Mooff
Ex-Admin
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2002
- Messages
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Englisches Orginal im Spoiler:
Hi, guys. Chris here.
It feels like there’s still some uncertainty swirling around our plans for Red Alert 3’ s PC copy protection. I want to clear the air and explain what you can expect when the game ships on Oct 28th. I know there’s a lot of detail here, but I think that’s what many of you are looking for, so please stick with me.
DRM and why we need it
Software piracy is a really big deal for the developers of PC games. We work for years, putting our soul into making software and it breaks our hearts to see it pirated. Imagine going to work every day for two years to create something special, only to see it stolen. Copy protection may not be a perfect solution, but we can’t sit back and do nothing. The copy protection in Red Alert 3 helps strike a delicate balance between protecting ourselves from casual piracy and allowing players the flexibility to enjoy the game on multiple machines.
No disk required
Here’s one thing that is unambiguously cool about Red Alert 3: you do not need the DVD in your drive to play the game. Install the game on your machine and then put the disc away in a safe place – you won’t need it again unless you want to install it on another machine. All of the game content is placed on your hard disk, which helps make loading times fast and video playback smooth.
Authorization limits
Red Alert 3 comes with no installation limits whatsoever. You can install and uninstall the game on as many machines as you want, as many times as you want. But you are limited to five authorizations. So what’s an authorization? The first time you actually run the game on a machine, we will authorize that machine. If you reach the authorization limit, the game will not run on a new machine. If you make major changes to the computer (switching out multiple pieces of hardware, install a new OS, etc.) you might need to reauthorize the machine. This is quite similar to what other commercial applications do.
Just give us a call…
Most importantly, and I really cannot stress this enough, we are not going to leave you hanging. If you had a run of bad luck, some hardware failures, a botched OS install, your notebook was stolen, you spilled a coke on your keyboard – you get the idea – and all five of your authorizations have been used up, just give us a call. We’ll work with you and provide as many additional authorizations as are appropriate.
… Or do it yourself
It’s not going to be ready in time for the game’s release, but we are working on giving you the ability to deauthorize machines yourself. In a future Red Alert 3 patch, we plan to provide you with an easy way to remove the authorization on a given machine, freeing it up for use on a different computer. Now we don’t know how long it will take to prepare this feature. We are shooting for the end of the year but we believe that it’s much more important to implement it correctly than to rush it out the door. And while it’s true that being able to deauthorize your machines doesn’t address those rare “act of God” scenarios that wipe out five authorizations all at once, it will be very easy to move an authorization from one machine to another under more typical circumstances.
Looking Ahead
A few weeks ago I installed an original copy of Red Alert 2, released in 2000, on my work machine. I don’ t know if the authentication servers will still be up and running 8 years from now, but if the previous C&C games are any indication, we’re going to be playing Red Alert 3 for a long, long time to come. Knowing this, once the game has lived its natural life and the risk for piracy has died down, we plan to patch the copy protection out of the game. We don’t have any preconceived ideas about when this will occur, but when we decide to decommission the authentication servers we will first make a patch available that will disable copy protection from the game. I think this will come as a relief to many of you; it does me.
I know that some of you will disagree with this approach, and again, I understand where you’re coming from and really do respect your position. The development team is extremely proud of Red Alert 3 and I want all of you to have the chance to experience it for yourself. I hope you’ ll give us the chance.
- Chris Corry (EASmudge)
Executive Producer, Red Alert 3
-quelle-
Kurzübersetzung, wie immer gilt, wenn etwas unklar ist: lest die orginalversion bevor ihr flamet.
Hi, guys. Chris here.
It feels like there’s still some uncertainty swirling around our plans for Red Alert 3’ s PC copy protection. I want to clear the air and explain what you can expect when the game ships on Oct 28th. I know there’s a lot of detail here, but I think that’s what many of you are looking for, so please stick with me.
DRM and why we need it
Software piracy is a really big deal for the developers of PC games. We work for years, putting our soul into making software and it breaks our hearts to see it pirated. Imagine going to work every day for two years to create something special, only to see it stolen. Copy protection may not be a perfect solution, but we can’t sit back and do nothing. The copy protection in Red Alert 3 helps strike a delicate balance between protecting ourselves from casual piracy and allowing players the flexibility to enjoy the game on multiple machines.
No disk required
Here’s one thing that is unambiguously cool about Red Alert 3: you do not need the DVD in your drive to play the game. Install the game on your machine and then put the disc away in a safe place – you won’t need it again unless you want to install it on another machine. All of the game content is placed on your hard disk, which helps make loading times fast and video playback smooth.
Authorization limits
Red Alert 3 comes with no installation limits whatsoever. You can install and uninstall the game on as many machines as you want, as many times as you want. But you are limited to five authorizations. So what’s an authorization? The first time you actually run the game on a machine, we will authorize that machine. If you reach the authorization limit, the game will not run on a new machine. If you make major changes to the computer (switching out multiple pieces of hardware, install a new OS, etc.) you might need to reauthorize the machine. This is quite similar to what other commercial applications do.
Just give us a call…
Most importantly, and I really cannot stress this enough, we are not going to leave you hanging. If you had a run of bad luck, some hardware failures, a botched OS install, your notebook was stolen, you spilled a coke on your keyboard – you get the idea – and all five of your authorizations have been used up, just give us a call. We’ll work with you and provide as many additional authorizations as are appropriate.
… Or do it yourself
It’s not going to be ready in time for the game’s release, but we are working on giving you the ability to deauthorize machines yourself. In a future Red Alert 3 patch, we plan to provide you with an easy way to remove the authorization on a given machine, freeing it up for use on a different computer. Now we don’t know how long it will take to prepare this feature. We are shooting for the end of the year but we believe that it’s much more important to implement it correctly than to rush it out the door. And while it’s true that being able to deauthorize your machines doesn’t address those rare “act of God” scenarios that wipe out five authorizations all at once, it will be very easy to move an authorization from one machine to another under more typical circumstances.
Looking Ahead
A few weeks ago I installed an original copy of Red Alert 2, released in 2000, on my work machine. I don’ t know if the authentication servers will still be up and running 8 years from now, but if the previous C&C games are any indication, we’re going to be playing Red Alert 3 for a long, long time to come. Knowing this, once the game has lived its natural life and the risk for piracy has died down, we plan to patch the copy protection out of the game. We don’t have any preconceived ideas about when this will occur, but when we decide to decommission the authentication servers we will first make a patch available that will disable copy protection from the game. I think this will come as a relief to many of you; it does me.
I know that some of you will disagree with this approach, and again, I understand where you’re coming from and really do respect your position. The development team is extremely proud of Red Alert 3 and I want all of you to have the chance to experience it for yourself. I hope you’ ll give us the chance.
- Chris Corry (EASmudge)
Executive Producer, Red Alert 3
-quelle-
Kurzübersetzung, wie immer gilt, wenn etwas unklar ist: lest die orginalversion bevor ihr flamet.
- DRM und warum wird es gebraucht
Der Grund ist Piraterie. Sie wollen nicht das ihre Arbeit gestohlen wird. Kopierschutz ist eventuell nicht die beste Lösung, aber bietet einen guten Ausgleich um sich gegen gelegenheits piraterie zu schützen und gleichzeitig den Käufern die Möglichkeit zu geben das Spiel auf mehreren PCs zu installieren. - Keine DVD zum spielen benötigt
Man braucht die DVD nur zum installieren. Wenn das Spiel einmal installiert ist packt man die DVD an einen sicheren Platz und holt sie erst wieder raus, wenn man das Spiel noch einmal installieren will. Als Nebeneffekt reduziert es die Ladezeiten und ist besser für die Videos, wenn alle Daten auf der Festplatte liegen. - FreischaltungsLimit
Man kann Ra3 so oft installieren wie man will, aber man kann es nur 5mal freischalten. So, was genau ist eine Freischaltung? Das erstemal, wenn man das Spiel startet auf einem PC, muss man diesen PC freischalten. Wenn man größere Änderungen an seinem PC vornimmt (neue Hardware, neues Betriebssystem etc.) muss man für den PC dann eine weitere Freischaltung aufbrauchen. - Meldet euch einfach bei uns
Dieser Punkt ist sehr wichtig, wir werden euch nicht hängen lassen. Wenn ihr durch unglückliche Umstände (hardware fehler, laptop gestohlen, Betriebssystem korrupt..) euren 5 Freischaltungen aufgebraucht habt, dann ruft (uns) EA einfach an und wir werden eine Lösung erarbeiten und euch soviele Freischaltungen zurückgeben, wie angemessen sind. - Freischaltungen selber zurückholen
Es wird noch nicht mit Release verfügbar sein, aber in einem Ra3 Patch wird die Möglichkeit bereitgestellt werden durch De-Installieren Freischaltungen zurückzubekommen. Sie wissen nicht wie lange es dauern wird dieses Feature einzubauen, momentane Pläne sind Ende des Jahres. - Was ist in der Zukunft?
Chris Corry sagt, dass man sich Alarmstufe Rot 2 anschauen soll (welches im Jahr 2000) veröffentlicht wurde. Er weiß nicht, ob die Freischaltungsserver in 8 Jahren noch laufen werden, aber wie die früheren CnC-Spiele zeigen planen sie, dass Ra3 für eine lange lange Zeit gespielt werden kann. Zusätzlich, wenn das Spiel seinen Lebenszyklus beendet hat und die Risiken der Piraterie nichtmehr aktuell sind für das Spiel, dann wird es einen Patch geben, der den Kopierschutz aus dem Spiel entfernt. Sie haben keine Idee, wann das passieren wird, aber bevor die Freischaltungsserver offline gehen wird es definitiv so einen Patch geben.