Article-I.D.: crash.414
Posted: Tue Nov 18 21:22:00 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Nov-86 08:48:20 EST
Reply-To: timothyb@crash.UUCP (Timothy Burleson)
Organization: San Diego Swamplands
Lines: 24
Keywords: HELP!!!

My friend bought Ultima III and now his game disk won't work. He showed me 
his ORIGINAL game disk, so this is not due to piracy. In fact, due to the
fact that he doesn't have any of those copy programs like MIRROR or QUICK
NIBBLE, he was unable to make a backup and had to use the original as his
game disk!!! To top it off, Ultima III won't work with the write protect on
as it writes to the disk constantly! I can't believe that a company would
make you do this to your game disk.
   Anyway... His problem is that whenever he goes into ANY town, the people
will not do business with him. When he tries to buy food or supplies, they
say, "Honesty is a virtue. I will not trade with you". Naturally, not being
able to buy food, his characters all die of starvation.
   We tried deleting EVERY character on the disk, disbanding the party, and
even (using a backup I made for him) tried deleting some of the files.
   I have two theories. 1. Somehow, his disk was altered and now the program
thinks it is an illegal backup. or 2. The program was written this way to
react to thievery or decietful behavior. Either way, I think its pretty 
crappy to make the game un-usable when he paid over $40 dollars for it and
HAD to play on the original disk. 
   If anyone can help, PLEASE send E-Mail to me... Thanks.

Timothy B. Burleson
San Diego Swamplands

{akgua,hplabs!hp-sdd,sdcsvax,nosc}!crash!timothyb

Article-I.D.: convex.62900002
Posted: Fri Nov 21 19:43:00 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Nov-86 02:27:07 EST
References: <414@crash.UUCP>
Lines: 14
Nf-ID: #R:crash.UUCP:414:convex:62900002:000:911
Nf-From: convex.UUCP!hutchson    Nov 21 18:43:00 1986


I too bought Ultima III (for an unnamed but non_Amiga-compatible system.)
After playing it for awhile (with, of course, a copy of the game disk--as
any idiot knows better than to use the MASTER copy!)  I noticed the precatory
shopkeepers also.  After some of the same experiments and some others (like
patching the history files!) I observed that the master copy would allow
purchases, but a working copy with presumably the same data would not.
     I took Ultima III back to the store.  I told them it would not work on my
system.  I did not elaborate:  my system includes not only my hardware but my
environment and the procedures I use to protect, load, and use data.  I got my
money back.
     As a programmer, I find their way of allowing people to make demonstration
disks by copying the master disk ingenious.  And I admit it amused me for an
hour or three.  But that's not the kind of puzzle I pay for.