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With only one more Atari-Hasbro title left, Icewind Dale 2 Complete brings us perilously close to completing our awe-inspiring offering of epic, level 20, masterwork role-playing games.

[url=http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/icewind_dale_2]Icewind Dale 2 is a computer role-playing game and the last title created with the Infinity Engine. The setting of choice is, of course, Faerûn of the Forgotten Realms, home to legendary tales and heroes beyond count. The mechanics come from the Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, meticulously adapted to work in a real-time game. The story is just enthralling, good enough to compete with any fantasy novel. The dialogue is rich and enjoyable. The characters memorable. The combat satisfying and expertly paced. The game... An absolute masterpiece. If you don't have it yet - get it now. And if you've already got one... What's the harm in getting yourself a backup?
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kalirion: Yes, but the right code was guessed within 2 minutes. If someone modified their code that quickly, good job :)

But that's the reason I don't recommend anyone else to do the exact same thing.
That whole thing is along 4 lines of Python code based on a dictionary structure and the combination algorithm + print the results. :)

It grows a little if you want it to try the codes automatically, but the first part is trivial to write
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Khalaq: Why does it have to be horizontal? You could take the above code and put it vertically.

O R N A
V H E H
D T R R
O N T L


Yes, many different ways to make it harder for scripts.


-Khalaq
Trivial. Read it as a matrix and generate groups of 4 based on vertical, horizontal, corner to corner or whichever way.

Edit: A way to make it harder if the original codes weren't 4 groups of 4 characters separated by another character. Random length codes would do indeed make things harder for automated scripts.
Post edited November 04, 2010 by AndrewC
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Eclipse: Bloodrayne 1 is actually a damn good game :|
The second one was a bit of a let down...
Not so much when you are expecting to get IWD2, don't you think :-)?
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Zchinque: What I would do if I were to do a completly random giveaway like this would be:
1. make any post without a code
2. wait for the thread to grow a couple of pages
3. Edit code into old post with "This code was added [TIME]" in huge letters
4. Wait for a lucky someone to stumble over the code.
been there done that :) hhehe.. :)
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Damuna: You gave the example of Kalirion's code, which was trivial to macro.
I gave his post as example of "something unexpected". If any code giver will change his method of code revealing every time he's posting, then any macro would be useless. Posted code should be something easy to break for any human being and should take a lot less time than modyfing any macro.

It is more fun to "break the code" also. :D I do like puzzles like I said yesterday. ;)
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Eclipse: Bloodrayne 1 is actually a damn good game :|
The second one was a bit of a let down...
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Vault_Boy: Not so much when you are expecting to get IWD2, don't you think :-)?
Worse for whoever was planning to give Bloodrayne1 to someone, only to find it redeemed by some random douche :p
See, children, this is what happens when people start relying on the aid of a stranger. They'll start coming up with clever ways of securing it for themselves and themselves only. Theoretically at first, but who knows what later.

Seriously, if I were TWW, I would stop doing it. Random kindness has evolved into something else now, I'm not quite sure what. It's extremely interesting from a sociological point of view, but doesn't really serve its purpose any more, whatever it was.

(And yes, I'm a hypocrite, as I grabbed one of TWW's codes myself, a fairly long time ago.)
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akwater: been there done that :) hhehe.. :)
I'm still waiting for that C++ thing you said you'd do at one point. I haven't done any against-the-clock code writing/analysis since highschool and I kind of miss it.
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Damuna: You gave the example of Kalirion's code, which was trivial to macro.
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Lexor: I gave his post as example of "something unexpected". If any code giver will change his method of code revealing every time he's posting, then any macro would be useless. Posted code should be something easy to break for any human being and should take a lot less time than modyfing any macro.
Every time a code is given change it up a little bit. No script can anticipate every change somebody can make with those codes.
guys, how about just buying the damn game and stop talking about giveaway codes? ;)
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Zchinque: Worse for whoever was planning to give Bloodrayne1 to someone, only to find it redeemed by some random douche :p
Now that were a more interesting game for the coders here than lame sniping scripts: Start a stealth redeeming war :D.
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bazilisek: Seriously, if I were TWW, I would stop doing it. Random kindness has evolved into something else now, I'm not quite sure what. It's extremely interesting from a sociological point of view, but doesn't really serve its purpose any more, whatever it was.
I agree. TWW should post randomly, not at every release and in the released games thread; that would make things more interesting and situations where people just wait for the code to pop up less frequent.
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AndrewC: Trivial. Read it as a matrix and generate groups of 4 based on vertical, horizontal, corner to corner or whichever way.

Edit: A way to make it harder if the original codes weren't 4 groups of 4 characters separated by another character. Random length codes would do indeed make things harder for automated scripts.
I think the point is being missed, here. Yes, you can create a script to check in the manner you described AFTER THE FACT, but the script writer would have to adapt the script to cope with the unexpected format. The time it takes to do that would be longer than the time to manually type in the code.

anothEr exaMple wouLD be To caPitAlize tHose letterS whiCh Are parT of the cOde and lEt the hUmaNs PeiCe thEm toGetHer.



-Khalaq
Post edited November 04, 2010 by Khalaq
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AndrewC: I'm still waiting for that C++ thing you said you'd do at one point. I haven't done any against-the-clock code writing/analysis since highschool and I kind of miss it.
Yeah I gotta learn enough C++ still lol it's been on the back burner for awhile now... sadly been reading papers and all that *work* stuff so I havent had a lot of time to do stuff I wanna do :)
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GoJays2025: Every time a code is given change it up a little bit. No script can anticipate every change somebody can make with those codes.
If the code giver can come up with it, chances are any script coder can also come up with it. The point is, it's all futile in the end. If someone wants to start using scripts and macros to get these codes instead of simply buying the damn game, then they'll simply keep improving on their script until it can cover ever single possible method used to post a code (based on all prior examples used).

As I said, only a system such as Aliasalpha's one would cause problems. So, if you don't want some macro interfering with your gift giving, don't post the code. Find a different way to award the code.
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Lexor: I gave his post as example of "something unexpected". If any code giver will change his method of code revealing every time he's posting, then any macro would be useless. Posted code should be something easy to break for any human being and should take a lot less time than modyfing any macro.
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GoJays2025: Every time a code is given change it up a little bit. No script can anticipate every change somebody can make with those codes.
Yes, That's what I'm talking about. Just change instruction/way "how to get code" every time. No macro will cover infinite number of possibilities.
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bansama: If the code giver can come up with it, chances are any script coder can also come up with it.
So you prefer to modifying macro every time you see "something unexpected" just for this one time, instead of just as human follow written instructions? Good luck with that :D

I bet that in such every case before macro will be modified, code will be redeemed by some human. ;)
Post edited November 04, 2010 by Lexor