bl00k

Join Date 09/2008

Is there a Demo?

I haven't found one yet.

I haven't found a link to a demo for Sins yet. Does one exsist? I got Sins for my birthday and in an effort to recruit some friends to play with they've asked if there is a demo.

I'm new here, but have seen a few posts about piracy and the likes in some of the other threads and it seems like people like to talk about it here. So, not to start a flame war, but rather have a discussion I pose this scenario:

I would like my friend to get Sins so I have someone to play it with. He doesn't want to spend money on something he can't try out first. I don't see a demo for Sins online anywhere. I've read about Sins and the noble efforts by Ironclad and StarDock to not include any DRM on the disc. This isn't my favoriate genre, but when I read about StarForce posting a torrent link to Sins on their forums because Sins didn't include their bullshiznit DRM I knew that Ironclad was fighting the good fight and was someone I needed to support. I also read ***http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming**** this article and finally see that someone on the developer side "gets it".

So my question to anyone is; Do you feel there is any harm in me making a copy of Sins to let my friend use to try it out?

Feel free to take that in any direction you want. I've already decided in my mind what I'm going to do. As I said earlier, I'm not out there trying to screw Ironclad out of a sale, I know that if my friend likes it he will purchase it. He may not be a ninja, but he is definitely no pirate.

Feel free to stop here. I do have some other questions though.

1. If there is a demo out there, will I be able to play with my friend using my full version? I really want to get together with him in a MP game. I think that would really sell him on it.

2. If I do make a copy of my game for him, will he be able to patch it since I had to register with my cd key to get the patch? Or can I just give him the patch that I downloaded on a disk or something? I don't remember the game asking for the cd key on install, or am I mistaken?

End of questions. If you want to read even further I will tell you why I don't feel bad about copying this game for my friend to try it out and why I feel Ironclad agrees.

Here is a quick story about something that happened at work a few months ago.

I like punk rock, and Rancid is one of my favorite bands. I have bought all their albums, gone to shows, and bought other merchandise. I like the fact that I'm supporting a band I like. I could easily download their music for free, as I have done with other bands. I have a coworker that is 52 years old (I'm 30 if you are wondering). He likes lots of different kinds of music. One day I had him listen to a Rancid song. He said he liked it. I told him he could download whatever mp3's he wanted from me if he wanted to. He said that he didn't want to do that because it is illegal. I said, "Yes, it is. And Rancid is one of my favorite bands. But I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty giving you a copy of their music." I then asked him if he would ever, in a million years, walk into a record store and buy a Rancid CD. He of course said no. So what is Rancid losing? I burned him a disk of just some of my favorite songs. He ended up liking it a lot and ended up going and buying one of their CDs.

I know that not everyone thinks or feels this way, but as the article from Ironclad said, What are you losing if that person was never going to buy it in the first place? And what do you gain? Well, you don't treat your paying customers badly with DRM and they hopefully love you for that. And that illegal copy may just turn someone into a devoted fan that is willing to either buy a legit copy of your game or maybe buy your next project.

Ok, that is about all I have to say for now. Gratz to you if you're still reading this.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

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Demo: http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/11955/Sins+of+a+Solar+Empire+Demo

Though for LAN game purposes, we do allow you to install it on a second person's machine for the duration of the LAN party. Exact same process to install and update as for yours, though you'll need to remove it afterwards, expecially if you use Impulse (since you'll have to log in with your account).

but when I read about StarForce posting a torrent link to Sins on their forums because Sins didn't include their bullshiznit DRM I knew that Ironclad was fighting the good fight and was someone I needed to support.

That was actually with GalCiv2, not Sins, but yeah.

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So my question to anyone is; Do you feel there is any harm in me making a copy of Sins to let my friend use to try it out?

The Sins EULA allows you to install Sins on a second PC and play LAN without needing to buy a second copy. So you can play LAN games with your buddy.

Technically speaking, making a straight up copy is obviously frowned upon Stardock and Ironclad basically give you permission in good faith to demo the game with the LAN.

Now moving on to the demo: yes, there is one. You can get it off Impulse, Fileplanet, Gamespot, Filefront, take your pick. I'll give you a Filefront link: http://files.filefront.com/Sins+of+a+Solar+Empire+Demo/;9861753;/fileinfo.html

1. If there is a demo out there, will I be able to play with my friend using my full version? I really want to get together with him in a MP game. I think that would really sell him on it.

I don't believe the demo has multiplayer. But this sort of becomes a moot point if you can LAN with the full version. Online MP obviously needs the unique cd key.

No, you didn't enter the cd key on install, and it's only needed to patch (v1.1 and on) and for online MP. The current final patch version is 1.05, and this is available as a standalone update (again, check Fileplanet/Filefront). But from the upcoming v1.1 and on, you will need to use Impulse to patch and the cd key is permanently tied to your account.

In closing, if your friend is definitely looking for a reason to buy it, then definitely go ahead and play some LAN games and show him how great it is. There's nothing on the disc (obviously) that prevents you from doing so. As I said above, SD/IC go on the honor system here a bit. They allow you to copy the disk without limitations, and instead of putting DRM/copy protection, they encourage people to buy them with good patches and good support. So, hopefully your friend will like it and buy it.

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Oh, that's right, it was GalCiv2. I got confused. It was a while ago that I read it.

Thanks for the Demo link. I couldn't find it on the site. I was looking under Downloads. Maybe you can add a link there.

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Thanks again for the replies.

Like I said, I'm not here trying to pirate Sins. I'm really enjoying the game and I really want to support IC/SD for being so bold as to not include DRM. This is really something I can get behind whole heartedly. My friend is very anti-piracy and I'm 100% sure he will buy it if he likes it. I sent him the demo link already.

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