illegal copys may degrade?

[AcsOFPc 10]

I'm receiving this while playing multiplayer as well.

Steam version

Steam runs on startup then I click 'My Games' > 'ARMA 2'

Vista 64-bit

I Have verified integrity of game files without issue.

Also played the demo on Steam before downloading the purchased, full game, Steam version.

I don't understand why I'm seeing this message.

[bangtail 0]

I play a lot on the KH server and havent had an issue to date with ArmA 1 or 2, maybe if there is something strange going on get in touch with them via their forums and they can investigate.

Ditto.

The KH server is one of the best out there.

[[aps]gnat 28]

..

If you see the message BUT don't get the kicked,

it highly likely the message is for the person who just joined the server

and likely just got auto-kicked.

If you get kicked, either;

- You have a pirate copy - Shame

- Someone else is using your Serial

- You just tried to join a server twice, too quickly (because the server thinks your still already connected)

.

[KrilionGD 0]

Unfortunately with nowadays market conditions it is impossible to release a game with no protection at all.

I think several companies would disagree with you on that note, they have proven that "protection" does NOT effect weather a game sells or doesn't sell or weather a game gets cracked or not.. Look at Spore!, it was so bad for them the devs were telling paying customers to get a "fixed" or NoCD hack to get it to work..

As an example of a hugely popular and profitable game that had no protection at all which resulted in a nice savings price wise for its fans look no further than Ironclad/Stardock for SINS (SOSE)..

An article from a dev at Stardock/SOSE on this very issue -> http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/post.aspx?postid=303512

I hate the brainwashing these companies try to shove on everyone that games HAVE to have DRM, Securerom and these hugely overly aggressive "Protection Schemes" that never actually work, Do NOT stop the games from being illegally copied and the only people they actually hinder are the legal users.

It the exact same theory behind making guns illegal, it's been proven that creating laws and making guns illegal does absolutely nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and only keeps the honest people from having them...

I am in no means saying I agree with hacking or illegally copying software. I do however disagree with "protection" that is often buggy and rarely works as intended. It adds cost to what I have to pay for it takes time away from the devs focus on producing a great game. I also know enough about the industry to know that it is not the devs choice often as to weather a game has "protection" or not and is in the hands of the publishing house..

Sorry to rant, I just don't buy into the argument...

Edited July 26, 2009 by KrilionGD

[Planck 1]

Ironclad/Stardock for SINS (SOSE)..

Never heard of it, which probably means many many others have never heard of it, possibly explains why it didn't need any protection.

:p

Planck

[private plowjoy 0]

Never heard of it, which probably means many many others have never heard of it, possibly explains why it didn't need any protection.

:p

Planck

You've never heard of Sins Of A Solar Empire? Great game! You definitely should look into it :)

[eirulan 10]

I have heard of them. A lot.

Sins of a Solar Empire sold about 500.000 copies (legal).

They wrote an article with Chris Taylor (Gas powered games) to state the right of customers: mainly to have a working software without invasive protection.

It sounds great. In fact Sins of Solar Empire sold a lot of copies.

And it appears it is not hacked, or in minimal part.

Three things to BI studios:

- join Sins of Solar Empire developers and Gas powered games: I mean show that you agree with their ideas

- choose a less invasive protection

- (OT) sell Arma 2 in www.matrixgames.com: your game is a simulator, not a blockbuster commercial product. I was yesterday at a Game Stop store in Italy. They have received back many copies of ArmA 2 from unsatisfied customers. It simply did not work for them. You ruin your reputation if you choose to sell ArmA 2 in the "mass market". It is product for the niche "wargamer" or "hardcore gamers" only.

Edited July 26, 2009 by eirulan

[zyklone 1]

Never heard of it, which probably means many many others have never heard of it, possibly explains why it didn't need any protection.

:p

Planck

That was just sad.

Probably the best game released in 2008 winning a bunch of game of the year awards and selling very well on nearly no budget. Getting reviews any BI title could only dream of..

Hopefully Suma atleast is watching what Startdock is doing as they seem to be a bit like BI without the BI DRM madness and alot less bugs.

[pchaxor 0]

Getting off topic here peeps.

I think the base of this thread is that the Protection that was put in place to prevent piracy has actually effected a PAYING and much respected Clan/Customer.

I find this unacceptable for any software company and this should be addressed or the protection removed ASAP before that "locked front door" keeps customers from "entering the store at all".

So has this issue been resolved and now this thread is closed or should we carry on about the views of other software developers and turn this into a "why software protection is bad for business" thread?

I think Mods have the ability to change the topic title if so. :) (listen to me sounding all high and mighty. LOL)

[[aps]gnat 28]

Funny ... I bought SOASE about a year ago and the install / registration process was a friggin nightmare !! Toke absolute ages.

I had to send a digital photo showing all my box contents and the serial to them just so they would give me the help to get it working !

...... ArmA and ArmAII was much friggin simpler ! :P

..... got bored with it LOL .... Much prefered the Nexus: The Jupiter Incident with its awesome 3D space "Black Sun" engine. Well before its time, but got wasted when the developer hit financial trouble. A crying shame.

... anyway thats OT.

[InFireBaptize 0]

I can confirm this is indeed one of the ways our copy protection manifests itself once it detects a copy which it thinks is illegal. Please, be sure to send us the CD key for investigation.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience. Unfortunately with nowadays market conditions it is impossible to release a game with no protection at all (just as it is impossible not to lock your house front door). We will do our best to find a solution quickly for you.

You have every right to protect your work, i would like to see the CD burns in flames once it was detected as illegal, no sarcasm intended.

[schurem 0]

so how do you know if fade is borking your copy? i bought the game on steam and for a while it ran very nicely when was done finetuning both game and box. But today it becomes unplayable after a couple of minutes from severe halting. the framerate is nice and smooth but the game jsut stops for a few seconds every ten seconds or so. This may of course be because of something entirely different, but i've exhausted almost every other possible cause, such as mods (disabled them), the virus tool (turned it off and back on, no change at all) various command line tweaks etc. help!