NWN1 Diamond Edition modules still have DRM ???? on GOG ???? I am really shocked :S

It doesn't need to be a website, smart guy. There are plenty of online protocols that could be checked which would be a lot harder to spoof than a website. Email servers spring to mind. Or DNS servers.

This is pointless. It's like talking to a child. Believe what you like. I just don't care any more.

AstralWanderer you're citing an old source. Hasbro/WotC stripped Atari of their license the moment they were able. While Atari's Nameco/Bandai connection was the excuse, the real reason was their unhappiness with the way Atari pissed away the last year of NWN2's development cycle with MoW's hair-brained DRM scheme. They are no longer being allowed to make DnD titles (that's why they had to unload Cryptic studios, they had spent millions on NWO and Hasbro/WotC refused to let them publish it), and their development rights on games they've already made are severely restricted. They are allowed to retain their rights to current titles (by court order) but they are not allowed to do anything that might compete with new titles, which means they are really only allowed to keep old titles working.

Kyonhism: The premium modules in your gog install include a shell that emulates authentication. You can play these offline if you want. The modules/drm we're talking about are not included in the GoG bundle.

DNS is a protocol, DNS SERVER is a SERVER, not a protocol. Aka a website that serves DNS (AFAIK site does not limit it to HTTP) Personal attacks? pathetic
All you have done is put forth an argument that hinges on pure benevolence by the very same people who came up with the most evil DNS to exist at the time (it predated the always on connection, and verify on each reload is close enough to it).
You argued how it COULD be done (theoretically, yet you claim that the fact it CAN be done means its a given fact), I counter with an alternative possibility that is far more plausible and yet I do not present it as fact, but propose testing to verify which it is. I would like to know where you get your absolute faith in the "facts" you purport other then your faith that they are true You say as fact things that have yet to be determined by the court. These are the desired outcomes for some of the players involved but are not the guaranteed outcome. Until the issue is resolved the entire license is highly toxic and dangerous to use.

I know what a protocol is. I also know what a straw man is. Rather than admitting you were wrong when you said "The only possible way is if it pings a website and gets a response (perhaps google?)..." you are going to nitpick the way I phrased my counterpoint in the hopes that it will deflect attention from the sheer stupidity of your initial declaration.

What was the word you used? "Pathetic."

Works for me.

Just FYI, the premium mod DRM was created back before EA took over Bioware. Bioware was the epitome of a benevolant developer back then. The only reason they added DRM was that Atari made them, and they were careful to make sure that when DRM support stopped the game wouldn't break. After all, these were the same guys that made Baldur's Gate. They had a legacy to protect.

As for the lawsuit between Atari and Hasbro... You are WRONG. Again. It's OVER. Done. Decided. It has been resolved. Atari got their butts handed to them. Hasbro now has complete and total control of the DnD video game license. They have extended the rights to Perfect World to finish Neverwinter, but they have not licensed the franchise over to a particular developer and after the Atari debacle they may never do so again.

As for where I get my information, it's from paying attention to events as they happen. It's much easier to keep track of things as they happen than it is to try to Google them after the fact. You not only wind up bogged down in obsolete information, you miss the nuances of timing that reach out into other seemingly unrelated events. You also have a better chance of noticing it when the PR department tries to slip through the end of a court case quietly, without necessarily sending a press release to Gamesutra.

Finally, it can keep you from winding up in a situation where, after stubbornly doubling-down a half dozen times without any facts and without adequate technical expertise to back up your previous posts, you are desperately Googling after the fact for information to support an overtly incorrect position in a public forum.

I'm not getting involved in this argument, but I have some information that might be useful to someone. On which side, I can't say. I was present when the attacks happened that resulted in the theft of a lot of users' information on the Bioware site, and which resulted in them removing the old forums entirely, and shutting down the old user accounts.

During that time, for at least several weeks afterward, no one was able to play the NWN premium modules. They would attempt to connect, and fail. There were complaints about it, that you can see for yourself if you go to the forum and look at posts from that time.

Then, some time after the servers went down, someone reported that the premium modules were functioning again. I'll let you argue about why.

I remember. I was still the news editor for Neverwinter Connections back then (before they let the cold fusion license expire and shut down the news feed). People who had paid for the premium modules had become accustomed to the DRM. The authentication really did feel seamless, and it happened so fast that it was easy to forget it was even there. Then the master server went down and suddenly everyone was getting a notice that the client wasn't connecting and offering to let them play the demo.

Needless to say people were furious. I left a few nasty posts myself. I actually suggested the same solution that taltamir seems to believe is in place. But the Bio guys were firm. This was NOT a priority and would be dealt with if and when they saw fit... a time that never actually came. In typical EA fashion they just ignored the problem and hoped it would go away.

It didn't take weeks, though. It took a few days to realize that all we had to do was decline the demo and wait a minute or so and we'd be able to play anyway.

Here is a link to the Bio thread where OldTimeRadio set us straight:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/199/index/8178901

It took a while to figure out what was going on. As you can see Shia Luck, who is quite active on these boards also, was the first to get an inkling. But now the community has pretty much determined the DRM was tied to the master server, and that the master server is now down, and the games are starting anyway because the DRM was designed to run if the master server failed.

A few anti-piracy fanatics were still upset that other people could play a game they'd paid for free, but for the most part we let go of our misplaced indignation at that point.

1. I know this was before EA acquisition
2. I know this was done by atari
3. What is your point? Atari still broke new grounds in how obtrusive DRM could be That is an extremely vague explanation of how you "know" that the DRM on the premium modules works in exactly the way you describe (aka. check internet connection, if internet connection found and server not, consider validated. if internet connection not found refuse to validate).

This has nothing to do with "paying attention to things as they happen" or "googling them after the fact"... I posit that what you describe is a possible but unlikely scenario. you insist that it is true and when I ask you for a source on it you say "I pay attention to things as they happen"... what?

That would disprove urknights hypothesis; however there were some conflicting voices on the disruption so verifying it empirically would be better.

Here is the thread in question:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/199/index/7715716/12

Guess I better download the installer again if they decide to remove it O.o

Wow. You really are desperate It "disproves" nothing. That's not even the relevant thread to the premium mods. I've already posted that. The only thing that post proves is that the master server was used for authentication, Bio shut it down, and never spoke of it again.

Quick point of fact...

Atari didn't build the premium mod DRM. Bio did. Atari forced them to do it, but Bio actually set it up. That's why it authenticated to the Bio master server and not a server hosted by Atari.

I'll let you in on a little secret. I was THERE when the thread you posted was started. I have been an active participant in this community and this discussion for a decade now. You see that number 2 poster, UrkOfGreyhawk? The VERY FIRST RESPONSE to the original post? That's me.

I still not find an answer for my question . Now the NWN1 community safe with diamond premium modules with GOG version . Or they still need internet ? And still include DRM ?

You people arguing something that is barely related to this thread, there's a simple way to see whether the NWN prenium modules must connect to a specific server in order to activate.

Step1: Monitor connections and check which server NWN connects to when it activates the module.

Step2: Add an entry in your host file that redirects that address to a completely different and unrelated server. Or an unused/unreachable address.

Step3: Try to activate again. If it works, the modules really don't need to connect to the activation servers. If it doesn't, then they still need to connect to the server to activate, and the only thing that's changed is that the server systematically gives the OK for activation without verifying anything. Or something along those lines.

There. 3 simple steps and this silly argument will be completely resolved.

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Edit:

The prenium modules that are contained in GOG's NWN are DRM-Free. Not all of NWN's prenium modules are part of GOG's version.

Kyonhism, you still need to be online to play the premium mods, but the gog package, even the premium mods in the gog package, can be run offline.

The DRM protocols are still in place on the premium mods, but the official word from bioware is that the authentication servers are offline. See taltamir's link in post 68.

Which means that DRM-removal should be permissible, right?
The NWN1 premium modules included in GOG's NWN1 collection were made available (by Atari) on DVD-ROM without the online activation requirement (both separately as [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights:_Kingmaker]Kingmaker[/url] and as part of the Diamond DVD release). It's more likely that GOG is using these versions.

NWN1 have more premium modules than in Kingmaker Expansion . ;)

Thanks for DRM info guys . Last month I checked my NWN1 Diamond disc for Kingmaker Expansion . And I compared hashes with to download from GOG . Kingmaker installers are same . Completely same . If GOG made a change it's in the main game files . Or nothing different than fully patched boxed copy .