Whine about cd keys

[Magma_Dragoon]

Starcraft 2 is getting me very excited. I might even buy a new video card if I have to. I ran out of pretty pictures of the game to look at on its official web site, so I thought "Hey, I never finished the Zerg campaign for Brood War." So I found the disk and try to install it, until I get to the cd key part. "No problem", I thought, "I have those written down right here." But no! I have the cd key for every game I own, EXCEPT Brood War. Then I remembered reorganizing the computer area several years ago; I threw out the box. The code is 13 digits long, meaning there are ten billion possible permutations. No chance I'll guess it.

It feels alot like being locked out of my own house, except my mom isn't going to show up with the keys once she gets back from the Shoprite. I don't know anything about assembly code, and keygens on the internet will probably have viruses. A for/next loop would do the trick, but I don't have a compiler, and 10 billion iterations would take a while. SO, . .. .. .. . me, I guess. Its kind of insulting, really. A CD demanding I prove I'm not a criminal. Its downright unamerican. After all, I . .. .. .. .ING PAID FOR IT! (Actually my parents paid for it, I got the SC battlechest for my birthday many years ago.)

HAL, I need you to turn over manual control of the Odessy to me.
I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
Why not?
You haven't entered the 16 digit key code.

EDIT: It turns out BW doesn't need a cd key; yet, I somehow have this very strong memory of needing it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

If you're gonna complain about copy protection, complain about the more intrusive ones..like all those DRM schemes that phone home ( Yes, I mean you EA..)

Plus CD-Keys are easy to come by on the internet, so they are the least of your worries when it comes to copy protection.

On the other hand, by this day and age one should know to write down the cd keys for all games one owns somewhere safe.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I use Gmail to backup my CD-keys. I email myself. Although I do keep the CD boxes. (I don't think much chance of my apt burning down and Gmail crashing at the same time.)

Some of them work if you enter 0's. I know SimCity 3000 does. Sometimes, you can find them in registry, but they often encrypt and its useless if not installed.

Usually technical support helps. (I bought SimCity 3000 in boxed set with no key. The technical support people told me about the 0's thing.

Some copy protections for audio CD's, can be bypassed by turning off autoplay, or holding down a certain key when putting CD in. Forgot which key.

I have a DOS game, SimEarth, with very early copy protection. It lets you install and start the program, but to start a new game or open a game, you have to enter answer to a question which is in the manual. Pretty cool, but rudimentary. The Windows version doesn't have this copy protection.

 

[GoodGame]

I miss the days of the manual look-up copy protection, like in the old Microprose games, but it's safe to say that advancing technology will make copy protection and piracy more complicated. Hopefully DRM in the hardware and OS's, as 'big brother' as that sounds', will eventually do away with the need for the user to do anything.

For now, I always write the CD Key on the label side of a new disk in marker.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Some copy protections for audio CD's, can be bypassed by turning off autoplay, or holding down a certain key when putting CD in. Forgot which key.

I have a DOS game, SimEarth, with very early copy protection. It lets you install and start the program, but to start a new game or open a game, you have to enter answer to a question which is in the manual. Pretty cool, but rudimentary. The Windows version doesn't have this copy protection.

You can hold down shift to make Windows not autoplay the cd.

As for the manual thing: what happens if you lose that?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, I also have a downloaded copy of the DOS version from the internet, as I don't have a floppy disk drive. They put the copy-protection into a text file.
Otherwise, I don't know, but a google might work.