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Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:39 pm
by Anthony817
We will dictate what happens to the game from here on. We can vote to have the game released as a torrent, or wait till the donors get their disc's pressed which they way it looks now, might be a while more.
This was just posted by Assembler himself.
Geist force contains a very unusual drm that causes illegal function calls that will crash a retail dreamcast, but not an emulator (nulldc) or a dreamcast running 5.24 bios (prerelease).
The drm was removed but the game still makes illegal function calls
that can crash the dreamcast and cause texture corruption. Simply put,
the game was made for a slightly more powerful hardware than dreamcast
became.
To have the drm analyzed , removed and a working selfboot made would
require giving access to the files to a 3rd party. Even then it may take a
long time or may not be possible.
At issue is the money people sent me for pressed discs. Most sent it
unasked for and I have kept it in the site fund untouched. However, we
lost the machine that the openoffice files (records) when my basement flooded.
I will have to laboriously reconstruct the list of people. Mea culpa.
There are three ways to approach this.
1.Give access to the files and hope drm can be removed and files are
not leaked until pressed copies are done.
2. Release the gd-r rip as a torrent and ask people who donated extra
money to graciously donate the balance or get a refund.
3. Print the disc as-is flawed but playable as the drm might not be
removable, and the game IS a beta and had issues anyway.
4. Print up the art and cases professionally and send them out with a
gold master CDR of the GD-R rip data and self boot.
Donors, is gold CD-R good enough for you?
Don't forget to vote here.
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... hp?t=36054
My reply:
I see this getting released as a torrent this late in the game.
At least we can say Assembler went FAR and BEYOND what most people would go through to try and get this done.
I think people just want to test it out on their systems or emulate it. There are enough crackers in the Dreamcast community that eventually this could be solved and be 100% playable.
Just want to tell you that you did a good job handling this and the stress involved must have been great.
Nobody can say you didn't try your damnedest to make this possible.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:45 pm
by Neohound
Mmmm, I don't know what to make of it right this moment, I think I'll have to sleep on it
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:29 am
by Neohound
OK, I've slept on it and I think option 1 is the best. Even if the files are leaked, it shouldn't make any difference to the pressed cd arrangements. After all, the files are going to be torrented at some point anyway, it'll still be a special thing to own a pressed version.
I haven't got any money tied up in it so I'm not sure if that suggestion would go down too well with people who have.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:41 am
by Anthony817
I just want to play the damn game already lmao. Its going on a year since we first heard about Geist Force.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:50 am
by Neohound
I can understand your frustration, it's just that with the possibility of a fix I think we should all wait just a little longer for a final release. Actually I can't see why a torrent of the present game couldn't be released at the same time, it wouldn't hurt anyone would it ?
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 4:55 pm
by Anthony817
Others have said this too. Release the torrent and let somebody like Tux or Capt. DC work on it and see what they can come up with.
Then, when they have a better working package press the discs and send them to donors.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:51 pm
by madmax2069
Anthony817 wrote:Others have said this too. Release the torrent and let somebody like Tux or Capt. DC work on it and see what they can come up with.
Then, when they have a better working package press the discs and send them to donors.
That is what i was thinking as well. It seem like its the logical way to do it.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:00 pm
by DoctorN
I ain't buying a dreamcast game for $60. I vote torrent, they did not make the game therefore they have no right to manufacture and sell it.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 6:34 am
by cloofoofoo
DoctorN wrote:I ain't buying a dreamcast game for $60. I vote torrent, they did not make the game therefore they have no right to manufacture and sell it.
True but people who DONATED towards to make the release happen would get pissed if that would happen.If people didnt doante 700 dollars the game would still be in someones basement.So its not like they want to keep the game tothemselves but want first dibs for at least 2 weeks b4 the rest of the world.
Also they got acouple of dreamcast hackers/coders and one anon who apparently knows sh4 assembly to work on gest force the 1st time around when it didnt work at all.So these same ppl can just fix it again.
Re: Vote what happens to Geist force Gdr image
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:54 am
by DoctorN
i did not understand any of that at all. it doesn't matter if people who already get mad at what i said. Im just saying $60 is way too overrated for a dreamcast game nowadays. Plus, the developer themselves should have the first right to sell them, which they did not. So if you are pressing them and selling them, it is illegal (if the copyright still exists and all that stuff). That is why a torrent or .cdi is the best way.