tonyk
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 45
Registered: 10-09-2005
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Hey All,

I confess to being a bit of a hoarder when it comes to backing up my various add-ons and installs. When it comes to DROD, I keep a copy of all the SmS holds that I've purchased so that, some time in the future, I can re-install without having access to the internet / CaravelNet (hey I'm in New Zealand, it happens).

I already own JtRH and TCB and now GatEB. KDD was of course released some time ago as an SmS (which I, being the addict I am, have also purchased).

So I ask because the hoarder in me demands it (though Mr Rational would suggest it is a fools errand) - are there any plans on releasing JtRH or TCB as non-CaravelNet versions (eg. SmS)? There's obviously a variety of good reasons not to, but I figure I need to hear it for real

Oh and I know I could just use my old JtRH and TCB installs if needed (or get access to the internet to download again). I just like my one install of the 'latest version' with the Official Holds ready to go.

____________________________
Life is hard. DROD, harder.

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[Last edited by tonyk at 04-12-2012 09:05 AM]

robin
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 844
Registered: 09-01-2004
IP: Logged

Here is how to do it:


The reason why those 2 holds haven't a ".hold"- file,
is because it's harder to copy them then.
If I want a friend of mine to have JtRH or TCB, I could just e-mail the hold file, or even publish it some where.
You still can't rule out piracy, but caravel can try their best to avoid illegal downloads for their biggest works.

____________________________

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[Last edited by robin at 04-12-2012 11:29 AM]

tonyk
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 45
Registered: 10-09-2005
IP: Logged

robin wrote:
The reason why those 2 holds haven't a ".hold"- file,
is because it's harder to copy them then.
If I want a friend of mine to have JtRH or TCB, I could just e-mail the hold file, or even publish it some where.
You still can't rule out piratie, but caravel can try their best to avoid illegal downloads for their biggest works.

Very true and the rational reason for this to be the case ... I guess I hold out hope that as DROD iterations increase the odds of the older Holds becoming available does too.

____________________________
Life is hard. DROD, harder.

Keiya
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 73
Registered: 03-25-2012
IP: Logged

The strange thing is, the big piracy sites have the JTRH, TCB, KDD 2.0, and TT... but none of the SmSes, suggesting that, for the 'torrent' sort of piracy, the SmS distribution model is actually less risky. Though that's probably just because by the time you're likely to want them, you're likely to have become part of the community to some degree... and it's psychologically a lot harder to rip off mrimer, larrymurk, Schik, etc than it is to rip off 'Caravel Games'.

The names used are in no way intended to signify they're more important, just that they were the first people to come to mind who I know for sure have worked on commercial releases, other than ErikH, who's not as involved anymore.

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gamer_extreme_101
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1939
Registered: 03-07-2004
IP: Logged

tonyk wrote:
Oh and I know I could just use my old JtRH and TCB installs if needed (or get access to the internet to download again). I just like my one install of the 'latest version' with the Official Holds ready to go.

If you ever want to redownload those games into the latest version such as GatEB, simply send an email to support, and we can find a way to accommodate that (Usually with a week long temp subscription to CaravelNet).

____________________________
--That guy with a million different aliases since he doesn't like this name anymore.

Emojk
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 94
Registered: 09-05-2010
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robin wrote:
Here is how to do it:

Click here to view the secret text

×If you have bought GatEB's full version,
you get a free one month of Caravelnet membership.

If you activate this, you can download in game those 2 holds.

If later you don't want to renew caravelnet membership,
that's now problem for keeping those 2 holds in the DROD4 engine.
You just need to save your ".dat"-files
(they are found "C:\Programdata\caraval\drod-4_0" (for windows))

So after installing DROD4 on a other computer, copy your saved ".dat"-files,
will give you back all your downloaded hold (inclusive JtRH + TCB)
and even your saved games and demo's

Call me a noob, but I don't see how to do that. I have access to CaravelNet, and all three games are on my mac, but I can't figure out how to import JtRH and TCB into GatEB. Maybe it's because I'm on OS X?

west.logan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 608
Registered: 03-09-2011
IP: Logged

I'm on a Mac too. Basically, if you have CaravelNet and you've previously purchased the games under the same username, open the game, go to "Play", then "Change Location" and you should be able to see a list of holds. Sort by "Official" to make it easier and then "Download" the holds you own.

____________________________
-Logan

gamer_extreme_101
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1939
Registered: 03-07-2004
IP: Logged

It's a tech support related issue with Emojk - I've PM-ed Emojk and we'll get to the bottom of it!

____________________________
--That guy with a million different aliases since he doesn't like this name anymore.

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[Last edited by gamer_extreme_101 at 04-12-2012 07:57 PM]

Krissan
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 89
Registered: 04-08-2006
IP: Logged

TCB doesn't show up for my either in GateB. I believe I actually bought two copies of it (downloadable and then the "deluxe box" for supporting-the-community purposes).

In all the excitement over GateB I never exported my player file from TCB, will that resolve the issue? (Though I realize I'll probably end up with two different player files with different progress).

____________________________
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

Keiya
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 73
Registered: 03-25-2012
IP: Logged

No... you need to have TCB registered on the same forum account, it's nothing to do with your player profile

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Krissan
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 89
Registered: 04-08-2006
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Keiya wrote:
No... you need to have TCB registered on the same forum account, it's nothing to do with your player profile

Now I'm really confused.

____________________________
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

Stoney
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 39
Registered: 12-18-2007
IP: Logged

Will I be able to import my player file as well? I just purchased GatEB and intend to download both JtRH and TCB Files into it once it arrives. I have a JtRH game in progress, which I do not want to lose. All games should be registered to my forum account.

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[Last edited by Stoney at 04-14-2012 06:22 PM]

Keiya
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 73
Registered: 03-25-2012
IP: Logged

Yes, you can import your player file. What I said earlier was that doing so wouldn't unlock the ability to download TCB. If it's already tied to your forum account it should be fine though.

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Krissan
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 89
Registered: 04-08-2006
IP: Logged

Keiya wrote:
No... you need to have TCB registered on the same forum account, it's nothing to do with your player profile

Ok, I just checked this. My TCB is pretty much a fresh install from october/november. In the setting screen, my CaravelNet name is stated as Krissan. I connect to CaravelNet without a problem.

Same with GateB. I requested a new key through the forums and made sure the same key was in both games. Yet, TCB doesn't show up in GateB.

What did I break and how did I do it?

____________________________
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

Keiya
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 73
Registered: 03-25-2012
IP: Logged

Is TCB registered on your forum account? When you bought it, there should have been a link emailed to you to activate a free month of caravelnet... this also marks your account as having bought it. Which the email doesn't mention, annoyingly.

If you didn't do that, the forum doesn't know you bought TCB, so you won't be able to download it in game. Talk to support, they can probably sort it out for you.

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636th Trapdoor Replacer

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Krissan
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 89
Registered: 04-08-2006
IP: Logged

Keiya wrote:
Is TCB registered on your forum account? When you bought it, there should have been a link emailed to you to activate a free month of caravelnet... this also marks your account as having bought it. Which the email doesn't mention, annoyingly.

If you didn't do that, the forum doesn't know you bought TCB, so you won't be able to download it in game. Talk to support, they can probably sort it out for you.

A mod point to you, and one for gmail for quickly finding that long-forgotten and hidden away mail. Actually, gmail doesn't have a forum account, so you get both points.

Problem solved!

____________________________
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

Moo
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 224
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

You may be able to import older holds into newer versions, but it isn't really the same as playing the older versions themselves; the graphics, music, title screens, etc. would still be the "new" versions, from what I understand. Hence this topic. Perhaps there could be a way to import the old "assets" along with the official holds, and if the engine detected these, it could let you switch between different game "modes", and you'd be able to basically turn your GatEB DROD 4.0 into TCB DROD 4.0 or whatever. This would also mean you could play older user-holds in the way they were imagined too.

mtuan
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 21
Registered: 06-08-2011
IP: Logged

Keiya wrote:
The strange thing is, the big piracy sites have the JTRH, TCB, KDD 2.0, and TT... but none of the SmSes, suggesting that, for the 'torrent' sort of piracy, the SmS distribution model is actually less risky.

I tried a google search "DROD smitemaster" and found that piracy sites DID have DROD GatEB 4 days ago!

and SmSes such as Complex Complex, Beethro Teacher, Suit Pursuit, Smitemastery, Perfection, MasterLocks and Expert, Halph has a bad day, Beethro and Secret Society.

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[Last edited by mtuan at 04-24-2012 11:34 AM]

skell
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3757
Registered: 12-28-2004
IP: Logged

I wouldn't worry much about piracy. There are users who would've never bought the game and won't ever buy it because they can pirate it, and there are those who decided to buy it after pirate-playing it. Either way it is impossible to make it 100% secure and the best you can do is to "scent" any downloaded SMS with some number and later you can figure out who made it available on torrents and, probably, punish that person, but who cares?

____________________________
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Keiya
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 73
Registered: 03-25-2012
IP: Logged

Yeah, I'm aware they're out there, but the big places (notably a certain feature where water is surounded by land filled with those who commit crimes on the high sea) don't have 'em. And skell, it's an interesting thing I noticed, not a worry

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Jatopian
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1842
Registered: 07-31-2005
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Every time I see this topic updated I think someone is proposing that the SmS be named Wishful Thinking.

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Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
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Bitmap Brothers were probably the best at preventing illegal copies back in the day. Not only did they rely on bad sectors on the floppy but they used the failed seek return values as part of the data so you couldn't just skip the inital sector check.

Ah those were the days