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Reply 40 of 58, by twiz11

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RandomStranger wrote on 2022-04-21, 05:25:
Shagittarius wrote on 2022-04-21, 04:58:
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-04-19, 09:51:

That's coming from a company which is actively trying to fool customers that they don't own anything on account and just "rent" it. The saving grace here is that their DRM is not intrusive and could be cracked on client level, should Steam go under. But Valve is just too big to fail now.

Yes, this is a lie, valve never said anything like that. All you have to do is ask how could valve legally remove protections from games they signed contracts to distribute? Answer: They can't.

Probably they can't. But can they arrange that you can move your library to a different service? Something like GoG connect. Though that would cost money to an already failing company.

I was thinking of migrating the licenses to the files to an nft blockchain you download and verify through your private key.

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Reply 42 of 58, by twiz11

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-04-21, 12:05:

nft blockchain

*chuckles*

Yes how else is valve going to unlock your stuff your licensed stuff by allowing you to download the licenses which if you backup as well you should be ok

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Reply 43 of 58, by gerry

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twiz11 wrote on 2022-04-15, 02:23:

I think steam gog and other platforms made me a digital addict I collect games but never play them usually old dos games that work in dosbox. I spent so much money for a collection that's utterly useless more worthless than physical dos game media.

there is something about the price and convenience of gog and other often free games that makes the approach 'download now decide later'

i realise i have more games in total available to play than i will ever actually play

it is the opposite of the past where every game cost more (relative to income) and choices had to be made based on magazine reviews and word of mouth

additionally, gog + dosbox makes it possible to have an entire 'older games' library on a modest 10-15 year old system , or indeed a modern system - meaning it isnt really necessary to have vintage systems*

*not necessary but still desirable! 😀

Reply 44 of 58, by Meatball

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gerry wrote on 2022-04-22, 08:32:
there is something about the price and convenience of gog and other often free games that makes the approach 'download now decid […]
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twiz11 wrote on 2022-04-15, 02:23:

I think steam gog and other platforms made me a digital addict I collect games but never play them usually old dos games that work in dosbox. I spent so much money for a collection that's utterly useless more worthless than physical dos game media.

there is something about the price and convenience of gog and other often free games that makes the approach 'download now decide later'

i realise i have more games in total available to play than i will ever actually play

it is the opposite of the past where every game cost more (relative to income) and choices had to be made based on magazine reviews and word of mouth

additionally, gog + dosbox makes it possible to have an entire 'older games' library on a modest 10-15 year old system , or indeed a modern system - meaning it isnt really necessary to have vintage systems*

*not necessary but still desirable! 😀

I could not agree more. I’be looked at a number of games before and after buying and thought “I have a only passing interest in this game, but it was only 59 cents, so why not?”

The irony of it all is I usually play just a handful of the same games!

… if only I finished building my dream machine(s) to play all of these games, then I would play them all! (Yeah, right…)

Reply 45 of 58, by The Serpent Rider

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twiz11 wrote:

Yes how else is valve going to unlock your stuff your licensed stuff

Obviously not by NFT scam, which is banned from Steam btw.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 46 of 58, by chinny22

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Old games I prefer physical copies, I don't need the box, manual, etc so can usually get them cheap.
I've grabbed the free games of GOG if they interest me, like Postal 2 last week, even though I know I'll never play it.
The only "modern" games I play are Farming Simulator 2013 and 2019, both of which I own on Physical media including most of it's DLC. I do wonder about that though as they need activation and I assume one day the server will be switched off.
Only game I've ever purchased is Command and Conquer Remastered on Steam as no physical copy exists, I'm glad I did though as thanks to steam's servers me and my brother have had a few network games just like the old days accept instead of Lan game he's now he's in Oz while I'm in the UK.

I was looking into maybe getting into Euro Truck Simulator 2 which offers both physical and steam versions and I was leaning towards Steam as it can be had cheaper and even the developer admits they while there is no plan yet they are not sure how long they will continue to support the physical copy.

But as Meatball said, truth is I only really play about the 10 same games anyway

Reply 47 of 58, by The Serpent Rider

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Old games I prefer physical copies, I don't need the box, manual, etc so can usually get them cheap.

Well, GOG has offline installers which are separated into 4 Gb chunks, so burning them on DVD is always an option.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 48 of 58, by RandomStranger

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IF the game has a GOG version and IF the /updated for modern PCs/ version doesn't have its own issues on old PCs. GOG releases are convenient, but I'm not entirely yet sure if they are always the best option. I'm planning to investigate the topic.

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Reply 50 of 58, by BEEN_Nath_58

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RandomStranger wrote on 2022-05-01, 18:00:

IF the game has a GOG version and IF the /updated for modern PCs/ version doesn't have its own issues on old PCs. GOG releases are convenient, but I'm not entirely yet sure if they are always the best option. I'm planning to investigate the topic.

I don't opt to go for old GOG games because, usually a fix is already available by the community or I figure them out myself, which allows me to patch the game wherever required, unlike GOG which has caused problems in old OS (Thief series, Interstate, some Star Wars games, etc). Usually, either cases can be fixed, but I essentially get the vanilla game to allow better transparency in seeing what is being changed.

Another reason why I don't get old GOG games usually is because many of them change the engine. For example, Thief series is one such example. With a combination of DxWnd + dgVoodoo2, the vanilla game can be enjoyed on modern PCs with features such as table fog as well as the starry night (8-bit pallettized textures?)

Last edited by BEEN_Nath_58 on 2022-05-01, 18:29. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 51 of 58, by Joseph_Joestar

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RandomStranger wrote on 2022-05-01, 18:00:

IF the game has a GOG version and IF the /updated for modern PCs/ version doesn't have its own issues on old PCs. GOG releases are convenient, but I'm not entirely yet sure if they are always the best option. I'm planning to investigate the topic.

I posted some of my thoughts on GOG here. In general, I think it's the best option out of the currently available digital stores, but it does have some minor shortcomings.

From a retro gaming perspective, there is one more potential issue. GOG games usually have the latest available patch applied. This is normally a good thing. However, in some edge cases, you may not want to use the latest version of the game. For example, Quake 3 removed A3D 2.0 support after patch 1.17. If you are playing it on a retro rig using an Aureal Vortex2 card, you wouldn't want to use any version above that.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 52 of 58, by The Serpent Rider

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RandomStranger wrote:

GOG releases are convenient, but I'm not entirely yet sure if they are always the best option. I'm planning to investigate the topic.

Early 3D releases (before 2001-2002) might have some problems. For example, Messiah is notoriously troublesome game to run in Direct3D on modern systems. So GOG opted for Glide emulation, which has major flaw - Glide is hardcoded to force low-res textures. I think, similar problem is present in Sacrifice, which has fallback option for old 3D accelerators.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 53 of 58, by BEEN_Nath_58

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-05-01, 20:13:
RandomStranger wrote:

GOG releases are convenient, but I'm not entirely yet sure if they are always the best option. I'm planning to investigate the topic.

Early 3D releases (before 2001-2002) might have some problems. For example, Messiah is notoriously troublesome game to run in Direct3D on modern systems. So GOG opted for Glide emulation, which has major flaw - Glide is hardcoded to force low-res textures. I think, similar problem is present in Sacrifice, which has fallback option for old 3D accelerators.

GOG also uses their custom CD music emulation in many games, many of which completely change the original behavior

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 55 of 58, by RetroGamer4Ever

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A3D had issues that were never fixed in patches. Q3's 1.17 was one of the many patches fired out before the full release of Q3 (Originally, the game sold by id was just Q3 and the retail release was later retitled Q3: Arena) and the undocumented removal of A3D from the compiled game that was being used by everyone was done because Aureal had gone under by the release of the 1.17 patch and no additional work was to be done with A3D. The A3D bits are still in the code, just severed from the rest.

Reply 56 of 58, by Joseph_Joestar

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RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2022-05-02, 09:39:

Q3's 1.17 was one of the many patches fired out before the full release of Q3

I don't think that's correct. Quake 3 was released on December 2nd 1999. Patch 1.17 came out on May 3rd 2000. Source.

The next patch version was 1.25 which came out on September 22nd 2000. It was this patch that removed A3D 2.0 support.

You were probably thinking of the Team Arena expansion pack which came out in December of 2000.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 57 of 58, by leileilol

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Q3A never had a pre-release patch. It had POINT releases though. v1.17 was the last patch that supported the old network protocol. Retail was v1.11.

You're probably thinking of Diablo 2 which was infamous for having a patch released ahead of initial retail shipping.

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2022-05-02, 09:39:

(Originally, the game sold by id was just Q3 and the retail release was later retitled Q3: Arena)

I hope you're doing well. This is misinformation. The "Arena" name was announced on June 16 1998, long before it came out when they ditched the earlier "q2+expack+engine=q3" plan.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-05-02, 10:17:

The next patch version was 1.25 which came out on September 22nd 2000. It was this patch that removed A3D 2.0 support.

The exact day Aureal was purchased by Creative FYI 😉

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Reply 58 of 58, by twiz11

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-04-15, 19:35:

I download the original CD from somewhere or rarely get it from a friend. In this way I get clean stock game. And now I may also install it on 9X if I want.

Technically, that's still piracy. Maybe someday GOG will finally include original ISOs as bonus goodies.

The ISO is there in the install directory with the filetype *.GOG or *.DAT its just a renamed iso check dosbox conf

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