as we all now by now you can't play ptw after patching it, because it keeps on asking for the original cd, even though it is in the bloody drive all the time.

this is a LEGAL way to work your way around this bug.
download the .zip file here:

Link Removed

download the 1.14 patch and apply it, then replace your civilizationx.exe by the one inside the .zip file (ALWAYS backup your original files!)

it will work, however you STILL need to have the original CD in your drive, so there's nothing illegal about this one!!!

We've received feedback suggesting that this patch may not be legal. Please bear with us while we contact Firaxis as to the legality of this patch.

the game won't start without the cd in the drive, so what could possibly be not legal about this file? there were a lot of complaints and signs over the last days that if firaxis wouldn't fix this quickly, some hacker would. well, here you go!

It's not up to me whether or not the file is legal. I didn't make the game or the laws. I have submitted the link to Firaxis, expect a reply w/in a few days.

its also depending on the country you are in:
for example in germany, it is totally legal to have those patches, as long as you do not use it without owning the original game. it even is explicitly allowed to copy things you own for personal usage (which also includes giving it away for relatives and friends (max5) for free for a limited time).
but those laws are different all over europe and especially all over the world.
afaik, the european laws will soon disallow USAGE of those tools, but providing the cracks will still be within the law.

the main problem would be that in most countries the tempering with the code itself which is done by the people doing the patch is illegalized. but under that law, you should also delete the patched civ3-editor from the forum, as this will be disallowed in whole of europe soon and is in fact disallowed in may european countries :-)
[you see the consequences which this has]
but maybe we should disallow ALL external file-links in the forum... just in case.

Anyone who owns the PtW cd and has problems with the copy protection should contact Infogrames Interactive. The copy protection scheme is set up by them, so if it causes problems (and I know it does) they need to know about it.

They supplied a fix for regular Civ3, and if they find out that it's needed for PtW, I'm sure they'll do the same. Customer pressure will of course help them speed up the process :)

Not that I don't understand that everybody is impatient, and just wants to play, but using/advertising/making cracked patches is probably not going to make future copy protection schemes less problematic...

I personally feel the legal matter is stressed too much here. What about the ethical matter of knowingly selling people a buggy, laggy, crashy add-on for 27 euros just because you want it on the market before the holiday season.

They know the patch is not working and have send some emails stating 'everyone at infogrames' is working on it. I find it hard to believe that a patch still isn't available after a week with everybody at infogrames working on this rather simple problem.

And then we only have 1.14 which is still laggy, buggy and crashy like a beta version.

I'm really sorry I don't have the time to participate in the chat today, because I'm curious what Firaxis has to say about this.

ProPain

The crack is illegal, because you can use a copied cd of PTW now as well. :rolleyes:

But read the news: They will come with a new patch within two or three days. :yeah:

My German is not all that great, but it seems to me that the patch is already available in both German and English:
http://www.infogrames.de/newsarchive.php?newsID=105&lastID=
"Update 1.14f online"

Direct links:
English binary (http://www.infogrames.de/products/pc/civilization_3_addon_play_the_world/downloads/civ3ptw114f.exe)

German binary (http://www.infogrames.de/products/pc/civilization_3_addon_play_the_world/downloads/civ3ptw114fg.exe)

Please correct me if I am wrong :)

- Thomas Kæregaard, Denmark

was at infogrames, went offline again and now is online for the second time.

another source for ALL patch versions:
http://www.civ3.de/www/content/index.php?cat=13&page=view&kat=patch

(*lol* posted this hint a few times, 'cause I like to have all the patches released on one download page, since I'm playing with different civ and ptw versions ;o))

regards

M.

The patch is here:
http://www.infogrames.co.uk/site/showpatch.php?action=patch&game=Civilisation%20III%20-%20Play%20the%20world&url=ftp://ftp.download-center.com/pub/Download/core/civ3/patches/Civ3PTW114F.exe&filesize=10.2&filename=Patch%20v1.14

It's from december 9. Can't see if it works though.

A crack isnt illegal as long ad you own the game. At least here in the US. This seems logical. If you own the game you are allowed to edit whatever you want about it without distributing it. ANd just because the crack could potentially be used to make pirated copies dosent make it illegal. I mean, Icould use my car to mow peple down but that dosent mean I will.

Just for the record: The 1.14f patch from infogrames.co.uk works for the european edition....