Lame NoCD Cracks !

[JoyBoy]

Spoken like a champ. You have to pretty desperate to open up your box and pull cables out of holes in order to play a game. Anyways, I guess D-Day is protected with Starforce which is why there is not a proper crack for it.

[Thomas_Moore]

stfu k1rr3d?

[Grumpy]

The only people who could possibly find a LameNoCD crack useful are people who don't own/have the original game CD, you know who you are!

Now I've been saying this all along for a few months now!

If those people had the original they could quite easily make their own Mini Images as you can only make them from the originals! Cant be made from a copy!

[Luciel]

Make ur research and ull find out there is no "propper" no-cd as its starforce.

[k1rr3d]

stfu k1rr3d?

stfu ???

Make ur research and ull find out there is no "propper" no-cd as its starforce.

What's so special about Starforce that no-one can crack it properly ? and if it can't be cracked properly, does this mean all games will start using it ?

By using starforce the publishers/developers are actually only hurting their customers, i.e. people who have the original disks and find using the mini-image crack to be more cumbersome than using the original disk. The main group of people that they are actually trying to stop, i.e. those without the original disks, will simply just use the mini-image, Starforce 0 crackers/hackers 1. Also, hurting ones customers doesn't show good business sense...

I wonder if anyone has done any research on copy protection, does copy protection actually lead to increased sales ? and is the amount of money spent of copy protection more than or less than the amount of money generated from increased sales ?

In an ideal world there wouldn't be a need for copy protection and we would also all have Alienware PC's ...and the girl you met in the chat would also be female and hot

L8er

K!rr3D

[omni555]

EXCELLENT points! I am sitting here right now looking at a collection of ORIGINAL BOXED games that would make EB, Babbages, Circuit City, and a bunch of others all drool collectively with envy!!! I would estimate that I have in this room RIGHT NOW approximately $20,000.00 worth (cost at time of purchase) of computer games... Hot D@MN!!! I didn't even REALIZE that it was so much until I did a quick calculation for this post!!! It's about 650 games at an average cost of $30 to $40 each... ...Maybe I should have my head examined and get rid of em all and go buy a decent car!!!

Anyway, I digress... My point is that I do NOT purchase a game UNTIL there is a no-cd crack published for it! I recently purchased Sacred (a game I LONGED to have on my PC) after a crack was published for the most recent update.

And a game that I waited with MUCH anticipation for I have NOT yet purchased, and WILL NOT until such time as there is some form of ACCEPTABLE crack published for it - that game is HalfLife 2. I TOTALLY detest what Valve has done regarding the implementation of Steam in the installation and playing of that game.

IMHO, excessive obsession with copy protection can ONLY hurt PC game sales. As has been pointed out, no matter WHAT CP is devised, there will be someone out there to come up with a crack or work-around for it. And as is the case of these Mini image cracks, the only people who will be HURT by the CP will be those HONEST customers out there who, like myself, simply do not WISH to take the time to hunt up cd's whenever we want to play a game, or who simply want to make a safe backup of their game.

Oh, DON'T get me started on how the manufacturers will "replace" lost or defective cd's!!! THAT goes into the same file as most warranties on small purchases, like watches, etc. You spend almost as much (sometimes MORE!) on shipping and handling to get your "replacement cd" as if you just went out and BOUGHT a new copy of the game!!! And even THEN you have to wait weeks or even months to GET it!!!

No, I am sticking by my guns here! I simply REFUSE to purchase a game over which I do not have the control that I WANT, and that means that I will be able to play the game without having to hunt for the cd, and I will be able to make a back-up copy for myself.

Again, those people who are (supposedly) being targeted by all this copy protection will ALWAYS be able to clone/dupe/copy games at will and give them to their "friends".

So, I will continue to visit sites like GCW to get no-cd cracks, use Virtual Drive and other software, etc to play my games THE WAY I WANT. I am just saddened that when I go to the store to BUY a game that the price is artificially inflated because of the lameheads out there who PIRATE the games, get them and play/distribute them without paying ANYTHING for them. The money spent on copy protection by the game publishers is TOTALLY a waste, since it is what inflates the costs AND discourages many people from BUYING the game.

One other thing about the inflated prices... I have heard a number of people talk about pirating games SIMPLY BECAUSE of the often outrageous prices. If the cost could come DOWN a LITTLE (maybe by eliminating the expense of copy protecting the games???) I know at LEAST a dozen MORE people who would become PAYING CUSTOMERS and actually BUY games rather than go through the hassle of pirating them!

I do not CONDONE their actions, but in today's climate I can at least UNDERSTAND it.

[RK]

u're whining cos u have to put the disk in every time?? is it the same for dvd's?? videos?? u dont buy em cos u'd have to put the disk/tape in every time u wanted to watch it??

yes, some ppl have had problems with starforce, but most of those probs have now been sorted afaik, but I havent had a single prob using a starforce protected game on any of my pc's!!

tbh I think its good they copy protect the games!! just take a look at TRD2 - cant say I've seen an image anywhere for it, and its been out about a year now!!

[Asimov]

@ omni555

I honestly believe that no one would want a burnt copy of a game over the real thing. It is for this reason that I believe that if games were within a more realistic price range, many, many more people would fork out their hard earned cash for the games.

So if there is any way to bring down the cost of the games, I believe the publishers overall sales will inflate and thus make more money in the long run.

But I'm sure this debate has been around for a long time. This saddens me because this tells me their is no solution in sight.

As a side note, does anyone know what percentage of profit the publishers of get?

[cyclops[0]]

Originally Posted by omni555

EXCELLENT points! I am sitting here right now looking at a collection of ORIGINAL BOXED games that would make EB, Babbages, Circuit City, and a bunch of others all drool collectively with envy!!! I would estimate that I have in this room RIGHT NOW approximately $20,000.00 worth (cost at time of purchase) of computer games... Hot D@MN!!! I didn't even REALIZE that it was so much until I did a quick calculation for this post!!! It's about 650 games at an average cost of $30 to $40 each... ...Maybe I should have my head examined and get rid of em all and go buy a decent car!!!

Anyway, I digress... My point is that I do NOT purchase a game UNTIL there is a no-cd crack published for it! I recently purchased Sacred (a game I LONGED to have on my PC) after a crack was published for the most recent update.

And a game that I waited with MUCH anticipation for I have NOT yet purchased, and WILL NOT until such time as there is some form of ACCEPTABLE crack published for it - that game is HalfLife 2. I TOTALLY detest what Valve has done regarding the implementation of Steam in the installation and playing of that game.

IMHO, excessive obsession with copy protection can ONLY hurt PC game sales. As has been pointed out, no matter WHAT CP is devised, there will be someone out there to come up with a crack or work-around for it. And as is the case of these Mini image cracks, the only people who will be HURT by the CP will be those HONEST customers out there who, like myself, simply do not WISH to take the time to hunt up cd's whenever we want to play a game, or who simply want to make a safe backup of their game.

Oh, DON'T get me started on how the manufacturers will "replace" lost or defective cd's!!! THAT goes into the same file as most warranties on small purchases, like watches, etc. You spend almost as much (sometimes MORE!) on shipping and handling to get your "replacement cd" as if you just went out and BOUGHT a new copy of the game!!! And even THEN you have to wait weeks or even months to GET it!!!

No, I am sticking by my guns here! I simply REFUSE to purchase a game over which I do not have the control that I WANT, and that means that I will be able to play the game without having to hunt for the cd, and I will be able to make a back-up copy for myself.

Again, those people who are (supposedly) being targeted by all this copy protection will ALWAYS be able to clone/dupe/copy games at will and give them to their "friends".

So, I will continue to visit sites like GCW to get no-cd cracks, use Virtual Drive and other software, etc to play my games THE WAY I WANT. I am just saddened that when I go to the store to BUY a game that the price is artificially inflated because of the lameheads out there who PIRATE the games, get them and play/distribute them without paying ANYTHING for them. The money spent on copy protection by the game publishers is TOTALLY a waste, since it is what inflates the costs AND discourages many people from BUYING the game.

One other thing about the inflated prices... I have heard a number of people talk about pirating games SIMPLY BECAUSE of the often outrageous prices. If the cost could come DOWN a LITTLE (maybe by eliminating the expense of copy protecting the games???) I know at LEAST a dozen MORE people who would become PAYING CUSTOMERS and actually BUY games rather than go through the hassle of pirating them!

I do not CONDONE their actions, but in today's climate I can at least UNDERSTAND it.

I thought I was bad!

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by omni555

One other thing about the inflated prices... I have heard a number of people talk about pirating games SIMPLY BECAUSE of the often outrageous prices. If the cost could come DOWN a LITTLE (maybe by eliminating the expense of copy protecting the games???) I know at LEAST a dozen MORE people who would become PAYING CUSTOMERS and actually BUY games rather than go through the hassle of pirating them!

I do not CONDONE their actions, but in today's climate I can at least UNDERSTAND it.

Unfortunately not true because...

1. People are greedy bastards and wont buy nothing even if it was cheap

2. Price excuse has been around since 8bit computers, its just an excuse to hide the fact that most wont admit they are stealing.

[Viper666]

Originally Posted by JoyBoy

Spoken like a champ. You have to pretty desperate to open up your box and pull cables out of holes in order to play a game. Anyways, I guess D-Day is protected with Starforce which is why there is not a proper crack for it.

Actually, disabling IDE channels in the BIOS seems to work just as well, at least it did on Dead To Rights. It sucks, but it's better than unplugging cables or keeping the original disc in the drive. I file those away in the closet and forget about them.