I don't think they monkey around with the game code for the various old games, do they? If not, what is it they do to make the games run on newer machines?

Often it's an emulator like DOSBox, ScummVM, or nGlide. Other smarter people can give more detailed explanations about the process and non-emulator compatibility.

TinyE what the fuck are you doing? will you not shitpost threads new people make?
its not helping you or anyone.

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How are they helped? they are still known as trolls, but becoming them is doing nothing for you, or gog or anything, I seriously suggest just leaving the forum at this stage and going to a forum that isnt in the state as this one.

Don't do this man, I know it may not matter, but it affects how I view you.

They indeed use emulators. For some games they even use Wine (e.g. Nox).

A few things I have seen so far:

- Use emulators
- Use replacements, wrappers or other transformation layers (developed by third parties) for old libraries and APIs
- Use unofficial game patches & hacks (e.g., an overhaul of the game engine) when they can agree with their authors
- Set appropriate Windows compatibility options
- Use illegal cracked exes released by the "scene" groups (yes, unfortunately...)

When they go low... :|

Myself, I got god ol' Sims 1 to run, using a NOCD patch. I had no clue that I should feel bad about it! :-p

I use them all the time myself too! No probs there :) It just feels wrong to pay GOG and get this in return.

Also, legal or not, the crackers put effort in this and get nothing, no compensation, no credit. Their work is being stolen too! EDIT: To clarify, under US copyright law, the cracker team is allowed to sue GOG in this case. Of course, they can't/won't do it since they can't reveal themselves. So they are also being exploited in a way.

considering that these crackers (usually) also released the cracked game into the piracy distribution channels, I dare say they lost the moral high ground to complain about stolen work. ;)

I think GOG have removed patches they at first included due to the group/person complaining that it was being used in the release. There was a thread or two about it a year or two ago, and I don't think it was a no-CD patch, but some other fix, perhaps a resolution patch.

Yeah, it is difficult to take sides in this. Still, two wrongs don't make a right is what I think.

Some of the key people behind GOG used to be in those scenes, so it's not surprising.

Reminds me how a few years ago, Rockstar used cracked exe files for their games on Steam until someone complained.