CD-check."
Sure..it has nothing to do with the game simply NOT WORKING!!!
But I've guess we've seen that kind of attitude before in different industries. (RIAA)
--Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
I have the nero suite installed on my machine.
I have Daemon-tools installed on my machine.
Sims2 runs just fine =)
What I have on my hard drive. I have three different sector editors as well as CD copy software. Are they going to scan for the editors, because I might use them to edit their executables? If I buy a program, I expect it to run with whatever I have on my hard drive. If there are conflicts with common software, I expect the publishers to fix it and issue a free patch. I definitely don't expect them to be scanning my registry for keys that they think might indicate that I might be thinking about maybe making a perfectly legal backup copy of my legally purchased software. There are a couple of RTS games coming out this fall that I'm interested in buying, but if they have this bullshit in them, they'll go right back to the store, or never be purchased if I know ahead of time.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
The moral of this story (and any other stories detailing CD protection idiocy) is to always download the NoCD crack for any game you own. This bypasses any stupid annoyances caused by misguided copy-protection software, as well as saving you the trouble of having to insert your discs whenever you plan on playing a game.
And this is one of the reasons why the PC game industry is hurting. The fact that the only good online distribution system for games is to pirate them, and the fact that more and more games work well only after applying some sort of crack... they're shooting themselves in the foot.
So I guess in 10 years, when my Sims CD is scratched due to normal wear and tear, EA will remain in existence as a company and provide me - free of charge - a replacement CD, whenever I ask?
It's not just CD Emulation software. It's the CD mastering software that comes preinstalled on just about every PC sold these days.
This is enough to make sure I never buy the game - patch or not. When will the entertainment industry realize that I am not going to pay them money to tell me what I can and can not do with my computer system?
Too bad too. I own the Original Sims and 5 of the expansion packs. I really enjoyed the game, but I'll play nothing but FreeCiv before I sponsor a company to push me around.
Here's the Maxis represenative's response: "There is no conspiracy of silence. I've seen posts from people running Nero and CloneCD who aren't having problems with the game and those that are. We can look into it, but I don't have any answers for you today. And murronrose, since you returned your game, that means that you are no longer a product-registered owner of the game. Which means you shouldn't even be using this BBS... I'm most likely going to have to remove your posting priveledges if you don't cancel your account yourself. -MaxoidLucky"
That's unbelievable. You don't threaten your fucking customers when they're justifiably angry because you released a ridiculously broken product. Fuck you, Maxis.
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience
"a lot of people are upset by this." They really should just point that link back to this thread.
I hope for Maxis' sake that this is an overzealous "volunteer" moderator and not an employee. If it's an employee, he should already be looking for a more suitable position for someone so surly--perhaps the parking lot attendant profession.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
So, if someone buys a computer from Dell/HP/IBM/Gateway/etc. that comes with pre-installed burning software, they can't play? I can see the protests now. The Sims might have been the best selling game ever, but with stupid copy protection B.S. like this, The Sims 2 will be lucky if it is the bestseller of the year.
There is one, and only one copy protection scheme that is truly effective-- registering online with a serial number.
I've played quite a few games acquired... Not so legitimately. None of them had a copy protection scheme that couldn't be easily bypassed. But with the better games-- Star and Warcraft, Call of Duty, Unreal, etc. I paid full price for copies so I could play multiplayer online. AFAIK there's no way to "hack" Battle.net so that you don't need a unique and registered SN.
This is the direction developers should turn. No copy protection at all on their games, let us copy our disks for backup and do full installs and put the game CD's safely away. If the game is good, we'll want to play online and you WILL get your money.
my password is private, but unchanged.
How long before CloneCD has the ability to change where its reg keys are located. That might fix this problem. well, at least be a hack around it.
What's next?! Game publisher houses deciding what we can and cannot have installed? Games that dele... oh wait, it's The Sims.
Sorry, my bad.
I have both Nero and Acohol 120%, yet I have no issues with The Sims 2. So, uh, whats the deal?
Flat Screen TV for F
Several years ago, back in the days of System Shock 2 and Ultima 9, EA pulled the same thing with their CDSafe or whatever software they used to prevent copy protection.
I bought System Shock 2, and then was unable to play the game because it refused to recognize my CD. I called EA (toll call by the way) and spent 45 minutes talking to a technician. After having me explain the issue, even down to reading the serial number off the CD ring, they came to the conclusion that my CD burner (my only drive) was not compatible with the copy protection. Their recommendation, to go out and by myself a new drive.
Which lead me to a hack site, where I happily downloaded an illegal crack to allow me to play the game. I called them back to point out that it was ridiculous that as a legitimate owner of the game, I was prevented from playing it by EA's own copy-protection, which was broken minutes after the game was released. Not surprisingly, they failed to see the irony.
When Ultima 9 came out, I had the same issue. Since the cracks were slower to come around, I bit the bullet and bought a new CD drive. That was the last EA game that I have purchased.
Now I'm a happy owner of a Mac, PS 2, Xbox, and GameCube, and the only reason I even have a PC is to play FF XI. Which, thankfully, is not an EA game.
Copy protection only hurts the actual owners, not one company has devised a successfully copy-protection scheme. Nothing has come even close in the recent years to the nearly-successful copy-protection on the old Atari 8-bit systems (which required a Happy Chip to be installed in the actual disk drive to copy games, because they used variable disk-speeds to generate uncopyable errors on the floppy disk). But now, it's pretty much pointless. Save your time and money, copy protection hurts your bottom line more than it helps it.
Dr. Wu
"Is there gas in the car? Yes, there's gas in the car"
I think the author of this post meant to be sarcastic... rather than make a profound point.
~~~
Yeah, I hated that.
The funny thing is the Crackers and their target audience are the ones who won't have problems with this.
Whereas as we can see, the legitimate users are the ones having problems.
It is common for some legitimate users to resort to using cracked versions because they just _work_better_ for them. Say you're a sysadmin for a small/midsized company with 100-200 pcs, and you have the legit licenses for software for all the PCs. Often using Cracks (and a few corporate keys) and a custom compilation "installer cd/DVD" is a lot more convenient than carrying around 10 CDs and 200 different keys. You have _paid_ for all the licenses, so ethically I don't see why not.
Sure in some countries they have laws which allow/encourage companies to legally limit you to using the software only if you uninstall Nero and Clone CD, bow down and worship the Manufacturers, sacrifice your first born etc etc. But I think those laws are ridiculous.
I bet more than one legit user has given up and said "F*ck this, why pay them for this?".
I know some "Unauthorized Distributors" provide a far far better level of support for the money they get per game.
In contrast: look at the support on the official Sims2 forums:
"And murronrose, since you returned your game, that means that you are no longer a product-registered owner of the game. Which means you shouldn't even be using this BBS... I'm most likely going to have to remove your posting priveledges if you don't cancel your account yourself.
-MaxoidLucky"
Try Thief or Thief II on Windows XP.
//e is painful, how the hell did I ever type on that POS keyboard!!!!)
Try any DOS game (Terra Nova, Syndicate Wars, Crusader, Madden '98 damn that was a fun game).
Try Baldur's Gate (anything over directx 8.1 kills it).
I have 3 old machines specifically for video games only,
no internet and no patches.
1 Pentium 133 with DOS 6.22 & Win95
1 Pentium III 450 with Win98 SE Direct X 3? Maybe 2 whatever Diablo came with.
1 Pentium III 933 with Direct X 8.1 (Original Baldur's Gate)
1 Pentium IV 2GHz with all the latest bullshit (note: Norton Antivirus will shit it's pants if you have a Radeon 9800 and patched to SP1, it has since been fixed though).
The only reason I never chuck old systems is it's fun to play the old stuff from time to time (Ultima III on my Apple
Xenix on a 386 is kind of cool too.
I cannot wait to build my new Athlon 64 3500+ (2.4GHz?)
I'm waiting on a G5 Powerbook for my next laptop purchase unless IBM comes out with a AMD 64bit Thinkpad.
Is it Starforce 3 copy "protection" that they added to the game (which, btw, installs driver-level software to do its dirty work), or is it a different widget causing these problems?
As I said, I've seen this issue and we are looking into it. Can we solve it today? Nope. But I am here and I do hear you.
But... didn't you just threaten to ban the guy?
if there's a fix you will be able to read about it.
Wait, so EA expects CASUAL gamers who have trouble playing the game to monitor their website to see if they fix the problem? If you were talking about a hardcore community like the Half-Life community or /. community I'd understand, but The Sims's community? Uh uh, not happenin.
some days ago I downloaded the sims 2 with a torrent I got from SuprNova.org, I have Nero Installed, Alcohol 120% and CDClone installed... I heard the game has a CD protection when the image is mounted with nero image drive, but I mounted the .CCD image with alcohol 120% and it works just fine.
I'm sorry, I didn't RTFA and I don't know if the torrent came pre-cracked (which I doubt, they usually come clean and include a crack in another directory anyway)
The game is not a huge upgrade compared with the original game, the only difference is the 3D environment, the personal aspirations, a *slightly* improved AI and a few space related fixes. (still can't place objects in diagonal walls)
Doom3 had copy protection?! Never noticed, worked fine on CloneCD with the patch provided :P.
GPLv2: I want my rights, I want my phone call! DRM: What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
I am going to start pirating every game complained about in this thread.. and from those publishers as well.
Then use underrated, "insightful" sounds like someone didn't get it.
Flat Screen TV for F
Shit, my grades were always better than that.
Just burn The Sims 2 CDs from your Linux partition with cdrecord. Play in Windows.
Same thing happened to me with doom3. I was going to buy sims2 as a gift (today actually) but now I'll be finding a different game for the person. I can't stand this BS.
CD check, ok, I don't mind that, I've been playing with the cd in the drive since CD games came out, and hell, at liest I don't have to swap between cd's anymore.
I think the happy middle ground is to check for the cd key on install. Then check the cd key against again for TCP/IP games on the publisher's servers (not lan, so freaken annoying you'd need an internet connection to play on a lan) and that's the best you can do.
"I don't buy your games. How exactly does that help your bottom line?"
How does piracy help their bottom line? Oh I've heard the argument, but basically it amounts to speculation, and wishful thinking.
"From the discussion board it appears it took two days for a NoCD crack to become available. How does *that* help your bottom line: you have people returning the game (rightfully so, many will have no clue why you want to cripple the computer just to play a game, even if they know *how* to cripple it) and yet the pirates didn't even skip a beat?"
How does buying locks and security systems help you? They don't really stop a determined thief, and they inconvience the homeowners. I'm still waiting for people to return their homes.
"Nothing but bad press and bad customer service. Yes, the consoles are protected, but they are protected in a way that doesn't break the game and doesn't require gutting my machine's functionality to get there."
Well the story (which is tradition to NOT read around here) already provides an answer. But no we want to go on crusades today. Anyway the end effect of piracy will be more games for consoles, and less for PC's. Especially as the costs to produce games (and hence the cost to recover. the part that piracy effects) goes up.
"The only thing game companies do by adding crappy copy protection is annoy legitimate customers."
Gee, if you think that's annoying? Just wait till they all start going out of business[1]. Were will all you game players get you next fix from?
[1] Oh guess what? They are! Too late.
Theif, Theif 2, and BG work fine on my machine. P4 3ghz running XP. Work good on linux too.
~~~
Managers and people in suits are the only ones who think it works, because on paper it's a beautiful concept, and hell you can even fudge up some numbers that look really cool and still be factual about it too.
There are two answers to this, both with double-edged sword qualities:
1.) No protection at all: The positives are apparent, ease of use, compatible with everything, easily backed up. User happiness level = 5 stars.
Negative: Easily pirated.
Counter-negative: Because it's so easily pirated, some folks might not even bother downloading it and just buy the game because of the good faith shown by the company. However, people who know the guy who wrote bittorrent by name, these people are going to pirate games regardless anyway.
Summary: Though easily pirated, when you remove the protection from the game, it balances out more because of the good faith shown and trust put into the consumer's hands, more people will buy the game because of the ease of use and storage than not, the pirates will pirate anyway.
2.) Design features into the game that require input of a serial and registration on the company's website. Such as downloadable content, new features, online play, facilitation of online play such as statistics, message boards, etc.
Has to be worth the while of the registration to be effective.
Negative: Hassle, those without internet or who are very uneducated about it will not be able to take advantage.
Counter-negative: More content.
Summary: This one's a little harder because it hasn't been done a lot, and we really don't know where it might go if looked at with more scrutiny. I think it can work, but technology needs to improve and more of the general population needs to gain more computer skills.
All your base are belong to Google.
Use RSA Tokens;
http://www.peapod.co.uk/rsa-tokens.htm
These things can be purchased in bulk and are very secure. If I am paying $49.95US for a video game, they can afford the additional cost of the token. And if it does a good job at preventing piracy, then they would actually increase revenue.
This means that the video game would have to continually be checking the RSA token.
While emulating the token would be difficult, a good hacker could look at the machine language code that does the checks and modify it to simply jump past them. That's how most NOCD hacks work.
Of course, that would violate DCMA, so a hacker would never do that
I'm all for good copy protection, but I'll tell you - I don't usually buy games due to the many hours involved in getting them to actually work. I've been messing w/Computers since the Commodore 64 days - so I am no n00b. Still haven't got either of my 2 legal copys of Mafia to work. The vendors patch makes the game worse.
The company is intentionally lying to the consumer about why the product refuses to work. Is that legal? It wouldn't be legal for a car manufacturer to tell you your radio is causing a pinging noise, when it's the car's engine, would it?
And could the makers of CloneCD sue them? They are saying that Clone CD conflicts with their software, when it does not. This could affect sales of CloneCD, if in fact CloneCD is a product you can buy.
funny. the pirated copy I found on a large bittorrent site a few days before release (don't worry. I still bought the damn game) worked just fine with Daemon Tools. you just needed a recent version of it. didn't conflict with any software. didn't complain about CD burning software.
I say this story is a pile of horsecrap.
I bought Sims2 on DVD, and it didn't work with my DVD drive.
I was able to get it on my computer using another method, but it turns out that I couldn't even use an emulator to run Sims either.
The final resolution was that I had to unload the emulator, and get a Pioneer DVR-108. EA responded to my support request saying that my Hitachi GD-7500 was one of 9 DVD players that's not compatible with the copy protection in Sims2. Unfortunately, I never did see a tech support article for that.
Their suggestion was for me to return the opened package to EA so they could send me a sealed copy to return to the store.
What piracy? Iff Maxis could be certain they were only bothering people who were using their tools to make infringing copies (i.e. not just playing their legally purchased copy on a CD emulator), then they might be morally within their rights to insist on the disablement of these products. IMO, they're in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for even sniffing a machine on which their product is running for other products.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
I installed the Sims 2 via D-Tools from iso's (legally obtained) on my hard drive. It worked perfectly, and I am able to play the game fine. Never installed the patch or anything.
(650) 628-1500
I invite you to call them, ask to be transferred to the marketing/PR department, and POLITELY and INTELLIGENTLY explain to them the folly of their situation. Such as how this won't stop the pirates, who will just release a precracked version that will run fine on any computer while the people who actually bought the game won't be able to play it.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Regardless of whether or not this is a volunteer or paid employee, I'll never purchase another EA Games product for as long as I live, and will spread the word anytime I have the opportunity.
I have a better solution: don't give EA your business ever again.
I know of atleast one of those five reasons, because I personally complained to quite a few different game companies, especially Blizzard for Diablo 2. I have an old Creative CD-RW 8x4x24 that I still use (it's like 5 years old now, hasn't burned a bad copy once) and it is incapable of reading the little barcodes on the inside of the CD to check if it's a legitimate copy. So, even though I had no moral conundrum to use a NoCD fix, I ended up selling those games, Diablo 2 included, to friends; I switched over to game that didn't require CD's in the tray (and then I found EQ... and lost almost 2 years of my life)
how about having a switch within the app which removes the reg entry when not in use
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
This goes to show just how wrong the publishing companies are approaching the problem of piracy. In my opinion, if I bought the software legitimally I should not have to go through the hassle of getting a patch to run it in my computer!
Companies insist in wasting millions of dollars to place piracy countermeasures which end up only hurting the consumer who bought the game legitimally.
Why not have a philosophy of giving certain benefits to people who buy the game legitimally instead of these futile attempts to stop the pirating?
For instance, The Sims 2 requires a registered account (with an original CD Key) to be able to access the downloadable content from within the game and from the site...Why don't they expand on such benefits and make it so that you need to register your product to access them?
I know even that system wouldn't be piracy-proof, but it would be harder at least, and it would BENEFIT the people who buy the game instead of making them go through hassles...
On another note, I have Nero and Clone CD on my PC and had no problems playing The Sims...but then again I don't have those programs running as processes or on the tray... But still, this is all ridiculous.
to play those games! Damnit, how am I supposed to get my Warcraft fix now?
No wonder she was so interested in "helping me" pick out a good video card. Grrrr... >:P
I've got Nero, Alcohol 120, and Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator all installed on the same PC. I also have Sims 2 and Doom 3 installed with no problems whatsoever. In fact, my wife was able to install Sims 2 by herself while I was out of town without having to call me for any support.
So, either I have some kind of mystical, magical set up, or someone else is full of shit.
My lack of God, it's Trotsky!
seems to me the quickest way for this garbage to stop would be the creators of imaging software or in other cases with other apps reg monitors, debuggers (softice et al), etc to sue companies doing this. If anything they could bind together and take on some of the smaller software devlopers using some of the offending products.
Protcting your code is one thing, protecting it by requiring a machine free of certain other apps seems like (if it isn't) it should be considered some kind of illegal practice.
I'm sure if Windows XP refused to run Mozilla we'd see some lawsuits. Or say GM decided to work with ChevronTexaco to develop an additive that would make a car not run if they used a Shell product in it.
Seems like it's collusion between game (and other user app developers) with protection application developers to drive developers of image software and debugging tools out of business or at the very least force consumers to purchase upgrades of their tools to get around the protection schemes.
But since IANAL I could just be way off the mark...
Just to be fair to Epic (since the parent doesn't know or didn't mention it), one of the later official patches for UT'99 actually removed the CD check. The same pattern was repeated with UT2k3; the initial release contained a CD check, but the latest official patch removes it. (I can't speak to UT2k4, since I don't have it yet.)
CD checks are a major annoyance to legitimate paying customers (like myself), so my highest praise would be reserved for developers/publishers who refuse to use them. However, Epic is to be commended for listening to their customers and fixing the problem.