...new CPU, new motherboard, new memory sticks...and the same old hardware-bound add-ons. Can't install much of anything. Comcast's DNS servers are down and there is no way to reach Flight1 (or almost anywhere else for that matter). But the default Cessna flies really well...Sometimes all this anti-piracy stuff is just a big pain. Thanks for listening. I feel better now.Doug

LOL, I hear ya !Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

I know what you mean. The hardware-bound software thing is quite ridiculous, and makes it difficult for the end-user, the customer, when upgrading hardware.James

>Sometimes all this anti-piracy stuff is just a big painDougI've been banging on about this for yonks. I'm sorry to hear that you have this problem but at the same time I am comforted to know that there are others who feel exactly the same way as I do.The trouble is the whole thing is quite ridiculous really. In the "early" days before I decided I would no longer buy software which required coding to my hard disk I bought the Flight 1 Cessna 152. As FS2004 is on a PC which is not connected to the Internet I went through the rigmarole of getting a special key so that I could use the software. Eventually the time came when I had to do a reinstall and I waited nearly two days to get a replacement "special" key. In the meantime I read that if you had the CD version then you didn't need to get a key from Flight 1 as it was installed automatically. So I bought the CD and installed it exactly as I had read.So .... download the software and be forced to get a key from the publisher or buy the CD version and not have to do that. Where is the anti-piracy logic in this? I am open to all sensible and logically bullet-proof explanations :-lolDavid

And you know the ironic thing?, anti-piracy measures normally only cause problems for legitimate buyers, the pirates have no trouble re-installing their software.Dan.

I'm getting my new rig in a couple of days and everything is new (except the monitor). I haven't reflected on this issue before since I've only done incremental updates to my computer. But does anyone know which of the more widespread aircraft (FSD, Flight1 etc) add-ons are likely to cause me some headaches? I figured if I have this information first hand I won't have to bang my head agains the wall that much!

ah, ye olde argument that noone should use protection from piracy because it doesn't help anyway?Tell ye what, if those products weren't protected piracy would be a hundred times worse than it's now and all those companies would be driven out of business quickly because they'd have no income left at all.

While I don't have any problem at all with software devs trying to protect their work from piracy, I completely disagree with what you just said Jeroen. Sorry, but I really believe even if payware devs used almost no protection at all other than perhaps direct mailing the installer to persons after recieving payment, sales dollars would be almost the same as they are now. Even if I could get free copies of the planes I want (and I do know where to go to do so), I choose not to becuase I want to support the devs. I suspect that that is true of most of us (I assume it's true of you, why would you assume otherwise of me?). The people who are pirating the stuff simply wouldn't ever fork over the dough (in most cases) anyway and so don't really represent lost dollars for the devs.

I've found that most newer protection systems are fully automatic ie. you can reset the counter and get a new key for your system after a reinstall or upgrade by entering enough personal info to confirm who you are. I think Flight1 has pretty much mastered this. They even offer a "Transfer License" option now, in case your FS PC isn't connected to the Internet.Those who don't have this system in place have received a lot of manual requests from me lately as I've upgraded and then had a number of issues forcing me to reinstall several times :-lol Since they're manual it can take 24h or more to get up and running.Of course if the Internet connection is down you're left with 100's of $'s worth of unusable addons. Same if one of the major publishers deicdes to shut their doors. Some publishers have even been known to shut down people's licenses just because they don't like the customer or because he has, in their opinion, reinstalled too many times. In other words, you don't really buy a lifetime license to use the software like CD's (CD's do degrade but then you can make backups on CD-R), only a temporary one.Does it stop piracy?Those who know where to find pirated copies also know where to find the cracks and codes to use them. The kind of piracy that it *does* stop is the casual kind - for example, I can't easily give any of my FS addons to a friend to try out, because they're tied to my computer.

As Jimmi says, pirated versions which don't have these crippling features, along with cracks and codes are readily available to those who want them, but me, along with the majority here buy them, not because we HAVE to buy them, but because we want to buy them and like to support the good work some of these dev's provide.I think one of the better forms of piracy protection is the closed support forum as per Level D sims 767, this is a complex addon, and if you own it, legitimatly or not, you will need the support forum sooner or later, and by having it closed to non-purchasers could certainly help to combat piracy.Dan.

Assuming your internet connection is active you shouldn't have a problem with any of them. At least not the ones that automatically validate things using the internet. I've done this a jillion times with no problems at all. I personally really like the Flight1 system - but not when my internet connection isn't working :-). Doug

>>Does it stop piracy?>Those who know where to find pirated copies also know where to>find the cracks and codes to use them. The kind of piracy that>it *does* stop is the casual kind - for example, I can't>easily give any of my FS addons to a friend to try out,>because they're tied to my computer.correct. And as that's the vast majority it does stop enough to make it worth the effort.All the people making "backup copies" and giving those to friends "for safekeeping" now will have to give that friend their creditcard number as well.

heh, I don't know about you, but I can count the number of friends I know who are seriously interested in FS to any degree at all on one hand. In fact, I can count them on no hands since the number is zero. I sincerely doubt any payware developers would lose much to people passing flightsim files around to their friends. Again, I have no problem at all with the security measures most devs take and I'm happy to jump through those hoops most of the time if its an add-on I really want. I just don't think that these sorts of "hardcore" hobby markets really lose big sales dollars to piracy. It reminds me of a game called Strat-O-Matic baseball. For anyone not familiar with it, it's an incredibly deep stat based baseball sim. It appeals to a very dedicated and very tiny market and yet they use this ridiculous security procedure that truly makes it difficult to really use the program. It's almost funny really. A friend of mine who is a big fan of the game recently had to go through a huge deal by phone with them becuase he'd lost a key for a product he'd purchased from them as a gift for his brother who is also a fan. "So let me get this straight - you bought a team pack for a game you don't actually own yourself???" As though there's this huge black market for a product of such limited appeal...

I'm about to move to a new computer system for gaming (got a nice machine from Monarch - Athlon64 3200 with all the trimmings)...so I will see how much wailing and knashing of teeth I experience.The first thing I plan on doing after installing XP on the new machine is to use the File and Settings Transfer application to move my account and all info from the old machine to the new machine. I wonder if that will help at all. Probably not for those packages which use a machine ID as part of their protection.As a developer both professionally and as one of my hobbies, I fully understand the need for protection.Without protection, the software becomes Donationware since only those who a) don't know how to get it for free or 2) have a tiny bit of moral backbone, will pay for it.And as a donationware developer, I can say that business model doesn't bring in much greenback! ;-) Which is okay for me but not for someone who is trying to make a living off of it.

The majority of anti-piracy measures, which are utilized today on most software, are no more analogous to the determined end user than a deadbolt lock is to a determined thief.A lock in its basic form is there simply to keep an honest person honest. One who is determined to find a way in or a way around paying will do so.Piracy is here to stay and there will always be those who will look to steal others wares, but most who do it do so not to obtain the end product, they do so for the satisfaction of beating the latest and greatest security measure. All we can do as a group is continue to report theses sites and services which host pirated copies of files we tend to buy, continue to support these vendors with our money buy purchasing legitimate copies of products they create even though we can find them for free, if we know where to look.For if we don