Feedback about demo, permanent connexion, and third party account.

[Cammy]

Pleasantly surprised by this nice demo, despite a number of problems.
I imagine that the lack of optimization will be fixed in the final version (and probably in post-launch patches), so I will not persist too hard on that.
The vegetation in non-urban areas is quite impressive, and compared to the two other big licences of this kind, (and given your more limited development budgets) your game is respectable and fair, both visually and in terms of gameplay or sound effects.
So congratulations for that!

On the other hand, the BIG problem in my opinion is the obligation to create a Nacon account + the obligation of perma online while you have weak servers, and I will develop why.
My connection works perfectly. Steam works perfectly. Yet, it took me almost an hour to just get to play because you rotten servers were unable to handle the crowds on a simple DEMO. You impose us to have an infallible connection while you are unable to ensure reciprocity!
Regarding the obligation to link the game to a stupid Nacon account, (which therefore serves as launcher of my data), I remind you that TDU2 has quickly become impossible to launch on steam PRECISELY because of its broken and abandoned launcher. Apparently, that didn’t teach you a lesson, and you’re repeating exactly the SAME error.

Regarding the mandatory connection, be aware that a very large number of TDU players don't give a damn about the «social» aspect of your game. Many people just want an open world with missions, PVE racing, avatar and car customization, and nothing else.
I want an option to be invisible to others when I play, so I don’t get harassed by strangers I don’t give a sh*t about. I want to be able to play this game even when your servers are down, or even when MY connection is down. And I would also want that (unlike «the crew» which was initially TDU3) TDU-SC survive the passage of time, instead of simply disappearing when you'll arbitrarily decide to close your servers.

I strongly believe that requiring a permanent connection and a third party account to play a game that many people only want to play solo is a literally dishonest abuse, since when the servers disappear, the game we bought will be impossible to launch and will just disappear exactly as The Crew did - without even the possibility of simply enjoying the map in free ride and PVE...
And I’m getting TIRED of these disgusting practices that literally KILL what we believe are OUR games, while you just have to unplug your servers to make them disappear from our libraries by making them unusable!
So please set up an OFFLINE game option, with a LOCAL data save system.
We BUY your games !! So respect us and let us play it in just NORMAL conditions!!!
Thanks.

[Power]

Yep, Always online is a deal breaker.
If something happens to the servers you loose access to the game.
Eventually one day will come and these servers will shutdown.

[Maskerader]

Originally posted by Cammy:

Regarding the obligation to link the game to a stupid Nacon account, (which therefore serves as launcher of my data), I remind you that TDU2 has quickly become impossible to launch on steam PRECISELY because of its broken and abandoned launcher. Apparently, that didn’t teach you a lesson, and you’re repeating exactly the SAME error.

Could you explain what you mean? Because there's literally zero similarity between Nacon account and TDU2 launcher, they do completely different things and have completely different issues.

TDU2 launcher doesn't make it impossible to launch TDU2 on Steam. It doesn't work properly for many people, yes, but that was even when the servers were still up, so nothing really changed. If it works on your PC then you can play full vanilla game, no mods or changes required.

[Cammy]

Originally posted by Maskerader:

Could you explain what you mean? Because there's literally zero similarity between Nacon account and TDU2 launcher, they do completely different things and have completely different issues.

TDU2 launcher doesn't make it impossible to launch TDU2 on Steam. It doesn't work properly for many people, yes, but that was even when the servers were still up, so nothing really changed. If it works on your PC then you can play full vanilla game, no mods or changes required.

You are right, I did use a shortcut, but to illustrate a valid observation: The relationship between TDU2 launcher and mandatory Nacon account is that these two systems are an additional «layer» to the Steam DRM, that prevents the player himself from accessing or managing the launch of the game.
Strictly speaking, it would be inaccurate to talk about additional DRM, however the consequences are the same since in the medium/ long term, the games we buy (or more exactly the user licenses we «rent») become simply unusable because of these tools that mathematically « expire » if I may say so, as the hazards that prevent the continuation of servers or the maintenance of the launcher.

Certainly, TDU2 can be launched if we take the time to go tinker in the game files to bypass the mess left by the obsolete launcher. But when I BUY a game, I want it to WORK without having to patch it up myself because it collapses into small pieces due to its initial distribution policy! And I think it’s part of the purchase contract!
You will also notice that TDU2 is simply no longer available for sale on steam, precisely because of the unacceptable state in which the launcher had left it.

Hoping to have answered your (quite justified) question.

[Ginie]

Originally posted by Cammy:

Certainly, TDU2 can be launched if we take the time to go tinker in the game files to bypass the mess left by the obsolete launcher.

I own TDU and TDU2 on DVD. A few days ago I reinstalled both (win10) and played them briefly. TDU2 wants to go to the update server when it starts and then shows an error message but can be started normally in offline mode. I didn't need to change anything in the files.

[Suzy Creamcheese]

Having to create a 3rd party account for a demo was a non-starter for me. I uninstalled once the prompt popped up.

[Cammy]

Originally posted by Ginie:

[...] TDU2 wants to go to the update server when it starts and then shows an error message but can be started normally in offline mode. I didn't need to change anything in the files.

...And that’s exactly the reason why I want TDU Solar Crown to also have an offline mode.

[Maskerader]

Originally posted by Cammy:

Certainly, TDU2 can be launched if we take the time to go tinker in the game files to bypass the mess left by the obsolete launcher. But when I BUY a game, I want it to WORK without having to patch it up myself because it collapses into small pieces due to its initial distribution policy! And I think it’s part of the purchase contract!

1) As the guy above said, you don't have to tinker with anything or bypass it.

2) The launcher is not a part of distribution policy, its only function is to automatically update the game because the game wasn't sold only on Steam, it also had a retail version that worked without Steam.

It also starts the SecuROM activation when you start the game for the first time, but this is not an inherent part of the launcher, this DRM would be there even if they decided to remove the launcher - the main game .exe would start the activation in that case. In order to remove the DRM they needed to remove the actual DRM - the SecuROM (and Steam DRM too).

Originally posted by Cammy:

You will also notice that TDU2 is simply no longer available for sale on steam, precisely because of the unacceptable state in which the launcher had left it.

1) No one knows why it was pulled from sales. If you have any links to back up your statement, I'm very interested to read them.

2) The launcher wasn't the only cause of issues, there were enough of them in the game itself.

[Cammy]

You seem to know your subject very well, and I therefore address to you a huge and sincere thank you for these essential clarifications!

I specify however that in my case, I cannot launch TDU2 anymore!
Neither with steam, nor from the installation folder .exe, nor from the launcher of the game that displays me a connexion error, nor by entering my serial key in securrom's autentification system... Various attempts to launch which already constitute "tinker", (at least in my country's language that I take care to translate with google's translator).

I unfortunately don’t have time to continue this exciting discussion - the initial goal of this post was simply to write my feedback to the devs (and the publisher) so that the game doesn’t impose either perma-online or third-party accounts.
So I hope you will understand that – although this is an activity I LOVE, I don’t really want to waste any more time trying to answer people who, for some reason, will systematically look for little things to refute in what I write. That is why I now let among themselves those interested to debate and correct my intolerable inaccuracies of wording on technical details.
Congratulations again to the specialists for their zealous corrections, and a very good day to all!

[Maskerader]

But this wasn't a little thing, you completely misinterpreted one aspect of the old game. What you're dealing with is not a consequence of malicious, anti-consumer choices, but just simple bugs, a program that's not working as intended - when it works, there are no issues with starting the game.

I understand your frustration, but you blamed it on the wrong thing, which is why your comparison with Nacon account doesn't work.