Buy game TWICE just to play LAN??

[Journeyman 0]

So it seems than I can no longer play LAN games with my wife without having to go out and buy another copy!!  

So who's idea was this or is it an error? Every other game I have bought to date (including OFP) has allowed me to play over a local network on at least two machines without needing a different CD key! I must say I am very disappointed. I hope it is an error and will get fixed!  

[killaalf 0]

So it seems than I can no longer play LAN games with my wife without having to go out and buy another copy!!  

So who's idea was this or is it an error? Every other game I have bought to date (including OFP) has allowed me to play over a local network on at least two machines without needing a different CD key! I must say I am very disappointed. I hope it is an error and will get fixed!  

It's not an error and no, you could not play OFP with the same serial on LAN without FADE kicking in. Sorry, but you are mistaken there. I recently borrowed my OFP disks to a friend, because one of the disks of his GOTY edition was scratched and he could not install it from them. So he installed it using my disks/serial and as soon as he joined our session (via hamachi) we'd get the "Original games do not FADE" message.

[Journeyman 0]

It's not an error and no, you could not play OFP with the same serial on LAN without FADE kicking in. Sorry, but you are mistaken there. I recently borrowed my OFP disks to a friend, because one of the disks of his GOTY edition was scratched and he could not install it from them. So he installed it using my disks/serial and as soon as he joined our session (via hamachi) we'd get the "Original games do not FADE" message.

Well if that is the case I played OFP LAN coop with my wife successfully for over 2 years without any problems!  It also let me join on other PCs too without telling me that the CD key is in use as is the case currently with ArmA.

Delta Force 1,2 +3, Raven Shield, all of R6 games, Ghost Recon, Ghost Recon AW and many other games all allow me to play over LAN on ONE CD key without any problems!  

[ck-claw 1]

Hey red!!

now i have 505 version!-if it keeps u and the wife happy,u can have my Czech cd key??

[killaalf 0]

Well if that is the case I played OFP LAN coop with my wife successfully for over 2 years without any problems!  It also let me join on other PCs too without telling me that the CD key is in use as is the case currently with ArmA.

Delta Force 1,2 +3, Raven Shield, all of R6 games, Ghost Recon, Ghost Recon AW and many other games all allow me to play over LAN on ONE CD key without any problems!  

Well, to be honest we did not see any adverse effects caused by this message and/or FADE itself. OTOH we rarely if ever successfully finished those coop missions anyway, so who's to tell if that was due to FADE or just our crappiness

Anyhow, to prevent any future mishaps in this vein I just placed an order for a second copy of ArmA with play.com for 28,- Euros delivered, a steal imo. Especially considering I spent about 80,- Euros for my german special edition, which I still think of as a bargain. I probably buy a couple more to give out to friends and get them interested in this marvelous game/sim. No wife watching over my wallet, so who's gonna stop me?

See, with tools like hamachi it is super easy to fake a LAN over WAN (=the internet) and I have total sympathy for any developer trying to prevent this from happening.

[vipermaul 246]

I think it was a SUMA post that said LAN games in 1.04 or earlier still attempt to contact the GameSpy Servers. And that this should be fixed in a future patch... possibly v1.05.

So perhaps when v1.05 comes out this won't be a problem since I am almost sure it is the GameSpy Servers that do the CD key checks. I'll add hopefully here.

There is currently no way how to create a LAN game. All games are visible from Internet as well. This will be fixed in 1.05 patch.

[desertfox 2]

Just a small heads up on software licensing:

If you buy a game, you purchase ONE valid license for this product.

That means: You are legally entitled to install and use this application on ONE computer ONLY. Installing the game onto a second computer violates the license agreement. ( I know no-one reads them, but before installing all those games you have most likely accepted the licensing agreement )

The only exception I am aware of, is the Microsoft Office pack. You may install it on your PC and on one notebook at the same time.

[baddo 0]

Hi,

I think it is more fair to require every player to buy their own copy of the game. Otherwise, there would need to be a limit of number of players, who could tell what number to put in? How does a LAN party with only one purchased copy of Armed Assault but 100 players sound to you? To me it sounds like, very unfair towards the folks who did the product.

Edit In general I think it is one purchased copy per installation(player) and not per household is right in my opinion. You could of course try to negotiate a different licence, but if you are not willing to do that then just accept what you get.

Regards,

Baddo.

P.S. I have no problem in buying multiple copies of the game. I am sure it is not a question of money for you either, just the principle.

[jimbojones 2]

I was interested in running the game on a second computer to test some missions I am working on. I guess thats no good either if it kicks in FADE

[Journeyman 0]

I think it was a SUMA post that said LAN games in 1.04 or earlier still attempt to contact the GameSpy Servers. And that this should be fixed in a future patch... possibly v1.05.  

So perhaps when v1.05 comes out this won't be a problem since I am almost sure it is the GameSpy Servers that do the CD key checks. I'll add hopefully here.

There is currently no way how to create a LAN game. All games are visible from Internet as well. This will be fixed in 1.05 patch.

Quote[/b] ]There is currently no way how to create a LAN game. All games are visible from Internet as well. This will be fixed in 1.05 patch.

Thanks ViperMaul! Maybe this is the problem. I Hope so! I'm not saying that ArmA isn't worth buying x2 but I have to account expenses to my wife also!  

Hi,

I think it is more fair to require every player to buy their own copy of the game. Otherwise, there would need to be a limit of number of players, who could tell what number to put in? How does a LAN party with only one purchased copy of Armed Assault but 100 players sound to you? To me it sounds like, very unfair towards the folks who did the product.

Edit In general I think it is one purchased copy per installation(player) and not per household is right in my opinion. You could of course try to negotiate a different licence, if you are not willing to do that then just accept what you get.

Regards,

Baddo.

Sure that is something for developers/publishers to decide. It is also up to them if they want good or bad reviews and good or bad sales or just have their licensing & copy protection hacked even more than would otherwise be!

If it works for all other games to have ONE CD key per houshold then I don't see why this should be any different for ArmA.  

[EricM 0]

It is generally admited as common practice for many softwares that you CAN install it on another PC in your house, as long as you don't use BOTH licences at the same time.

It's a matter of LICENCES, not CDs... You could have many licences with only one CD (entreprise version for instance) or the other way around if you made safety copies of you personal version.

You cannot however run more licences than you own at one time.

Eg :

- Installing Arma on your Workstation and Laptop is OK

- Playing Arma on your Workstation or Laptop is OK

- Playing Arma on your Workstation and Laptop is not OK

[memnoch 0]

On he subject of FADE, I had always been led to believe that it was just a myth. Does anyone have any proof that it really does make gameplay change in some way?

[baddo 0]

Yes there are these "floating" licenses for example, which are in great use in educational institutes and companies and such; be it a 1000 installations but only the number of purchased licenses, like 10, can be in use at any one time. But this is of course not a similar situation to those kind of situations. A person buys one copy with one license of the game and thus has only one license to use.

[desertfox 2]

It is generally admited as common practice for many softwares that you CAN install it on another PC in your house, as long as you don't use BOTH licences at the same time.

It's a matter of LICENCES, not CDs... You could have many licences with only one CD (entreprise version for instance) or the other way around if you made safety copies of you personal version.

You cannot however run more licences than you own at one time.

Eg :

- Installing Arma on your Workstation and Laptop is OK

- Playing Arma on your Workstation or Laptop is OK

- Playing Arma on your Workstation and Laptop is not OK

Not true. Except what you say about Volume Licensing - but I don't know anyone who bought a multi-thousand dollar software bundle for home use

When you went into the store and bought Arma, you actually did not buy the game, but the license to use it.

You are only allowed, as of the Armed Assault ( Morphicon release ) license agreement, to use this product on ONE computer for private use.

Furthermore you said it is common to create personal backup copies. After German law you are only allowed to do so if no means of copyprotection have been circumvented or removed or tampered with to get the copy. Since 99% of all games nowadays come with copy protections, there is no such thing as "Legal backups".

And omg - know what I just read ? When you violate one of these terms, the license becomes invalid and you must destroy your copy of the game .. haha .. seriously it says that in the manual on the last page.

So where's the DVD of the guy who started this thread ?

Get me a hammer !!

[frederf 0]

Quote[/b] ]Since 99% of all games nowadays come with copy protections, there is no such thing as "Legal backups".

You really haven't read the text of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have you? (Deregard if not in USA).

Anyway, ball-busting about legality aside, many game manufacturers for a very long time have extended this few-players-LANing-with-one-CD-key courtesy to players. It was common but dying down lately due to paranoid publishers.

[-Puma- 2]

On he subject of FADE, I had always been led to believe that it was just a myth. Does anyone have any proof that it really does make gameplay change in some way?

Yes the fade is there. Before I bought my Arma I kinda "tested" it with an "unsupported" copy, and every bullet U fired went anywhere but in the target. I had to shoot 3 mags on 1 dude, before i killed him.

..hope BIS dosen't sue my ass for this ..

[smellyjelly 0]

I think it can all be explained HERE.

[Journeyman 0]

And so it seems that 1.05 does not address this issue. Therefore it would seem that ArmA will NOT allow network games with ONE CD key by design.

So now if I want to play coop with my wife I will have to uninstall it from her PC and go out and buy her another copy. Then when my kids are old enough to join in I will have to go out and buy them a copy each also! Nice one BIS! I guess it's back to GR and R6 for family fun over networks!  

[ck-claw 1]

my offer still stands red kite!!

[Journeyman 0]

Thanks ck-claw, but if I install a CZ CD key will I then have a CZ language version?

[DieAngel 0]

back in diablo's era you couldn't play diablo im multiplayer with a single cd key, however they had made a system called diablo spawn. If i remember diablo spawn was a light version of diablo that could only join games where there wasn't any other diablo spawn client.

I think Blizzard did this for starcraft too.

I wonder what was the main reason of abandoning this idea, it was a nice way to motivate someone to grab the game.

[Universel 0]

What about the setting "kickduplicate=false" on OFP servers ?

Does it work on Arma ?

[Kode 0]

Thanks ck-claw, but if I install a CZ CD key will I then have a CZ language version?

yes since patch 1.05 you can choose between all languages available

[Baff1 0]

The whole lisence agreement thing is rather spurious legally.

More courts have ruled against it's legality rather than for.

In the case of Blizzard vs Bneted, the court ruled that a EULA was a binding agreement. But in the cases of Softman Vs Adobe, and CPU distrib. vs Novell Inc. the courts ruled that under First Sale doctrine, software sold from a retail outlet is a sale not a lisence.

I don't think the legal repercussions from breaking a "EULA" are anything anyone needs to worry about in anyway.

Of course games manufacturers could always invlude something about LAN players in their lisence if they wanted.

The Spawn games functions of Diablo and Rainbow Six were excellent features. The developers of Sacred also patched their game to launch on LAN from one CD (you swapped it inot the other drive as you launched the game) so there is prescedent of games companies wishing to provide good value incorporating these kinds of features.

I think an earlier poster hit the nail on the head. Games publishers are far more concerned about piracy.

Lan support is not such a high priority. And if someone choses to buy two or more copies rather than just the one that copywright law requires of them, all the better!

[avman 0]

Thanks ck-claw, but if I install a CZ CD key will I then have a CZ language version?

With 1.05 It will allow you to choose from the original language version and English... So in your case it was CZ so you can choose CZ or EN. Morphicon Download will allow German and English... Etc... Etc...