GOG.com

[flyingjohn]

FEAR leaves inactivated securom stuff on your PC).

Say what?

It leaves dummy securom files in order to run. They have known about this and it is a easy fix(when you compare cracks to the gog exe), but decided to do nothing.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I've seen similar things in other gog games, dunno if they have been fixed though.

 

[KeAShizuku]

I see 2 potential solutions to the issue:
1) Download all GOG installers for the games I own on an external drive, so that nobody can take them away from me,
2) Don't use GOG forums, so that no dangerhair mod has a reason to deprive me of the most easy and practical access to my whole libray.

So far both work for me fine.

And its not like you can do the same on Steam, due to DRM on many games. So, GOG still wins, despite its dumb and most likely illegal banning policy.

What about bit rot? Honestly piracy is better at preservation.

 

[ds]

What about bit rot? Honestly piracy is better at preservation.

Use error correction codes like par2 files or an archive format that has them built in. Combine with backups.

Relying on file sharing for preservation like the is just storing files on someone else's computer. You can't rely on anything except the most popular stuff still being there when you want it unless you are willing to store it yourself.

 

[Baron Dupek]

First? Stargate game is out
https://af.gog.com/en/game/stargate_timekeepers?as=1649904300
rough gem? Mediocre product made by mediocre devs surfing on forgotten brand?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I have actually wondered how this will turn out. I await some vids and reviews.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

How often are older Blizzard titles discounted?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

More often than Terminator.

 

[-M-]

How often are older Blizzard titles discounted?

Roughly every other month, but the discount is never more than 25% so you don't end up saving that much.

https://isthereanydeal.com/game/diabloplushellfire/history/

 

[axx]

I'm not sure about Warcraft but Diablo 1 never dropped below 10% for first couple of years after it was added. They sure are picky with their discounts.

 

[Azdul]

I see 2 potential solutions to the issue:
1) Download all GOG installers for the games I own on an external drive, so that nobody can take them away from me,
2) Don't use GOG forums, so that no dangerhair mod has a reason to deprive me of the most easy and practical access to my whole libray.

So far both work for me fine.

And its not like you can do the same on Steam, due to DRM on many games. So, GOG still wins, despite its dumb and most likely illegal banning policy.

What about bit rot? Honestly piracy is better at preservation.

If piracy is good at preservation - all the games for Atari 8-bit and C-64 should have good cracks at the end of machines commercial life.

The fact is that many of them had to be archived from originals and cracked again decades later - by people with no connection to 'the scene'.

TOSEC often had 8 different cracked versions signed by different groups - all sharing the same crack side-effects - and not a single 'proper' one - with all game sound effects present.

I suppose Amiga is already a lost cause - and some originals are lost to time.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I see 2 potential solutions to the issue:
1) Download all GOG installers for the games I own on an external drive, so that nobody can take them away from me,
2) Don't use GOG forums, so that no dangerhair mod has a reason to deprive me of the most easy and practical access to my whole libray.

So far both work for me fine.

And its not like you can do the same on Steam, due to DRM on many games. So, GOG still wins, despite its dumb and most likely illegal banning policy.

What about bit rot? Honestly piracy is better at preservation.

If piracy is good at preservation - all the games for Atari 8-bit and C-64 should have good cracks at the end of machines commercial life.

The fact is that many of them had to be archived from originals and cracked again decades later - by people with no connection to 'the scene'.

TOSEC often had 8 different cracked versions signed by different groups - all sharing the same crack side-effects - and not a single 'proper' one - with all game sound effects present.

I suppose Amiga is already a lost cause - and some originals are lost to time.

Sometimes it's not worth trying to preserve the originals, but those are fringe examples.

I'm aware of at least two games where the original release was bugged to the point that the game could not be completed.

Enter diligent hackers who created hacked fixes to these games, so that people can finally play them through to the end.

Which version should be preserved? The original? Or the fix?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

GOG M.U.L.E.? Why didn’t that package be of every version instead of just ….. DOS?

Note: https://store.steampowered.com/app/438210/MULE_Returns/
Coming soon? How long has that been up?
M.U.L.E.
PLANET M.U.L.E.
M.U.L.E. Returns
M.U.L.E. ONLINE

http://mulereturns.com/
M.U.L.E. BOARDGAME

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Some more M.U.L.E.

Mobygames

 

[Azdul]

What about bit rot? Honestly piracy is better at preservation.

If piracy is good at preservation - all the games for Atari 8-bit and C-64 should have good cracks at the end of machines commercial life.

The fact is that many of them had to be archived from originals and cracked again decades later - by people with no connection to 'the scene'.

TOSEC often had 8 different cracked versions signed by different groups - all sharing the same crack side-effects - and not a single 'proper' one - with all game sound effects present.

I suppose Amiga is already a lost cause - and some originals are lost to time.

Sometimes it's not worth trying to preserve the originals, but those are fringe examples.

I'm aware of at least two games where the original release was bugged to the point that the game could not be completed.

Enter diligent hackers who created hacked fixes to these games, so that people can finally play them through to the end.

Which version should be preserved? The original? Or the fix?

Two versions should be preserved:
A. Exact image of original media - including low-level information about tracks, bad and weak sectors etc. Including separate image for each official re-release.
B. Latest version - without DRM - with documented fixes for bugs and compatibility problems.

Cracking or fixing 8-bit or 16-bit game when you have exact low-level image of original media, cycle accurate emulator and machine with 100 times more memory and processing power is not really that complicated - that's why original should be preserved.

Original Jet Set Willy cannot be finished. However - fixes made later by other people - not the original author - made traversing infamous Banyan Tree less fiendishly difficult. These fixes were later made official by publisher - and used in re-releases.

I prefer original version - which requires series of pixel-perfect and almost frame-perfect jumps. It has that special Matthew Smith flavour.

 

[Azalin]

GOG has a New Year sale for the next 10 days and Mordheim City of the Damned is free for the next 72 hours

 

[Alienman]

The Star Trek games always get such lame discounts. It's time for a 90% off!

 

[NecroLord]

The Star Trek games always get such lame discounts. It's time for a 90% off!

What were you looking to purchase?

 

[Alienman]

Elite Force I & II and Away Team.

 

[NecroLord]

Elite Force I & II and Away Team.

Excellent choices.
You're gonna have a fun time playing Elite Force 1 and 2.
Don't know about Away Team though.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Bah! I already own that.

 

[Eirinjas]

Elite Force I & II and Away Team.

FWIW, you can download both Elite Force games off of Internet Archive.

 

[NecroLord]

Elite Force I & II and Away Team.

FWIW, you can download both Elite Force games off of Internet Archive.

They were also on the MyAbandonware site, but now it just links you to Gog in order to get them.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

and of course M.U.L.E. isn’t on sale.

 

[Alienman]

Elite Force I & II and Away Team.

Excellent choices.
You're gonna have a fun time playing Elite Force 1 and 2.
Don't know about Away Team though.

Away Team is pretty fun if you like Commandos like. It has a bit more combat, which makes it fun. I have it on DVD, but no reader (oops). Maybe one day it will cost 2 bucks