Comments on: argv and argc, and just how to get them/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/ Commercial gaming for Linux Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:53:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Max/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-903 Max Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:46:30 +0000 /?p=353#comment-903 Nah, I definitely had to retype the one of X3 and also one for another game, but I can't quite remember what the second one was. Also after the whole "re-registering", the games were kind of "bugged", e.g. the savegames for X3 were going crazy. (crashes right after loading, in the end I nailed it down to the quicksaves, the normal savegames worked) The bigger picture here might be some data corruption on the harddrive, causing this all, but I can't imagine how it might have gotten corrupted and why nothing but those two games got affected. Well, the copy protection going crazy is just as unlikely as the data corruption that just affects the games... so it'll probably remain an unsolved mystery forever. (well, even if the local data was corrupted, retyping the key would be strange, there are the... oh, well... thinking about it, there is no way to authenticate me towards the copy protection except for the cd key. The password is there to "unlock" the cd key and the email is there to recover a lost password (I'm not even sure if I entered an email adress) So if the local data got corrupted it somehow makes sense that I'd have to retype the Key) And seriously, if someone really wanted to "steal LGPs games", couldn't they just redirect the copy protections connections to their localhost selfmade authentication server? I doubt that it's such a grant miracle to figure out how your copy protection works. Sure, I understand the move, but in the end it's people like me who have to suffer from this. I never pirated ANY game at all off the Internet, back in the floppy days I occasionally copied games and I guess I also did in the CD age, although I don't really remember burning any copies of game CDs, well, I know that I "pirated" Startopia from a video rental back when it was released, but then I bought the game after two days... I never copied a single game DVD. This also makes me remember how I rented "Commandos" every Saturday back in the days, till I had played through it. It probably payed as much as I would have payed for buying the game... While writing this I tried to understand your point of view and had to think of the 2dboys anniversary sale where you can pay as much as you want. (I already bought the game for 20 when the Linux version was released and at this sale I bought a copy for 5 for one of my brothers) When I saw the figures that they released I was kind of shocked. The majority of the people who participated in the action just payed 1 cent. (And that cent essentially went to Paypal, so the guys saw nothing...) So seeing how people abuse such actions and want everything for free, I guess I can see how the copy protection is kind of needed. I never regretted paying the 20 dollars for World of Goo. It was worth it's money for sure. It kept me entertained for like... well, I can't quite say for how long, but after I bought it I played it every evening in that week and then I did not touch it for a while and one day I finished it. But well... it surely kept me entertained longer than a movie in the cinema, which costs just as much. On the other hand I can't understand how someone would pay 20 dollar for Mystic Mines. Well, maybe it's just a thing of personal preferences, because even if I'd get it for free I'd probably not really play it. I'd take a look at it to check out the game concept (the whole pushing one button thing there) and then it'd drift off into the data nirvana. Well, to sum it up, I can't stand copy protections and I can't stand software pirates. Also I guess I rather put up with the copy protection system, than not seeing any games anymore for Linux. And I'm sorry for the bracket mess and the novel length. Also make sure to pat CatMonster for me. :P Nah, I definitely had to retype the one of X3 and also one for another game, but I can’t quite remember what the second one was. Also after the whole “re-registering”, the games were kind of “bugged”, e.g. the savegames for X3 were going crazy. (crashes right after loading, in the end I nailed it down to the quicksaves, the normal savegames worked) The bigger picture here might be some data corruption on the harddrive, causing this all, but I can’t imagine how it might have gotten corrupted and why nothing but those two games got affected. Well, the copy protection going crazy is just as unlikely as the data corruption that just affects the games… so it’ll probably remain an unsolved mystery forever. (well, even if the local data was corrupted, retyping the key would be strange, there are the… oh, well… thinking about it, there is no way to authenticate me towards the copy protection except for the cd key. The password is there to “unlock” the cd key and the email is there to recover a lost password (I’m not even sure if I entered an email adress)
So if the local data got corrupted it somehow makes sense that I’d have to retype the Key)

And seriously, if someone really wanted to “steal LGPs games”, couldn’t they just redirect the copy protections connections to their localhost selfmade authentication server? I doubt that it’s such a grant miracle to figure out how your copy protection works.
Sure, I understand the move, but in the end it’s people like me who have to suffer from this. I never pirated ANY game at all off the Internet, back in the floppy days I occasionally copied games and I guess I also did in the CD age, although I don’t really remember burning any copies of game CDs, well, I know that I “pirated” Startopia from a video rental back when it was released, but then I bought the game after two days…
I never copied a single game DVD. This also makes me remember how I rented “Commandos” every Saturday back in the days, till I had played through it. It probably payed as much as I would have payed for buying the game…

While writing this I tried to understand your point of view and had to think of the 2dboys anniversary sale where you can pay as much as you want. (I already bought the game for 20 when the Linux version was released and at this sale I bought a copy for 5 for one of my brothers)
When I saw the figures that they released I was kind of shocked. The majority of the people who participated in the action just payed 1 cent.
(And that cent essentially went to Paypal, so the guys saw nothing…)
So seeing how people abuse such actions and want everything for free, I guess I can see how the copy protection is kind of needed.
I never regretted paying the 20 dollars for World of Goo. It was worth it’s money for sure. It kept me entertained for like… well, I can’t quite say for how long, but after I bought it I played it every evening in that week and then I did not touch it for a while and one day I finished it.
But well… it surely kept me entertained longer than a movie in the cinema, which costs just as much.
On the other hand I can’t understand how someone would pay 20 dollar for Mystic Mines. Well, maybe it’s just a thing of personal preferences, because even if I’d get it for free I’d probably not really play it. I’d take a look at it to check out the game concept (the whole pushing one button thing there) and then it’d drift off into the data nirvana.

Well, to sum it up, I can’t stand copy protections and I can’t stand software pirates. Also I guess I rather put up with the copy protection system, than not seeing any games anymore for Linux.

And I’m sorry for the bracket mess and the novel length.
Also make sure to pat CatMonster for me. :P

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By: Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development)/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-902 Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development) Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:38:35 +0000 /?p=353#comment-902 Well, I explained the reasoning. I'll be writing more about the copy protection in a post in the future. The new message is just to try and discourage people posting junk. We get 10-20 spams a day ever since I took out the capcha that people hated. It may have been hated but it really did work. The new one works a little, but only a little. I am tired of deleting them all so I thought it was worth mentioning they wont get through, just to try and discourage some of them. It hasnt changed how anything works, its always been moderated this way. The name qwerty didnt stick, we tries out the top 3, and she ended up as CatMonster. She's still here, right now she's sitting ontop of the scanner looking out of the window. How did you mean you had to retype some keys? You should only ever need to enter them once. Well, I explained the reasoning. I’ll be writing more about the copy protection in a post in the future.

The new message is just to try and discourage people posting junk. We get 10-20 spams a day ever since I took out the capcha that people hated. It may have been hated but it really did work. The new one works a little, but only a little. I am tired of deleting them all so I thought it was worth mentioning they wont get through, just to try and discourage some of them. It hasnt changed how anything works, its always been moderated this way.

The name qwerty didnt stick, we tries out the top 3, and she ended up as CatMonster. She’s still here, right now she’s sitting ontop of the scanner looking out of the window.

How did you mean you had to retype some keys? You should only ever need to enter them once.

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By: Max/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-901 Max Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:29:27 +0000 /?p=353#comment-901 Boooh on the copy protection. Were there really so many people copying the games? I can't understand how people can play games and at the same time copy them... either it's bad and you don't buy it or you like it and therefor buy it... Btw. What's the deal with the "Please note: This site is fully moderated"? It's new. And is Qwerty still with you? Personally I already had to retype some keys a few times... and I'd rather have saved that time. I yet got to test how the games react to not having a connection to the Internet. Boooh on the copy protection. Were there really so many people copying the games? I can’t understand how people can play games and at the same time copy them… either it’s bad and you don’t buy it or you like it and therefor buy it…

Btw. What’s the deal with the “Please note: This site is fully moderated”? It’s new.

And is Qwerty still with you?
Personally I already had to retype some keys a few times… and I’d rather have saved that time. I yet got to test how the games react to not having a connection to the Internet.

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By: Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development)/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-895 Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development) Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:47:44 +0000 /?p=353#comment-895 Thats just the updates for the second release of Majesty - the one that has the copy protection in. Both versions will have the same features, but obviously binary patch deltas will need to be different Thats just the updates for the second release of Majesty – the one that has the copy protection in. Both versions will have the same features, but obviously binary patch deltas will need to be different

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By: mateo/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-894 mateo Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:27:33 +0000 /?p=353#comment-894 Majestyr2? What is this? //updatefiles.linuxgamepublishing.com/majestyr2/ Majestyr2? What is this?

//updatefiles.linuxgamepublishing.com/majestyr2/

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By: titi/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-866 titi Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:03:13 +0000 /?p=353#comment-866 I would simply use a second class for the start. Thats much better in my opinion and you have none of these problems. I would simply use a second class for the start. Thats much better in my opinion and you have none of these problems.

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By: Edd/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-843 Edd Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:32:45 +0000 /?p=353#comment-843 Not that I like it any better, but do you really have to worry about quoting in /proc/*/cmdline? On mine it appears to be null delimited strings. I run: sleep '1'{2,1}'3'4 123 and then look up the pid and run: tr "" "\n" < /proc//cmdline and see: sleep 1234 1134 123 It seems to me that, ugly as depending on /proc & reading this from a file interface is, reading the contents on cmdline as-is ought to be safe. If the contents of cmdline is not always that safe, then you have a(n other) compatibility issue. Edd Not that I like it any better, but do you really have to worry about quoting in /proc/*/cmdline? On mine it appears to be null delimited strings. I run:

sleep ‘1′{2,1}’3′4 123

and then look up the pid and run:

tr “” “\n” < /proc//cmdline

and see:

sleep
1234
1134
123

It seems to me that, ugly as depending on /proc & reading this from a file interface is, reading the contents on cmdline as-is ought to be safe. If the contents of cmdline is not always that safe, then you have a(n other) compatibility issue.

Edd

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By: blindcoder/2009/10/12/argv-and-argc-and-just-how-to-get-them/comment-page-1/#comment-842 blindcoder Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:44:01 +0000 /?p=353#comment-842 Personally, I'd say the second... Personally, I’d say the second…

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