Modder Proves That SimCity Works Offline

[thehorror2]

I have no intention of playing this game (simstuff isn't really my wheelhouse) but to those of you casting curses at EA/Maxis for doing this: You won't have to give them money to play the game! I guarantee you a cracked version will be available in a matter of days, if there isn't one already.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

I have no intention of playing this game (simstuff isn't really my wheelhouse) but to those of you casting curses at EA/Maxis for doing this: You won't have to give them money to play the game! I guarantee you a cracked version will be available in a matter of days, if there isn't one already.

But even playing cracked/pirated versions is supporting them in a way - it enlarges the fan base, and gives attention to the game. The only winning move is not to play.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

So, has the conversation moved onto the part where you've all noticed this isn't a legitimate crack since the game won't work as intended? Or are you all still on the "Hurr! EA R EBIL! Hurr!" level?

What do you mean by "as intended"? As intended by EA? Because that is not how many players want it to work - this way seems superior to me than what EA intended.

As for the "EA R EBIL" part of your post, I don't think the discussion was ever at that level, that seems to be something you have made up. Yes, many of us are upset with EA's actions, but that does not make us illiterates who ascribe notions like "evil" to a company.

 

[Jamous]

Welp. Looks like the cat's out of the bag now. I wonder what grade of shitstorm this'll stir up. Probably a VAST one. Wonder how long before EA decides to try some sort of legal action...

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

Of course SimCity online mode is not necessary. They're only doing it to prevent piracy and sell DLCs. Are people really that naive to think otherwise?

Your cynicism has much room to grow yet.

I also love some of the arguments like "well, because they specifically designed this with a client-server interface where the client can't do shit by design and not thanks to certain limitations, well obviously that means online is necessary". Like I've heard over and over in threads about something like Diablo 3.

Would you prefer they just tell you the REAL reasons? Or would you prefer lies? It's a lose lose situation for EA anyway.

Online mode, that's what they want their product to be, and it is their call. Our job as a consumers is to decide whether we should buy it or not. And please don't tell you you actually think piracy have nothing to do with the harsh DRM.

 

[Radelaide]

So, has the conversation moved onto the part where you've all noticed this isn't a legitimate crack since the game won't work as intended? Or are you all still on the "Hurr! EA R EBIL! Hurr!" level?

What do you mean by "as intended"? As intended by EA? Because that is not how many players want it to work - this way seems superior to me than what EA intended.

As for the "EA R EBIL" part of your post, I don't think the discussion was ever at that level, that seems to be something you have made up. Yes, many of us are upset with EA's actions, but that does not make us illiterates who ascribe notions like "evil" to a company.

Well, while you're playing your "superior" game, have fun with your towns not saving, the world market not updating and so on. I'll go and continue my saved games (as intended)

 

[Aardvaarkman]

Well, while you're playing your "superior" game, have fun with your towns not saving, the world market not updating and so on. I'll go and continue my saved games (as intended)

No, I won't be playing it. Did you not read my previous posts, where I mention that even playing pirated or patched versions is supporting EA's bullshit?

I've been playing SimCity since 1989. I'm a huge fan of the game. I've spent several hundreds of hours playing it. This is possibly my most-awaited game release in a decade. But they screwed it up. This is not the SimCity I know and love. It's not just the online component that screws it up, it's also the limited city size, borked AI, lack of underground layers, etc.

Go ahead and play it. But they lost me as a customer, at least until they release something which is an improvement over the earlier versions.

 

[Xarathox]

It took a "mere" 6 weeks to mod Diablo 3 into playing offline; It was obvious this was gonna happen much faster.

I and a collueage of mine were having an argument about can D3 run offline.He is a big diablo fan, but completely refused to play an allways online game.He was gonna buy it only when an offline crack came out.Long story short in order to settle the argument we downladed a crack version(in hindsight, don't ever do it on a PC used for artillery and tactical control simulations - Big Brother is watching you!) and i brought my laptop with an original version installed just for comparison.It was an unplayable mess - missing quests, missing NPC interactions, missing gear,UI problems, completely crapped out AI.

So yeah D3 actually requires a server for the majority of operations.

Well, when it hits the consoles (D3 is being ported as we speak) your friend can get that instead. It'll be playable offline because Microsoft and Sony abso-fucking-lutely will not allow DRM on their machines.

 

[theultimateend]

How forgettable our community is. Seems like nobody remembers Spore... <.<

Jep, my friend who pirated it never had any issues with the game. I had problems and the stupid "you can only install this X times" bullshit.
bleh

Spore was my Richard Nixon moment.

Totally shattered the my faith in video games.

You missed the part where its still a #1 seller on amazon because people don't have enough sense to stop supporting this practice.

The >vast< majority of people buying a game like this don't know basically anything on that list.

 

[Hagi]

But you lose all the region stuff which is a huge portion of the game so its kind eh. Yeah it functions but its still gimped without the online stuff.

Which only happens BECAUSE EA and Maxis designed the game that way. The wanted to force the concept of working with others down consumers throats with a dirty size 11 boot with the Region system.

Oh you wanted to have a nice big normal city? Too bad! You have absolutely no resources on your region space, and little else of use so your main schtick will be living quarters! Its one thing to offer environments that tilt a little one way or the other. Its a whole other thing to make people have to play in a certain way simply because the region they were given will essentially allow nothing else.



Besides, it should be no problem to mod the issue out, specially if the "technically impossible" task of making this game play without an online connection is possible.

It probably will be a problem to do that.

The offline functionality wasn't put in the game by this modder. It was put in the game by Maxis themselves, as a debug mode not accessible to normal customers.

'All' this modder did was making this already existing offline-mode available to normal customers. Still very much an achievement of course.

Which probably makes it even worse for the customers. Their game has an offline mode. It's there in their installation. They just can't access it. It's like on-disc DLC on steroids.

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

I have a strong suspicion, posted on other threads, that the calculations (and much else besides) were originally going to be server side rather than client side. But in order to meet the pre-April (end of the financial year) deadline, they had to make a bodge job. The traffic, water, poo, and electrical system calculations seem very much like placeholders (and are being patched), and it seems plausible that the pointless always on was too. Basically, in order to lie to investors that they're company is doing okay, they lied to consumers.

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

Would you prefer they just tell you the REAL reasons? Or would you prefer lies? It's a lose lose situation for EA anyway.

I would prefer either that or people not being gullible enough to buy the shit EA's peddling. Lying to consumers is bad, mkay? It's bad, period, and they should go fuck themselves. The alternative is either at least being honest about your intentions, or not money grubbing at the expense of the game's quality in the first place.

Online mode, that's what they want their product to be, and it is their call. Our job as a consumers is to decide whether we should buy it or not. And please don't tell you you actually think piracy have nothing to do with the harsh DRM.

What was the point you're trying to make here? I know why they're doing this.

What you originally said was that you don't think anyone's naive enough to buy this shit. I'm telling you probably most people are just about gullible and naive enough to buy it.

What I can say? I guess people are just that gullible to believe online mode is needed for SimCity not because of piracy. I don't like DRM and crappy business practice just as much as next guy. But I'm being realistic about this situation.

Intrusive DRM, always online mode, in-game DLCs are here to stay. That is the trend the gaming industry heading whether we like it or not. I'd suggest good old fashion boycott, but we all know gamers are known for their lack of self-discipline. In my opinion, the gaming subculture as a whole just isn't mature enough to vote with their wallet yet.

If any gamers out there have problem with DRM they better start finding a new hobby, because more and more games will come with that always online DRM in the next few years.

 

[Comando96]

Enter Dev mode upon boot up.
Edit so you can construct highways outside city borders.
Edit the time you can be offline before disconnect from 20 mins to NA.

hmm... interesting.

Its not exactly the best way to go about things, but it sure works ¬.¬

From the point of view of removing the DRM, it would have been like removing Microsoft from any Windows Operating system. Its hard and annoying to do so. It would have been systematically built into the game, and couldn't be removed.
However DRM is rarely anywhere near fool proof, and can easily be subverted. From a Developers point of view doing this would be considered unprofessional... but it works for the players, so to be fair to them... I think they believed what they were saying. They just needed to bring in some smart people to test their games before they release them.

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

What you said was that you don't think anybody buys this shit. I said that I think you are absolutely, entirely, dead wrong on that, and that easily more than half the people who bought this game neither see a problem with the DRM, nor a problem with this lying shit; nor do they likely even know about any of it.

No, you're right about it. I didn't consider the fact there are people who does not read up on video games on daily basis.

As for a lot of people who bought the game don't see a problem with the DRM; nor a problem with this lying shit. I think majority of them just don't care, because it is simply a non-issue for them. And the satisfaction from playing the game outweighs the DRM/ lying issues. I know I'm one of them

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

As for a lot of people who bought the game don't see a problem with the DRM; nor a problem with this lying shit. I think majority of them just don't care, because it is simply a non-issue for them. And the satisfaction from playing the game outweighs the DRM/ lying issues. I know I'm one of them

I think people ought to care when they're being lied to. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how much to care and at what point the quality of the game becomes irrelevant, so if you care more about quality than you do about their ethics, that's perfectly fine by me.

I just don't think people should be blind to when they're being fucked over, and I take issue with the dismissive and almost apologetic types of posts that the first one I quoted you on seemed to be.

I guess I'm just jaded after 20+ years of gaming. I just no longer care for those little things, we gamers don't really have a voice and probably never will. I just prefer to go along with the ride and for my own personal benefit. Don't get me wrong, I understand why some people would be mad too. It just way some of those "complains" rubs in the wrong way.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Welp. Looks like the cat's out of the bag now. I wonder what grade of shitstorm this'll stir up. Probably a VAST one. Wonder how long before EA decides to try some sort of legal action...

Don't think they'd get anywhere with that. EULA or not, a user is perfectly entitled to look through and alter the files on their own computer. If EA owned all the computers, or if someone starts selling the cracks (as opposed to talking about them) then they'd be onto something, but they don't and nobody's doing that.

In fact it's so simple it's not even a download, it's quite hilarious how inept the communication between EA's marketing dept, developers and legal seems to be.

 

[Jamous]

Welp. Looks like the cat's out of the bag now. I wonder what grade of shitstorm this'll stir up. Probably a VAST one. Wonder how long before EA decides to try some sort of legal action...

Don't think they'd get anywhere with that. EULA or not, a user is perfectly entitled to look through and alter the files on their own computer. If EA owned all the computers, or if someone starts selling the cracks (as opposed to talking about them) then they'd be onto something, but they don't and nobody's doing that.

In fact it's so simple it's not even a download, it's quite hilarious how inept the communication between EA's marketing dept, developers and legal seems to be.

Really? That simple? I didn't watch because I didn't get the game but REALLY?! That's... that's something else that is. Slow clap it out for EA guys, slow clap it out.