For those guys who felt like insulting my intelligence...

[RSColonel_131st]

...sorry, the other topic was locked so quickly, that was just stupid. I want to say my piece as well, instead of just being insulted by some guys who feel oh so clever.

On the topic of CD Cracks and my "stupidy" for asking for it:

BATTLEFRONT THEMSELF have released Dangerous Waters without the requirement for a CD Check.

I don't think asking them to remove the CD-Check for the new released CMBB executable, a three-year old game, is too unreasonable a question if they voluntary remove the check from a brand new release.

I almost killed my CMBB CD once while swapping. Since then I use the crack - so what. I have the original CD and proof of purchase, I'm not a pirate, and like I said, Battlefront themself made it convenient for their regular buyers to use Dangerous Waters without constantly swapping CDs.

So, feel free to lock this too now.

[DBaron]

My cmbb cd is dying. I can still use it to run the game, but I can no longer install the game from it (stops at 95% or so with disk errors). First of all if I install cmc, will it ask me for my cmbb disk? ( I have seen games ask you for the original disk when you install an add on).

Secondly, assuming there are cd checks, once I have cmc installed, will I be able to run cmbb using the cmc disk, or will I still have to rely on my old cmbb cd.

[Hertston]

Originally posted by RSColonel_131st:

BATTLEFRONT THEMSELF have released Dangerous Waters without the requirement for a CD Check.

I doubt buyers of the Strategy First published game will be so lucky!

I agree with your comments, though. Despite the usual holier-than-thou response you were not asking for "support" for the crack, just suggesting that they remove the need for one in a game that is hardly likely to break into the top 100 Torrent downloads this month. A perfectly reasonable request IMHO.

As to using cracks in the first place, 99% of people here would agree there is no problem with it as long, of course, as you have purchased the game. There is an associated risk which has far more to do with the possibility of viruses and trojans than 'criminal prosecution'!

[RSColonel_131st]

Good question, Baron. Worst case obviously is needing the CMC CD to play the operational part, and then swapping for the CMBB CD. Unlikely, so likley they will just require the CMC CD in the drive for both games.

There will always be people who say "Ah, it's not a problem, I've never had a CD scratched" but if you regulary play 3 or 4 games, chances are you WILL scratch one over time if you're constantly swapping them around. I knew I came too close.

I also used to run CMBB on both Laptop and Desktop - which is a real bastard if you have to swap CDs and carry them around all day if you just want to quickly send a PBEM file.

CMBB (CDV Retail Distribution) can be found for 10 bucks in bargain bins around here; the complete anthology (CMBO, CMBB, CMAK) costs around 25 Euros. It's not like the official removal of the CD check will cause them huge financial loss by some pirates.

Herston, thanks for your reasoned post.

[Moon]

RSColonel, yes, we've released DW without a CD check (or any other protection for that matter). The reward was that DW pirated copies appeared even faster on the various sites.

But anyway... with whatever logic you try to justify it (I don't even feel like debating it because it's likely going to start going in circles), using a no-cd crack violates the end user license for the game you bought, and I locked the thread because a) while we don't go and hunt down people who are using no-cd cracks, we do not condone them, we certainly don't want their use advertised on the forum, and c) I wanted to avoid that people hang themselves by their own ropes.

If you have purchased the game and are using it at home, fine, I don't even want to know. But if you feel like starting threads about it and rub it in everybody's face, we might just decide to do something about it.

So here's the padlock again, for the last time.

Martin