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Lifthrasil: DRM on GOG: list of single-player games with DRM
Cheers for opening a thread on this important topic!

I'd like to preemptively extend my gratitude for the work you'll put into this and keep my fingers crossed that this list may never grow as long as the 2nd class mix did!
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Lifthrasil: Age of Wonders III - cosmetic/name only: it is impossible to create a single player profile. Without connection to the server you have to play as 'Guest'.
Perhaps they are Beauty and the Beast fans. Can't think of any other possible reason anyone would do something this completely unnecessary...
Post edited November 24, 2020 by WinterSnowfall
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Lifthrasil: Read here
Thanks for posting that info.

I support the point you are making.

Although at the same time, I don't think we can blame the Support rep who was responding to your ticket. For him to give you the kind of real answer that you are looking for and that you deserve to have...no doubt that is something that goes beyond his jurisdiction to provide.

Having said that, the proper response would be for that Support rep to escalate the matter to a higher level in the company, and then for someone who has the authority to speak on the matter actually to do so, both in reply to your ticket, and also via a public announcement to all GOG customers too.

Definitely GOG is being real shady by refusing to have anyone in the company speak about the matter and tell their customers, with open full disclosure, what, exactly, GOG has done about the problem so far, what the devs have said in response to GOG about it, and what else, if anything, will GOG do about it in the event that the devs choose not to fix the problem.
Great initiative, Lifthrasil.
An important but sadly also deeply disturbing thread. I really hope it does not require much updating for obvious reasons.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Definitely GOG is being real shady by refusing to have anyone in the company speak about the matter and tell their customers, with open full disclosure, what, exactly, GOG has done about the problem so far, what the devs have said in response to GOG about it, and what else, if anything, will GOG do about it in the event that the devs choose not to fix the problem.
Where do you get the impression that Gog is refusing "anyone" to speak from ? The whole "...yet cannot provide any comments regarding this situation. " is standard support-talk for saying "it's outside of our competency and we don't know anything more about it" and as has been mentioned multiple times Gog doesn't threat tickets about NMS issue any differently that others with similar issues, as in, closing them as "resolved" even before the issue was actually resolved. Also e every time a similar issue pop-uped Gog didn't really communicated (apart from the usual "we contacted the devs" ) on it until they got a definitive answer, so I don't really see why peoples are surprised it's the case here too.
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Lifthrasil: Age of Wonders 3: All modes except Hotseat require a unique CD key, which will be located in your game shelf, and an on-line account with Triumph Studios.
Just to be clear, are you counting CD-keys for multiplayer like (afaik) Neverwinter Nights?

It's interesting that a similar list wasn't made back when Galaxy started being required for multiplayer, or even back when CD-keys were required for multiplayer, since that's been going on for years now. Or maybe a list was made and I just missed it.
Post edited November 24, 2020 by tfishell
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Lifthrasil: Age of Wonders 3: All modes except Hotseat require a unique CD key, which will be located in your game shelf, and an on-line account with Triumph Studios.
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tfishell: Just to be clear, are you counting CD-keys for multiplayer like (afaik) Neverwinter Nights?
No. I'm not counting them since a CD-key doesn't prevent you from installing the game on any future computers even if the publisher and GOG cease to exist. You just have to store the key with your downloaded offline installers.
I know, strictly speaking CD-keys are a form of DRM, but it's not a form that impedes the longevity of the game. Unless you lose the key, of course.

For Age of Wonders 3 the crucial line is: ... and an online account with Triumph Studios ... that is definitely third-party DRM!
Post edited November 24, 2020 by Lifthrasil
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tfishell: Just to be clear, are you counting CD-keys for multiplayer like (afaik) Neverwinter Nights?
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Lifthrasil: No. I'm not counting them since a CD-key doesn't prevent you from installing the game on any future computers even if the publisher and GOG cease to exist. You just have to store the key with your downloaded offline installers.
I know, strictly speaking CD-keys are a form of DRM, but it's not a form that impedes the longevity of the game. Unless you lose the key, of course.
I'd suggest adding these to the list if people happen to provide this info, but obviously your choice.
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Lifthrasil: No. I'm not counting them since a CD-key doesn't prevent you from installing the game on any future computers even if the publisher and GOG cease to exist. You just have to store the key with your downloaded offline installers.
I know, strictly speaking CD-keys are a form of DRM, but it's not a form that impedes the longevity of the game. Unless you lose the key, of course.
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tfishell: I'd suggest adding these to the list if people happen to provide this info, but obviously your choice.
OK. You're right. It's up to everyone themselves to decide which form of DRM is too much. So I will include CD-keyed games too, with the appropriate description, if people provide that information.
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Lifthrasil, I don't know if it's relevant to this topic (feel free to ignore it if you feel it isn't), but the issue with FEAR still remains unresolved. For those unaware, unlike every other former SecuROM game on GOG that had it removed, the SecuROM in FEAR was only partially removed (it was fully removed from the base game, but it's still partly running in the background for the two expansion packs Extraction Point & Perseus Mandate). It can be triggered under some conditions (one reliable way is to try and start one of the expansions with Process Monitor running in the background though it has affected others, eg, with Virtual CD drivers that create a fake optical drive from mounting an ISO file) and doing so the still partially active SecuROM will block the game from starting and throw up a "Security Module" (DRM) error message linking to a web page on the SecuROM site:-

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/fear_installed_securom_all_over_my_computer_does_anyone_know_how_to_get_rid_of_it/post480

https://www.gog.com/forum/fear_series/gogs_blatant_lies_regarding_securom_in_fear/post1

https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2019/04/25cdba3339e2951600264adf14b1ddeee6156c6b.png
https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2018/03/c42b72546cbf8ae851f6f369c0fa4b1c318b2a92.jpg
https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2018/03/b1e4d994b659ba723faf9209c1e62b55d575ad47.jpg

The excuse GOG first made for not fixing it was "it's just completely inert DRM remnants (eg, registry settings) that are installed only on clicking Multi-player". Then when some of us posted confirmation (I did this myself in first link above) of it being very much active enough to block the expansions from running without ever touching the multi-player, it was "well, uh, it's not DRM, it's for debugging / anti-cheat purposes" which of course sounds absurd when you realise FEAR is an old-school FPS with it's own internal cheat codes in... So I'll leave it up to you to decide whether it counts or not as "single player DRM".
Post edited November 24, 2020 by AB2012
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AB2012: Lifthrasil, I don't know if it's relevant to this topic (feel free to ignore it if you feel it isn't), but the issue with FEAR still remains unresolved. For those unaware, unlike every other former SecuROM game on GOG that had it removed, the SecuROM in FEAR was only partially removed (it was fully removed from the base game, but it's still partly running in the background for the two expansion packs Extraction Point & Perseus Mandate). It can be triggered under some conditions (one reliable way is to try and start one of the expansions with Process Monitor running in the background though it has affected others, eg, with Virtual CD drivers that create a fake optical drive from mounting an ISO file) and doing so the still partially active SecuROM will block the game from starting and throw up a "Security Module" (DRM) error message linking to a web page on the SecuROM site:-

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/fear_installed_securom_all_over_my_computer_does_anyone_know_how_to_get_rid_of_it/post480

https://www.gog.com/forum/fear_series/gogs_blatant_lies_regarding_securom_in_fear/post1

https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2019/04/25cdba3339e2951600264adf14b1ddeee6156c6b.png
https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2018/03/c42b72546cbf8ae851f6f369c0fa4b1c318b2a92.jpg
https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2018/03/b1e4d994b659ba723faf9209c1e62b55d575ad47.jpg

The excuse GOG first made for not fixing it was "it's just completely inert DRM remnants (eg, registry settings) that are installed only on clicking Multi-player". Then when some of us posted confirmation (I did this myself in first link above) of it being very much active enough to block the expansions from running without ever touching the multi-player, it was "well, uh, it's not DRM, it's for debugging / anti-cheat purposes" which of course sounds absurd when you realise FEAR is an old-school FPS with it's own internal cheat codes in... So I'll leave it up to you to decide whether it counts or not as "single player DRM".
Hum, I played FEAR offline without encountering any of these problems. This is somewhere between DRM and bug, that GOG refuses to fix. But in the list it goes. The readers can decide for themselves if it counts.
Post edited November 24, 2020 by Lifthrasil
For the multiplayer list: Alien Versus Predator Classic 2000 states the following on the store page:

Multiplayer Notice: Please note that the GOG Galaxy Client is required to access Multiplayer

Multiplayer is available only between GOG.com users.

(why I took it off my wishlist)

Battlezone 98 Redux:

Multiplayer Notice: Please note that the GOG Galaxy Client is required to access Multiplayer
Post edited November 24, 2020 by Time4Tea
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tfishell: I'd suggest adding these to the list if people happen to provide this info, but obviously your choice.
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Lifthrasil: OK. You're right. It's up to everyone themselves to decide which form of DRM is too much. So I will include CD-keyed games too, with the appropriate description, if people provide that information.
FWIW, I recommend against it, it will fill your list with tens of games (I have 49 games with CD-keys in my library) and hide the "real" culprits. People will enter the thread, see all these CD-key games, and leave with the impression that you are just a fanatic and that there are really no DRM games on GOG.
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Lifthrasil: OK. You're right. It's up to everyone themselves to decide which form of DRM is too much. So I will include CD-keyed games too, with the appropriate description, if people provide that information.
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mrkgnao: FWIW, I recommend against it, it will fill your list with tens of games (I have 49 games with CD-keys in my library) and hide the "real" culprits. People will enter the thread, see all these CD-key games, and leave with the impression that you are just a fanatic and that there are really no DRM games on GOG.
That is a good argument too. ... But the list of DRM-ed multiplayer games is going to be long anyhow. Hmm, I have to think about this.



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Time4Tea: For the multiplayer list: Alien Versus Predator Classic 2000 states the following on the store page:

Multiplayer Notice: Please note that the GOG Galaxy Client is required to access Multiplayer

Multiplayer is available only between GOG.com users.

(why I took it off my wishlist)

Battlezone 98 Redux:

Multiplayer Notice: Please note that the GOG Galaxy Client is required to access Multiplayer
Thanks!
Post edited November 24, 2020 by Lifthrasil