26-05-2004 18:12									#1
	Activision and CD check Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

I wonder if it is possible to put the CD check on the patch executable instead of the ctp2.exe.

	26-05-2004 21:33									#2
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

We can't remove check cd from the play test if that’s what your fishing for . I know a lot of people (including myself ) would like to get ride of this feature.

	26-05-2004 21:40									#3
	Tired of ads?

quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc We can't remove check cd from the play test if that’s what your fishing for . I know a lot of people (including myself ) would like to get ride of this feature.

Well you can compile your own version of CTP2...

However for an official Apolyton version of CTP2 we are bound to the EULA. So no change to get from us a no-CD version.

-Martin

	27-05-2004 00:00									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Cheep copies of CTP2 have been spotted in The Netherlands and Canada. You may want to ask at a store near you...

	27-05-2004 00:12									#5
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

If you cant code it out yourself, there are programs around that search and disable CD-Checks (the protection on ctp2.exe).

	27-05-2004 00:50									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

The patch we are currently working at comes in a compressed form and extracts the altered files upon the original files replacing them. It includes a compiled version of the ctp2.exe with the alterations done and there is no thought to eliminate the CD check since we support Activision for releasing the source code to the public, thus strongly recommend that you buy the game
Besides in our days you can find the game really cheap and it worth its money

Any use of a crack/no-CD patch will either end up in failure (if it dynamically updates the executable you will take a different file size error) or it will replace the ctp2.exe meaning that the vast majority of improvements made in the code by us and are included in the ctp2.exe will be gone.

	27-05-2004 13:15									#7
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

I HAVE THE ORIGINAL GAME!!!!

What I want to avoid is to insert the CD every time I want to play.

I didn't say that the protection should be erased. I said that it could be in the ctp2patch.exe instead of ctp2.exe.

In this way the check for the original CD should be done only when you apply the patch and not every time you wanna play.

And, if you don't have the original CD, no patch will be applied and maybe the EULA with Activision could be safe.

	27-05-2004 13:28									#8
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Good idea

I also have the original game but don't one one of my cd drives completely used by keeping ctp2 in it.

	27-05-2004 16:24									#9
	Put an end to popups!

If you have sufficient hard disk space, the easiest way to do that is to make an image of the game CD and mount it virtually.

	27-05-2004 18:06									#10
	Suffering from ads?

Ive got mine mounted with Alcohol 120%

	27-05-2004 18:29									#11
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Post read thus deleted

Last edited by Keygen on 27-05-2004 at 23:30

	27-05-2004 19:26									#12
	Support Apolyton

quote: Originally posted by odisseus I HAVE THE ORIGINAL GAME!!!!

Yes, but this doesn't matter. Who would keep someone from installing the patch and giving away the files. And another thing is that I don't like installers, you never can't be sure what this things install else, what they do with your registry. So if we offer a patch with an installer then there will be also a *.zip file version.

-Martin

	27-05-2004 19:43									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Ehm ... I know all this ... tricks

My question is "Is it possible to avoid the everytime disk check without tricks?".

And then, is it possible to put the protection only on the patch installer?

I know it is not the same thing. For example, with this kind of check I can use the original disk fron a friend of mine just to install the patch ...

Maybe this is the reason why game producers don't use this kind of protection and prefer the "everytime check".

	27-05-2004 21:03									#14
	Increase the size of your Attachments

quote: Originally posted by odisseus My question is "Is it possible to avoid the everytime disk check without tricks?".

Of course it is possible to do it like this, but why should we, some work is needed to achieve this and to achieve this it is very difficuilt, however you can replace the disk while playing CTP2.

quote: Originally posted by odisseus And then, is it possible to put the protection only on the patch installer?

Of course it is possible as well, but if put everything into a *.zip file - What installer?

Note: Where there's a will, there's a way.

-Martin

	27-05-2004 22:52									#15
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Ok.

I'm convinced, now. It's better to leave the protection onto the ctp2.exe file.

No doubt this is the only way to protect the software. Protecting the patch ... is not so secure.

	27-05-2004 23:29									#16
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by odisseus My question is "Is it possible to avoid the everytime disk check without tricks?".

Only if you alter the source code properly but as we have already said we're not currently planning to do that

quote: Originally posted by odisseus And then, is it possible to put the protection only on the patch installer?

I don't think the protection is solely within the CD if that is what you're trying to say. It doesn't work the same way the music CDs do. The CD check code must be in a file that possibly is compiled with other files to form the ctp2.exe executable and when you start the game, thus the ctp2.exe, the appropriate routine is called in order to check if the CD is in the drive. How this routine works is not known to me and whether it checks the content of the CD or uses another method is something I have no idea about.

So I guess the CD-check is within ctp2.exe that is get installed in your hard disk drive when you setup the game and is in the patch as well. I am not 100% sure however if that is the way it works.

quote: Originally posted by odisseus I know it is not the same thing. For example, with this kind of check I can use the original disk fron a friend of mine just to install the patch ...

But if you have installed the game already you don't need the CD to install the patch. You need the CD in order to play the game, patched or vanilla

To clarify it, the patch includes only the altered files (and all the files needed to compile the code) but it does not contain any art (sound, video, UI graphics) thus with the patch alone and without the game installed it is impossible to run the game whether there is a CD-check or not.