Way to go! 😁

I've been following the discussion in this thread, and I'm impressed you turned the great idea into something useable so soon.

Your site has the potential to become an important resource for retro-gamers, so let's hope it gets the attention it deserves and many people contribute their PAR2 archives.

Registering now... 😉

I'll be keeping my eye on this. You may need to include version information. Do you need to register to DL?

I like the idea, but do you really think companies will see this as any different from illegal downloads? Their lawyers really don't care about the moral sides of things.

There's no need to register to download. There is a small bug I'm working on that prevents download links from working when you perform a search but if you manually go through the database you can download without logging in.

I didn't want to discourage anyone from using the site as a resource to repair their games even if they didn't register. However in order to contribute you do need to register. I intend to add a points system at some point in order to award those who contribute to the archive.

As to the legality of the site I don't really think there are any definitive laws about it. The PAR2 files are useless to anyone who doesn't already own the disks. Essentially the files contain CRCs from each file of a predefined bit length. It might fall under some kind of copyright but the fact that its unusable to any degree should dissuade companies from challenging the distribution of it.

I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. hopefully any misunderstanding about the site can be worked out without too much confusion.

While I am no lawyer, I would imagine that it might be technically illegal, but why would they even bother if it can't possibly be an aid to piracy? I might be able to contribute for a number of games, especially Sierra games. Are you going to add version information? Many games have more than one version for distribution, because of bug fixes, refinements, etc.

Technically any program that has not been made freeware by the copyright owner and is offered on a site without the copyright owner's permission is considered warez. Even if you don't have a way for pirates to download you still don't have a legal right to host those files.

Technically any program

par2 of a program is nothing more than a checksum of that app, so your argument doesn't count.

That's not quite correct. PAR2 is more than a simple checksum, like for example CRC32 or MD5 are. Checksums contain no actual data besides the checksum. PAR2 files do contain binary recovery information, but i don't know whether they contain actual data from the file, or just some kind of "meta data".

I think the discussion about the legal status of these files is highly hypothetical. As with many other technical things, the legal status would probably be very different in different countries. If i would run the site, i would get me a legal protection insurance quickly, just in case.

Btw, the german Wikipedia entry for "PAR2" is pure crap. The english entry is much more detailed and precise than the german one.

Um it says rs ecc codes on both wiki entries, which is plain checksum data.
Nothing more, especially no original data nor the possibility to reconstruct
the files based solely on the par2 data.

Are you going to add version information? Many games have more than one version for distribution, because of bug fixes, refinements, etc.

I think the best way to do this right now is on the user side. I only have one version of the disks and sometimes theres no way to tell what version I have. If you are aware of a version number, or something tell-tale like a VGA version of a game that had shipped previously, inlcude reference to that in the description as well as the file name. Likewise different language version other than English should be labeled as such unless of course the game is a universal release containing all languages.

As far as the obvious versions like Disk Size/Capacity I have different sections set up for each format.

I will try to refine the process as much as possible as it becomes clear through use where changes need to be made, and I will keep in mind all of your suggestions.

I think the discussion about the legal status of these files is highly hypothetical.

Indeed it is highly hypothetical, and I hope no one has a problem with it. I think misunderstanding is the only way I may see actual issues, and in that case if they downloaded what they thought was a game, it wouldn't run or do anything for them...

I hope that everyone has the good sense to appreciate it for what it is, and that if they did have a problem they would notify me and give me a chance to explain before legal action was taken.

I hope that everyone has the good sense to appreciate it for what it is, and that if they did have a problem they would notify me and give me a chance to explain before legal action was taken.

Problem is that with huge companies these days it's shoot first ask questions MAYBE later.
I wrote in the other thread that I think this is a great idea and should hold up quite well legally. BUT I do think the site name is poorly chosen, mostly because it has the REZ in the end. I know what the site is about but still it reminds me right away of warez, abandonwarez, piratez.
I'd advise you to state right away that this is not a warez, abandonwarez or pirated software site and then link to a page describing exactly why it isn't and distance yourself from illegal download sites, be it warez, abandonware or how you personally view the abandonware issue. I see that you have done this in your forum, but this should be mentioned right away in capital letters 😀 and the more thorough explanation should be one click away (three clicks is too many).

I like your FAQs on how to do the par2ing, well done (maybe an explanation why no PARs for CD/DVD-Rom games are accepted would be helpful - my *guess* would be because of the game rip warez versions around).

Dominus wrote:

maybe an explanation why no PARs for CD/DVD-Rom games are accepted would be helpful - my *guess* would be because of the game rip warez versions around.

Also, there is more of a likelihood of CRC errors with a CDR than a commercial disc.

maybe an explanation why no PARs for CD/DVD-Rom games are accepted would be helpful -

Well the reason you proffer is a good reason, as well as the reason suggested by collector, but my reasoning for not including DVD/CD PAR2s is more because I felt that it might cause more heat having what appears to be modern games available for download on the site.

I thought that it would possibly multiply the chance of having a misunderstanding present me with legal circumstances I'm hoping to avoid. As time goes on and we see if understanding of the PAR2 archiving format becomes more commonly known I may very well allow the creation of PAR2s for CD/DVD games as well.

The second reason being that CD-ROM technology is newer and more durable than the old floppy disks. It seems that it would be less utilized than the floppies as it would be rare for a CD to go bad. I'm sure in the future as the CD-ROMs get older there will be a clear time when Parchiving them will be a necessity.

BUT I do think the site name is poorly chosen, mostly because it has the REZ in the end. I know what the site is about but still it reminds me right away of warez, abandonwarez, piratez.

I never even thought of that your right, its not the greatest choice due to association. I was just thinking of it being a site for 'Resurrecting Dead Games' and thought the gamer term of Rez would just be a fun association. I'll have to try and change the design to emphasize the 'resurrection' part and put some disclaimers up as you suggest. Thanks

as it would be rare for a CD to go bad.

Well, not trying to be argumentative at all, I've had very few CDs go bad on me ever, and those were early audio cds that had imperfections in their pressings. I'm not saying they don't go bad but from my experience comparativly to magnetic media they are much less likely to.

I still have a bunch of CDRs I burnt in 1996 and they all work fine so far...but of course non-commercial CD archives made by end-users will never be welcome on the site anyways.

I will definately consider adding commercial CD/DVD game parchiving to the site in the future, I just want to see how things go forward with its current scope.

I finally got around to taking a look at this, only to find that the download links don't seem to work at all (at least, without registering) ! What gives?

Heya,

Sorry, I changed the site so that you needed to be registered to download. I wasn't getting a lot of sign ups, and I'd like to try to have some sort of a user base so you must be registered to download the files now.

I won't sell your email or anything...do it for me!

What would be the reason (besides time) to not want to regester, something I should know about? I might be flexible but as so far its the only way I can see to start building a community.