th3flyboy

garrys mod is an excellent example, you create an addons folder, and you install the addons there, and they are in game, no steam replacing them when steam updates it if it doesnt replace core files. furthermore, i have heard that if steam goes bust they will release a no steam patch for all the games.

hooah, fact is that the activation limits tend to scare people off from buying the game or cause them to pirate it in retaliation to the activation limit. Normally in the gaming community, activation limits are seen as treating the customer as a presumed pirate, which is a very bad idea, especially if you want to keep business from the mainstream. While I don't see the hardcore deciding not to get it, it will probably scare off a lot of people who are only just starting out simming. If you absolutely must have some kind of activation required, here's an idea, use steam. If you use steam as a copy protection method, then you can have it so the cd key is used to activate the game, and you have to play it while logged in to steam, or in offline mode, which would require you to have logged in to steam with that key active on your account previously to play it anyway. Furthermore, steam would allow the player, if the disc breaks (its happened to me twice on a game, and i bought the dang collectors edition too) then the player can redownload it off the steam servers. It may cost a bit more to put it on steam, but remember that also you will be getting knowledge of it out there to people who otherwise aren't looking for this kind of game, they will be like "oh whats this" and they may buy it because they are interested, when they wouldn't have known about it otherwise. Finally remember that that individual cd key would be linked to that steam account, and you can't activate the key on a 2nd account, so that would help reduce piracy too, by preventing keygens from being used as much. All in all, your best bet IMHO for keeping your product secure is actually steam. Also remember this, we can get steam to run on linux, but we have to crack a game with tage, starforce, or securom copy protection to get it to run on linux. The reason for that is the cd check doesn't recognise the linux kernel, and won't work with it, where steam has been able to load on linux. That would actually give another benefit because then you are opening it up to the linux community too if the guys over at wine can figure out how to emulate windows properly to run DCS on linux with WINE.

My question is, would it be possible for ED to sell the English version before the rating at a requirement of being able to prove your 18, that way (to my knowledge) no matter what the rating turns out to be, their covered. Furthermore, I have noticed that Steam allows not rated games to be sold over their network, so why not just put it on steam unrated once the translation is done, and then release the boxed version once the rating can be put on the box.... I am 99% sure that there is no way in hell that DCS BS could be rated M or AO. I see it getting ether E10 or T here in the states.

no install limits, and no starforce.... other than that, i'll be all good...

Hey, I thought I'd put this here before it is too late, Wags, I know you want to protect your investment, but whatever you do decide to do, DON'T PUT AN INSTALL LIMIT ON DCS!!! I know I myself WILL NOT buy DCS if there is an install limit. I also know that a lot of people nowadays will not buy the software if it has an install limit (up to 37% ish on a recent gamespot poll with an additional 30% saying if it gets bad enough then yes link is http://www.gamespot.com/pages/modules/poll_results.php?poll_id=108585&tag=poll;results&popup=1 ). These new install limits are making the programs nothing more than rentware. I myself will not buy a game that i have to pay 40-50 for to rent for a couple installs just to have to buy another copy or be treated like a criminal when i have to install again and it won't let me. Also you have to remember that most copy protection protected games get cracked anywhere from before release to 1-2 weeks after release, with the only exception being games that are utter crap that no one wants to pirate because it isn't worth their time. The absolute best copy protection plan I can come up with is to just put it on steam. Then you can set it up so that if you want to play it, you have to activate the cd key off steam and boot it off steam. This is arguably the best copy protection option available. Remember Wags, if you put too much copy protection on DCS, people will refuse to buy it because the idea of only renting software for 40-50 bucks is absurd and obscene. It is also worth noting that there is nothing that would drive someone to pirate DCS more than too strict copy protection. The copy protection being too strict actually causes piracy. Thanks for reading this Wags, and I hope you make the right decision about the copy protection setup with DCS, as I believe that the copy protection needs to be effective, yet not treating paying customers like criminals or ripping people off. I can see a cd/dvd check, or registering on steam, but when people want to restrict the number of installs, thats taking it too far.

Would it be possible for ED to add to DCS later down the line something such as an F-14, F-111, A-6, AH-1, UH-60, or a B-52 add on? I think these aircraft would be possible to model pretty accurately and they usually are not focused on by the simulation developers, so this could actually open a new part of the community. I would really love to fly these aircraft and I think that further on down the line if DCS really takes off then it may be feasable to try some of the less focused on parts of military aviation. In my honest opinion, it would be kind of cool to be able to fly a F-14 and launch a phoenix missile, or to fly a f-111 on a low level attack run, or to even fly a UH-60 and pick up a specops team behind enemy lines. These are areas of simulation that usualy aren't shown and would be very interesting to see.

alright, let me get this straight, you are trying to make a study sim, with extreme fidelity, and yet you can't make the trees colideable, jeez thats wrong, people will exploit the frig out of that in mp. the absolute worst problem is that if the trees are not collideable, that ruins pretty much all using trees as frickin cover, which is a major part of heli combat. even enemy engaged 2 was able to make trees collideable.

i want to see su25t level of detail fms for all aircraft, along with updated lods on all aircraft so they are all up to su25t standards. and the lo sound problems with vista need to be fixed. finally, any chance we could see updated weapons physics, so that way the a10 cannon is truely as lethal as in real life, and that ai and weapons all follow the laws of physics. finally, i would love to see the realism of the sim amped up quite a bit, the avionics and flight models of everything but the 25t are crap and need to be fixed, they need to be completely overhauled.

crap, i missed the airshow, but wait, are u from delaware too, if so, sweet, nice to know im not the only lockon player in the state....