What is a ripped game?

[Cincinnatus Prime]

I purchased Company of Heroes, great game btw, and I came across a "ripped" version and other ripped versions of other games.

This would be a very convenient way to back up my games, all I have to do is double click the executable and it runs but my question is this.

Do you suffer a performance loss for having a ripped game as opposed to a game that's installed? Sny advantages or disadvantages?

 

[llama_man]

The disadvantage is knowing that you're using software of dubious legality.

If you've got the game, then just use that. just be sure to look after your CDs/DVDs (put them back in the case after use!) and keep the manual with them (or backup the codes somewhere).

You'd be amazed how many people show up here with "lost CD" or "lost code" stories... 😉

 

[Trialsking]

I'd be careful around the "ripped" games. I wonder how many might contain viruses. I another problem is that many times patches and/or mods/expansions will not work with the "ripped" versions.

 

[jrnyfan]

i wonder if the OP is not confusing terms. a 'ripped' game is just a copy of the game...like a 'ripped' cd. it will come as an .ISO or something similar so that you have to install it. the 'ripped' game or the copy of the game that you have downloaded via .torrent or something similar will surely have a fixed .exe... when you just click on the executable and it runs you might just have a fixed .exe or a 'cracked' game. i run fixed .exe's on all my games but BF2 because i dont like to see my CD/DVD's get trashed by taking them in and out when i want to play a different game.

there are no differences between the original game and the cracked game, they both play the same in the end. the only problem you are going to run into is a game that has online content, any new game wont let you play over the internet with a copy, you have to have the original or at least an original CD Key..which you have to pay for, there is no keygen on the face of the earth that would let you play BF2 for example online, you have to have the original.

good luck, crack away at your own games and have fun downloading the illegal copies...makes your epeen bigger i hear...

 

[llama_man]

I hope that was sarcasm. The forum rules explicitly state that you are not allowed to encourage or condone piracy.

 

[DJ_Jumbles]

I hope that was sarcasm. The forum rules explicitly state that you are not allowed to encourage or condone piracy.

You're confusing piracy and a consumer's legal right to back-up their own software that they've bought legitimately. If you own the software, you have a legal right to back up the disk that it came on. Granted, most games are protected with anti-piracy measures to make this task next to impossible. That said, I think that it's just a consumer's RIGHT to be able to make a back-up copy of the software that they have purchased, regardless of what obstacles that the authors have put in your way. There is no reason why someone should have to buy a whole new package of software just because the disk gets scratched. As far as I'm concerned, when I buy software, I'm buying the CD key, which becomes my unique identifier with the authors. Granted, a key-generator MIGHT create a duplicate key of mine, but I have PROOF that I bought the software, the other "registered" user most certainly will not.
So, let's start the debate:
If you bought a software title and the CD no longer works and if you use your CD key that you got when you bought the game but use an .exe patch to run-around the CD requirement, is it piracy?

My answer is no, but that's my opinion...

Edit: I re-read the post that you were replying to and he was actually being a little sarcastic, but still essentially telling him to pirate software. I don't condone piracy... I sure hope that I'm past the statute of limitations, though. 😛

 

[maguszxz]

I read somewhere that fixed .exe's were legal as long as you owned the games you used them for. I use them for my games, so I don't scratch my discs. Also, it's alot more productive not having a disc drive clogged up.

 

[misiu_mp]

Piracy is a robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation.
-Wikipedia
Piracy
1 : an act of robbery on the high seas; also : an act resembling such robbery
-Merriam--Webster's

 

[aziraphale]

I read somewhere that fixed .exe's were legal as long as you owned the games you used them for. I use them for my games, so I don't scratch my discs. Also, it's alot more productive not having a disc drive clogged up.

That's a legal and in my opinion totally ok-way to use fixed .exe's... It's just annoying to change discs all the time and some copy protections are so absolutely annoying (who else likes the sound of a drive searching and reading and spinning up and down?) that it's almost a must to use no CD cracks.

 

[DJ_Jumbles]

Piracy is a robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation.
-Wikipedia
Piracy
1 : an act of robbery on the high seas; also : an act resembling such robbery
-Merriam--Webster's

OMG! You HAVE to be shiite-ing me! You're going to pull out the dictionary definition of Piracy when ANYONE who has ever done anything with software knows the term "Software Piracy" AKA Copyright Infringement is what it refers to. You are a true mental Chris Benoit, my friend. Keep taking those menta-roids and maybe they'll eat the rest of the sense out of your brain .
Here's some links from major websites concerning the act of stealing software (apparently) only at sea! :lol:

http://www.microsoft.com/Piracy/
www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/antipiracy/piracy .html
www.apple.com/legal/trademark/piracy.html


People like you need to find more time for other things than picking apart someone for something that YOU obviously have NO CLUE what you are talking about! And boy... not to mention that if you are into computers at all and don't know and/or use the term Piracy to talk about illegal copying of software, then you are truely out in your own space and should stay there. I think that this term was coined way back in the day. I didn't get involved with the warez scene until 92, so I was still kind of a late-bloomer, but the term was in use then along with Warez (which in this usage, is not a misspelling of what a merchant sells you, so spare me the definition from MW or Wikipedia). I don't advocate the stealing or illegal copying of overpriced, under-developed, sold for 1/3 the price in China software just because I want it to work right when I need it to work. I buy software that's (RELATIVELY!) worth my money when it becomes cheap/effective enough for me to justify spending that kind of dough on something.
Oh, and BTW: Wikipedia is NOT a valid reference for citing in scientific/academic papers (at least, not according to the MDA, Almost all colleges and universities, Harvard, Yale, and numerous others) , so I don't accept it's use as a reference, either. When a 12 year old can write a definition for something and it stays up until someone else corrects it... I have rather open questions as to the validity of the material at any given stage of the article's development on there. Just my $0.02!

 

[prawcess]

Dude, he was probably being sarcastic or just kidding around.. did you take your pills today? You know what happens when you skip them!

OMG! You HAVE to be shiite-ing me! You're going to pull out the dictionary definition of Piracy when ANYONE who has ever done anything with software knows the term "Software Piracy" AKA Copyright Infringement is what it refers to. You are a true mental Chris Benoit, my friend. Keep taking those menta-roids and maybe they'll eat the rest of the sense out of your brain .
Here's some links from major websites concerning the act of stealing software (apparently) only at sea! :lol:

http://www.microsoft.com/Piracy/
www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/antipiracy/piracy .html
www.apple.com/legal/trademark/piracy.html


People like you need to find more time for other things than picking apart someone for something that YOU obviously have NO CLUE what you are talking about! And boy... not to mention that if you are into computers at all and don't know and/or use the term Piracy to talk about illegal copying of software, then you are truely out in your own space and should stay there. I think that this term was coined way back in the day. I didn't get involved with the warez scene until 92, so I was still kind of a late-bloomer, but the term was in use then along with Warez (which in this usage, is not a misspelling of what a merchant sells you, so spare me the definition from MW or Wikipedia). I don't advocate the stealing or illegal copying of overpriced, under-developed, sold for 1/3 the price in China software just because I want it to work right when I need it to work. I buy software that's (RELATIVELY!) worth my money when it becomes cheap/effective enough for me to justify spending that kind of dough on something.
Oh, and BTW: Wikipedia is NOT a valid reference for citing in scientific/academic papers (at least, not according to the MDA, Almost all colleges and universities, Harvard, Yale, and numerous others) , so I don't accept it's use as a reference, either. When a 12 year old can write a definition for something and it stays up until someone else corrects it... I have rather open questions as to the validity of the material at any given stage of the article's development on there. Just my $0.02!

 

[DJ_Jumbles]

Dude, he was probably being sarcastic or just kidding around.. did you take your pills today? You know what happens when you skip them!

Actually, yep... I have. Nowhere in his post was there any kind of language to suggest that he was being anything but serious.
That's the problem with these forums now-a-days... everyone has to be a smart *** and get their mandatory 30 posts everyday or something. If you don't have anything to add to the thread, don't add to the thread. Pretty simple.

 

[prawcess]

Well as to the actual subject matter of the thread, I would agree with the general consensus as I see it: When I purchase a game, I am purchasing the key or license for one copy. If I want to load the game via an image of the game that utilizes a cracked exe vs the actual disk for ANY reason, that should be my legal right.

If I do that with a game I have not bought a license for, THAT would be piracy.. I have a right, IMO, to back up my media. With the ways that some cases are more prone to break your CD, scratching etc.. there are plenty of reasons someone would want to avoid messing with the CD.

What I wonder, is what the ACTUAL law says about this matter, rather than just a bunch of opinions flying around. Anyone know?

 

[smokedyou911]

The cracked exe will not affect your performance. It can/will though not allow you to play certain games online. For games that won't allow you to play them online with a fixed isu, you will need a virtual drive and the image, Tricking your computer/game to believe it is in the drive. Both work, the later can effect your drives though.

 

[spuddyt]

Actually, yep... I have. Nowhere in his post was there any kind of language to suggest that he was being anything but serious.
That's the problem with these forums now-a-days... everyone has to be a smart *** and get their mandatory 30 posts everyday or something. If you don't have anything to add to the thread, don't add to the thread. Pretty simple.

Dude chill out, you completely overreacted, true he didn't actually say "IM BEING SARCASTIC BTW" but I don't think many people would quote a dictionary entry about waterborne pirates on a computer forum would expect a serious response

 

[llama_man]

You're confusing piracy and a consumer's legal right to back-up their own software that they've bought legitimately.

No I'm not. I refer to the post I was replying to...

have fun downloading the illegal copies...

Unless he was being sarcastic, that is clearly a breach of forum rules.

If you own the software, you have a legal right to back up the disk that it came on. Granted, most games are protected with anti-piracy measures to make this task next to impossible. That said, I think that it's just a consumer's RIGHT to be able to make a back-up copy of the software that they have purchased, regardless of what obstacles that the authors have put in your way.

You might consider it morally acceptable to copy the CD/DVD, but if you read the License Agreement to almost any commerical software, it explicity states that you are not allowed to copy the disc. It may be that such clauses are not enforceable under local law, but that's a really grey are to be delving into without getting the opinion of a corporate contract lawyer.

If you bought a software title and the CD no longer works and if you use your CD key that you got when you bought the game but use an .exe patch to run-around the CD requirement, is it piracy?

No-CD cracks are different to copying the CD. Again, whilst you may come up with many arguments as to why you think you should be allowed to use them, it is clear from the License Agreements that you are not. Why? Because it uses a modified .exe and the agreement will almost certainly state that you are not allowed to modify the program in any way. I think this clause is a lot more secure legally than the one about copying the disc, because this one actually refers to the IP rather than just a lump of plastic.

 

[slashzapper]

OMG Ban this guy ROFL

 

[cafuddled]

It’s illegal to modify an .exe file but the loophole is it is not illegal to use the modified file. Go to megagames.com and check out there forum, it has all the legalities of modified files there. Also making backup copies of games is completely legal in some places while not in others no matter what the game states.

I don’t think we will be having much more of these talks in a few years when only distribution picks up to an almost 80% ratio.

 

[llama_man]

Well, it's not "illegal" anyway; it would be a civil offence, not a criminal one, but I understand what you meant.

 

[jrnyfan]

[sarcasm]

have fun ripping games, cracking games, cracking ripped crack, killing baby seals, stealing candy and burning effigies of your grandma

[/sarcasm]

wow people need to calm down and just lighten up 😀 life is all about getting ahead by your own wits and abilities...that's why the democratic party will never succeed, lol

 

[Shinedog]

I don't think anyone has actually answered the question. This post has deviated into a "is it legal to use 'no-cd' cracked executables" which I don't think the OP was referencing.

A "ripped" game is usually one that has been released by a warez distro group and usually is a hacked copy of the game. For example, a game with lots of full motion video split scenes may have the split scenes ripped out and the EXE is hacked to skip those parts. This is mostly in an effort to lower the overall size of the download. Its not uncommon to see addons such as hi-def sound add-on, cut-scene add-on, etc. where the parts that are ripped out of the main core post can be added on by installing them as seperate packages if you want to spend the time downloading them.

While the practice of using a "no-cd" crack to play games you purchased is a grey area to piracy, downloading a ripped game you have not purchased is certainly illegal.

 

[jrnyfan]

I don't think anyone has actually answered the question. This post has deviated into a "is it legal to use 'no-cd' cracked executables" which I don't think the OP was referencing.

A "ripped" game is usually one that has been released by a warez distro group and usually is a hacked copy of the game.

its a good thing you regurgitated what i said originally in the 3rd response in this thread:

the 'ripped' game or the copy of the game that you have downloaded via .torrent or something similar will surely have a fixed .exe...

thank you for bringing this thread back on topic...the flaming was getting ridiculous...

 

[Shinedog]

Most of these people were assuming an ISO with a "no cd" hack meant "ripped." I knew what you meant but these other nubs obviously wouldn't understand the difference without the elaboration. 😀