schimmel

@Rugbutt Concerning your DVD/CD issues, would they be the same with the CIS version? @Jason Any details on what CP will be used? I guess it will be the same as the CIS version? I'm still looking at how things evolve. This sounds like a great alternative. Edit: Oh, just to make things sure: No activation and limited installations with the CIS version right now?

If you feel so, okay. I don't see why you get so upset about this. One could argue about this. dictionary.com, to owe: 2. To have a moral obligation to render or offer. Let's suppose they just say "oh **** it, no english FC" (which will never ever happen ;)). They would lose a lot of credibility, because IMO they owed us something. Not legally, but it's a moral rule or common sense. The first post by prophet was childish. No doubt about it. But I'd love to get called a clown if I miss a deadline. Actually I expected a heavier assault on the boards :). IMO some ppl take this boards too serious. Now let's get back to Paris Hilton :).

Indeed... too damn sexy. Can I order by phone on +7 (095) 7-888-888 ? Mmhh... I'll use my new VoIP phone software.

$release_date 4tw! :D At least we'll see the Flaming Cliffs now :P. Thx for the info. And no, it's not managed very well.

I've just tried to order a copy on ozon.ru by using Babel Fish. Was fun. I know how my country's name is written in Russian now. Unfortunately I still don't know if they do international orders. Guess not. Edit: Well they do international orders, but it's unclear if this is also true for FC.

I don't think it's that simple. It all depends on what we, as the people, think about this and what we think those in charge should decide. There's always one way to "hack" a system and that is by force. You could always forbid pgp/gpg and just put everyone into jail who uses it. Same with CP. It depends on what our society will decide. There could just be a law forbidding any p2p networks. Somehow, you get the impression today that it's all about technical progress. IMO, this isn't true. Technical progress is just used to fight inside the limits of a system. In reality, it all comes down to what our society allows and won't allow. If DRM, TCPA, DMCA is accepted by the customer and new laws are passed you will have a safe CP in no time. Maybe after a few technical fights, but it won't be hard to achieve. The question is, what is will it cost?

I agree. At a piracy rate of 89% you have two choices. Set a high price and nobody buys the game or set it low and at least sell some copies. As for the analogy of rugbutt. If people start to just rob everything out of your shop, you're happy to at least sell a few things for a few cents before closing down. I was really shocked by this price of 7$. This is bad for ED. I may seem like a pessimist, but for me this is a bad sign. No publisher in the world would even care for a market with a 89% piracy rate where you can sell a game for 7$. Although I would never morally condemn software/movie piracy in poor countries. On the other hand, is someone poor who is able to buy a high end computer? Because I doubt computers are that much cheaper in Russia. Or maybe ED, as a russian based business, is able to develop with less money.

Newsflash: We have a 35 pages long thread about this.

What CP does the russian boxed version have? Is there a hardware/installation limitation? Do I have to activate? If so, is activation possible in the West? I think so, as far as I understand SF. When there's no hardware/installation limit, believe me I'll get a russian copy and learn the cyrillic alphabet. I'll just give a guy 20 euros for sending me a copy. So he gets his copy for free and we have +2 happy guys on the world.

Here you see all their solutions: http://www.star-force.com/index.phtml?category=16&type=5. So Lock On has to be the ProActive one I think.

AFAIK, SF works as a Windows service do decrypt your Lock On executable. So this service runs every time you boot your computer, even if you don't play the game. Now when you start Lock On, the SF service decrypts your executable and the game starts. Correct me if I'm wrong. Almost all the information you want is on the Star Force site: http://www.star-force.com/index.phtml?category=48&type=5 IMO very well explained.

Heh... If I have to put up with something, then at least let me know why. Ok, you only explain technical questions, which is perfectly understandable. Now if you say I shouldn't care and just buy the game, because I should just trust the publisher, I have to disagree. Although I doubt that this is what you really wanted to say. I hope some magazine will write a good article about this issue. I haven't seen one yet.

No. Any modern CP makes it impossible to just copy the CD. You always need a crack and that's why after every new patch of the game you have a new crack coming out. The only thing SF is different, is its encryption. The more games come out with SF the faster they will be cracked; my guess.

ROFL plz Mr. Putin ;), don't remove this one. It's funny.

rofl... not only in the UK ;). I think in whole western Europe. I really don't care that the game is released later. Though somehow I believe there's a major problem. I mean, they finished the game 1 month ago. I hope it's not a legal thing (remember "unofficial add-on" appearing on the hp).

The Germans just cut back their part of the budget. So I suppose nobody knows the future of that missile. They are sill mentioning a production date of 2009. Imagine that the development of this missile was started by the UK and Sweden in 1978. I guess they have redeveloped the missile a dozen times now. That's what makes me angry. They just put enough money on a project, for years and years, so that it won't die .

Although this may be a success, one has to see that the european missile project "IRIS-T" has financial problems. Just as the Eurofighter. So for now, the Eurofighter relies on american missiles. The Europeans are just not willing to spend that much money on the military. Maybe this is alright. But as a technology freak I would like a european missile on the Eurofighter :).

Might be a little OT. I played 4 games this year which are around 5 years old. Ultima 9, Falcon 4 and Mobil 1 Rally Championship, Quake 3 (greatest rally game ever) all of which run perfectly under Windows XP. So it depends on the developers if they really cared. If their code was clean DirectX or OpenGL there is no reason for it not to run today. Same for the future. There is no reason that DirectX or OpenGL programs won't run in 5 years. Except if Microsoft disappears which is very unlikely. There is also no new platform on the horizon besides x86 going 64bit, which is backward compatible. Btw... 50 years was a little exaggerated ;). Oh, Ultima 9 and Falcon 4 are games haven't bought myself. Those are gifts by friends who don't play them anymore. This will also become impossible with downloadable version. See I don't want to be too much restricted.

I finally got it! In 1.02 there seems to be a bug though. Sometimes my controls get srewed just as TheJedi described it. Sometimes a make good approach, the auto-throttle goes off and the plane becomes uncontrolable after while. Actually, my first hit was a quite bad approach. Far too fast and I doubt it was centered. I have to say that the refueling is not that much fun for me(like f.ex. landing on a carrier). Fortunately, I see that this will maybe change in 1.1 :D. I didn't play the demo yet. How does it work irl btw? I hope they have a magnet or something build in... oh and thank you for your answers, I didn't know about that auto-throttle thing before.

Ok, here's the whine post :P. How can it be done? I took a tanker by set its task and action to "refueling". Tanker speed was at 400, 500 or 600 kph. I fly nice sinus curves and that's it :D. I tried for hours now and there's no progress... I mean there are other things in game which just seemed FAR easier to me (f.ex. landing on a carrier). Is it really that hard or am I doing something wrong? Even keeping the cirlce on the hud centered is impossible for me. Could it be my joystick configuration?

AFAIK, you activate your game by sending a key (one of your 5) + a hash based on your hardware configuration and in return you get the final key (which maybe you will never see). The Lock On executable is encrypted on your computer. So every time the game starts, the SF service combines the hardware hash with the final key and tries to decrypt the executable. If it fails you're a pirate :P. Consider this as pure speculation, but I think it's not all wrong. Edit: BTW... don't know if anyone ever posted the link: http://www.star-force.com/index.phtml?category=48&type=5 Edit 2: So if your 5 keys are gone, you phone ED to get another 5 or whatever. SF activation is then used to activate those keys. So if ED is no more, you won't get anymore keys. If SF is no more, I guess that ED will change their CP. There's even another scenario. Imagine SF stops to support this CP, f..ex. if it has been cracked in 2 years, and they take down their activation server, you're stuck. At that point, ED would have to patch their OLD product so that you can still play it. Either remove CP or buy (unlikely) a new one. Of course I guess some will then make the effort to get the illegal crack somewhere :P.

No I haven't been around since Flanker and a lot of potential customers neither I think. So, when they see this activation thing, they will hesitate, as I am now. It's important to have such positive comments on ED now.

The only "rethink" I see, is that we got a demo without StarForce. IMO they didn't change the CP plan of the release version. Now where are the patches for 1.02? Where are the bugfixes? You have to buy the addon for bugfixes. This is alright with me, but imagine the situation of a new addon or even a new game. Imagine the support of FC at that time. Imagine the support they are going to put into the registration process if you come along after a few years, unwilling to buy their newest product. Sorry, I'm sceptical. This is in no way a proof, I know. I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I do respect ED, but I don't trust a business company, except if it's written down somewhere.

I remember playing games when I was a little kid without understanding a single word of english. Hell I learnt my first english with Zak McKracken. Ok, Russian is a different story (new alphabet...). But the interface is largely based on symbols anyway.

That's what I'm thinking about. If anyone knows a shop which would sell it by mail... just post the link :D. That way I wouldn't have to worry about copy protection, registration, playing the game in 50 years, the CIA... :D. Maybe I wouldn't even mind russian ingame text and speech. For now it's an option.