LAN play

[A. Smith]

I would like feedback on this post, so if anyone feels like doing so
I would appreciate it. BEFORE flaming me, please understand that I OWN A
LICENSED COPY OF NEVERWINTER NIGHTS, SOU, AND HOTU. I believe that
Bioware made an excellent game and that they should be rewarded for their
efforts with my money. That said, I feel that limiting LAN gameplay to 1
key per computer is wrong and immoral. Here goes:

Problem: Having bought one copy of NwN, SoU, and HotU, I decided I wanted
to play on my LAN against my girlfriend. Lo and behold! The server does
not allow multiple clients with the same cd-key, and further it queries
Bioware's authentication server to make sure that the cd-keys are valid.
Putting aside the Big Brother aspect of this, it seems unfair to me that I
have purchased a game from a company and I am not allowed to use it to
play against my friends at home on my network.

WELL: I had to do something about this. I began by hexing the nwserver
binary and found that it queries certain internet servers run by Bioware
for key verification. I ran a packet sniffer and verified that indeed
those were the servers contacted. I figured that if it was unable to
query these servers, the key check would become impossible. I was right.

Hence, in order to play networked NwN against my friends, I am forced to
block all outbound connections to these 4 authentication servers, and use
generated CD-keys for the additional clients. This has been verified to
work with version 1.62. The process is as follows:

1) Find additional unique cd-keys for each box that will connect at one
time.
2) block all outbound connections to the following servers:
nwmaster.bioware.com
nwnauth.kr.infogrames.com
66.244.193.142
203.239.47.115

This can be accomplished with iptables as follows:

iptables -N NWN
iptables -A NWN -d nwmaster.bioware.com -j REJECT
iptables -A NWN -d nwnauth.kr.infogrames.com -j REJECT
iptables -A NWN -d 66.244.193.142 -j REJECT
iptables -A NWN -d 203.239.47.115 -j REJECT
iptables -A NWN -d nwmaster.bioware.com -j REJECT

Then just reference the NWN ruleset from any rulesets that control IP
masquerading and output. Works like a charm.

Please send any feedback to this newsgroup. I want to know what other
people think of this.

[A. Smith]

This patch will do the same thing as the parent post, but instead of doing
the blocking on a network level it does it in the nwserver binary itself.

/* LAN Patch for Bioware's Neverwinter Nights Linux server:
* Hordes of the Underdark version 1.62 (English)
*
* This software is distrubuted with NO WARRANTY in the hopes
* that it will be useful. Don't come bitching to me if it
* eats your hard drive.
*
* ***********************************************************
*
* This program will change a few bytes in the nwserver app
* to let multiple users have access to the server at the
* same time on a LAN. It nullifies the internet cdkey-check.
*
* Relevant changes happen at bytes:
* 2773561 (2a5239h)
* 2823040 (2b1380h)
* and basically involve resetting the authentication servers
* to localhost. If instead of patching your binary you wish
* to simply block the relevant outbound connections, the
* servers are:
*
* nwmaster.bioware.com (66.244.193.9)
* nwnauth.kr.infogrames.com (61.82.131.41)
* 66.244.193.142:5121
* 203.239.47.115:5121
* (UDP, not TCP but for good measure block all protocols)
*
* This is useful, for example, on a home network where there
* are two or more people who want to play against each other
* but where two separate valid CD-keys are not available.
*
* Compile with: cc -Wall -std=gnu89 -O2 -pedantic server_patch.c -o patch
*
* Run 'patch' in the same directory as nwserver, and the
* patched binary will be written out as nwserver.patched.
*
* This source is released under the GPL and may be freely
* copied and used as long as you do not claim that you
* wrote it.
*
* Revision History
* v0.1 (May 04, 2004): Initial release
* v0.2 (June 07, 2004): Improved output and error checking
* Rewrote patch code to be more efficient
*/

#define P1_SIZE 35
#define P2_SIZE 31
#define A_OFFSET 2773561
#define B_OFFSET 2823040

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>

int main()
{
int i;
struct stat nwstat;
char *o_md5, *p_md5, md5[66], *buffer;
FILE *md5_check, *nw_orig, *nw_patch;
/* define the patch bytes and binary md5sums */
char p1[P1_SIZE+1] = { 0x31, 0x32, 0x37, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x2E, 0x31,
0x3A, 0x35, 0x31, 0x32, 0x31, 0x00, 0x35, 0x31, 0x32, 0x31, 0x00, 0x31,
0x32, 0x37, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x2E, 0x31, 0x3A, 0x35, 0x31, 0x32,
0x31, 0x00 };
char p2[P2_SIZE+1] = { 0x6c, 0x6f, 0x63, 0x61, 0x6c, 0x68, 0x6f, 0x73,
0x74, 0x00, 0x69, 0x6f, 0x77, 0x61, 0x72, 0x65, 0x2e, 0x63, 0x6f, 0x6d,
0x00, 0x6c, 0x6f, 0x63, 0x61, 0x6c, 0x68, 0x6f, 0x73, 0x74, 0x00 }; o_md5
= "2d5f4f0230a763c2ccfca30d7d1aba81"; p_md5 =
"add9bfa83b9f733e3951c05615f430df"; /* Begin patch code */
printf("LAN patch for the NwN: HotU Linux server version 1.62\n");
printf("Performing prepatch validation...\n-----------------------\n");
/* error conditions */
if((buffer = malloc(3000000)) == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr,"Could not allocate memory. Exiting...\n"); return -1;
}
if((nw_orig = fopen("nwserver","rb")) == NULL) {
perror("Unable to open nwserver for reading"); return -1;
}
if((nw_patch = fopen("nwserver.patched","wb+")) == NULL) {
perror("Unable to create patched binary"); unlink("nwserver.patched");
return -1;
}
if((md5_check = popen("md5sum nwserver","r")) == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr,"Could not check nwserver's md5sum. Exiting...\n");
return -1;
}
if(stat("nwserver",&nwstat) == -1) {
fprintf(stderr,"Unable to get statistics on nwserver. Exiting...\n");
return -1;
}
fgets(md5, 33, md5_check);
if(strcmp(md5, o_md5) == 0)
printf("Input file validated.\n-----------------------\n");
else {
fprintf(stderr,"Input file invalid or already patched. Exiting...\n");
return -1;
}
/* read input and write patched file */ printf("Patch commencing:\n");
i = fread(buffer, sizeof(char), A_OFFSET, nw_orig);
fwrite(buffer,sizeof(char),i,nw_patch); printf("Patching section #1 (%i
bytes)...\n",P1_SIZE); fwrite(&p1,sizeof(char),P1_SIZE,nw_patch);
fseek(nw_orig, P1_SIZE, SEEK_CUR);
i = fread(buffer, sizeof(char), (B_OFFSET-ftell(nw_orig)), nw_orig);
fwrite(buffer,sizeof(char),i,nw_patch); printf("Patching section #2 (%i
bytes)...\n",P2_SIZE); fwrite(&p2,sizeof(char),P2_SIZE,nw_patch);
fseek(nw_orig,P2_SIZE,SEEK_CUR);
i = fread(buffer, sizeof(char),
(int)(nwstat.st_size-ftell(nw_orig)),nw_orig);
fwrite(buffer,sizeof(char),i,nw_patch); fclose(nw_orig);
fclose(nw_patch);
/* do the final check */
pclose(md5_check);
md5_check = popen("md5sum nwserver.patched","r"); fgets(md5, 33,
md5_check);
pclose(md5_check);
if(strcmp(md5, p_md5) == 0) {
printf("-----------------------\nPatched file validated.\n");
printf("-----------------------\n");
chmod("nwserver.patched",nwstat.st_mode); printf("Patch completed
successfully.\n-----------------------\n"); printf("Patched server
binary is nwserver.patched. Have fun!\n");
}
else {
fprintf(stderr,"Patch did not complete successfully.\n");
fprintf(stderr,"Removing patched binary...\n");
unlink("nwserver.patched");
return -1;
}
free(buffer);
return 0;
}

[Windigo]

Post by A. Smith
I would like feedback on this post, so if anyone feels like doing so
I would appreciate it. BEFORE flaming me, please understand that I OWN A
LICENSED COPY OF NEVERWINTER NIGHTS, SOU, AND HOTU. I believe that
Bioware made an excellent game and that they should be rewarded for their
efforts with my money. That said, I feel that limiting LAN gameplay to 1

Works like a charm.

Post by A. Smith
Please send any feedback to this newsgroup. I want to know what other
people think of this.

Nicely done but it seems like a smart person like you could make enough
money to afford to buy the necessary number of games to have a legal copy on
each computer. Smartassed remark aside ;-) don't go into the moral issue.
You may be perfectly correct in your moral opinion but in realtime you
agreeded to the license when you opened the box. You might also consider
that Bioware isn't totally responsible for the copyprotection measures on
the software. Decisions like that are frequently made at the upper
management levels of the distribution company.

Again, nicely done but a simpler soltuion is to unplug the ethernet
connection to the outside world while you're playing.



Windigo

[Jason Gallas]

"Windigo" <***@paganplanet.comnot> wrote in message news:q2Gxc.6154$***@okepread03...
:
: "A. Smith" <***@forge.com> wrote in message
: news:***@forge.com...
: > I would like feedback on this post, so if anyone feels like doing so
: > I would appreciate it. BEFORE flaming me, please understand that I OWN
A
: > LICENSED COPY OF NEVERWINTER NIGHTS, SOU, AND HOTU. I believe that
: > Bioware made an excellent game and that they should be rewarded for
their
: > efforts with my money. That said, I feel that limiting LAN gameplay to
1
: > key per computer is wrong and immoral. Here goes:
: >
: Works like a charm.
: >
: > Please send any feedback to this newsgroup. I want to know what other
: > people think of this.
:
:
: Nicely done but it seems like a smart person like you could make enough
: money to afford to buy the necessary number of games to have a legal copy
on
: each computer. Smartassed remark aside ;-) don't go into the moral issue.
: You may be perfectly correct in your moral opinion but in realtime you
: agreeded to the license when you opened the box. You might also consider
: that Bioware isn't totally responsible for the copyprotection measures on
: the software. Decisions like that are frequently made at the upper
: management levels of the distribution company.
:
: Again, nicely done but a simpler soltuion is to unplug the ethernet
: connection to the outside world while you're playing.

LOL, after he made the changes....priceless ;-)

[Visceral_Syn]

not one to throw rocks at those with morals in question. But when a game
developer produces a game of Neverwinter's magnitude. the best way to praise
sed developer would be to "buy" the product. not blow smoke up his ass then
hack the only copy you've bought and say it's a great game but i don't want
to buy another one to be able to play on my home lan. I for one, think NWN
is a great product so much that i bought the Original NWN when it was
released, SoU when it was released and HotU when it was released. when the
time, that my wife was sufficiently interested in playing NWN, i coughed up
for NWN-Gold. The game is good enuff to warrant, a mere140 bucks for months,
if not years of entertainment. not to mention game developers like music
artists deserve to be paid every penny for their creative works.

...Syn...

[Windigo]

Post by Visceral_Syn
not one to throw rocks at those with morals in question. But when a game
developer produces a game of Neverwinter's magnitude. the best way to praise
sed developer would be to "buy" the product. not blow smoke up his ass then
hack the only copy you've bought and say it's a great game but i don't want
to buy another one to be able to play on my home lan. I for one, think NWN
is a great product so much that i bought the Original NWN when it was
released, SoU when it was released and HotU when it was released. when the
time, that my wife was sufficiently interested in playing NWN, i coughed up
for NWN-Gold. The game is good enuff to warrant, a mere140 bucks for months,
if not years of entertainment. not to mention game developers like music
artists deserve to be paid every penny for their creative works.
...Syn...

I agree and have the necessary number of legal copies for my families'
computers. I seldom bother to argue moral issues with people. Generally
speaking when someone gives a morals based reason for doing something it's
usually no more than justification for doing what they wanted to do. In
this case A. Smith in a fit of moral indignation managed to prove he's
incapable of searching google.com archieves to learn how to run a lan game
on 1 CD key. Instead he demonstrated his ability to kill a house fly with a
flamethrower when all you need is a rolled up newspaper.



Windigo

[Entreri]

Post by Visceral_Syn

Post by Visceral_Syn
not one to throw rocks at those with morals in question. But when a game
developer produces a game of Neverwinter's magnitude. the best way to

praise

Post by Visceral_Syn
sed developer would be to "buy" the product. not blow smoke up his ass

then

Post by Visceral_Syn
hack the only copy you've bought and say it's a great game but i don't

want

Post by Visceral_Syn
to buy another one to be able to play on my home lan. I for one, think NWN
is a great product so much that i bought the Original NWN when it was
released, SoU when it was released and HotU when it was released. when the
time, that my wife was sufficiently interested in playing NWN, i coughed

up

Post by Visceral_Syn
for NWN-Gold. The game is good enuff to warrant, a mere140 bucks for

months,

Post by Visceral_Syn
if not years of entertainment. not to mention game developers like music
artists deserve to be paid every penny for their creative works.
...Syn...

I agree and have the necessary number of legal copies for my families'
computers. I seldom bother to argue moral issues with people. Generally
speaking when someone gives a morals based reason for doing something it's
usually no more than justification for doing what they wanted to do. In
this case A. Smith in a fit of moral indignation managed to prove he's
incapable of searching google.com archieves to learn how to run a lan game
on 1 CD key. Instead he demonstrated his ability to kill a house fly with a
flamethrower when all you need is a rolled up newspaper.
Windigo

I understand what you are saying *but* remember when all the two or more
player games were on one computer ? When they had split screen so you could
have seperate play ? How would you feel if they asked you to buy two copies
to play those games ? Take it to its natural conclusion, ie that the game
*requires* two computers to play, because one computer is not powerful
enough to run two instances of the game engine. I do not see how this
justifies shelling out for another copy of the game. Sorry, I just don't.
Not a moral argument dressed to save me some money, Just my honest opinion.

I don't blame Bioware. I think someone at Atari (and companies like them;
they weren't the first by any means) saw the opportunity to $$ching, with
very little added effort.

[Windigo]

<Snip Previous Message> >

Post by Entreri
I understand what you are saying *but* remember when all the two or more
player games were on one computer ? When they had split screen so you could
have seperate play ? How would you feel if they asked you to buy two copies
to play those games ? Take it to its natural conclusion, ie that the game
*requires* two computers to play, because one computer is not powerful
enough to run two instances of the game engine. I do not see how this
justifies shelling out for another copy of the game. Sorry, I just don't.
Not a moral argument dressed to save me some money, Just my honest opinion.
I don't blame Bioware. I think someone at Atari (and companies like them;
they weren't the first by any means) saw the opportunity to $$ching, with
very little added effort.
--
Entreri
--
I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it
comes out.

Opinions are cool. I have several myself '-)

I won't argue the right or wrong of the situation for reasons mentioned
before. The simple fact of the matter is our opinions really don't matter.
It's a matter of copyright law. If you want a legal setup, you buy the extra
software for multiple computers. If you don't, that's your business but
your setup will not be legal. I would note that the standalone server which
comes with every copy of the game can be run on a seperate computer without
a second license.



Windigo

[A. Smith]

Post by Windigo
<Snip Previous Message> >

Post by Entreri
I understand what you are saying *but* remember when all the two or more
player games were on one computer ? When they had split screen so you

could

Post by Entreri
have seperate play ? How would you feel if they asked you to buy two

copies

Post by Entreri
to play those games ? Take it to its natural conclusion, ie that the game
*requires* two computers to play, because one computer is not powerful
enough to run two instances of the game engine. I do not see how this
justifies shelling out for another copy of the game. Sorry, I just don't.
Not a moral argument dressed to save me some money, Just my honest

opinion.

Post by Entreri
I don't blame Bioware. I think someone at Atari (and companies like them;
they weren't the first by any means) saw the opportunity to $$ching, with
very little added effort.
--
Entreri
--
I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it
comes out.

Opinions are cool. I have several myself '-)
I won't argue the right or wrong of the situation for reasons mentioned
before. The simple fact of the matter is our opinions really don't matter.
It's a matter of copyright law. If you want a legal setup, you buy the extra
software for multiple computers. If you don't, that's your business but
your setup will not be legal. I would note that the standalone server which
comes with every copy of the game can be run on a seperate computer without
a second license.
Windigo

Entreri puts it very well in his statements. It really infuriates me that
companies want to (as someone else put it) '$$cha-ching' on the backs of
hardworking people. As far as licensing goes, that also disgusts me: by
opening the package, you agree to the terms and conditions of the 'license
agreement' contained INSIDE the package. If I don't like this agreement,
I have no recourse because I cannot return opened software.

Should I have to buy 6 copies of 'LOTR:ROTK Extended edition' ($50 ea) if
I want to have a party at my house and 6 friends watch it? I am not
commercially broadcasting it. Why should I have to pay $300?

I also agree that if my buddies were connecting to my server from their
home over the internet, they should buy copies. But we're talking ONLY
about using this in your own home with the people you live with. I would
feel bad if I was giving free copies away to everyone who asked for it
willy nilly, but this is different.

This is a case of corporate greed at its best. It is not some sort of
excuse to legitimize so-called 'piracy'; it is to enable fair use. It is
the same reason why I have no-cd loaders for most of my games (Starcraft,
Diablo, etc). I own legitimate copies of all these games and yet I as
their customer am treated like a criminal. Would it be easier to simply
download a hacked version off the net and not pay these companies a dime?
Yes, but that is theft, and as much as I hate giving the corporate world
any money at all I do so.

If I can play on both computers in single player mode at once, surely I
should be able to play also in multiplayer. This is nothing more than a
case of a bad company (tm) -- Atari -- doing evil things.

[Insane Ranter]

Post by A. Smith
Entreri puts it very well in his statements. It really infuriates me that
companies want to (as someone else put it) '$$cha-ching' on the backs of
hardworking people. As far as licensing goes, that also disgusts me: by
opening the package, you agree to the terms and conditions of the 'license
agreement' contained INSIDE the package. If I don't like this agreement,
I have no recourse because I cannot return opened software.

That's not a beef between you and any softwre maker it's between you and the
store you bought it from. Unless of course you bought it from the maker
itself.

Post by A. Smith
Should I have to buy 6 copies of 'LOTR:ROTK Extended edition' ($50 ea) if
I want to have a party at my house and 6 friends watch it? I am not
commercially broadcasting it. Why should I have to pay $300?

No you aren't commercially broadcasting it. If you charged them to watch
then yes you would be.

Post by A. Smith
I also agree that if my buddies were connecting to my server from their
home over the internet, they should buy copies. But we're talking ONLY
about using this in your own home with the people you live with. I would
feel bad if I was giving free copies away to everyone who asked for it
willy nilly, but this is different.

The only difference between over the internet and them sitting beside you in
the same room is physical distance between you. What if you had two
different internet connections in the house say person A has a cable and
person B has dsl.... They wanna play via the internet... Or house A has a
wireless network...house B has a computer connected to wireless network...

Post by A. Smith
This is a case of corporate greed at its best. It is not some sort of
excuse to legitimize so-called 'piracy'; it is to enable fair use. It is
the same reason why I have no-cd loaders for most of my games (Starcraft,
Diablo, etc). I own legitimate copies of all these games and yet I as
their customer am treated like a criminal. Would it be easier to simply
download a hacked version off the net and not pay these companies a dime?
Yes, but that is theft, and as much as I hate giving the corporate world
any money at all I do so.
If I can play on both computers in single player mode at once, surely I
should be able to play also in multiplayer. This is nothing more than a
case of a bad company (tm) -- Atari -- doing evil things.

Yeah you still buy their products. If you hate their policy so much why do
you continue to pay for their products? You don't like the laws go write you
congressperson...

[Windigo]

snip

Post by A. Smith

Post by Windigo
Windigo

Entreri puts it very well in his statements. It really infuriates me that
companies want to (as someone else put it) '$$cha-ching' on the backs of
hardworking people. As far as licensing goes, that also disgusts me: by
opening the package, you agree to the terms and conditions of the 'license
agreement' contained INSIDE the package. If I don't like this agreement,
I have no recourse because I cannot return opened software.
Should I have to buy 6 copies of 'LOTR:ROTK Extended edition' ($50 ea) if
I want to have a party at my house and 6 friends watch it? I am not
commercially broadcasting it. Why should I have to pay $300?

If you're watching it on 6 different DVD players/monitors - yes

Post by A. Smith
I also agree that if my buddies were connecting to my server from their
home over the internet, they should buy copies. But we're talking ONLY
about using this in your own home with the people you live with. I would
feel bad if I was giving free copies away to everyone who asked for it
willy nilly, but this is different.

Legally there's no difference. Your lan is a network - the Internet is a
network. What's the difference. It's in your home? You might as well say
" I bought a shotgun and took it home. My buddy came over and pissed me off
so I shot him. But I'm at home so it's OK. If I'd shot him out in the
street I'd be guilty of murder but not in my house."

Post by A. Smith
This is a case of corporate greed at its best. It is not some sort of
excuse to legitimize so-called 'piracy'; it is to enable fair use. It is
the same reason why I have no-cd loaders for most of my games (Starcraft,
Diablo, etc). I own legitimate copies of all these games and yet I as
their customer am treated like a criminal. Would it be easier to simply
download a hacked version off the net and not pay these companies a dime?
Yes, but that is theft, and as much as I hate giving the corporate world
any money at all I do so.

You're a thief if you don't pay for the software. I don't have a problem
with it. It's simply a fact. Just because you don't like a rule doesn't
give you the option of breaking it without guilt.

Post by A. Smith
If I can play on both computers in single player mode at once, surely I
should be able to play also in multiplayer. This is nothing more than a
case of a bad company (tm) -- Atari -- doing evil things.

If you're playing using one CD key on two computers, you're violating
copywrite laws. This isn't a moral question it's a legal one.


Please understand me. I'm not saying Atari (in this case actually Hasbro) is
right. I don't agree with the usage restrictions and I don't always always
follow the rules. I do however know the rules and if I pirate software for
whatever reason, it make me a thief. You on the other hand want to do
whatever suits you and take the moral highground by saying "It's a bad rule.
It's not right" Well, you're still a thief. But like I said, I don't have
a problem with that.



Windigo

[Visceral_Syn]

i'm agreeing with Windigo on this one

[Barry Scott Will]

Post by Windigo
If you're playing using one CD key on two computers, you're violating
copywrite laws. This isn't a moral question it's a legal one.

Err...don't go there. Really. Copyrights are a complex thing, and, while
hacking copy protection is a violation of the DMCA, how many of us are
using No-CD hacks even though we have a copy (or copies) of the game? In
any case, shutting down your Internet connection and using a generated
CD key is not necessarily "hacking".

The use A. Smith describes is, quite possibly, protected under
interpretations of copyright law by the Supreme Court, which gives
owners of media the fair use right of making first-generation copies of
media for themselves for personal use. In his case, Smith is not even
making a copy, just using a purchased copy in a manner not allowed by
the license. However, the shrinkwrap licenses published by software
makers are not binding contracts. Unless you live in one of the US
states that has adopted UCITA (Virginia and Maryland the last I
checked), the shrinkwrap license is not legally enforceable.

[Windigo]

Post by Barry Scott Will

Post by Windigo
If you're playing using one CD key on two computers, you're violating
copywrite laws. This isn't a moral question it's a legal one.

Err...don't go there. Really. Copyrights are a complex thing, and, while
hacking copy protection is a violation of the DMCA, how many of us are
using No-CD hacks even though we have a copy (or copies) of the game? In
any case, shutting down your Internet connection and using a generated
CD key is not necessarily "hacking".
The use A. Smith describes is, quite possibly, protected under
interpretations of copyright law by the Supreme Court, which gives
owners of media the fair use right of making first-generation copies of
media for themselves for personal use. In his case, Smith is not even
making a copy, just using a purchased copy in a manner not allowed by
the license. However, the shrinkwrap licenses published by software
makers are not binding contracts. Unless you live in one of the US
states that has adopted UCITA (Virginia and Maryland the last I
checked), the shrinkwrap license is not legally enforceable.
--
Barry Scott Will
Pyric RPG Publications
http://www.pyric.com/
If you insist on emailing me, remove all the **JUNK** first

I've worked in the newspaper industry for a number of years and had to deal
with copyright issues on a frequent basis. The key word is "personal".
When you make a copy for backup or to use instead of the original you're in
line with the law. When you make copies for other people to use it is no
longer personal use. It doesn't matter if personal gain is or is not
involved.



Windigo

[Barry Scott Will]

Post by Windigo
I've worked in the newspaper industry for a number of years and had to deal
with copyright issues on a frequent basis. The key word is "personal".
When you make a copy for backup or to use instead of the original you're in
line with the law. When you make copies for other people to use it is no
longer personal use. It doesn't matter if personal gain is or is not
involved.

However, "personal" is generally extended to include the members of
one's own household. I.e. if I make a copy of a CD and give it to my
neighbor, I'm breaking the law. If I make a copy of a CD for my child,
the law is a lot less clear.

[Entreri]

Post by Visceral_Syn
not one to throw rocks at those with morals in question. But when a game
developer produces a game of Neverwinter's magnitude. the best way to praise
sed developer would be to "buy" the product. not blow smoke up his ass then
hack the only copy you've bought and say it's a great game but i don't want
to buy another one to be able to play on my home lan. I for one, think NWN
is a great product so much that i bought the Original NWN when it was
released, SoU when it was released and HotU when it was released. when the
time, that my wife was sufficiently interested in playing NWN, i coughed up
for NWN-Gold. The game is good enuff to warrant, a mere140 bucks for months,
if not years of entertainment. not to mention game developers like music
artists deserve to be paid every penny for their creative works.
...Syn...

Sorry, I disagree. I think you should be able to use the game for your own
private use whether that involves entertaining yourself and / or your
friends in your own home, in single *OR* multiplayer. Should I buy multiple
copies of a DVD movie in order to have a bunch of mates over and enjoy the
film with some beers ? Beggars belief.

If I have more than one PC and want to install it on all of them should I
buy multiple copies ? No.

Obviously if my mates are connecting via internet it is fair enough to
expect them to buy a seperate copy of the game - just as I wouldn't feel put
out if a film company objected to me sending a movie over the web for a mate
to watch.

It really annoys me when multiplayer LAN play requires more than one copy of
the game... Makes me want to just rip off the thing and not even buy one
copy in the first place.

Like those copy protections that are so much hassle, yet if you obtain a
cracked & stolen version of the game you are rewarded by not having to go
through all that crap. Remember the "type word 3 from line 7 page 432" crap
that used to abound ?

I scream in annoyance everytime (for example) Total Annihilation asks me for
the CD in multiplayer mode (CD protection is **SO** fucking annoying it is
untrue). I wonder how said companies would react if I asked for a
replacement CD as my original was destryed by wear and tear from constantly
having to put it in the CD drive. I should have made a backup ? That's
illegal too.

BTW I believe in buying rather than stealing games, and own legit copies of
NWN, SOU, HOTU and, for that matter, Total Annihilation.

[Insane Ranter]

Post by Entreri
I scream in annoyance everytime (for example) Total Annihilation asks me for
the CD in multiplayer mode (CD protection is **SO** fucking annoying it is
untrue). I wonder how said companies would react if I asked for a
replacement CD as my original was destryed by wear and tear from constantly
having to put it in the CD drive. I should have made a backup ? That's
illegal too.

No it's not illegal. You are allowed to make one copy of the disks for
archival purposes as long as the copies and original remain in your
pocession.

[Anonymous Jack]

Post by Entreri

Post by Entreri
I wonder how said companies would react if I asked for a
replacement CD as my original was destryed by wear and tear from

constantly

Post by Entreri
having to put it in the CD drive. I should have made a backup ? That's
illegal too.

No it's not illegal. You are allowed to make one copy of the disks for
archival purposes as long as the copies and original remain in your
pocession.

Whilst agreeing that each player should own their own legal copy, I
have to note that with the HotU disc, the archive copy serves no use
since I was unable to play HotU with the copied disc in the CD drive.

I've already made my opinion known (I uninstalled HotU until I get
around to buying Something that can make a usable copy so I can keep
my original CDs safe from wear and tear)

[Windigo]

Post by Anonymous Jack

Post by Entreri

Post by Entreri
I wonder how said companies would react if I asked for a
replacement CD as my original was destryed by wear and tear from

constantly

Post by Entreri
having to put it in the CD drive. I should have made a backup ? That's
illegal too.

No it's not illegal. You are allowed to make one copy of the disks for
archival purposes as long as the copies and original remain in your
pocession.

Whilst agreeing that each player should own their own legal copy, I
have to note that with the HotU disc, the archive copy serves no use
since I was unable to play HotU with the copied disc in the CD drive.
I've already made my opinion known (I uninstalled HotU until I get
around to buying Something that can make a usable copy so I can keep
my original CDs safe from wear and tear)

I've heard that the latest version of Alcohol will handle it and you might
try CloneCD. The easy way is to go to www.gamecopyworld.com and download
the noCD patch.



Windigo

[Lance Berg]

Post by Entreri
It really annoys me when multiplayer LAN play requires more than one copy of
the game... Makes me want to just rip off the thing and not even buy one
copy in the first place.

Take a look at EverQuest sometime.

You're griping about NWN requiring one copy of the game per computer...
but EQ goes even further: you are supposed to buy one account per USER.

I have NWN, and I share a computer with my two kids, no problem.
Admittedly if I wanted to put it on their computers as well I'd have to
pony up for the seperate copies...

BUT EQ asks me to buy a seperate account for each of my kids, even
though we are all sharing one machine. We aren't all logged in at once,
there's only one of us using the game at any given time...

While NWN's rule is like inviting your buddies over to watch LOTR:ROTK
on seperate TV's and seperate DVD players, so you have to buy a copy of
the movie for each, EQ is like requiring each person watching the movie,
even if its all on one DVD player/TV combo, to buy a seperate liscence
to view!

I'll leave it to your imagination whether I'm actually paying for three
EQ accounts under these circumstances.

On the other hand, I'll admit I'm seriously considering buying two more
copies of NWN gold + HOTU and rigging our machines as a LAN. Unlike EQ
with its 12.95 a month in addition to the up front fare for the
software, NWN is one payment and done... and as others have said, the
fee per hour of entertainment is really pretty low.

Lance

[Knight37]

Post by A. Smith
Problem: Having bought one copy of NwN, SoU, and HotU, I decided I
wanted to play on my LAN against my girlfriend. Lo and behold! The

[ snip hack ]

Post by A. Smith
Please send any feedback to this newsgroup. I want to know what other
people think of this.

I thought that NWN checks for a valid CD in the drive when you start it?
How did you get around this?

Knight37

[A. Smith]

Post by Knight37

Post by A. Smith
Problem: Having bought one copy of NwN, SoU, and HotU, I decided I
wanted to play on my LAN against my girlfriend. Lo and behold! The

[ snip hack ]

Post by A. Smith
Please send any feedback to this newsgroup. I want to know what other
people think of this.

I thought that NWN checks for a valid CD in the drive when you start it?
How did you get around this?
Knight37

There are patched executabled on www.gamecopyworld.com for NwN:HotU 1.62.
Download one of them and replace nwmain.exe in your installation directory.