Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Mergatroid on September 12, 2008, 11:02:34 am
-
Is it legal (or has it ever been, technically) to download Freespace 1 and 2 since Good old Games is now selling both? I'm just wondering because I don't want anyone here to get in trouble for anything.
And so I can download it before I have to pay for it. :p
But seriously, I'm just looking out for you guys. :)
-
Downloading both FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2 is illegal. But it is good to keep in mind that there are far more horrible crimes than downloading a couple'o ten-year-old games without paying.
So... you know. Hush hush...
-
It dosnt matter for me I have copies of both games and the silent threat add on. :) :) :) :)
-
Seriously people, I don't care how old it is.
It's going to be 5-10 dollars, anyone can afford it. The "I can't find it anywhere" excuse isn't going to cut it anymore. Not to mention you can get the games, in a box, for like 3 bucks+shipping off a certain auction site.
-
K... In that case my excuse is that when I download FS from teh Interwebs, I contribute to saving the planet, since I only get the game I want and not a boatload of papers and plastic with it.
-
K... In that case my excuse is that when I download FS from teh Interwebs, I contribute to saving the planet, since I only get the game I want and not a boatload of papers and plastic with it.
That would be true if Freespace was print on demand, but it's not. Freespace along with most computer games are printed X number of times and therefore there are X number of such games in circulation. By not buying a copy of the game you're not saving anything, you just ensure that that the paper and plastic sit in someone's store/house instead of your own.
Not to mention the fact that soon you'll be able to do exactly that, pay for a game from Great Old Games, and not get a hardcopy. Whenever their store opens up.
-
K... In that case my excuse is that when I download FS from teh Interwebs, I contribute to saving the planet, since I only get the game I want and not a boatload of papers and plastic with it.
That would be true if Freespace was print on demand, but it's not. Freespace along with most computer games are printed X number of times and therefore there are X number of such games in circulation. By not buying a copy of the game you're not saving anything, you just ensure that that the paper and plastic sit in someone's store/house instead of your own.
But by keeping up my Ways of Teh EvilTM, I encourage publishers to give up and just distribute their games via teh Interwebs with some means.
Or alternatively, if I don't buy the printed game, someone else indeed will. And in that case, it is the other person's fault, because he now owns unnecessary paper and plastic ****.
-
But by keeping up my Ways of Teh EvilTM, I encourage publishers to give up and just distribute their games via teh Interwebs with some means.
It's called "Steam"
-
Now that FS2 is (or will soon be) available via Good Old Games, I kind of feel like there's no reason for us to keep condoning posting the download links around here. That was all well and good when the only way to get your hands on the game legally was to pay $120 on eBay, but now that we have a cheap, DRM-free means of obtaining it, one would think that we'd want to encourage supporting the company that's making it available again.
-
But by keeping up my Ways of Teh EvilTM, I encourage publishers to give up and just distribute their games via teh Interwebs with some means.
Or alternatively, if I don't buy the printed game, someone else indeed will. And in that case, it is the other person's fault, because he now owns unnecessary paper and plastic ****.
It's a $6 game that's been out for ten years. If you want to try and save the planet, go not buy a game that's $50 and was just released. You'll be depriving the game company of at least ten times the amount of money you will be by buying Freespace.
In a roundabout way, you're supporting the community by buying it instead of illegally downloading it, since Interplay can say that they got a sale because of you and because of this community. If you download it illegally from this community, well, you can hardly complain about the price given the content you're getting with it. It's probably not that much more than the CD, the cost of packaging, and the infrastructure required to distribute it at $6.
If that's not good enough, look at it this way - you're getting several shiny coasters and an extra cereal box for when you travel.
-
Alright. Alright! If someone dies a slow and horrible death because of my actions, I'll send a formal letter of apology.
-
Steam is an annoying method of distribution. I hate paying for something that has to check back with big brother to see if I can use it. GOG is the way to go, I'm guessing you're just downloading an exe or an ISO or something, either way you could easily make yourself a hard copy of it once you've downloaded it, that you should be able to use, I'm guessing without GOG.
-
Steam is an annoying method of distribution. I hate paying for something that has to check back with big brother to see if I can use it. GOG is the way to go, I'm guessing you're just downloading an exe or an ISO or something, either way you could easily make yourself a hard copy of it once you've downloaded it, that you should be able to use, I'm guessing without GOG.
Oh I hate Steam with a bloody passion too. It's more of a copyright protection tool than a distribution method in my opinion. Especially seeing as how a game, I bought from a store, cannot be played without an internet connection to Steam to verify the fact I own the game I have in my hand (not to mention to download the last 5% of the game which apparently didn't come in a box).
But I'll cut the rant short this time.
-
FreeSpace and FreeSpace2 are both $5.99 US at Good Old Games. Quite a deal, especially considering FreeSpace also comes with Silent Threat. So there really is no excuse to download it for free.
Off-Topic: I do like that site, I just wish they had a bigger selection.
-
If someone does buy it, I'd like to know exactly what you end up downloading. I would buy it but I already have FS1, ST and FS2.
-
QUESTION......
WE (the company I work for) last printed FS2 that Nov of 2002/3? about 500 copies.
I secretly think it was bogus from Schoolpop.com (I pimped them at $15.00 a pop+shipping for FS2), but since the paperwork was legit we made them and shipped them to the NEW Distributor...
Did GOG get the rights permission from Interplay to do this? (Digital Download)...
-
They do seem to be securing the rights from a lot of publishers, I think Interplay might be one of them. Interplay has been reaching out towards various methods of distribution of their old titles lately. But it is something I would like to know for sure as well.
-
will the upgrade scp still be available or did GOG murder that too?
-
Uhm, GOG hasn't murdered anything. On the contrary, they've given FS2 fans a legal way to acquire the game we all love (I hope) at a more than fair price, which should support Interplay as well. And they can't take back the fact that the engine is open source, that's like worrying that open source Doom engine projects would end because id started selling Doom again on Steam. If all goes well, this could become the preferred way to acquire the original FS content, but the MediaVP enhancements will always be around for free, as well as the SCP engine.
-
ok that's what i was wondering. also since freespace was afaik considered abandonware does this mean GOG now has custody of it?
-
And even if they changed something about FS2, it would most certainly concern the game engine. If you use the FSO engine, the original engine of the game will be ignored and any changes in it go completely unnoticed.
-
Here's the thing: If you care at all, then you care enough to buy the game. If you don't care, then stop whining and "procure" it before the prices rises above a few hours worth of internet usage.
-
That's the thing, it's not abandonware. Just because Interplay is too poor to enforce their rights over the game doesn't mean they don't still own it. GOG has no custody of it. They're merely a distributor, Interplay is still the publisher, and Volition is still the game's developer. Interplay still owns the license to the universe and the game itself.
-
From all reports I've heard, even though it's still in a closed-beta phase, GOG has quite a product. No DRM, no Steam-like interface, no reporting back to some central server somewhere. Just a simple download that you can back up as many times as your little heart desires. I'm half-considering signing up for the beta myself.
-
I already did. Hope I get accepted soon.
-
If anything this should boost the number of members on HLP and other places as Freespace becomes more accessible to more individuals, it should bring more players and more interest into the community. Likewise, the large community should stimulate interest in GoG and potentially increase their sales to some extent though probably not to the same extent that it helps modding. So unless HLP is crimping their business I don't see why anyone would crak down on us.
-
makes sense, although you never know what sort of fit they might through if we're percieved as a threat...
-
The only threat we pose is that there are currently numerous places to get the ISOs that they're charging $6 or whatever for. We could stop distributing retail data if this looks like a viable method of acquisition, and there would be no more threat from us.
-
Out of curiosity, would it be possible to distribute only free, community content with FS2, in the case of a total conversion like BtRL?
-
I think that if there is an active publisher for FS2, it'd be in the community's best interest not to try to compete with them. Don't you agree? I mean we do want them to make money off of it don't we?
-
Only if they're gonna continue the series personally. . . To a :v: standard at the very least.
-
I think that if there is an active publisher for FS2, it'd be in the community's best interest not to try to compete with them. Don't you agree? I mean we do want them to make money off of it don't we?
Personally er... not really
-
No one's going to continue the series, but the point still stands that promoting a cheap, convenient, legal means of acquiring the game serves the community's best interest. FS2 seems to be one of those games that has a decent amount of notoriety around the PC gaming world, so if people realize that this Good Old Games source exists (and from what I've seen, a decent amount of word has gotten out about it), they'll be more likely to either try it for the first time or pick it up again after a long while. More people playing FS2 means more people learning about the SCP (providing we do our jobs right) and potentially getting involved in the community, which is a good thing. There are communities out there that would kill to get their games featured on a similar service.
-
I think that if there is an active publisher for FS2, it'd be in the community's best interest not to try to compete with them. Don't you agree? I mean we do want them to make money off of it don't we?
Personally er... not really
So you think it's in the communities best interest to provide FS2 illegally while an online store provides it legally for rock bottom prices?
-
I'm all for removing our ISO links once this site gets underway. It looks like they're going to have a forum, a few well-placed posts could significantly increase SCP downloads.
-
I think that if there is an active publisher for FS2, it'd be in the community's best interest not to try to compete with them. Don't you agree? I mean we do want them to make money off of it don't we?
Personally er... not really
Look, since you're 13, I'll go easy on you. Basically, since there are currently no official distributors of Freespace, there's no one to actually care that we make it fairly easy to get a copy of the game at no cost. But if Interplay, the company responsible for the game we love, actually does enter into an agreement with a distributor that starts helping them make more money, it would not help anyone to keep that up. Even though I already own the game, I'd be tempted to buy another copy just to prove a point. It is piracy after all, and when there's actually someone around that it could hurt, it definitely changes things. HOTU has no problem telling people where to acquire old games, if they're still around, and we shouldn't be any different. It's DRM free, and even if the game itself is somehow broken with the SCP after any possible changes they make, everyone should at least be able to say they've legally acquired their copy somehow.
-
i hate it when i post random things and forget about it. i must have been half asleep or somthing
:( sorry looks like i'm still a noob
-
My excuse is that I bought FS2 on the week it game out and the discs got old. Since I'm paying for a license, not a disc, if distributors are to be believed, then the loss of the disc through age does not destroy the license, therefore I still own FS2 even if the original discs are destroyed now.
-
People are much more likely to try the game if it's free, and the community is much more likely to grow as a result.
What we could do is stop distributing retail data, but widely distribute a FSOed version of the original FS2 demo.
-
Yeah we can distribute all the demo data we want.
-
I'd say the demo is the best idea. The Beta has closed now, so we do need to be looking seriously at what we are going to do about this.
In all fairness, GoG seem to be doing a pretty good deal, and frankly, I'd like to be able to go onto a few forums and advertise the GoG deal AND the SCP together, but I'd feel awkward doing that if we were sort of flying in their faces.
-
If someone can throw a demo package together, preferably under 1GB, and distribute it in common formats (Windows installer) that would rock. It should be pretty easy to, if time consuming. I'd do it, but my 80GB hard drive is currently at 79, and Freespace is not installed. Goober did a FSdemo for SCP a while back, throw in the necessary models (I think all the models but the Hatshepsut are now hi-polied), the textures (normal maps, glow maps, and all), tables and table mods (they'd need to be modified a bit), shaders, redone music, ect...
Then we can take the retail data off of the installer, maybe include a "where can I get FS2" link in it, we can become (finally) fully legit AND advertise ourselves more than ever before (with no fear of repercussions)
I think one thing that's always held our population in check is that we don't really want to advertise ourselves because distributing the retail data is of questionable legality.
-
If someone can throw a demo package together (preferably under 1GB) and we take the retail data off of the installer, maybe include a "where can I get FS2" link in it, we can become (finally) fully legit AND advertise ourselves more than ever before (with no fear of repercussions)
Hmmn, even with all of the new mediavps, we're still distributing sounds and main halls etcetera which belong to interplay and are not open source am I rght? Of course, the obvious answer to that is to simply make a new main hall (ie the mission style one) and include some homebrewed interface art or whatnot.
Though the music may be impossible to get around. Unless the demo used some of Darius' or Inferno's tracks or whatnot (though I think some of the BP ones are ripped from other games)
-
Well, any sound resources that were released with the demo should be usable, so I guess we'd have to check through that.
-
Yeah, wouldn't the demo essentially be just using the original demo VPs and not the retail ones?
-
I think some of the demo music is the same though . . .
-
That doesn't matter. It was in the demo, so it's free. Same with Doom, just because the first act of Doom was in the full game doesn't mean you can't distribute the shareware version anymore.
-
If anyone needs the demo for comparison let me know I still have it on my file server. :pimp:
-
Anyone else up for this? I have some time coming up after I knock a couple more essays off my plate. Next Monday I can start doing this if no one else claims it.
**** with it... can I claim the demo SCP? I need something to do.
-
I made a topic about stuff in the demo vps that wasn't in retail. I think it was in either this board or FreeSpace Modding.
-
Yup, you did. Right here. (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,56352.msg1138638.html#msg1138638)
I think though, that it might be easier to start out with the actual demo, rather than Goobers modded version of the campagin and the retail files.
-
I see that Freespace 2 is being sold @ gog.com, does anyone know what's changed from the retail version of FS2? The supposedly made them compatible with XP and Vista, but I don't know what else has changed.
-
By all accounts, it's exactly the same as the retail version of the game patched to 1.02 with the CD requirement removed. The SCP should be able to run just fine on it once it's installed. I just got into the site's beta the other day, and it looks like they have a great product going for them; not only can you back up your original download as much as you want, but you can also re-download what you've already purchased so long as you continue to have an account on the site. All of that for $6 sounds like a hell of a deal to me. I think Turey plans to remove the retail version of the game from his installer as soon as the site leaves beta, since there won't be any excuse for people not to purchase it after that.
(I merged your post into this thread, since they're both about the same topic. Tweaked the thread title a bit, too.)
-
We should ask HOTU to take theirs down too probably. And Kara to update his FAQ :)
-
I think though, that it might be easier to start out with the actual demo, rather than Goobers modded version of the campagin and the retail files.
My version of the demo is compatible with with FS2 retail and doesn't require any additional mods. It's just cleaned up and bug-fixed. It could probably even run with the demo EXE, although I haven't tried.
So, unless you're even more fastidious than I am (which is rather unlikely), I'd recommend starting off with the cleaned up version. :)
-
We should ask HOTU to take theirs down too probably. And Kara to update his FAQ :)
Barring yet another gremlin attack I'll try to update the FAQ this evening to reflect the situation.
-
So, unless you're even more fastidious than I am (which is rather unlikely), I'd recommend starting off with the cleaned up version. :)
Good point, and one well taken.
Definitely starting with yours.