Older FM titles support

[paokkerkir]

I own all FM titles since the conversion to Football manager in 2005, up to 2020.

Lately I wanted to revisit some of the older titles.

It is outrageous that I have to resort to shady practices to have FM07 and FM08 running on my Win10 pc, just because of the DRM.

And just for education purposes, FM08 IS AVAILABLE ON STEAM PLATFORM. It has an appID, it is available to SI employees etc.

https://steamdb.info/app/10480/subs/

It is even more outrageous that I'm out of luck for FM 05 and 06 even with the shady practices, as the latest patches were never bypassed.

I understand that due to licensing you cannot re-release the games in steam for example. But you could just upload a small patch that removes the DRM from latest patches of FM05-08 (the games that have not got a steam-epic-whatever version), so that we LEGIT buyers from back then could play them if we wish. Or some process that we that we own FM08 can be given a Steam Key for FM08.

Also, to have the patches for these four games uploaded somewhere official from SI would not take so much bandwidth.

Edited October 24, 2020 by paokkerkir
more info.

[oche balboa]

How do you download it 

[paokkerkir]

How you download what?

And I'm not going to drop it, I expect a SI answer eventually.

You see older games rereleased. This is not the case here due to licensing.

You see older games having problems because the developer ceased to exist. Also not the case thankfully.

You see older games left alone due to developer/publisher practices. I think that SI can afford to spend 5 minutes of their working time to remove the DRM from 4 games released 12 to 15 years ago. As a courtesy to those who support you since day one if you like.

[grade]

That is what I'm trying to do with FM07, but for Mac that is unlikely since it is 32 bit program (all games prior to FM18 are run in 32 bits) and mac with the latest OSx now run on 64 bit programs.

That means, SI needs to waste time, in making the game working for FM05 to FM17 in 64 bits. Which i find unlikely. 

[paokkerkir]

While I get that this is a bummer, it is a different issue.
MacOS dropping the compatibility of 32bit apps is something you cannot expect a dev to amend. They have to code new executables.
With Windows the only problem is the Safedisc/Securom DRM which driver is a security breach and has been removed. Not an incopatible app altogether.
 

And even if I'm going the route of installin an older version of windows etc, the official patches of these games should be somewhere for us to download.

[anagain]

2 hours ago, paokkerkir said:

How you download what?

And I'm not going to drop it,

You see older games rereleased. This is not the case here due to licensing.

You see older games having problems because the developer ceased to exist. Also not the case thankfully.

You see older games left alone due to developer/publisher practices. I think that SI can afford to spend 5 minutes of their working time to remove the DRM from 4 games released 12 to 15 years ago. As a courtesy to those who support you since day one if you like.

Whilst I don't think your wants are unreasonable, and I don't really understand enough about it to offer an opinion on patches etc, I do believe that being demanding and aggressive about this is probably not the best way to be.

I honestly believe that the best way in life to get someone to listen to you, and be graceful enough to look in to a matter, is to be polite.

2 hours ago, paokkerkir said:

I think that SI can afford to spend 5 minutes of their working time to remove the DRM from 4 games released 12 to 15 years ago.

If it was such a simple task then I am sure they would have done it already. I am sure there is legitimate reasons that mean this has not been done. Sadly, as technology changes software can suffer incompatibility.

Try reading the following thread and see if anything helps. I did a simple google search.

It is also the weekend.

[paokkerkir]

Hi @anagain. I did not want to sound aggressive, but I am demanding. Not demanding for a solution in the weekend of course. 

I understand that there is a 99% chance that no solution will be offered, but I firmly believe it is wrong.
It is such a simple task, and the only thing that can be holding them back -losing income from sales- does not apply anymore for a 15 year old seasonal game.

I would like also for a solution to be offered for us owners to access the FM08 steam version since it is there, but I also do not see that one coming.

The reason why I demand an answer is exactly the kind of responses that this thread you attached has from SI staff. Nothing really.

And yes, I may be able to find patch links and ways to run the game in win10 via shady practices or via enabling a driver that is a security risk, but not anyone is that tech savvy, and they should not be.
There are little things a dev can do to recognise the support of their long term supporters and buyers. This thing is one of them.

 

Regards.

Edited October 25, 2020 by paokkerkir

[anagain]

12 minutes ago, paokkerkir said:

I did not want to sound aggressive, but I am demanding. Not demanding for a solution in the weekend of course. 

I understand that there is a 99% chance that no solution will be offered, but I firmly believe it is wrong.
It is such a simple task, and the only thing that can be holding them back -losing income from sales- does not apply anymore for a 15 year old seasonal game.

I would like also for a solution to be offered for us owners to access the FM08 steam version since it is there, but I also do not see that one coming.

The reason why I demand an answer is exactly the kind of responses that this thread you attached has from SI staff. Nothing really.

And yes, I may be able to find patch links and ways to run the game in win10 via shady practices or via enabling a driver that is a security risk, but not anyone is that tech savvy, and they should not be.
There are little things a dev can do to recognise the support of their long term supporters and buyers. This thing is one of them.

 

Regards.

I appreciate you just want to be able to play a game you own, I just suspect it is far from as simple as you suspect. Like I said, I can't comment on exactly what is needed, but the fact that SI haven't even though this has been asked 4 years ago suggests it is not as simple. My instinct is to say this is very much a publisher controlled thing. DRM was designed for a purpose, and making patches that bypass DRM is against publisher interests. Even if the game is 13 years old.

Perhaps if Sega had a bigger presence on GOG. They just don't though, and that might be something to do with Sega's stance.

You could try putting in a support ticket. That would ensure that someone at SI sees your request.

Good luck getting to play the old FMs.

[FrazT]

SI are the developers of the game but SEGA are the distributors and so I suspect that this point would be best made directly to SEGA.

I am sure that there are licensing issues regarding the official site providing links to earlier patches, but they are available on many of the unofficial FM websites

[mark49s]

Apologies for resurrecting an older thread.  Paokkerkir, how did you manage to install the patches on the games? I've been trying to do so on FM07, but whenever I do, the game refuses to load so i'm forced to play in unpatched resulting in parts of the game not really working (scouting in particular!).

I've probably spent more time in FM07 than I have any other game, so would love to see a bit of backwards comparability from SI/Sega.

[Farina]

On 25/10/2020 at 16:37, anagain said:

Whilst I don't think your wants are unreasonable, and I don't really understand enough about it to offer an opinion on patches etc, I do believe that being demanding and aggressive about this is probably not the best way to be.

I honestly believe that the best way in life to get someone to listen to you, and be graceful enough to look in to a matter, is to be polite.

If it was such a simple task then I am sure they would have done it already. I am sure there is legitimate reasons that mean this has not been done. Sadly, as technology changes software can suffer incompatibility.

Try reading the following thread and see if anything helps. I did a simple google search.

It is also the weekend.

Hi, I made that thread you linked to and I actually agree with the sentiments of the OP here. First, as I tried to explain several times in that thread, the issue isn't because of changing technology or backward compatibility. Windows isn't iOS, it's capable of running (very) old software flawlessly. The issue is that the DRM FM07 uses caused security problems, which led MS to remove the support for it from all versions of Windows. You could have a 15-year old computer with Vista and FM07 still wouldn't run (if the OS is fully updated).

 

And no it would not be difficult to create a patch that disables the DRM in these old titles. And no, it would not cause other issues. I emphasize, again, that the DRM in question was unsafe, there's no longer any support for it in Windows, and that therefore the DRM in question is no longer in use, at all, anywhere. So yes, it is reasonable to feel peeved that SI/Sega aren't willing to provide a safe, practical and legal way for people who paid for the game to revisit their old saves. They caused the issue by adding unsafe DRM to the game.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Farina