I told you all i told you all but you all fucked me over and laughed at me that GOG will soon be adopting DRM but Aww... NooOooOooOooOoo look who's laughing now B!TCH!

I think all the peoples who noticed that the post you answered to is five years old...

Number of Introversion games in my library and wishlist together: 0 (none, nought, null)
Reason: I read this thread several years ago.

Me, because you are answering to a four and a half year old post. :P

Well, Duh. why would I write no like that if I wasn't (READ IT IN HOMER SIMPSONS SARCASTIC VOICE)
You guys really don't know jokes right?

I found the post mildly amusing so I added to it.

Because we are all sitting next to you in the same room, and can hear your voice ?...

Has something changed since 2015? I recall all this was about DEFCON having DRM that doesn't really matter (at least for single-player).

I am very much against DRM in my single-player games, but in this case I couldn't really care less because IIRC the DRM will never prevent me from playing the single-player game, not even the authentication servers go permanently offline, or I try to play the game without an internet connection.

Yeah, this isn't fixed. I tried to host a LAN game for myself and a friend who also bought the game, and the DRM wouldn't let us.

It's appalling that GOG would allow this game to be sold on the storefront in it's current state.

I know nothing. I just jump on the train of hatred, hit the panic button without thinking or checking anything, keep spreading rumours, feed petrol to the flame wars because it is fun. Do you mean I should know somehitng about what I am talking about?


So I honestly knew nothing but what I read in here four or five years ago. I guess one should check things before talking but that is like brushing teeth before eating...

Well, it did seem somewhat complicated, but what I learned about it five years ago, I decided it is "DRM" that will not prevent me from playing the game, not now and not in the future.

It did seem odd such "validation" was there though, considering how easy it is to circumvent (from what I read). In fact, that is the kind of DRM I could accept: one that vanishes as soon as the validation servers vanish.

The other kind of DRM, which I don't like, is the one which prevents me from playing the game if the validation servers go permanently offline, or if I don't have an internet connection.

Can you link to that workaround? I haven't seen any permanent fixes for DEFCON's DRM.
I was under the impression that was the kind of DRM that DEFCON has, given that the game phones home to Introversion on launch, and if it can't authenticate itself the game restricts itself to demo mode.

Note: I haven't tested this myself, but this is from various messages earlier in the thread. Maybe I should test it, just to see if those validation servers are online anymore.

So in essence, the freshly installed DEFCON is fully functional and "pre-validated". However, there is an odd DRM-ish feature that IF the game can connect through the internets to the site www.defcon.com, it will try to validate the game. At that point, it asks for a validation code that you can see in the GOG game download page, under "Serial Keys" in the menu. I think it is the same universal serial key for all users.

If at that point you don't type in that serial key, the game gets locked into a demo mode.

So, the workaround, if you insist you don't want to enter that code (or can't, because your dog ate your hands, or your religion forbids you from entering codes to internet), is to prevent the game from connecting to that server.

There are various ways to achieve that:

1. Disable your internet connection whenever you play the game.

2. Open Notepad in the Administrator Mode, open the file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts, and add the following line to that hosts file:

127.0.0.1 www.defcon.com

That makes your computer connect to itself (127.0.0.1) if any program or web browser or anything tries to connect to that www.defcon.com server. So you are preventing any programs from contacting that site. Note that some antivirus software, at least Avira Antivirus, try to prevent anything from modifying the hosts file, so you might have to disable your antivirus before you try to edit the hosts file.

For Linux users, that hosts file is under /etc/hosts. No idea why Microsoft makes everything so complicated, just compare the paths between Linux and Windows, bleh!

3. Eventually, when the site www.defcon.com is closed down permanently by the game publisher, naturally the game can't connect to it anymore in order to validate itself, and none of the earlier workarounds are needed anymore.

I am actually unsure if that validation site/server is still online? At least when I go to the site www.defcon.com, there is such a site... but to me it doesn't appear to be related to the game anymore? Or does it? Maybe Trump knows.

EDIT: Also if I understood right, this whole "validate if can connect to the defcon site" is already removed from the Windows version anyway, and still only in the Linux version, unless it is updated as well?

So I tested it myself, and as far as I can tell, the game remained validated all the time, even when I did let it connect to internet.

So this is how I tested it:

1. I downloaded the game installer from GOG.
2. I disabled my internet connection.
3. I edited my hosts file as per the instructions above.
4. I installed the game.
5. I ran the game and played it for awhile (not really understanding what I was doing in the game, should read the manual I guess). Windows firewall said the game wants to connect to internet (I presume for multiplayer), I allowed it to do that.
6. I exited the game and enabled my internet connection.
7. I ran the game again and played it for awhile.
8. I exited the game and removed the added line from the hosts file. Now the game should be able to connect freely to any site it wants.
9. I ran the game again and played it for awhile.

In all cases, the game main page said "validation status: offline". I presume that is ok, I didn't see any mention of any demo mode, or the game didn't ask for any validation code at any point.

Maybe I will test also the Linux version while I am at it, providing I can get it to work in Linux Mint 19.3.

How do you see it is in the demo mode? You said you tried a LAN game with your friend and it failed, what happened? Did it ask for a validation code, did it say it has entered a demo mode, or what? Was this in Windows or Linux?

I admit I didn't really understand how to play the game with my quick try, I just started a game by myself and put some structures on the map, and there was some countdown showing how much time was for the next DEFCON. Is this a multiplayer only game, is there any meaningful singleplayer (ie. can you play against the computer AI or such)?

EDIT: I guess there is some kind of single-player game too:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/defcon-global-nuclear-domination-game

The "validation status: offline" basically means the game is in demo mode. You can play single player all you want, but multiplayer is severely limited (and this is a fairly multiplayer focused game). The restrictions are that only one demo mode player can be in each multiplayer session, or just two demo mode players can play against each other. That means that GOG user's can't do 3 to 6 person multiplayer unless they use the CD key that GOG provides, which is all well and good until Introversion shuts down their authentication server.
The two player limit in demo mode also means that you can't play Diplomacy, since it requires more that two players.

If the game can't authenticate, you're in demo mode, as I understand.
GOG installs the game using a universal CD key, but when I tried to host a game, it complained that we both had the same key and wouldn't let us start.
The universal key will authenticate, but you can't have two players on the same server with the same key.
I think it gave my friend the option to start in demo mode after attempting to join my LAN game a few times, but I'll have to ask him.

GOG provides a unique key which you can paste into the game manually so everything will work, but that doesn't remove the DRM.