if someone finds Stars! keygen... what do u think is best to do?[ 20 votes ]
1.	delete it. don't tell anybody.	0 / 0%
2.	send it to Ron privately and let him decide what to do.	10 / 50%
3.	ask Jeff's permission to keygen if new serials are needed	2 / 10%
4.	ask Empire's permission to keygen if new serials are needed	0 / 0%
5.	simply keygen new serials as needed	2 / 10%
6.	make it public	3 / 15%
7.	don't tell anybody. keygen for trusted persons if asked	0 / 0%
8.	don't tell anybody. keygen for anyone who asks (pretend to "find" old serials, etc.)	1 / 5%
9.	other. plz specify below	2 / 10%

Hi all!

somehow i got a feeling from "on serial #" thread, that the big ones of this game (Jeffs/Empire) would actually be willing to give some serials away for free (since the game is not being sold/supported anymore anyway), but simply cannot because of lack of serials/program that makes them/etc. (correct me if i'm wrong). however, i'm pretty sure i saw a keygen couple of years ago somewhere on the vast internet. i might even give it a try to find it again. OTOH, i don't want to spend time on something that's not needed at all or can cause legal troubles to my precious self. so this is the reason for this poll. any thoughts/comments/additional options for the poll/flames would be appreciated.

regards,
strannik.

[Updated on: Wed, 15 March 2006 23:35]

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If I found one I'd first

Then I would send the Keygen to Empire, perhaps if they had one they would start selling serials again, as is their right...

I'd also give it to Ron, for safe keeping

I think Jeff already has a keygen, he just can't/won't use it.

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Strannik wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 17:23

however, i'm pretty sure i saw a keygen couple of years ago somewhere on the vast internet.

Wasn't there a 'pirate' keygen for the 2.7i version, and any keys it generated got blocked in 2.7j? I know this is true for lists of keys floating around, but I remember reading something about a keygen too.

So if anyone finds one and wants to do anything other than deleting it, first check that it created valid keys for 2.7j.

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Madman wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 13:36

Strannik wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 17:23 however, i'm pretty sure i saw a keygen couple of years ago somewhere on the vast internet. Wasn't there a 'pirate' keygen for the 2.7i version, and any keys it generated got blocked in 2.7j? I know this is true for lists of keys floating around, but I remember reading something about a keygen too. So if anyone finds one and wants to do anything other than deleting it, first check that it created valid keys for 2.7j.

I'm almost 100% sure you CAN generate keys for 2.7j. I had this monster in the past but lost, though I remember how it works. (If needed, I can contact again persons that I got it from - it was published for some time on the russian stars-related web site.) That keygen was using one Stars! key and generate other keys based on that one. Each next key is variation of initial by adding some number. So a vast number of next generated keys have first 2 characters matching to the intial key used as input. To fix keygen use problem, Stars! 2.7j simply denies any key that have 2 (or 1???) starting characters equal to the widely known keys. However (PROBABLY - I did not test this ), if you run keygen for hours, you reach a point when first 1 character of next new key would not match with initial key, and that new key would probably be valid for 2.7j.

(I hope this info does not reveals anything too important and destructive )

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Tomasoid wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 07:24

I'm almost 100% sure you CAN generate keys for 2.7j. I had this monster in the past but lost, though I remember how it works. (If needed, I can contact again persons that I got it from - it was published for some time on the russian stars-related web site.) That keygen was using one Stars! key and generate other keys based on that one. Each next key is variation of initial by adding some number. So a vast number of next generated keys have first 2 characters matching to the intial key used as input. To fix keygen use problem, Stars! 2.7j simply denies any key that have 2 (or 1???) starting characters equal to the widely known keys. However (PROBABLY - I did not test this ), if you run keygen for hours, you reach a point when first 1 character of next new key would not match with initial key, and that new key would probably be valid for 2.7j. (I hope this info does not reveals anything too important and destructive )

afaik that's exactly how it worked. (i might not remember everything, it was _years_ ago. ) so basicly anyone, who has a valid key could gen an almost unlimited amount of new valid serials.

a while ago i tried to find that russian site where it was, but either i couldn't find it, or it's down like many other Stars sites. however, there are couple more places i could ask about this program. the only question is: is it really needed at this moment? i mean, it's like that famous box - u open it once, u cannot close it...

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Strannik wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 16:38

i mean, it's like that famous box - u open it once, u cannot close it...

You mean the one with all those different kinds of chocolats?!

...

hmmmmm ...
chocolat ...

mch

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As an aside - isnt it nice what a lot of trustworthy folks we are.
We ponder deeply the ethics of using a (possibly nonexistant) code to steal software licences for a game that is no longer produced, and if still sold only available if you really really try to buy it.

On top of this the most common response is not - yes, yes gimme lots of stars #, finally all my friends can play. But instead lets give it to Ron, he is honest and trustworthy and will make a wise decision that will be best for everyone.

Contrast this with the standard - ooh sparkly new game with shiney graphics, burn me a copy now.

Seriously I am touched, maybe thats why there are less of us each year - we are being outbred by the selfish.

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joseph wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 23:20

As an aside - isnt it nice what a lot of trustworthy folks we are.

I think it may be good for community to publish such thing. Sure. However ... Keygens or copy-protection hacks are things that rare people want to host on their site. We are mostly not some abandonware site hosts ... or warez hackers here. Who wants trouble? Russia is probably exception with regard to copyright laws.

If you, joseph, had it, would you host it on your own site? Or say hacked Stars! executable that simply gens a random key and starts without bla-bla? Or what was your suggestion again?

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joseph wrote on Thu, 16 March 2006 16:20

As an aside - isnt it nice what a lot of trustworthy folks we are. We ponder deeply the ethics of using a (possibly nonexistant) code to steal software licences for a game that is no longer produced, and if still sold only available if you really really try to buy it. On top of this the most common response is not - yes, yes gimme lots of stars #, finally all my friends can play. But instead lets give it to Ron, he is honest and trustworthy and will make a wise decision that will be best for everyone. Contrast this with the standard - ooh sparkly new game with shiney graphics, burn me a copy now. Seriously I am touched, maybe thats why there are less of us each year - we are being outbred by the selfish.

The few Stars! players left seem to be the ones who really love the game, and people who are true fans of a game like this tend to respect the creators. So I think that direction of causation is the other way around; few people ==> self-selection for loyalty.

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Hi,
I vote "2" because of we can play Stars! thanks to Ron.

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[Updated on: Fri, 31 March 2006 00:32]

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Ron wrote on Fri, 31 March 2006 05:59

I have contacted Jeff McBride about the tool (and about the serial number proxy tool Wumpus made) and he said that he had no problems using either method. He also said that if he had the time and could find the Stars! source code, he'd release a version that wouldn't need serial numbers.

Everybody cheers the most excellent Ron & Jeff!

Does that mean we would be saying bye bye to the "false emperor" snag, too?

That said, there's a *couple* easy fixes that could be included too in said new version, such as the RS-armor overload and the racename corruption bugs.

Now that I think of it, the Stars! Tutorial which got so highly praised in its time could perhaps be turned into a handy story-telling, scenario-setting tool if only the algorithm/tools needed to craft such a thing could be released/understood.

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Hear hear...cheers to Ron & Jeff


no no no...leave the tutorial as it is...its still an excellent introduction to Stars!..and the whole point of this excerise is new players

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gible wrote on Fri, 31 March 2006 14:10

no no no...leave the tutorial as it is...its still an excellent introduction to Stars!..and the whole point of this excerise is new players

Of course I don't need/want to change that finest piece of training material, *the* Tutorial. What would be very interesting would be having *more* Tutorials, Scenarios, and whatever.

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m.a@stars wrote on Fri, 31 March 2006 20:41

That said, there's a *couple* easy fixes that could be included too in said new version, such as the RS-armor overload and the racename corruption bugs.

It would be nice, but my reading of the situation is that Jeff has moved on from Stars, so is unlikely to spend time fixing any bugs unless they are _really_ easy. He'd already be doing us a huge favour releasing a version that doesn't require serial numbers.

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Madman wrote on Fri, 31 March 2006 17:02

m.a@stars wrote on Fri, 31 March 2006 20:41 That said, there's a *couple* easy fixes that could be included too in said new version, such as the RS-armor overload and the racename corruption bugs. It would be nice, but my reading of the situation is that Jeff has moved on from Stars, so is unlikely to spend time fixing any bugs unless they are _really_ easy. He'd already be doing us a huge favour releasing a version that doesn't require serial numbers.

C'mon, we can dream, can't we?

Besides, those two bugs should be very very easy to fix, certainly easier than wrestling out the serial protections.

The actually quite simple "distance display formatting" bug should be trivial to fix, too.

But, just in case some help was needed, I have a couple ancient compilers in some backup disk...

[Updated on: Fri, 31 March 2006 10:28]

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