It's not just limited to games, either. There was some graphics software I used to use a lot in the late 90s, and I paid almost $100 for it as I recall. Small company. Their registration process was a real pain, involving me calling them after installing it the second time, etc (what, nobody ever has a windows installation they need to reinstall, they think?).
A decade later I wanted to reinstall that software to use it for some stuff in AVWW and AI War. Well, guess what -- they've been out of business since a couple of years after I bought it, and since it was a relatively small thing it's not like pirates have archived it, either. That whole "pirates have to archive stuff" is just BS, which is another reason I like my CD key approach. I actually still HAVE the software on CD, and the license keys for it, but without their activation servers it's utterly useless. And even if I did want to go on pirate sites to look for a crack for this (which doesn't exist), I'm exposing myself to all sorts of malware, porn, viruses, etc, that I'd rather not have to wade through just to use a product I bought direct from the developer.
Ahem. Anyhow, a lot of thought went into how we handle our whole system because of past experiences like this, and that's why I like the CD keys approach. Download.come and other sources will have those files forever, so 20 years from now even if a meteor hits the city I live in, it should still be accessible and usable for anyone who wants to do so.
What software is it? I get really fascinated with the way stuff works, and lately I've been practicing modding stuff with w32dasm + hex editor. I'm by no means a pro, I just try and learn as much stuff as I can that college doesn't teach me. being a computer science student in a regular-old community college isn't fun. It's filled with liberal arts courses, and an emphasis on archaic technology.
So I try and learn as much as I can about how stuff works. I'll probably never be as good as most people, I learn things at a slower pace, but once I know something, I know it. Lately I've been trying out hex-editing and modding software, to remove nag screens, ect.
My professors frown on it, because they call it "cracking", and won't speak about it, where as I simply see it as an opportunity not to steal, but to learn how things work and what-not.
I might be able to patch it, 99% of the time it's just changing a jump - if - greater, into a jump -if below. And if it's really old, it should be even easier to get it working.
It probably has something like
if(!Activation->ReturnSucess())
{
MessageBox(hWnd,"Sorry, we could not communicate with the activation servers.... we didn't think our company would go under... you're screwed!","LOLOLOL", MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
this->m_Screw_Over_Customer();
}
else
{
MessageBox(hWnd,"Well, well, aren't you glad you the doc invented that delorean." ","Welcome to 1999", MB_OK);
this->m_Allow_Customer_To_Use_What_He_Paid_For();
}
So you just have to mod the logic a bit. If you paid for it, you should be able to use it. I support developers 100%, but it's their job to support us back!
