schimmel

Cmon... the war in Iraq was not approved by the UN. Neither was the no-fly zone in Iraq nor the war on Serbia and so on... The UN is only consulted if it's in one's own interest (I'm talking about every nation here). It's only a chatting platform, which is at least a first step.

Great post. Lots of applications are already multithreaded today. F.ex. my browser consists of 12 threads at the moment. One has also to keep in mind, that multithreaded isn't always possible or useful. I had once to do this in school. The Mandelbrot f.ex. was very easy to implement in a multithreaded way. But some other implementations even resulted in a slower performance on 4 processors than on 1 (because of the mass of communication). You have to be able to split your app into several independant serial processes/threads. Lots of communication and syncronisation results in bad performance. The Quake engine was one of the first games with mulithread support (SMP). Unfortunately, there was not much increase in performance. Maybe due to bad implementation or due to the reasons mentioned above. What I want say, is that IMO this new dual(multi?) core hype has still to prove that it is more than simple publicity. Most of the performance is still used on the graphics. So why don't we have dual cored graphic cards? Ati and Nvidia don't seem to be all that excited about dual core.

When you activate you send your activation key and your hardware profile to SF. They generate a new serial which will only work with your profile. Every time you start the game, SF compares the serial with the hardware profile. Nothing is compared to the last startup. Your serial simply doesn't work with some other hardware profile. No. 3 activation keys would be used. Not more. Information is only send to SF during activation. Although remember that this would be illegal. oh and here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/28/us_court_ruling_nixes_software/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/28/us_court_ruling_nixes_software/ Here a court ruled that you can sell games in the U.S. no matter what the EULA says. Of course I wouldn't buy the game on ebay. Since you can't trust the seller that he won't use himself the activation keys left.

Well the EULA IS the official stance, isn't it. They don't want you to sell it. Dmut reaffirmed this here. Now they can't explain you the laws of your country.

Just want to point out, that not everything mentioned in the EULA is legal. F.ex. if the EULA would say: "You are not allowed to make a backup copy", you could care less about it in my country. I'd take a look at the laws in my country. @FastVinny How do you explain the fact, that PC-games are sold on ebay? If it was illegal, this would be impossible. The EULA is not above the law. If the law in your country says that this type of transaction is allowed for a license, the EULA becomes obsolete.

Luxembourg, but I live in Aachen, Germany

Nope... the key in the registry is based on your hardware. So it will not work after a major hardware change/upgrade. It will work on the same config.

This is the true story IMO. Beta test an activation system... wtf... ED is not some organization of masochists. Ah now I see. Starforce paid ED and the development of FC to test a new activation system. This smells like... hmm... like... A CONSPIRACY! We all knew the conditions under which you have to download the game. The only thing which went wrong, is the reinstall issue. ED gave 10 extra activations and made a tool to backup the key. That's enough IMO.

At SimWare you have 40€ for the game and 14€ (Canada + US) for shipping. Might be a little less then 70$. Edit: Hmm... now I just used a currency converter. It's exactly the same :-/.

Aaaahh... again a nice move ED! Damn I'm dying here. Can't wait to get my copy at simw.

It's for those who prefer limited key activation to unlimited installations. Fortunately I had the patience to wait.

To be allowed != to have a right. F.ex. you are allowed to work, but you have no right to work in our western societies. You are allowed to make a copy, but you have no right to make a copy. If it's true that this is a violation of your rights, you could take ED into court, which IMO is not possible.

Nowhere is a law which says, that you must have the possibilty to make a copy. So no rights are violated. I depends on the country you live in. In Germany it is still unclear. The case has yet to be made. In Germany it is AFAIK even unclear whether the EULA are worth a cent or not. I found a nice thread about this in a german mac forum: http://www.macuser.de/forum/showthread.php?t=30691&page=1&pp=15&highlight=nocd Etienne explains this issue very well. Edit: One good example is when he compares software to a book (where the piracy issue isn't discussed half as much). If you remove the cover of a book, to make it lighter, so you can carry it around better, you are not violating any law. Same with a NoCD (he says). No EULA in a book could hinder you from removing the cover.

Sorry Viper, no hard feelings involved. Only kidding. The boxed version has no activation limit and is independent. That means in the unlikely event that Starforce or ED close down, it still works. Both CPs are restricted to Windows XP 32-bit, which is alright for me.

Thank you so much ED! Finally I may leave the boards here and play the game the way I want it :D.

k I'm translating back to english then. :P He says that he has absolutely no problems with 1.1. He's enjoying an impressive online experience with his squadron and he's looking forward to buying another game using this kind of activation.

Overrated...

Here's the latest information. Nothing confirmed yet (here on the forums that is). http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?p=58365#post58365

The only thing you say is: SF and activation system suck. Now use the search button and you'll see the appropriate places to post your opinion. Just the fact that you open a new thread is reason enough to get closed IMO. That's why it is not constructive. I found nothing new in your post, besides that you know 16 ppl who have problems. Now where are they? I just hope not everyone of them will open his own thread.

First: new computer = new hardware = new activation. Now for the reformat. You don't have to use another activation. Unfortunately the final key, that you get after the activation process, is stored in the registry. This key is based on your hardware config. So if you want to format your system, you have to do a backup of this registry entry, which is described here: http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=7569 (I suggest making this one a sticky). Otherwise it's lost and you have to use another activation.

Wow... thx a lot. That's what I want. And yes, it still installs a driver. So it's unclear if you can still play the game with Windows Longhorn. But hey. It's still far better then the activation system. Thank you ED for making this possible.

The best poll are sales numbers. ED will see if it was worth all the fuzz. We can only decide to buy or not to buy. Actually IMO these threads have (and should have) little effect on ED. Ppl on these forums are in no way representative for all customers.

Possession and consumption of canabis is not legal in the Netherlands. But you won't be prosecuted if you get caught. That's what is called "tolerating". Same here. If ED tolerates your mod you are alright. They just keep the right to do whatever they want.

Hmm... I thought you can activate 5 times for free. Theoratically you can install Lock On on 5 different computers and use those 5 activations. For one key you get 5 free activations. New key = $$$. So the EULA sounds right to me. What seems to cause all the mess, is the fact that they didn't include any tool to backup your activation key in the registry for a certain hardware configuration. Or did I get something wrong? Copying the key in the registry should work here. I haven't bought FC yet. I only read the documentation on SF. So I appreciate any clarification.

Sorry, just another question came into my mind. What about updates and patches? Who will release those for the english CD version? Due to different CPs I guess the update for the downloadable version is incompatible with the CD version. So will the update for the CIS version work with the english CD version?