.com.unity Forums - Frustration

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- Space Empires: IV & V (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20)

- - Frustration (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=22295)

Ahhhh! My copy of Space Empires IV gold has been on back order for over a week!!!! Damn them for not having a downloadable Version!

Patience, young padawan. Center yourself in the moment. Be mindful of the living Force.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Quote:

TheBirthdayParty said:
Ahhhh! My copy of Space Empires IV gold has been on back order for over a week!!!! Damn them for not having a downloadable Version!

Believe me we have asked. I know many people would have gladly paid extra for the option to DOWNLOAD now, and have the disk sent to them.

I just did a check of my se4:Gold dir (fresh install including latest patch) and it's only 206meg "Uncompressed" hmmm,.. I'm curious.. brb.. I rar'd my game dir and it shrunk to 65meg More than small enough to make a D/L Version available. Heck there are many game 'Demos' that are 250meg+ and they are available for free (with no guarantee of a purchase after the download) so it a 'Paying' customer would like the option to have a downloadable Version I think it's just plain wrong that it is not available.

(I would understand if the installer was huge like 640meg (full CD size) but 65meg? It's just not right.)

..I just checked and the 'Demo' for Dom2 is 71meg and the 'demo' for Starfury is 60meg So there really is no reason that a 'Download-Option' should not be made available.

I simply do not understand why there is not a D/L option for SE4:Gold. The arguement for 'Bandwidth' does not fly since they already have 'Demos' of equal or greater size which do not guarantee a sale.

Nuf said,.. Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Edit,.. I just checked the setup.exe on the SE4:Gold CD and it's 80meg... still not bad. Oh, and some of you might argue that the download Version would not have the 'Extras' but most of the stuff is allready outdated and more recent Versions of the mods are available from fan sites. So are the many utilities. And, I would further say that the D/L Version could be cheaper, there is no need for a printed manual, the .htm Version is included in the install. And The player who pays for the downloaded Version should make a CD backup to protect his purchase. It might be argued that this would encourage piracy, but the setup.exe could be protected by a reg key or some such animal.. Anyway,.. I'm babbling, sorry.

There is a whole new layer of hassle and trouble involved with providing purchased products for download. Demos don't matter much, since they just get downloaded without any purcahsing going on.

For example, like making sure no-one fiqures out the direct link to the download itself
Or making sure proper secruity is in place if it does happen

It's also much riskier from the standpoint of piracy. It's much easier to find a copy of a piece of software if there is already a bundled downloadable Version floating around.

Slick said:
"It's also much riskier from the standpoint of piracy. It's much easier to find a copy of a piece of software if there is already a bundled downloadable Version floating around."

Precisely, having a downloadable Version anywhere seems to invite a piracy attitude, like the company was asking for it.

I suppose there could be a free download, with a separate key code to unlock the executable. But then what? Pirates will just copy the key code. SE4 isn't like Diablo or other MMPORG's -- there's no scanning of your disk when you log on to the PBW server. SE4 can even be played over Email, so it would catch nobody.

I was indifferent to the download issue. My disks took a couple of days to arrive, and I could wait. But people in Europe, for example, had to endure a real long wait.

Quote:

Arkcon said:
Slick said:
"It's also much riskier from the standpoint of piracy. It's much easier to find a copy of a piece of software if there is already a bundled downloadable Version floating around."

Precisely, having a downloadable Version anywhere seems to invite a piracy attitude, like the company was asking for it.

I suppose there could be a free download, with a seperate key code to unlock the executable. But then what? Pirates will just copy the key code. SE4 isn't like Diablo or other MMPORG's -- there's no scanning of your disk when you log on to the PBW server. SE4 can even be played over Email, so it would catch nobody.

I was indifferent to the download issue. My disks took a couple of days to arrive, and I could wait. But people in Europe, for example, had to endure a real long wait.

damnd right :/

What you can do while you wait for your new shiny game to arrive, which you will end up doing eventually, I promise:

- read through every data text file in the demo. the full game has more, but most of the basics are in the demo.
- read the stickified threads at the top of this forum; start with the newbie FAQ
- download the latest patch, v1.91
- read through the history.txt file at Malfador.com to see the changes.
- you really should play the basic game for a while before trying mods, but you can download mods that you might like. Start with the TDM modpack, since this only makes the AI better, and you want to be able to beat the AI before you try your hand at multiplayer.
- Set up an account at the PBW website and check it out.
- Grab your mailman by the collar and tell him just how much pain he will be in if your game doesn't arrive by tomorrow. j/k