Stormin

This has nothing to do with evil or good. The debate is about taking a risk or not. The nature of taking a risk is that you have very little facts. The feeling about a risk is often based on PERSONAL experience. IMO nobody can prove that SF is secure nor that it is unsecure for now. Now it's your choice whether you want to take a ceratin risk to play a computer game or not. I'm not sure about this one and I'm still thinking about it and gathering information. Windows is not secure and yet I'll bet you run it every single day. The number of security upgrades is constant. That's life. Come on, let's see some facts.

Ok first I’m not trying to add fuel to the paranoia machine but exactly the same thing happened too me two days ago .. is it due to the Demo? I have no idea but hopefully it’s just a coincidence. Come on. Could it be that the virus hit the internet and spread during the same period of time? I say coincidence. My computer crashed hard this past weekend and would not reboot. It turned out I had a bad drive for my IEEE 1394 port for my iPod. I booted in Safe Mode, fixed the driver and everything is peachy. It wasn't Lock On or Starforce's problem.

An informative article and an interview with someone from Starforce: http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starforce_interview/ Note the part about the publisher/developer having many choices on how to configure the routine.

I find it highly unlikely that the demo or the copy protection scheme had anything to do with a trojan virus appearing on your system.

The fact is this highly controversial piece of software ended on my PC after installing the demo, from a software vendor I did trust, without an appropriate warning. I hope you do not refer to that with "They know what they are doing ..." ? I am very supportive of ED finding a good, viable solution to distribute their software over the internet without being ripped, but I'm having doubts if they are chosing the right partner and I think they missed an opportunity to communicate about that BEFORE I installed the demo. So, in the future, I would appreciate that their "in-depth subject research" would not take place on MY PC, tnx. Let's remove our tinfoil hats for a second. Just what did this copy protection routine do to you or your system that is so evil? Please provide some specifics.

From what I have learned from my contacts at TFC/ED this is all a big nothing. They know what they are doing and have researched this subject in depth. They will make a statement at the appropriate time. I'm not their spokesman and I sure as hell don't miss having to deal with hysteria like this crap. Some of you are really being ignorant. If the shoe fits, wear it. Why not wait for the facts? I don't blame TFC/ED for wanting a robust and effective means of copy protection and I have complete faith that they know what the hell they are doing with regard to this matter. Most of the things being speculated about how the scheme will work and what it will do or not do are being made without any official information from TFC/ED. They'll make a statement after all this ranting dies down and they can address your concerns in logical and factual manner. Until then, let the drama continue. At least they get see the speculation that they get to blow away when the facts are presented. It's a shame that some of you are abandoning this product without having any real facts.

You know flight simmers better than that. :? It's like a digital tabloid sometimes.

Typical Flight Sim Community hysteria. :roll: Why don't some of you "experts" wait and see. Buy it after it has been out in the market a few weeks if the response is favorable. If it isn't then you feel all warm and fuzzy that you saved $35.00. Coming on here and crying that you are not going to buy FC isn't going to influence me or many others in our decision to support TFC/ED. I've looked at this thread quickly and I don't see any official word from anyone at TFC/ED. Lots of speculation here but I'd like facts. Until then why not dispense with the drama? By the way, Flanker and Lock On were HEAVILY pirated. FACT. Carl

Thank you Carl-Completely forgot my mind that AP trims the a/c! :D You're welcome. As someone else has suggested, using the CTRL-T will center and neutalize the trim so that you can then fine tune with the regular trim controls. This is really necessary when flying the Fulcrum. Cheers, Carl

I Agree with you Carl....but in your opinion..........as an Player of Lock On what yoou think about the Ka-50 Ed have limited resources.....what will get you hooked to Lock On until the next Ed project if they have to choose one of it 1-The Ka-50 or 2- Bether AI, Missiles FM/behavior, AFM to other aircrafts i mean an ENHACED Lock On .. sory for the poor english o dont know if you get the point cya The Ka-50 is a logical choice, with respect to Lock On. I believe that the majority of effort should go to the bigger potential market of doing a new sim that has a broad appeal to all markets and is controlled by TFC/ED without any entanglements from certain publishers. All that effort toward better AI, etc. should be focused on the choice that provides the best future for the genre. In my opinion it should be in the next generation simulation from the talented staff at ED. Just my opinion. Carl P.S. Your English is fine. Much better than my Portuguese. :)

Never say never.

I wasn't advocating non-combat aircraft. I want combined arms, armor, naval, etc.

You need to trim the aircraft after using autopilot.

I think it is a mistake to abandon the Ubi forums. Many new users come there first because that is what is on the box and in the documentation. Just my opinion. Carl

If it were up to me, and it is not, I would not put one particular aircraft in the name. The next sim should be capable of more than just combat aircraft. Just my opinion. Carl

Lock On does not have the A-10C which is the upgraded Hog that is undergoing a Precision Engagement upgrade. That give something to consider for the next sim, doesn't it? Just my opinion. Carl

Why would TFC/ED waste effort and money on an F/A-18, a Western aircraft that will be popular in that market, for a product that is no longer being supported by it's Western publisher? Better to concentrate major efforts like including a flyable Hornet in the next simulation. Lock On is published in Russia/CIS by 1C and they have supported new add ons featuring Russian aircraft. As long as there is a market in Russia/CIS and 1C is willing to pay for the development then it makes sense to me that that is the way to proceed regarding Lock On. A new simulation, being published independently is the way to go for more Western aircraft. Just my opinion. Carl

Boo hoo.

When numbers are given with respect to bugs you have to remember that the vast majority of them are things that are wrong with the new features or are problems introduced when modifying or enhancing the existing code. If Shepski mentioned "260 modifications/fixes" it is referring to problems with the new code.

Shepski speaks the truth.

Terrible news. Rest in Peace my friend.

Is there any wonder why noone working on these products wants to give a date. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. I think the safe bet is to say that it will be released when it is ready and the distribution means is in place. Patience.

Thanks for the reply Gents. Rich, It does indeed include a BAK file. I'll have to try to work around it. Cheers, Carl

I've never had any problems with Paypal. But, since they don't accomodate payments from other countries it is a serious limitation. Obviously the best approach is to have as much flexability as possible by providing a variety of payment options. Visa and Mastercard using Verisign or some other agency is probably the way to go. Of course the download option will depend on the type of copy protection that is utilized. This add on, like the original simulation product, is a huge target for piracy. Having an option to receive a CD would be great but the cost of doing this has to be factored in, obviously. There are plenty of companies that provide distribution service for software that could accommodate this option. As for the price for the add on, taking into account the economies of scale and remembering that TFC/ED is a small organization without massive distribution assets, the $35 is very approriate. If people want simulations or other niche genres they are going to have to pay more then they have in past retail experiences. Cheers, Carl

I am experiencing a problem that I have never seen before. I am recording TRK files for a mission where several pairs of A-10s are attacking various primary and secondary targets with a variety of ordnance. I start the mission with the record option and when I a finished with the mission the dialog box asking for a file name appears. I give it a name and hit SAVE. This produces a TRK file that is only 2KB in size and will not load. Anyone else run into this problem? I've make many track files in the past and never encountered this problem before. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Carl