Ok now this is clearer to me.

So, what I wrote above is relevant to the single-player game.

If you start the game from the DEFCON Multiplayer link (Windows shortcut) instead and start a LAN game from there, then yes it does seem to check the activation keys and complains both players are using the same key, and refuses to start the LAN game (except in demo mode). That duplicate key is the default key that comes with the freshly installed game.

However, if you go to the game options and add the other key that you can find from your account page to the other player, then the two players don't have the same key and they can play together. However, I guess this means that with one purchased copy of the game, max two players can play the game together (but then I understood the demo mode lets max five players play together...).

Also, it seemed that when you entered that other code, the game went online to check that it is a valid key, so it might be this will work (switching the key from the default one) only as long as some validation servers are online. If so, I guess the LAN games will stop working for everyone (except in demo mode) if and when the validation servers go offline. Unless, the key validation is somehow calculated offline, it didn't occur to me to disable the internet connection when changing the key for the other player... Maybe that still needs to be tested, ie. is the new key really validated online, or offline.

So it does seem the multiplayer part (including the LAN games) indeed has DRM, as it checks that the players are not using the same key. The singleplayer game does not have DRM.

That's my understanding. Unfortunately, this game was designed with multiplayer in mind, so you're really not getting the full experience if you can only play single player.

Not sure why you were bothering to test anything other than the Linux version. The Windows and Mac versions were fixed years ago, as detailed earlier in this thread.

EDIT: Although it seems like you're testing for something other than the phoning home?

Somebody is always looking for E.T.!

The Windows and Mac versions were most certainly not fixed. You can play single player without issue, true, but multiplayer is still laden with DRM.

Obviously the 5 years old thread was so long that I had no time to wade through all of it. Also, I tested it myself to get a clearer picture what exactly is the issue, and whether something has changed during these 4-5 years when this thread was last active.

So, at first I tested whether the single-player part works. So I guess it doesn't need those workarounds anymore (at least the Windows version), the validation status stays ok (="offline"). And even if the Linux version still needs the workarounds, I consider it pretty unimportant if it can be fixed by adding one line into /etc/hosts file, or not even that if and when those validation servers online are shut down for good.

However, the local LAN multiplayer still fails (even in the Windows version) if the games joining the same local game have the same activation key. And since all installed GOG versions have the same key by default, they apparently will fail by default, even if the games were bought separately.

That can be fixed by changing the activation key for e.g. the joining player with the one he has in his GOG account (then the activation keys don't match)... but that still raises the question (to which I am unsure if the thread answered already), is that swapping of the activation key still possible after those activation servers are shut down? It didn't occur to me to test whether one can validate the new activation key without being connected to the internet. If not, then I guess even "local" LAN play will become impossible when the activation servers go offline, even with separately bought copies of the game.

Yeah I am already accustomed (and mostly even accept) the idea that singleplayer part only may be DRM-free, but it would be nice if local LAN multiplayer, if there is such a feature, was DRM-free too. Playing the game locally in the same household etc., you knows...

That's been standard for GOG since long before Galaxy, so I don't see any issue there. It's a bit clunky but it certainly doesn't indicate a policy change or anything to be worried about.

Now that's a good question. The way the activation servers were implemented here is actually backwards in that, they don't grant permission to keys they deem ok, they just deactivate keys that have been marked as bad. Back when I started the thread, the game ran ok until it managed to contact the server, at which point it would get deactivated. If the server couldn't be reached there was effectively no online activation, presumably that was a failsafe for if they were to eventually take the server down.
That being the case, I don't think the server is required to validate a new key, but it's definitely worth testing.

Did you try one person using the 'preinstalled' key and one person using the key from the account?

__________


This thread has never been about that. Read the OP.

Yes that seemed to work, so two persons can play a LAN (and I presume an internet) game against each other as long as one of them changes the activation key from the default one to the one that comes with the account => serial keys. Then I was able to start a LAN game between two of my PCs, even with the same copy of the game. But I presume not more than that with the same copy of the game, if I read right up to six players can play together (with different serial keys I guess).

Cool, good info!

Without having Internet access? Or does it still require access to their servers to validate the keys?

You've not read any of this thread, right? The server doesn't validate the keys, it invalidates them. That is to say if the game can't access the server then it doesn't object.

It may be something gog can't avoid since they do not control the multiplayer servers. Although, they really need to take initiative here and make it clear that multiplayer servers may have included DRM-like protections on their servers that communicate in such a way with the game data so as to effectively behave as DRM.

I've suggested to GOG that they could allow DRM, but for an extremely limited time when a game first comes out just to avoid things like the theft of keycodes. But they should make it clear that the download file has DRM and for exactly how long it will have DRM included.

I purchased a CyberpowerPC laptop some years ago, still runs, and it came with a Witcher III GOG keycode, but somewhere along the way before that laptop got to me, somebody stole that keycode, and so the agent assigned to customer support my purchase gave me a new one.

But the point here is, it seems that for the first 2 or 3 months after release of a new title, DRM could be allowed, but only for that time period, just to be able to deal with the problem of keycode theft. I'm not sure how to do that, maybe make verification with online servers required during that period, and any keycodes reported as not working or used when they shouldn't have been used yet subject to investigation and termination if the investigation provides sufficient evidence that it was likely a stolen keycode. Then the account that used a likely stolen keycode can be more closely monitored for further suspicious activity, such using more likely stolen keycodes.

In my case, it should not be difficult to prove if my original keycode was actually stolen because they could get the dates of purchase from Cyberpowerpc, the number of days for assembling the package and number of approximate days it takes to ship the keycodes to promotional software inclusions. Then they compare that to the date the keycode was activated, and they can know that there is probably no way I could have received that keycode before it was activated, they sent codes in post mail then, not email. Then gog would simply need to verify that cyberpowerpc didn't accidentally give away the same keycode twice. (Just had a thought, what if cyberpowerpc does that intentionally, gambling on the idea that some customers will never actually try to activate the keycode, thus saving money on the number of promotional copies of a game they give with their PCs. That would be some jenky stuff, but possible right?)

That's quite a necro.

I was testing and more interested in whether LAN play requires using different multiplayer keys, and it seems to. Public online multiplayer server should not be relevant nor needed for that, as "LAN play" basically means that the two computers running the game are, or at least should be, communicating directly with each other, without any external multiplayer servers. They might not even have any internet access, just connected directly to each other.

So it appears the game code has it hardwired to check whether the two (or more) computers are using the same multiplayer key, and then refusing even local LAN games, if that is the case. In GOG version's case two copies of the same game can play a LAN game, as there are two keys: they default key that is there when the game is installed, and the extra key you get with your game purchase (you need that second key anyway for online multiplayer, as that default key is the same for all GOG users).

Of course if each player, even in the LAN game, has purchased their own copy of the game, then there is no problem as they just use their own second key, and there is no clash of the same keys. I am specifically talking about the special case that you'd want to have a local LAN multiplayer game in the same household against more than one person.

Maybe he was googling for DEFCON's multiplayer keys, and google pointed him to this discussion.

Yes, perhaps. Although it's quite a digression anyway and seems to confuse gift codes with serial keys.

In other news it looks like someone with one of those downrater scripts has visited the last page of this thread. No surprise really, kohlrak even admitted to using one and said that at least one other person is using one on me. It's a weird feeling to have stalkers.