Direct SecuROM related heat to VUG NOT Irrational!

SecuROM would have been added post-gold. It was a (very bad) choise made by Vivendi Universal Games, NOT Irrational.

What's worse is that in all likely hood this means a deal has been signed between VUG and SecuROM's developers to include it on the disks... thus if Irrational was to release a patch to disable it, they could be in big do-do (case in point, Bioware vs Atari over Never Winter Nights).

Not only is securom stopping people from hosting dedicated servers, but it also has a habbit of preventing people from being able to use their paid for product AS INTENDED in legitimate was. This is due to some very well known issues as to how SecuROM detects a possible "rip".

It's bad... but it's not Irrational's bad.
Flame VUG!

this is just....wow. its ALMOST on par with T2. jaaayyyeeezzzzuuuusss.

It doesn't matter who's fault it is, it needs to be responded to and fixed.

It doesn't matter who's fault it is, it needs to be responded to and fixed.

No arguing about that... but I'd hate to see Irrational's reputation damaged due to something that's beyond their control.

Hence the thread.

Indeed.

Securom/CD checks for dedicated server = VUGs fault
No standalone dedicated server = IGAs fault

I'm beginning to wonder why the release was pushed up one week when they had all of these issues listed in the RETAIL readme:

KNOWN ISSUES
---------------

* Hosting multiplayer games with 56k modem access is not recommended.

* When changing key mappings, it is possible for User to enter game with no control functions that have no keys assigned, this is NOT recommended.

* Multi-Player Arena games require a minimum of 4 minutes to play, regardless of a lower time setting that is reset in Host, Advanced settings.

* Installing under "Windows XP Limited user account" causes failed installation and non-progression.

* Game cannot be started by user who lacks Administrator access in Windows XP.

* The bonus of 3rd person view (Z key) is not supported.

* Map editor and development tools are not supported.

* Game profile and save files remain on hard drive after uninstallation.

* User must delete in game "Recordings" in the C:\Program Files\VUGames\Tribes Vengeance\Program\Bin folder.

* "Enable Team Membership options" in Multi-player profile page is not working and is for future versions.

* Non default audio and video options do not load with saved games.

No arguing about that... but I'd hate to see Irrational's reputation damaged due to something that's beyond their control.

Hence the thread.

However it was at least partially preventable by IG. Proper analysis might have determined that it would have been a good idea to distribute the dedicated server files to people who were already running demo and beta servers to have servers running on release; much less making sure a dedicated server application was available for general download by server admins.

Securom/CD checks for dedicated server = VUGs fault
No standalone dedicated server = IGAs fault


Being pushed into an early release = VUG's fault.

I'm sure IGA woulda liked to have held onto it for awhile longer. Who knows what sort of pressure VUG had on 'em to pull the early release?

This is effing retarded. I will NOT be purchasing T:V until this issue has been corrected.

So why is nobody from Irrational here now? I haven't seen anyone here all day, and today is the day the game is hitting the stores.

BitRaiser - 12:42pm Oct 6, 2004 PST

Well, thanks to someone's bright idea to include SecuROM (and known defective flavor of anti-copy protection) you can't run a dedicated server without a CD in the drive. Since Irrational didn't get time to finish a stand alone DLable server, this means that the release servers are severly crippled.

Nice one VUG.

Irrational is already taking heat for this, but it should be known that they were NOT the ones to place SecuROM on the disks. This is done by publishers.

Why they would use something with as many known problems as SecuROM is beyond me. To include it without giving Irrational the heads up is just irresponsable.

Bad VUG, BAD!!

If VUG want's to avoid nasty situations, they had best give Irrational premission to disable SecuROM in an early patch, else this will result in massive returns and/or civil lawsuits! This happened to Atari over their use of SecuROM and it got bad enough for the local EB's to drop several of their lines.

What's so bad about SecuROM?

Well, for starters, since IR didn't know it was going to be there, they couldn't account for it. This has resulted in the CD being required to be in the drive to host a dedicated server. This in turn means there's only a fraction of the servers up right now than there could be. Also (and more importantly to me) SecuROM is known to cause failures to opperate even in legitament circumstances. Certain types of hardware or software will cause it to disable your ability to use the product you have bought in it's intended capasity (ie, you aren't doing anything bad... just trying to play what you paid for!).

This is not a bright move in the slightest. A bit of market research could have prevented some grief here... someone needs a good firing from their cushy job. .

No arguing about that... but I'd hate to see Irrational's reputation damaged due to something that's beyond their control.

Hence the thread.

They should have had the standalone server done, so they should get heat as well. This isn't just VU's eff-up.

So why is nobody from Irrational here now? I haven't seen anyone here all day, and today is the day the game is hitting the stores.
I'll bet the are FREAKING out... or will be as soon as they've had their morning coffee.

Asura, heehee, ya caught that, eh?

i was going to at least see what people were saying on VUGs boards.

They should have had the standalone server done, so they should get heat as well. This isn't just VU's eff-up.

Wanna bet that the last week of dev was supposed to be focused on having the standalone server ready?

I suspect that the main reason we haven't heard anything from them is because they are currently killing themselves trying to get it together and out the door. Remember, for their interenal dev cycle they were supposed to have this time to work on stuff like that.

this is just....wow. its ALMOST on par with T2. jaaayyyeeezzzzuuuusss.

How is this almost on par with the release of T2?? In my opinion, the Tribes 2 launch was much better than Tribes:Vengeance.

For the T2 launch I picked up the game in the late morning on the release date, went home and played on a dedicated server on a true high speed connection, not someone's DSL connection. I even took the day off of work to dedicate to the T2 launch as did others in our clan.

Within one hour I had registered my user and our clan and had been tearing it up on dedicated servers. The multiplayer support for T2 far exceeds T:V at the current level. I understand there were two different developers, but for a game that is known as a multiplayer first person shooter, this isn't exactly the best move, albeit one which won't affect game play.

However, I still went out and bought T:V because the demo was loads of fun and I could get around the glaring issues which have not been addressed going on good faith that future patches would address these issues. Tribes 2 failed largely in part to Vivendi/Sierra killing off Dynamix before they had a chance to fine tune the product.

Had I known about the copy protection issues ahead of time, I probably would not have purchased T:V until Vivendi fixes the issue. The lack of standalone dedicated servers will decidedly end the Tribes series unless something is done in the immediate future. Let's face it-how many of us were planning on running home and playing the single player campaign?

shazbot with T2 I was able to install the game, after a few minor problems. As it stands right now, I cannot install the game with no offer of an explination why. And it comes down to it either being the SecureRom issue, which I doubt.... OR another issue which is what I imagine is the case.

Either way, as someone who doesn't have the TW resource or any other small resoure I would have returned this game by now. However I'm going to keep on it simply because I have confidence that IGA will compensate for the effup of VUG or at least try. Either way I'm hoping that this will be a problem for not very long.

This is effing retarded. I will NOT be purchasing T:V until this issue has been corrected.

Amen.

This apparently needs a bump since folks still aren't getting what the issue is.

This apparently needs a bump since folks still aren't getting what the issue is.
Neither are you, appearently.

Neither are you, appearently.

How so? Feel free to fill me in if I'm missing something.