What retro things have you done today?

[Ninco!]

Just having a look, supposedly no longer abandonware and it's on gog instead

My heart skipped a beat when I read this post! McRae listed on GOG?! This would be an instabuy! I think they had McRae 2 yonks ago, but it got pulled alongside other Codemaster games like Operation Flashpoint and Severance. Sadly never to return on GOG. Still have my original CM1 on disk but its a bit finicky with XP.

Stage one on Colin McRae was to me, akin to Guest 2's Moto Racer exploits - used to drive that first stage over and over!

Never knew Moto Racer was available - will check it out.

Nice to see GOG extending the Microprose catalogue to match Steam. Love to see F15 Strike Eagle 3 appear, loved that game! Well, apart from one weird thing, the massive manual references all the allied and axis planes, only there were never any friendlies in game! Loads of bogeys but no Allied jets! You battling the whole of Korea/Iraq alone.

 

[LewisRaz]

The seller of the S370 board offered me a refund which is great... But now I am back on the hunt for a p2/3 board with 2 isa slots for a reasonable price!
I have another s370 cpu on the way on the very rare chance both my cpu were dead. Might even try and recap it to see if it helps. Seller said it was working when removed and was packaged really well so I cant work out why its broken now. If I can get it going I will send him the money back.

 

[Guest2]

General question about GOG / other sites selling what were games with no license / absndonware.

If the game is hosted on (sometimes multiple) websites, the GOG buy resurrect / buy the license, is that website then breaking the new license agreement?

What I find is that GOG repackage a game and its different to the original in some way or another which I really dont care for - often things missing, added or slightly different. Even if the inststaller is different, its not original. I like the original installers with sound setup and all the rest if the 90s style config.

If its a ‘new’ game then is the original license agreement not in fact broken?

 

[ZombieFan]

General question about GOG / other sites selling what were games with no license / absndonware.

If the game is hosted on (sometimes multiple) websites, the GOG buy resurrect / buy the license, is that website then breaking the new license agreement?

What I find is that GOG repackage a game and its different to the original in some way or another which I really dont care for - often things missing, added or slightly different. Even if the inststaller is different, its not original. I like the original installers with sound setup and all the rest if the 90s style config.

If its a ‘new’ game then is the original license agreement not in fact broken?

In the vast majority of cases, legal abandonware isn't really a thing. Generally, a game's IP remains with the company who registered it, or with whoever bought out that company.

Microids hold the IP for Moto Racer, and so GOG would have done a deal with them to repackage it and bring it to their storefront. During the time it wasn't available to buy, it was still owned by Microids and any unauthorised usage (including distribution on an abandonware site) would have been illegal.

 

[Guest2]

In the vast majority of cases, legal abandonware isn't really a thing. Generally, a game's IP remains with the company who registered it, or with whoever bought out that company.

Microids hold the IP for Moto Racer, and so GOG would have done a deal with them to repackage it and bring it to their storefront. During the time it wasn't available to buy, it was still owned by Microids and any unauthorised usage (including distribution on an abandonware site) would have been illegal.

What about another game, Forsaken.

It used to be Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. but it shows dead on that site - https://www.trademarkelite.com/europe/trademark/trademark-detail/000647644/FORSAKEN

Yet it's on GOG and Steam - https://www.gog.com/game/forsaken?pp=0ca9277f91e40054767f69afeb0426711ca0fddd

I found a note from a forum mod...


Expack2
13-12-2010, 09:02 PM
Since no-one supports Forsaken, it's not being sold from official sources, and it's not ESA protected as of 2007, I can, therefore, say:

Forsaken - [APPROVED]

However, it now is sold on official sources... but the trademark registration expired On 8/10/2008

Maybe its not the original as the GOG and Steam versions are "remastered" versions. Does this then mean the orignal version can be downloaded legally?

 

[ZombieFan]

What about another game, Forsaken.

It used to be Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. but it shows dead on that site - https://www.trademarkelite.com/europe/trademark/trademark-detail/000647644/FORSAKEN

Yet it's on GOG and Steam - https://www.gog.com/game/forsaken?pp=0ca9277f91e40054767f69afeb0426711ca0fddd

I found a note from a forum mod...


Expack2
13-12-2010, 09:02 PM
Since no-one supports Forsaken, it's not being sold from official sources, and it's not ESA protected as of 2007, I can, therefore, say:

Forsaken - [APPROVED]

However, it now is sold on official sources... but the trademark registration expired On 8/10/2008

Maybe its not the original as the GOG and Steam versions are "remastered" versions. Does this then mean the orignal version can be downloaded legally?

Not sure to be honest. The Forsaken remake was done by Nightdive Studios (https://www.nightdivestudios.com/games) who specialise in remaking old games. This article states that they track down the licence holder and purchase the rights from them before doing the remake so I'm guessing they own Forsaken now. The rights can end up in some strange locations. The rights for System Shock 2 were found to belong to an insurance company in Michigan!

They're on Discord so it's worth asking on there if you're interested.

 

[ZombieFan]

I just found the thread from which you quoted. I suppose it all depends on what people decide "Abandonware" means. From that thread, it looks like it's claimed to be Abandonware if it isn't being sold and the publisher isn't actively upholding the copyright or have allowed the game to be public. The copyright is usually still owned by someone somewhere

 

[Ravenger]

Also just because an old game is available on GOG or other digital services, don't imagine that the original devs will see a penny of the sales. The money goes to whoever holds the rights and not necessarily the original devs. I know this from experience.

It's still always best to buy these games though, as I'd much rather something I worked on was actively being sold, played and enjoyed rather than being abandoned and having no legit way to get hold of it. Still, royalties would be nice

 

[cee-S-dee]

Also just because an old game is available on GOG or other digital services, don't imagine that the original devs will see a penny of the sales. The money goes to whoever holds the rights and not necessarily the original devs. I know this from experience.

It's still always best to buy these games though, as I'd much rather something I worked on was actively being sold, played and enjoyed rather than being abandoned and having no legit way to get hold of it. Still, royalties would be nice

What did you work on Ravenger?

 

[Akagi]

I might just keep spamming offers of £20, then 19, then 18...

You cant.

 

[Guest2]

You cant.

Yeh, i did try but couldn't

 

[paradigm]

Received my Asrock 4CoreDual SATA2 board and had a quick play. Updated to the latest unofficial bios (2.20a) to give me more memory support and a bit better stability.

Running a Core 2 Duo E4700 @ 238*13 for 3.1GHz~. 2x2GB PC6400 Crucial Ballistix, and currently an AMD Firepro V4900 (just threw in a simple PCIe card that didn't need external power whilst I was troubleshooting and testing FSBs).

Just need my Dimsatech bench to arrive now and then I'm actually going to be tempted to do some videos of various GPU comparisons (got a youtube channel set up, but no content yet )

 

[Kurgen]

Received my Asrock 4CoreDual SATA2 board and had a quick play. Updated to the latest unofficial bios (2.20a) to give me more memory support and a bit better stability.

Running a Core 2 Duo E4700 @ 238*13 for 3.1GHz~. 2x2GB PC6400 Crucial Ballistix, and currently an AMD Firepro V4900 (just threw in a simple PCIe card that didn't need external power whilst I was troubleshooting and testing FSBs).

Just need my Dimsatech bench to arrive now and then I'm actually going to be tempted to do some videos of various GPU comparisons (got a youtube channel set up, but no content yet )

do you need anymore socket 775 systems , I have 2 boards , one with core2duo and another with core2quad that i dont need

 

[paradigm]

do you need anymore socket 775 systems , I have 2 boards , one with core2duo and another with core2quad that i dont need

Nah, I've already got another 2 motherboards and 6 or 7 CPUs!

The only reason I bought the Asrock (when I already have multiple 775 systems) was for the AGP and PCIe on a single motherboard.

 

[shuffle]

Watched the running man last night , 7/10 for me. Set in 2019 it’s showtime! Made on the best year for video games and computers ever! 1987. so then played the running man via my mister fpga on Atari at. Amiga. Amstrad, Commodore 64 and then the spectrum from grandslam games.

 

[LewisRaz]

Decided to rebuilt my P3 rig with the old motherboard and also put it on my desktop style case. Spent over an hour relaxing and matching every screw and managing all the cables. Only to wonder if that new 933mhz socket370 cpu would work in it instead of the 866 slot 1.

It did!

So next I decided to fit the proper heatsink onto it, slipped and smashed 2 nearby ICs.

Good night

 

[paradigm]

Decided to rebuilt my P3 rig with the old motherboard and also put it on my desktop style case. Spent over an hour relaxing and matching every screw and managing all the cables. Only to wonder if that new 933mhz socket370 cpu would work in it instead of the 866 slot 1.

It did!

So next I decided to fit the proper heatsink onto it, slipped and smashed 2 nearby ICs.

Good night

Dude

What got damaged? Throw up a pic or two, I can probably fix it assuming we can find the required ICs.

 

[LewisRaz]

Dude

What got damaged? Throw up a pic or two, I can probably fix it assuming we can find the required ICs.

Properly gutted mate!

I wiped away the dust and took a pic, with this level of zoom it looks like maybe only 1 is broken although the one to the right of it looked bothered to my eye last night.

I am not sure what these chips are for but they are TINY

As you can see half of RN31 doesnt even exist anymore

 

[paradigm]

Ah so it's a resistor network/resistor array. Should still be fixable though, the only real consideration would be protecting the CPU socket from the heat of the hot air station.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133689744853?epid=1139312681&hash=item1f20879dd5:g:L68AAOSw97RgSiRp

 

[LewisRaz]

Ah so it's a resistor network/resistor array. Should still be fixable though, the only real consideration would be protecting the CPU socket from the heat of the hot air station.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133689744853?epid=1139312681&hash=item1f20879dd5:g:L68AAOSw97RgSiRp

Great find! I am chasing a couple of boards locally but dont want to pay asking price for them. Perhaps attempting to repair this board would be a good idea.

Just somewhat missing my windows 98 machine! Have not had a working one since last weekend and usually have a game on it most nights.