- This topic has 25 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 17 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
-
When you say ‘manual-check’ do you mean, you have to check the manual to pass the security feature in the game? KQ5 has it where three times in the game you have to look up in the book some spell symbols. Once when you push the boat out to sea and when you try to crowbar the gate at the castle and I think when you scare the snake at the mountain pass. I wish they had made the symbols a little more different from each other. I wonder if it was made the way it is to prevent copying of the manual?
-
In the beginning of KQ4, you need to look up certain words on page X, paragraph Y. PQ1, EGA, you need to open Sonny’s locker with the game score. I can’t think of any for the QfG series except 4 where you need the ingredients for Dr. Cranium’s potions. LSL, there’s a few. I think it might be on 5 where you need a ticket at the airport or something. On some other lsl’s, you need phone numbers.
-
Please note as you answer guys that the original poster’s question related to copy protection for CD games, not for disk games. If my memory here at work of the KQ5 manual is correct, the symbols actually have a transparent red layer over them, to make copying the manual harder since obviously that was the easiest way to pirate a game, just by copying the manual. I’m not sure if CD version of KQ5 also retained this copyright protection. Some of Sierra’s early CD games I’m certain didn’t include the copyright protection that was in their disk version counterparts, based on the assumption that the CD format wouldn’t lend itself to copying. Later Sierra games like KQ6, SQ6, etc made the copyright protection more ‘integrated’ into the game and a part of the game’s puzzles, instead of just requiring you to look up a word or symbol at the start of the game or during gameplay. You had to use the symbols or information in the manual or supplemental book to solve a puzzle. I would still consider this a copyright protection.
-
Yes, like Brandon said, I was asking only about CD-ROM games. I don’t think the CD version of KQ5 retained the copy protection, because it wasn’t integrated in the game like it was in KQ6 and Freddy Pharkas. About QFG4 I’m not sure, because while it was more integrated than KQ5, it wasn’t as integrated as in KQ6. As for SQ6, I don’t know… some say it’s copy protection, others say it’s a badly designed puzzle (because some copies were distributed without a manual). If it’s indeed copy-protection, I suspect that SQ6 is the only CD-only Sierra adventure that have manual-check copy protection. No one knows of other games?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
First of all, yes, some games did have only a CD version, like SQ6. Second, even though the copy protection is the same for games that have both floppy and CD version, I’d like to have a seperate manual for each version. The list I’ve asked for (which I now doubt that I’ll get) would’ve helped me organize my collection. I’m pedantic.
Now, can you help me with the list or all of these questions were just out of curiosity? -
CD-ROMs were invented around 1982-85 according to some of the sites I googled. Sierra started in the 1980s. The list of games after 1985 is large but I don’t think Sierra started using CDs at that time. Does anyone know when Sierra started shipping games in CD format? That would give you a list of games to search for
-
There’s surely a bunch of us here including myself who have enough of Sierra’s games or at least enough knowledge or records to answer your question in full – however, I guess that most, like myself, are just too lazy to do it. It’s not exactly the most exciting question for us collectors to dig around and work out. Eventually there’s going to be a huge Sierra database online resource with all this type of information in it, making it super easy to find the answer to your question and many others. Developing this system takes time though, and that’s why we haven’t really mentioned it much because we don’t want people hassling us about it every few months, especially when we have to spread our resources over all of the various archival projects we’re working on. Just thought you’d want to know why none of us are making too much of an effort for you on this one.
-
-
MXCoder
‘Does anyone know when Sierra started shipping games in CD format? ‘if im not mistaken, wasnt kings quest 5 the first cd game made by sierra? kings quest 4 was not a seperate cd game, and only was released on a cd as part of the different roberta collections.
also, im pretty sure the next cd games were these: space quest 4cd, larry 5cd, and quest for glory 4cd, kings quest 6cd. the order of qfg4 and kq6 could be wrong though. i believe all games after these were cd only releases, except for space quest 5 which sadly never saw a cd release and larry 6 which was possibly the last disk/cd release.
here is the part of the list i know for sure:kings quest 6cd needs the book for the mountain puzzle, kings quest 7 does not need it, space quest 4cd needs it for the timepod codes and plug adapter, space quest 6 needs it for the datacorder and the element table, larry 5 needs it for the plane tickets, larry 6 and 7 do not need theirs, quest for glory 4cd only needs it to get free healing potions from the dr. but it isnt required to finish the game, freddy pharkas needs it to make medicine, torins passage does not need it, its helpful in police quest 4 but not required, and phantasmagoria 1 does not require it.
thats all i know. this is all from memory though, but im very certian its correct. i have no idea about any of the gabriel knight games, phantas2, or any other non ‘quest’ game they released. also i must say, that even if the manuals are not required they are still very cool. some of them are very entertaining. i personally enjoy the quest for glory and space quest ones a lot.
-
Thanks Harky. I think the first Sierra CD game was actually Mixed-Up Mother Goose, not KQ5.
As for your list, I think that the copy protection was taken out for the CD release of SQ4. And the plug adapter you mentioned, I don’t think that’s found in the manual, I think you’re supposed to figure it out yourself in the game (because you can still return to the arcade and from there to Radio Shack after you see the plug connectors in Vohaul’s palace).
I think some of the SQ4 manuals told the correct coordinates for making the laser beams horizontal, but it was more of a spoiler than a copy protection thing, because it was possible to figure it out without the manual (I think 🙂 ).As for LSL5, it does have copy protection, but while it was released on a CD, it was just the floppy version shoved on a CD-ROM, not a real CD version, so it doesn’t count.
-
yeah, you are right about larry 5, i forgot that wasn’t a talkie, but i still think sq4cd needs the manual. but it sounds to me like you already know which ones need them and which don’t.
by the way, you can find ALL of the manuals you need scanned into pdf files on the internet if you look hard enough.
replacementdocs is a good place to start if they are up, they go offline quite a bit. there is a link somewhere here for the quest for glory ones, and spacequest.net has ALL of the sq manuals im pretty sure.
good luck.
-
JT Harkey’s list seems slightly incorrect to me, so here’s a brief one:
King’s Quest 6 (kept the disk version protection)
Quest for Glory 4 (kept the disk version protection)
Space Quest 6 (contentious ‘copy protection’)
Freddy Pharkas (kept disk version protection)SQ4CD has NO copy protection, neither does KQ5CD. Both disk versions’ protection were removed with the CD rerelease.
Larry 5 was not a ‘LSL5CD release’, but just a SierraOriginals version, so it doesn’t count.
I think those 4 are all.
Regards,
– Alistair -
i wouldn’t really call the potion codes in quest for glory 4 a copy protection since they are not at all required to finish the game. they are nice to have though if your a fighter, but not really even helpful for the other 2 classes, or at least not for me. i usually dont even bother getting them.
and the more i think about it, i think you are right that there isnt any in sq4cd. but like i said, i was just doing the list from memory.
and i think alistair is right, the list is complete except for some of non major series games.
-
Harkey: ‘but it sounds to me like you already know which ones need them and which don’t.’
Could be, but I wasn’t sure if my list was correct or complete, so I asked.Alistair: ‘King’s Quest 6 (kept the disk version protection)
Quest for Glory 4 (kept the disk version protection)
Space Quest 6 (contentious ‘copy protection’)
Freddy Pharkas (kept disk version protection)’
Yes, that’s what I suspected. Wasn’t sure about QFG4 though, if it kept the floppy protection. So these 4 are the only ones?Harkey: ‘i wouldn’t really call the potion codes in quest for glory 4 a copy protection since they are not at all required to finish the game.’
Nevertheless, I count it, if it’s required in any way.Harkey: ‘and i think alistair is right, the list is complete except for some of non major series games.’
Like what? I’m only interested in adventure games, by the way. -
SirGraham
‘Like what? I’m only interested in adventure games, by the way.’
I’m not sure of all the different games they made. There was a Laura Bow cd game, but I don’t know about it’s copy protection. I know there was a Willy Beamish game on cd, if you’re interested in Dynamix/Sierra games also (Dynamix also made a couple more I think but I don’t know the names.) I’m not sure about Gabriel Knight 1cd either. -
The following is a list of CD games that I looked up on Vintage-Sierra.
These are only the games I could see the CD or read CD on.
King’s Quest V – Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder
2nd Release 1990 (CD)
King’s Quest VI – Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
2nd Release 1993 (CD)
3rd Release 1993 (CD)
King’s Quest VII – The Princeless Bride
1st Release 1994 (CD)
2nd Release 1995 (2.0)(CD)
Space Quest IV – Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
2nd Release 1991 (CD)
Space Quest VI – Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier
Release 1995 (CD)
Quest for Glory – Shadows of Darkness
Release 1993 (CD)
Laura Bow – The Dagger of Amon Ra
Release 1992 (CD)
Eco Quest – The Search for Cetus
Release 1992 (CD)
Gobliiins
Release 1993 (CD)
Gobliins 2
Release 199?
Goblins Quest 3
Release 1994 (CD)
Goblins 4 – Woodruff and the Schnibble
Release 1994 (CD)
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
2nd Release 1991 (CD) -
I found out recently (thanks to ashdoublev) that the floppy version of Willy Beamish had copy protection. I don’t remember it from playing the game, because it’s a non-random manual-check question that you encounter in the middle of the game (it’s an hypnotizing line).
It’s very possible that it wasn’t removed for the CD-ROM conversion, which means that this game should be on the list (doesn’t matter how lame this copy protection is).So, I need some saved games to check it. Anyone know where I can get saved game for the CD version of this game? I’d also like to have some saved-games for the floppy version, just to see if my copy is cracked or not.
If no saved games are avialable for the CD version, can someone who kept the manual tell me if Dr. Jeckle’s ad inside Willy’s Meed Notebooklet can be found in it? That’s where the hypnotic line appears in the floppy version’s manual. -
-
