Game installs on separate drive

[Voo]

I said using the registry to LOCATE GAME RESOURCES is beyond retarded, not using it in general (although it just so happens that the registry is stupid, I never actually brought it up in this thread until now).
If you want to locate a game resource you use a relative path. eg .\Data\ResourceName.ext
I also said that any game that does use the registry to locate specific resources is doing so on purpose, so that it may fail when missing the registry entries. This is to prevent you from copying it between computers, aka DRM.

Ok I thought you meant resources of the game in general - because the game won't start if it misses some stuff independent of what it'S missing, so why distinguish? I doubt anyone will feel better because the game is not starting because it's missing the path to some textures instead of the textures itself.

And I extremely doubt that anyone is using the registry with that purpose in mind. Why? Because it's trivial to circumvent and would be a waste of time and resources if that was their sole purpose. Everyone wanting to use DRM can get one that'll keep people at least busy for a few days and not merely minutes.
No, people using the registry are doing it because it's convenient or in their mind the best solution to a particular problem (which incidentially can be quite annoying for end users, well)


And using the term DRM the way you're doing it, is imho unconventional, at least I heaven't heard anyone use it in that way, but that's uninteresting to argue about anyway.

 

[taltamir]

My apologies then Voo for calling it a strawman. It seems we had a genuine miscommunication which happened to be exactly like the strawman someone else was setting up (my guess is you saw his post with the misquotes).
It is true that it is fairly easy to circumvent, but it is also really trivial to create and stops your average joe.
I seriously doubt it is in common use though.

people using the registry are doing it because it's convenient or in their mind the best solution to a particular problem (which incidentially can be quite annoying for end users, well)

Never made sense to me. Every other OS in the world works without a registry and is so much better off because of it. The registry is a security nightmare, it is a cluttered mess, using it is liable to cause issues, and there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't just use your own DB.

 

[Elixer]

The registry itself is just a (hierarchical) DB and no kind of DRM - except if your definition of DRM also includes filesystems.

I would like to say, yes, there is indeed DRM crapola in the registry. Lots of companies write keys that can't be changed "the normal way", Tages, SecureROM, and a bunch of other companies abused this in the past. I don't recall if it still is being done, but I wouldn't doubt it.

I think we have now covered this way OT stuff to death. 🙂