And why would you delete them? You need to create a steam_appid.txt file for the game to run, not remove any files.

To see if it's really DRM dree. If it needs permission from the steam dlls, then it's not. By definition that's Digital Rights Management.

That text file techically counts as licence file (or even crack since it fools the DLL), like the licence files you needed back in the days when the Windows Media Player would check offline if you were entitled to see a video.

But that's obsolete now anyway, we got an update on GOG.


It's the latest version that does not require a launcher to run.
Befor that the indiegala version had that title (being version 1.5)

Don't know if it has achievement support or not.

Ah alright, I see what you meant now. Though as already mentioned, steam version doesn't need the client to run. I personally wouldn't call anyone a cracker if they create a text file while putting in a couple of numbers which are publicly available on steam itself, within the game's link. If it were a license as you say, then it would be a public one? Sounds a bit funky... so likely it isn't really a license, unless we are using the term very loosely here.

Yes, thanks GOG and Bedtime Digital Games.

I cracked Dark Forces back in the days by copying the file cd.id from the CD to C:\ and then configured a .ini file, telling the game that C:\ was my CD-ROM drive.
Fun fact: the downloadable GOG version also does that. It tricks the game into thinking that we have the Dark Forces CD inserted.

The text file itself is not a licence. The licence is granted to us by paying for the game as part of the contract. The dll is the implementation that is supposed to check if we have the right to play the game. The textfile is used to bypass the connection to the server, but the game still asks the dll if it should run. Using that textfile is a crack by all means. We do not use the game in the way it's meant to be used.

These are very simple cracks, but they are. We trick the game into "thinking" that we are entitled to play it, everyone doing that would seem to be entitled, even without owning the game.

It does not really matter if the number is public or not, if it's encrypted or not. The moment when the game requests permission to run (or to unlcok content), that's when the DRM happens. How it's decided if the permission should be granted, is a whole different story.

Thanks for the freebie!

Thanks for the story, it brought me back to the days of custom full installs for those of us, who had the luxury of large hdds to speed up the loading (I think i mentioned that a while ago in another thread in contrast to psx loading times iirc). Anyway, nobody here called that cracking though as it was a rather common practice, though I don't want to diminish young neumi's achievement.
Now if there was a proper cd check regardless of having all the data on hdd, then yeah I would call that a drm. I mean that's the reason why the scene came with all those proper no-cd/dvd cracks since it was no longer a simple copypasta. Speaking about steam though, even with some limited programming background you can build your own steam drm unwrapper for personal use.

Anyway, if you believe that the steam version of this game is drm'd, be my guest. You just give it more credit than it's worth. I'm not here to change your mind or argue just for the sake of it while tiptoeing around terms. For me the steam version has the benefit in this case, as I can choose to play via client if I want to try to get those chievos.

Only for Windows. Linux users can suck it.