I'm asking here because I don't really want to search the bowels of the darknet, and I think there are knowledgeable enough folks here who could answer my question.

I purchased Tradewinds Legends from Sandlot Games and love it so much, I repurchased it from Big Fish Games when Sandlot went under. Unfortunately, the BFG version does not contain the character Ivory. I copied over the game files from my old computer to my new one, but I can't authenticate it because Sandlot's servers are no longer operational.

Am I out of luck? I know nothing about 'cracking' a game. I do have my old authentication code, if that helps. I've never cracked a game before (I've never needed to as I don't do 'warez'), but since I've bought the game (twice!), I think I have a right to do this ONCE.

Any ideas, oh most wise GOGers?

Contact tech support?

If i recall correct there was a standalone version named Tradewinds Legends: Unlikely Heroes that was sold only on Sandloft's site. Unfortunately, you can't get that one anymore. Was initially an expansion, transformed into a standalone game with two extra characters (Ivory was one of them). With Sandlot out of business, your only option is the darknet (if you owned either the expansion or the standalone version). And that's why we hate any kind of DRM (online activation being one of the worst).

Hmm, it's a bit if a mess as it seems. Sandlot turned into Digital Chocolate which current website seems down as well.

You might still want to try mailing support@sandlotgames.com. The domain still works so the e-mail might still work as well. I found it on http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120304000622/http://www.sandlotgames.com/w5/ which state that:

[i]Q. Will I still be able to get assistance with the games I already purchased?

A: We are terminating access to that part of our web site. However, we remain 100% committed to supporting our customers. Please contact us at support@sandlotgames.com if you need replacement activation codes or if you have any questions.[/i]

What a confusing situation :S

and im sure the thread starter will never return to fill us in on how it went

The wonders of DRM and authentication servers...

This really should make bigger headlines, as this is the future of our titles and games if companies go under...

If TPB was still up (and remnants of it will always be around) then getting a working cracked version is easy enough. Hell there used to be some hacker groups that only provided patches and not the game, so you had to have the game to patch it... God i wish i had all those old links from 2000...

You said you have it at bigfish as well. Can you compare the files in the folders? Sometimes you can add DLC like that with a small file addition. Just see if there are files in your Sandlot version which are missing in the Big Fish version.

Actually, Digital Chocolate bought Sandlot Games, then fired all the Sandlot people. DC is now defunct, and some of it was sold to Ubisoft.

No one seems to know who owns Sandlot Games's old IP. Some of the old Sandlotters formed a company called UpTap and I have sent them a message to see if they know of a fix, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

I've tried a couple of torrents, but all of them seem to be just the Ivory-less version.

Oh, I bought Unlikely Heroes, too, but that won't work for the same reason the original version doesn't.

I'll try the files compare and see if that gets me anywhere.

Thanks for all the responses. I will check back from time to time and let you know if I get this fixed.

EDIT: Just got a failure notice to the email, so that route is no good.

ANOTHER EDIT: I tried merging the folders and replacing files, both ways, but no go. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Lovely. One of the thing that stops me to buy casual games is their online authentication. Now i will stay away even more, knowing what happens with an owned product after the company goes bankrupt.

According to http://forums.bigfishgames.com/posts/list/133226.page Ivory should still be in https://games.yahoo.net/game/TradewindsLegends/2992/111155550.

Not sure of course... :-P

Nope. I've checked Yahoo! Games and they no longer carry Tradewinds Legends (they still have Tradewinds 2, though, which is strange).

Ivory originally was an exclusive to Sandlot and Yahoo!, but she's not available either place anymore.

Although if I had bought the Yahoo! version, I could probably still authenticate it. Sigh.

That's what I get for wanting to support independent game companies.

EDIT: the link goes to Yahoo!, but the version of the game it goes to is the iWin version - no Ivory.

Had to go to the darknet after all and found a cracked version of Unlikely Heroes.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

hi, quiero descargar tradewinds cualquiera de sus variantes. hi, quiero descargar tradewinds cualquiera de sus variantes, me ayudas, plz.