squatter Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Question for the developers: Will we be able to purchase a single license to download and install CMBN on both a Mac and a PC? I have a PC laptop and Mac desktop. I'm not sure which will run the game better, and I'd like to be able to use the laptop when I'm on the move. This is pretty standard with other digital software retailers like Steam. If I had a PC desktop and PC laptop, I'd be able to install on both. Or I could run the PC version on the Mac using bootcamp or whatever. So I don't see a reason why a dual license shouldnt be implemented. Will this be the case? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Well all I know is I've pre ordered one of each. You can draw your own conclusions I guess. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Will we be able to purchase a single license to download and install CMBN on both a Mac and a PC? No, this is not possible. The two versions are not compatible in any way (there is no hybrid version of the game), so the licenses have to be purchased separately. You can install the PC version on a laptop and a desktop at the same time, and same goes for the Mac version of course, but you cannot purchase both games "in one", sorry. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpark Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I bought one of each as well- to run on the same computers. The Mac laptop is the primary reason for the Mac copy- no more BootCamp. Any issue with running two licenses on the same computer (one Mac and the other on the Win7 BootCamp partition)? I would expect not, but just to clarify. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 There should be no issues with using two licenses on the same computer, but different booting partitions/OSes. The licensing is tied to the OS and hardware. So you could have multiple installations in the same OS on the same hardware. Another OS (Mac or PC) WOULD require another license key or at least use up another activation on the same license key. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus86 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Will it be possible to change a license for an os into a license for another os? e.g. I buy the windows client, then I deside to go for a mac. Is it now possible to contact the battlefront support, to deactivate the windows key and get one for the mac? Then I could pay the download fee for the mac client and be happy. I don't want to pay 50$ twice, for the same product. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squatter Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 You can install the PC version on a laptop and a desktop at the same time, and same goes for the Mac version of course, but you cannot purchase both games "in one", sorry. Thanks for the answer, but I'm a little disappointed. I mean, what's the difference between paying $50 for a game and installing it on your PC desktop and PC laptop, or paying $50 for a game and installing it on your PC desktop and MAC laptop? The first is catered for, the second isnt. Even the much-maligned Steam allows you to put a game you have paid for on both PCs and MACs. You really ought to consider this. Many people operate BOTH PCs and MACs these days, and no longer expect to pay twice for the same software. It's the license you pay for, not the downloads. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plastic viking Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 IMHO I would say that comparing a small company's licensing policy with a big one, like Valve with their 260 employees and tens of millions of customers, isn't quite fair. It does cost more to develop for two operating systems and if you don't have the scale benefits of a large company with a huge customer base, well then it may be really hard to swallow that cost. Of course it would be nice if you got a license which worked on both OSes, but only one at the time. But if the choice is paying for each platform or no CMBN on both OSes, well then then I prefer paying. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 IMHO I would say that comparing a small company's licensing policy with a big one, like Valve with their 260 employees and tens of millions of customers, isn't quite fair. It does cost more to develop for two operating systems and if you don't have the scale benefits of a large company with a huge customer base, well then it may be really hard to swallow that cost. Of course it would be nice if you got a license which worked on both OSes, but only one at the time. But if the choice is paying for each platform or no CMBN on both OSes, well then then I prefer paying. I don't see how development would take that much longer. You could just always delivery packages with both mac and winblows versions and both exe files accept the same license number. Are the exe files as delivered even specifically imprinted with the license number? In any case, good to see a Mac version. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Except of course there is no "exe file" for the Mac. The file structure is different, the PC version has an exe with associated folders, the Mac version has the assocated folders "within" the application itself. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 There is of course an actual executable file for the Mac, too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 This sounds rather like wanting a red shirt and a blue shirt then being disappointed with the clothing retailer for not letting you pay for just one and return it whenever you want for the other color. Sure they're both the same style shirt but they're still two different products. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I don't see how development would take that much longer. Hey Redwolf. Wanted to pop in and respond. Porting an OpenGL-based Windows engine to OSX is non-trivial but pretty closed: you know that by replacing the right libraries, altering the appropriate code, and writing the right wrappers you can make it work. It's hard but if the engine is well-constructed it'll get done. Actually making a Windows engine run *well* on OSX, however, is another matter entirely. If you check out how OpenGL works on OSX you'll find a mass of Apple-specific extensions that are there for a very good reason - Apple has very different priorities for its drivers. Memory usage and handling, both for the operating system in general and the video subsystem specifically, is extremely different, as is pipeline usage. OpenGL optimizations that work well on Windows break things on OSX; various pieces of the spec are not even properly implemented. Apple drivers obfuscate card capabilities (under OSX ALL video cards report a max_vertices limit of 2048 to OpenGL, and that's just for starters). Some functions simply don't work correctly. I won't speak to how long the OSX version has been in active development, but to say it's been a very long slog would be putting it mildly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squatter Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 This sounds rather like wanting a red shirt and a blue shirt then being disappointed with the clothing retailer for not letting you pay for just one and return it whenever you want for the other color. Sure they're both the same style shirt but they're still two different products. A completely meaningless comparison, sorry. You're out of touch if that's the way you see the software market I'm afraid. So I'm to take it that Battlefront expects some customers to pay $100 to play Combat Mission on their laptop and their desktop, and other customers $50 for the same privilege? You dont convert your game to another platfoarm so that you can sell it twice to the same customers!!!! You do it so that you can sell it to new customers. $50 for all customers please, not $50 for some and $100 for others. It costs Battlefront nothing to let existing license owners make a second download to their Mac laptop. Or at worst for a $5 admin fee. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Many people operate BOTH PCs and MACs these days, and no longer expect to pay twice for the same software. Except, I interpret Moon's and Phil's replies to mean that it is not the same software in both cases. Therefore, this statement: It's the license you pay for, not the downloads. would be entirely incorrect. Just my reading of their posts. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Many people operate BOTH PCs and MACs these days, and no longer expect to pay twice for the same software. It's the license you pay for, not the downloads. Yes, I do. No, I don't mind. Yes I've paid for a PC license and I've paid for a Mac license (just like I'd expect to do for Office or Photoshop, or ....). Before you make global statements you might want to perhaps ask around. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I did nothing to imply that I think making the Mac version is easy. But the version is there. What I said is that it wouldn't cost BFC anything but add convenience to the user if Mac and PC versions would be more equal. If the license was for one install then you would just pick which one you want, from having both versions on the distribution medium. The license is for several installs which honestly I don't quite understand the details and motivations of (except patching up inherit problems with the DRM) but whatever - even if you intend for the same person to have it on desktop and notebook then it doesn't make much sense to charge those with a Macbook more than those with a doodlely winblows notebook. It's an entirely artificial thing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I was responding to your "I don't see how development would take that much longer" comment. I wasn't really speaking to ease, necessarily, but wanted to get across that the OSX version is a whole other ball of wax and definitely did take a long time to reach maturity (and will continue to need OSX-specific care and handling). I must have misinterpreted what you were saying. What did you mean? As for licensing - I am not in a position to know intimately the details of the back end of our licensing solution, and I wouldn't want to make any assumptions. I would say that assuming that shared OS-agnostic licenses would be a) an easy thing to implement or somehow cost-free for BFC, strikes me as a stretch. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I was responding to your "I don't see how development would take that much longer" comment. I wasn't really speaking to ease, necessarily, but wanted to get across that the OSX version is a whole other ball of wax and definitely did take a long time to reach maturity (and will continue to need OSX-specific care and handling). I must have misinterpreted what you were saying. What did you mean? I said developing a license scheme that can bind either binary (mac or windows) to a license key doesn't take much longer than developing a single-binary license key. I never commented on the Mac port itself, in fact I am surprised you have it ready for release. I am not sure you bind the download/DVD binaries to a specific license key in the first place, probably not. As for licensing - I am not in a position to know intimately the details of the back end of our licensing solution, and I wouldn't want to make any assumptions. I would say that assuming that shared OS-agnostic licenses would be a) an easy thing to implement or somehow cost-free for BFC, strikes me as a stretch. Of course it's not free after you cemented it into a finished solution already. From then on any change whatsoever is effort. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yllamana Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Just to provide feedback as a potential user of the Mac version - I'm a little disappointed to hear it'll be a separate purchase to the Windows one. Years of bad ports have left me jaded and I'm now more likely to buy a Windows version to play on my Mac, with the expectation that it'll probably run better and potentially get better support, too. With dual-platform games from developers like Blizzard I do enjoy being able to play on the MacOS. I might be willing to pay a nominal amount extra for a dual-platform license ($10, say?) but not $60, and even a nominal fee could look a bit much next to other developers offering theirs for no extra charge. That said, it won't keep me up at night and even if I don't get the Mac version myself I'm glad that others will have the option to. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I said developing a license scheme that can bind either binary (mac or windows) to a license key doesn't take much longer than developing a single-binary license key. I never commented on the Mac port itself, in fact I am surprised you have it ready for release. I am not sure you bind the download/DVD binaries to a specific license key in the first place, probably not. I'm sorry I misunderstood you. The licensing solutions were created by a third-party vendor - I have no idea how easy unifying their scheme would be. Of course it's not free after you cemented it into a finished solution already. From then on any change whatsoever is effort. That's true, but not quite where I was headed. I meant it in the context of the third-party vendor. I wouldn't assume it would be easy for them or cheap for us. At this point I'll bow out in favor of BFC staffers that can speak to the licensing solution more pointedly. The code is more my territory. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Adobe is a BIG company, granted the last time I checked they don't sell games, but without a doubt if you want a Windows copy AND a OS X copy of CS5 Creative Suit you will have to pay the full price for one of EACH license and they won't care how much you bitch and whine about it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leakyD Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Um.... Bootcamp? Sure, you need a licensed MS OS. Which, actually, is more $$, but greater flexibility... Anyone tried Crossover?: http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxgames/ Are there still issues w. WINE and 3D modelling? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Well Crossover, Parallels and Fusion all work - to a degree. But if you are going to do that then BootCamp is: 1. Buit in (costs $0.00); and 2. Offers far better performance (albeit at the cost of not be able to easily use Mac apps without rebooting). Or just buy the Mac version. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destraex1 Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 The cost is in having to buy a windows license to run on bootcamp Windows OS licenses are usually tied to a computer for its life. Although I expect if that computer died and the MAC was its replacement the Windows license can move to the MAC. Thats the only legal way around the $300 or so windows license I can think of for MAC users with boot camp. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.