FSX Piracy Amazing Story

[N60JBravo 27]

Won the lottery lately? That's about the same chance of 'FSNext' being absolutely anything like FS is today. I suspect that the next flight program from Microsoft will be far more about being a game and far, far less about flight simulation. I also suspect they will eliminate the ability for addon developers to exist for it entirely.

I agree. :( :( :(

[rightseater 0]

Won the lottery lately? That's about the same chance of 'FSNext' being absolutely anything like FS is today. I suspect that the next flight program from Microsoft will be far more about being a game and far, far less about flight simulation. I also suspect they will eliminate the ability for addon developers to exist for it entirely.

I've never wanted someone to be wrong more than I do right now. Sadly I suspect you're right.

[Guest belga1]

Hello,

There would have to be a 'central clearing house' that would provide a single dongle for all addons. That would incur a cost that would be added to the price of the addon.

The issue can be exactly the contrary (or at least a cheap price for the dongle)I readed a lot from the Steelbeasts develloper point of view about his choice for the dongle way.The price of the dongle can be greatly reduced if it produced "en masse"If all the FS addon's devellopers stick to the same protection politic (in this case a centralised dongle compatible for all the FS addon's) the additional dongle price can be greatly reduced and as piracy is history .. the number of addon's selled will at least not be reduced but will going up IMHO.It's a question of WILLOne of the pirates words is "United we are" :)The good comparison:Take 20 pirates and put them on a boat and you have a crewTake 20 devellopers and put them on a boat and you have 20 devellopers :)Regards.Gus.

[N60JBravo 27]

The idea of a dongle is a good one, the implementation is another.Steelbeast, if I understand correctly as I don't know what it is, uses a dongle to operate. Does that program use addons?If there is a way to use 1 dongle for FS, then lets go!If, however we need 1 for FS, and 1 for each addon I am going into the USB hub business.At any given time one might need eaily 10 dongles for all their addons, UT, mesh, textures, AS, airports, airplanes, AI,etc., etc., etc....regards,Joe

[N400QW 205]

Again, the Dongle system is impractical for FS Add On use. :(

[Francois_Dumas 10]

Again, the Dongle system is impractical for FS Add On use. :(

It was impractical on my old Commodore 64 already..... having to swap 'dongles' for each game... and the bloody things all looked the same ! :(

[Guest belga1]

Hello,

Steelbeast, if I understand correctly as I don't know what it is

It's some links in my messages.Well .. you can't have the butter .. and the benefit of the butter :)At least the Steelbeasts develloper choice is a elegant and effective protection again piracy IMHO and cherry on the top .. this respect the privacy of the customer and allow him to make any backup he want and resell the game if he want.Yes of course it's addon's and updates (free) for Steelbeasts and they are not protected (why protect addon's for a game well protected :) )It's never problems ... it's allway solutions :)Note:Nothing to see on Piratebay about Steelbeasts ... !So .. I close (for myself) the Steelbeasts chapter :)Regards.Gus.

[WarpD 824]

Steel Beasts is not available online. You can order it from online, and then it is shipped. Steel Beasts 1 is not available. Steel Beasts 2 has been suspended until further notice. Steel Beasts Pro is available at a base price of $125.It is physically shipped to you, which is how the dongle comes into play. Dongle pricing will run around $10 per package, based on a quick scan of average costs vs FS addon sales figures and cost of maintenance, etc.So... a $50 FS addon just went up about $30 to cover the overhead of physical inventory.

[WarpD 824]

I just located a dongle that can be programmed via the internet... it runs $50 per dongle.Still think dongle is the way to go? :)

[Guest Mesa]

I bet there are hundreds of simmers out there who would pay $50 for a dongle if it lit up and was shaped like a little aeroplane :(

[airboatr 0]

just put the stupid sim in a cube.. end the insanity of trying to make the dishonest honest.

[dmaher 0]

And, dongles aren

[N400QW 205]

And, dongles aren't failsafe...they can be cracked if someone cares to. So can Cd's.More importantly, it's not a practical solution considering the small FS market and margins.FS developers just don't invest or earn game industry money.It'll clearly cost more than a developer could ever hope to recover. A software solution makes more sense to me

[Guest belga1]

Hello,

And, dongles aren

[WarpD 824]

Hello,So I must put again the Steelbeasts case on the frontline :)Two years ago the develloper organised a meeting for the best crackers and offered a huge amount of money if someone cracked the dongle.Result is the develloper keep the price money in his pocket :)And sofar no one was able to crack it ...Regards.Gus.

And I'll state again... one copy of Steel Beasts is $125. A high-end dongle system is at least $50 per dongle.