This is not new: https://torrentfreak.com/ubisofts-no-cd-answer-to-drm-080718...
I don't have examples handy, but I'm pretty sure I recall something similar being done for some CD-ROM re-releases of games with floppy-based copy protection.
Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
71–80 of 259 posts
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cracking was a 90s term for pirating software
pirating software (movies, and music) is a term from the 90's by the MPAA, Riaa, and Games industry in attempting to link the act of simple copyright infringement, a civil non-criminal violation of the law to violent robbery on the high seas... Cracking is a method of removing undesired features or inclusions from software, often licensing controls, or other anti-consumer features. Many many many people "cracked" the…
> Many many many people "cracked" their software who where not eganged in the act of copyright infringement, they legally owned the software but for a number of reasons has no desire to run the invasive software bundled with the game or content they purchased.
Yes, many people. But not “many many many” people. You try to make it sound like cracking to pirate was minority use case.
It was a valid use case, sure, but as big as using torrents to download Linux ISOs.
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#73Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#74> This explains the myth of the retail MC2 crashing on Vista - the game is most likely innocent, as the demo works great out of the box. IT WAS AGAIN THE CRACK breaking it. Myth? Innocent? That game was totally unplayable when it first came out (for 98/ME?) so I doubt Razor made anything worse. I'd get most of the way through any race before the game randomly crashed. It would be funnier if it weren't so absurd, sinc…
He commented on that comment, it wasn't the crack.
> This gets better - Razor's crack is fine, the reason both Midnight Club 2 and Manhunt crashed when these cracks were in use was the fact that Steam DRM included a .bind section that was code not marked as code - thus tripping Data Execution Prevention
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I say I represent such a group, then; is it likely that anyone will disagree? DMCA cases seem to be about who has the scarier looking letterhead anyway. To whom would I have to prove or disprove my standing to take Rockstar games down, I wonder? Does Steam have any right to refuse such a request just because it's patently absurd?
> If I say I represent such a group, then; is it likely that anyone will disagree? DMCA cases seem to be about who has the scarier looking letterhead anyway. If you say you represent them, all the scary letter heads will go to _you_.
You could say you wrote the source code for the cracker, but you did not distribute the pirated software, that was someone else.
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
pirating software (movies, and music) is a term from the 90's by the MPAA, Riaa, and Games industry in attempting to link the act of simple copyright infringement, a civil non-criminal violation of the law to violent robbery on the high seas... Cracking is a method of removing undesired features or inclusions from software, often licensing controls, or other anti-consumer features. Many many many people "cracked" the…
my favorite use was for software that required a USB dongle. if you lost the dongle, you lost access to the software. there is not "back up" option. so the cracking community came up with a way to emulate those dongles. the obvious abuse followed. we used the software for legit 1:1 installs to physical dongle on blade servers where all of the dongles could not be installed
My favourite failure case of this is dongles on hardware devices, like lighting controllers. Especially when the dongle does in on an exposed edge of the device and can get knocked loose.
I've heard stories of them getting disconnected because they were bumped, and the whole unit goes dead five minutes later. At least it's not immediate.
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#77Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#78razor1911 never started owning it when they made the crack, so, fair.
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like Razor could sue Rockstar for copyright infringement. That would be hilarious.
They could. They would lose, though
A No-CD crack might not be transformative enough to warrant copyright protection as derivative work in the US. But they could sue in a jurisdiction that is more likely to give them a favorable outcome. Handling of derivative works and the minimum threshold for copyright varies considerably between countries.
Re: Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
The game shown here, Midnight Club II, required the CD to be in the drive to play it. With the advent of Steam and companies releasing older games on Steam, they needed a way to bypass that check. Bypassing a CD (commonly called No-CD) was a very common crack/DRM bypass back in the day. Rockstar didn't want to bring up old source code and find someone who understood it enough to remove the check, so instead they just…
Sounds like Razor could sue Rockstar for copyright infringement. That would be hilarious.
What's the copyrighted work here?