[Ian]

I'll leave this open, mainly as it has raised an interesting topic that I want to get to the bottom of. I don't think the intent of the thread was to promote illegal activity, so as long as it stays this way there isn't a problem (albeit slightly risqué!).

[floppybootstomp]

Originally Posted by Ian Cunningham

(albeit slightly risqué!)

Yes, that's much the same view I have of it really.

[christopherpostill]

i was going to say it but ian beat me to it - it's not promoting anything illegal so its ok!

[Alf]

Hmm... i think i'll stay away from cracks, im not a fan of illegal programs.

[Sontino]

Originally Posted by Techy

it's still editing copyrighted code. generally a no cd crack replaces the edits/replaces the executable file. the way a crack works is that it will remove the line of code that checks that the cd is present.

if you own the game or app then i do not see a problem with this although strickly speaking it is breaking copyright law. i was looking for a section in the copyright act but it's huge and would take ages.

as floppy said it will most likely state something about this in the license agreement you agree to when installing the software, but i also have never had the urge to read one of these, although it may prove interesting to resolve this.

J

I registered just to say that I don't think it is breaking Copyright if you actually own the game. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe you would only be breaking Copyright be reproducing the game.

In Vice City for example, as someone mentioned earlier, there is a glitch where on some PC's the CD drive doesn't synch correctly with the game and thus does open. I am a victim of this. I came to the conclusion of a NoCD, so it doesn't have to synch, and it works fine.

However, it is kind of a nuisance at times. A lot of games don't work online without the disk, and game MOD's often require the original exe to work. One of GTAForums MOD's is the one that turns Vice into Liberty City; when I asked if it would work with a NoCD, they believed I had 'stolen' the game. I even took a picture of me holding the disk next to the screen whilst typing the message; and they said I probably borrowed the disk from a friend.

But, yeah, I think it's OK most of the time. I think developers ignore them on the logic they would rather be chasing people distributing the actual game files (textures etc).

Edit - really sorry if I bumped this and it's not allowed, I found it on Google, whilst trying to get to the bottom of this myself. And if it looks like it, I'm not trying to advertize GTAForums... I think all the people there are incompetent.

[marleyuk]

If game cracks where illegal then gamecopyworld would have been shut down years ago, aswell as megagames. Both very big websites.. they also both use disclaimers that state the use of cracks for no cd use only and not for running illegal versions of games. Most games now use serials, and this is a much more reliable way of keeping software secure. From what i gather no cd cracks are legal. Im not sure if they even modify code, i think they just stop certain processes of the code being executed (actually i suppose that might be considered modifying).

Ah well. Games companys will bring them out themselves as soon as games become on a pay monthly basis.