Am I a pirate or a victim?

[HUSSAR 263]

Hi everyone,I sent an email to Cloud9 asking if there were any links to upgrades for their Xclass World Landclass program as I purchased a CD back in May of 2007 and installed it on a new computer which I bought solely to run FSX.I received a reply where they said there is no upgrade availble but they have noticed through a check of thier server logs that my license has been used on 5 different occasions on different hardware addresses. I am not completely sure of the wording as I am at work at the moment but it really bothers me and I would like to get an answer from someone as to what they meant.I am guessing they have politely said that I have either pirated thier software or that my computer which I thought was secure has been accessed somehow. I am awaiting a reply from Cloud9 but in the meantime would anyone like to comment?Thanks,

[Max Kraus 338]

I've never heard of a company divulging information like that out to it's customers, even if it is in private, as I would have though it puts them at risk of the exact thing you are implying - a sort of reverse defamation/false accusation scenario. You may have just reinstalled and upgraded lots of times. Very strange.

[Guest]

Did you install the product more than once before this reinstal? What they are telling you is that your license has already been used 5 times with different hardware. If you did NOT change hardware before buying your new computer or if you did not install it 5 times already, it seems someone else (or even more people) got a hold on your serial (or whatever)... Up to now it seems you only installed it twice, with different hardware (your old computer and your new one), so three installments are suspicious...

[HUSSAR 263]

Hi fellas,Thanks for replying. I installed the program via CD (which I cannot find at the moment) only the one time onto a new computer. I am awaiting a reply from Cloud9 who are located in Europe and there is a bit of a language barrier so I thought in the meantime that I would post here on our forum. I recall they mentioned that I have gone against the license agreement and if this continues my license will be blacklisted. Anyway I will post if I get more info.

[Guest j0nx]

I wouldn't bother with this landclass anyway. They never update it anymore and haven't in at least a year afaik and it was never accurate to begin with. FSG is the best landclass as far as accuracy. Go with them.

[tf51d 284]

Where did you purchase the CD? Did it come from them, or did you get it on EBAY or something like that? If it's the latter, there is a good chance it is a pirated copy, that was resold. If it came direct from Cloud9 it looks like they got a problem in their record keeping system.

[bkeske 0]

Oh, I'm not so sure about that, it all depends on the area.I actually prefer Cloud9 as it is the most accurate within the areas I fly. I also have Scenery Tech's, FSGenesis', and Ultimate Terrain's landclass products. To be honest, FSGenesis' landclass would be the last I would use out of the others.No slam at all intended towards FSGenesis; I've been using their products for years, and still do.

[Guest Vilk]

...dynamic IP? :-)

[Guest davidvoogd]

If you didn't give it out then you're not a pirate, simple as that.My guess is that someone hacked their serial code system and randomly came upon yours. I had that with a copy of Battlefield Vietnam. Some hacker had used my cd key before I even bought the game and it wouldn't let me log on. I sent probably 10-15 emails to EA, never got a response, needless to say I was a bit ticked off.That said I'm sure piracy hurts FS Developers and I'd say they have every right to investigate suspicious use of various keys, but they shouldn't start by immediately pointing the finger at someone, as I'm sure the real owner often has little to do with it.This just goes to show that piracy is not a victimless crime, not only does it hurt the developer, it hurts legitmate buyers too.

[RFields5421 1]

No - the Cloud9 reply indicates the MAC address of the individual network card. "5 different occasions on different hardware addresses"The installs had to be done from a computer/ computers with 5 different network cards.Tracking the MAC address is easy and much more reliable/ unique than IP.Either there serial coding scheme has been broken, or the CD key/ code has been shared with other people.The CD itself does not have to be copied or shared, just someone see, write down and use the code.This happens a lot in colleges and high schools - your 'friends' write down the codes for software you have purchased and use it to activate pirated copies.

[Guest j0nx]

FSG is based on google earth and every single location I've tried with it matches right up to the sat photos. In the DC area it is spot on. Sequioa, devils tower, Chicago, spot on. Cloud9...not so much. A few months back I did a cross country from Elkins Wv. to Houston, Tx. totally VFR using nothing but sectionals and I'll be danged if the entire trip wasn't 100% accurate with placement of all textures and autogen when using the fsg landclass. Everything, and I mean everything matched right up to the sectionals. It truly amazed me. Maybe for Europe cloud9 is very good, but for areas in the USA I have yet to find anywhere where their landclass was accurate to sat photos or charts. The fact that they haven't updated it in eons also tells me that they have most likely washed their hands of it. Hope you workout your piracy issue but I would highly recommend the fsg landclass if you want USA accuracy.

[bkeske 0]

FSG hasn't updated their landclass in 'eons' either.Landclass is relatively cheap, I recommend getting them all, the testing for yourself, but every location can be different, and everyone seems to have a favorite to use based on the areas the are familiar with. There is no 'absolute' statement regarding 'one over another' here...use what is best for you, but please, allow others to make up their own mind with all the info available to them.BTW, none of them are '100% accurate', far from it, and pretty much an impossibility, but they are much closer that what we had a few years back, and even in FS9 (where I used FSGenesis landclass exclusively)....no doubt.

[Guest]

Or someone used a key generator and posted that particular key on some pirate websites.

[RFields5421 1]

Justin, Holger and others have explained many timesThere are two ways to do landclass - (1) source data and (2) manually from observation.The US government provided source data is woefully out of date. It is OLD and there is not a real hope the government will update it soon. It's useful enough for its major purpose, which is not Flight Simulator.No one has enough time or money to manually the entire United States, or any other large country.The Chile scenery project which we all see and complain about is what it takes to update landclass from satellite photos.Landclass is always going to be a best guess except in a few local cases.The nice thing is that SBuilderX makes updating local landclass pretty easy from satellite photos. I've done most of Columbia County & Lafayette County Arkansas and northern Bossier Parish & Webster Parish in Louisiana - makes my home town area look real good.

[Max Kraus 338]

I've been on XClass since it came out. Fantastic product. I think people seem to suffer from too much FSGenesis "hype".