No-CD patch legal?

maartena · Post by **maartena** » 13 Sep 2004 19:12

I keep having to insert my CD when I want to play, and that annoys me more then anything

There are No-CD patches out there, and I have installed the No-CD patch to make life a lot easier.....

But is this No-CD patch legal if you have purchased the game legally? Not that I really care, as I paid my dues and such, but just wondering......

Patchman · Post by **Patchman** » 13 Sep 2004 19:35

If you're in the US it's almost certainly illegal because of the DMCA (it's circumventing the copy protection, no matter that you have a legal copy). In other countries with somewhat saner laws it's probably legal if you have a legal copy of the game, but I'm not a lawyer and to get legal advice you need to see one

fsdave · Post by **fsdave** » 13 Sep 2004 20:30

In PC Gamer ( UK ) they were saying its borderline, touch and go, depends what your using it for, legal if you own the game.

plus if your in the UK even if you didnt own the game, nobodys going to come bursting through your window if you use it... So if you DO own it theres even less chance than no chance....

nessin · Post by **nessin** » 13 Sep 2004 20:33

maartena wrote:I keep having to insert my CD when I want to play, and that annoys me more then anything There are No-CD patches out there, and I have installed the No-CD patch to make life a lot easier.....

But is this No-CD patch legal if you have purchased the game legally? Not that I really care, as I paid my dues and such, but just wondering......

To date I don't believe it has gone to court (end user using a no-cd patch with legal copy), and by the letter of the law it does violate the DMCA. However, we also have the Fair Use angle to consider, if you can prove (probably through reciept and physical product) that you purchased a game legally, I don't think any judge would rule against you in court thanks to Fair Use.

Kinda like Fanfiction. Fan-fiction (stories created by people using backgrounds/chatacters/places/etc... created by another person) is by the letter of the law illegal. However the legality of fanfiction has gone to court (I can probably find the actual case if anyone really wants a link to it) and been deemed legal under the Fair Use policy, as long as it's not used for profit and such.

Edit: All of that I said above only applies to the United States.

Edit of the Edit: Better option would be to research how to detect the copy protection and make you own perfect backup-cd, with the protection on the cd. Still a bit... vague/unclear... on the subject of the legality, but not nearly so much as using a no-cd patch.

illspirit · Post by **illspirit** » 13 Sep 2004 20:36

I'm not sure if a no-cd crack would break multiplayer, so use at your own risk.

Patchman · Post by **Patchman** » 13 Sep 2004 21:22

It doesn't break anything, since Locomotion doesn't have to validate against an Atari server that would check this.

maartena · Post by **maartena** » 13 Sep 2004 21:47

illspirit wrote:I'm not sure if a no-cd crack would break multiplayer, so use at your own risk.

Thats not a problem - I renamed the original executable and can always copy it back and pop in the CD for multiplayer. I RARELY play multiplayer though....

ampz · Post by **ampz** » 13 Sep 2004 22:36

Why? Multiplayer is ten times more fun than singleplayer.

maartena · Post by **maartena** » 13 Sep 2004 22:41

ampz wrote:Why? Multiplayer is ten times more fun than singleplayer.

Because I don't spend hours at a time at the computer when playing. I play for 30 minutes, then push pause and go do something else for 20 minutes. Then play for an hour, then push pause and go have dinner or take a walk with my wife.... then, 2 hours later I may sit down again and play for another hour or so.

I think the other persons would get annoyed if I take so many breaks

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 13 Sep 2004 22:44

Multiplayer is a bit laggy. But when you find someone in your country or near your county. It is very nice. It's nice across continents too. I have played a couple of times with a swiss. It's on the slow side, but fun none the less. You forgot the slowness after a bit.

I wish i had a lan...

Mystic · Post by **Mystic** » 14 Sep 2004 00:53

I wonder if this no-cd patch will help me with my legit version of the game, which for some reason won't startup properly anymore. I could reinstall, but I don't want to risk losing my completed scenarios.

(Check out the CD Copy Protection Problem thread in the Locomotion Problems for my problem.)

Slace · Post by **Slace** » 14 Sep 2004 00:56

its always a violation of the agreement you agreed to when installing as you are using a modified version of the exe, regardless of who modified it

Transport Tycoon Forums

No-CD patch legal?

No-CD patch legal?

Re: No-CD patch legal?

Who is online