Can no longer use my PHYSICAL COPY of Borderlands at all, the game cannot be installed from disk anymore thanks to DRM that the transfer tool was the only workaround for.

[darthokkata]

They not only shut physical copy owners out in the cold, but also took away our ability to install and play the game at all with absolutely no warning.

Thanks to the Securom nonsense, you can no longer install and play the game from a disk at all. The verification from Gearbox and 2K doesn't work anymore, and the only workaround was the Steam transfer tool.

So, they've effectively taken my game away from me by disabling the tool. This is true of both the GOTY edition and the original edition. I have both, one of which I bought at launch, and the other I bought later to get all the DLC in one package.

I was feeling a bit annoyed that I was missing out on the enhanced edition because I couldn't transfer it to Steam. However, I figured I'd just play the regular edition again, so I can run through my copies of Borderlands 2 and the Pre-sequel afterwards with the new upgrades. I figured that might cool my irritation and maybe I'd just get over it and move on once Borderlands 2 VR and Borderlands 3 release.

Now I've discovered that I can't install and play either of them and the disks are effectively useless for anything but drink coasters. This is completely unacceptable and there is no excuse for it.

All because I never found out about an obscure tool that was never publicized and released on the down low who knows how long ago.

Now I can't play Borderlands unless I buy it a third time, and that's absolutely not happening.

Nor am I buying Borderlands 2 VR, or Borderlands 3 for that matter if something isn't done about this soon. I was planning on purchasing both, but that's not happening if my legitimate copy of a game I bought twice is taken away from me this way.

I was even willing to jump over to the Epic Store and grab Borderlands 3 so I wouldn't have to wait six months.

There is no excusing or justifying this. Enhanced edition or not, I should be able to install and play my legitimate physical copy of the game if nothing else. Even if it's only single player, this isn't some MMO where the server is gone so the game doesn't work. The company hasn't gone under so that excuse doesn't fly either.

Give me back my game 2K and Gearbox, there is no world where taking away my ability to install and play my legitimate physical copy is okay.

[tiberium]

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Originally posted by Beginner Guy:

You're an unusual one, I'll give you that.

As I said before, goodnight, over and out.

Night. To anyone else reading this after the fact. Just download the Exe crack & move on. Save your energy doing something the actually matters

or i mean just dont play the game at all lmao. if its this much of a hassle why try and waste your time trying to fix it in the first place, you know? much better off playing bl2 or something

[LoliNoxTan]

Originally posted by Tiberium:

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Night. To anyone else reading this after the fact. Just download the Exe crack & move on. Save your energy doing something the actually matters

or i mean just dont play the game at all lmao. if its this much of a hassle why try and waste your time trying to fix it in the first place, you know? much better off playing bl2 or something

Not really a hassle since all you do is drop one file into the Borderlands folder. Agreed though. If you find doing that a hassle just go play something else

[darthokkata]

Originally posted by Lord of the Infinite Clouds:

This is why there is no such thing as "DRM done right." Yes, ye olde disc-in-drive requirements were essentially DRM but at least it was something you couldn't have revoked as long as you at hardware and software (OS) that was compatible.

Consoles have been a source of 'streamlining' (or dumbing down if you prefer) of games and some crappy PC ports but PC gaming has led the way (primarily through Steam) in the digital distribution revolution that now infects and plagues consoles, as well.

When it comes to ownership and preservation even console 'complete editions' are worthless as many of them have DLCs included as codes, rather than on disc. With the new discless XBOX One and Google's plans to pull gaming to full on Streaming we can all expect many of the games in the next 10 years to not be preservable.

Fortunately, I have a huge backlog of games dating back a few decades and others that give me pleasure to replay over and over that I can resign modern gaming without mourn.

Originally posted by BlackRayPlayer:

I look at it as either buying an Android or Apple. Honestly, I hate both equally. I wish they would publish more games over to GOG.

Amen. I literally will not buy any game that isn't published on GOG anymore. Looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 but besides that, if I can get a disc-based PS4 game that I know will work in the future without patches and updates I will get that version over the usually superior PC release. Once consoles fully do away with physical copies or where they are just one time use keys like Steam "physical copies" I'll stop buying them as well.

You may still like Steam, but the reality is that games here are RENTALS. Valve is not publicly traded -- who knows what will happen in the future. What is clear is that if Steam ever shut down all your games would NOT magically be 'made available' to you. Not sure where this myth started but that is all that it is. Steam still sells games with store pages that specifically state "Not Optimized for Windows 7 or later" and yet I can no longer access these games on my sweet pimped out retro XP rig as of January. They didn't make offline installers for these games available and they never will.

Here I am still using copies of the same wad files for Doom that I bought in 1993 on 3.5 inch disk.

I understand what the deal is with Steam now, but at the time this was released, physical copies were still considered by most to be permanent copies that you owned, and not software that you merely licensed for use. It was the beginning of the end of that.

That's one of the things I'm liking about the Epic Store, even though it is severely underdeveloped as a client app. There is no launcher based DRM. The developers can still add their own DRM, but if a dev releases a game without adding DRM it is DRM free through the Epic Store.

It's not as nice as GoG's everything is DRM free policy, but still nice to know there is another option for at least some DRM free stuff.

I've got several games from them, mostly the free ones they've been giving away, and so far I can launch all of the ones I've tried without the Epic Launcher running or launching at all by using the .exe files in the install folders [or shortcuts to them].

I can even run them through Steam's launcher as non-Steam games so I can use Steam features like controller support for the DS4 or Steam Controller, just like I can with GoG titles.

Also, I don't really consider a launcher "exclusive". I don't have to buy any new hardware, don't need to pay a subscription fee for access, and having Epic Installed does not prevent me from using Steam or vice versa. It's not like console exclusives or exclusive shows on a streaming service that I have to pay a subscription fee to access.

I don't have a problem with GoG and there are a lot of games I can't get on Steam on GoG, it has it's own launcher, and doesn't have as many features as Steam.

Epic seems to be kind of a medium between the two so far, but less developed than either. That is an important downside, but isn't really a huge problem as far as I'm concerned.

[darthokkata]

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Originally posted by Tiberium:

or i mean just dont play the game at all lmao. if its this much of a hassle why try and waste your time trying to fix it in the first place, you know? much better off playing bl2 or something

Not really a hassle since all you do is drop one file into the Borderlands folder. Agreed though. If you find doing that a hassle just go play something else

There is no Borderlands folder if you can't install the game.

That's literally the problem, it doesn't install because it fails a DRM check, so there's no folder to drop an exe crack into.

Also, exe cracks are shady. Sure, there are legit ones, but you're rolling the dice downloading one because there is no official source and they are developed for piracy. Even if the person who developed the crack is on the up and up, they are often copied, altered, and redistributed by people who aren't.

No one should be messing with cracks unless they know what they are doing.

There needs to be a legitimate fix for this. Even if it doesn't include access to the remaster, just a way to install and play the physical copy without resorting to potentially shady black market exe files.

I should not have to resort to what is functionally piracy, even if it technically isn't, just to play a game I bought legitimately.

[tiberium]

Originally posted by darthokkata:

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Not really a hassle since all you do is drop one file into the Borderlands folder. Agreed though. If you find doing that a hassle just go play something else

There is no Borderlands folder if you can't install the game.

That's literally the problem, it doesn't install because it fails a DRM check, so there's no folder to drop an exe crack into.

Also, exe cracks are shady. Sure, there are legit ones, but you're rolling the dice downloading one because there is no official source and they are developed for piracy. Even if the person who developed the crack is on the up and up, they are often copied, altered, and redistributed by people who aren't.

No one should be messing with cracks unless they know what they are doing.

There needs to be a legitimate fix for this. Even if it doesn't include access to the remaster, just a way to install and play the physical copy without resorting to potentially shady black market exe files.

I should not have to resort to what is functionally piracy, even if it technically isn't, just to play a game I bought legitimately.

yeah man. i may not be a physical copy owner (i used to have a copy of bl1 but i sold it long ago) but i hate seeing legit owners like you be locked out of a remaster you should have as well. :\

[LoliNoxTan]

Originally posted by darthokkata:

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Not really a hassle since all you do is drop one file into the Borderlands folder. Agreed though. If you find doing that a hassle just go play something else

There is no Borderlands folder if you can't install the game.

That's literally the problem, it doesn't install because it fails a DRM check, so there's no folder to drop an exe crack into.

Also, exe cracks are shady. Sure, there are legit ones, but you're rolling the dice downloading one because there is no official source and they are developed for piracy. Even if the person who developed the crack is on the up and up, they are often copied, altered, and redistributed by people who aren't.

No one should be messing with cracks unless they know what they are doing.

There needs to be a legitimate fix for this. Even if it doesn't include access to the remaster, just a way to install and play the physical copy without resorting to potentially shady black market exe files.

Oh god mate

There was a legitimate fix for this .... FOR 4.5 YEARS

[tiberium]

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Originally posted by darthokkata:

There is no Borderlands folder if you can't install the game.

That's literally the problem, it doesn't install because it fails a DRM check, so there's no folder to drop an exe crack into.

Also, exe cracks are shady. Sure, there are legit ones, but you're rolling the dice downloading one because there is no official source and they are developed for piracy. Even if the person who developed the crack is on the up and up, they are often copied, altered, and redistributed by people who aren't.

No one should be messing with cracks unless they know what they are doing.

There needs to be a legitimate fix for this. Even if it doesn't include access to the remaster, just a way to install and play the physical copy without resorting to potentially shady black market exe files.

Oh god mate

There was a legitimate fix for this .... FOR 4.5 YEARS

that conversion tool?

[Koloses]

My copy dissapread from steam library at all somehow but I couldn't really care less. Remaster doesn't seem to be that big kind of deal.

[LoliNoxTan]

Windows 10 blocks SecuROM being installed by default because it opens up a vulnerability in the OS, but you can manually install it if you really want to

& if you're stupid enough to download something malicious and not have any security then you deserve it

[darthokkata]

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Originally posted by darthokkata:

There is no Borderlands folder if you can't install the game.

That's literally the problem, it doesn't install because it fails a DRM check, so there's no folder to drop an exe crack into.

Also, exe cracks are shady. Sure, there are legit ones, but you're rolling the dice downloading one because there is no official source and they are developed for piracy. Even if the person who developed the crack is on the up and up, they are often copied, altered, and redistributed by people who aren't.

No one should be messing with cracks unless they know what they are doing.

There needs to be a legitimate fix for this. Even if it doesn't include access to the remaster, just a way to install and play the physical copy without resorting to potentially shady black market exe files.

Oh god mate

There was a legitimate fix for this .... FOR 4.5 YEARS

Stop acting as if that excuses this.

For starters, it wasn't released until well after most people had played through the game when no one was paying attention to it. Literally more than five years after it was released.

Few people knew about it, it was never widely publicized, and used a highly unusual method.

It was disabled literally a day before anyone would have had their attention drawn back to it because of the updated version. That's shady as hell and definitely anti-consumer.

That alone pretty much nullifies your argument that "Oh, you should have known and had plenty of time".

If it was released shortly after the game launched, was widely publicized and announced, and wasn't disabled without any warning, maybe you'd have a leg to stand on.

None of that happened though.

[darthokkata]

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Windows 10 blocks SecuROM being installed by default because it opens up a vulnerability in the OS, but you can manually install it if you really want to

& if you're stupid enough to download something malicious and not have any security then you deserve it

I'm not stupid enough to download shady files that I can't verify the origin of, which you keep recommending that I do.

That only solves half the securom problem. It still won't verify the DRM and the game cannot be installed. The only legitimate way around this has been disabled, and was disabled without any warning. It doesn't matter how long it was active prior, the fact that it was simply shut down without notice is enough to justify my position on its own.

[LoliNoxTan]

Originally posted by darthokkata:

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Oh god mate

There was a legitimate fix for this .... FOR 4.5 YEARS

Stop acting as if that excuses this.

For starters, it wasn't released until well after most people had played through the game. Literally more than five years after it was released.

Few people knew about it, it was never widely publicized, and used a highly unusual method.

That alone pretty much nullifies your argument that "Oh, you should have known and had plenty of time".

If it was released shortly after the game launched, was widely publicized and announced, and wasn't disabled without any warning, maybe you'd have a leg to stand on.

None of that happened though.

Yes. Few people knew about it in 2014. Exception being people who were reading IGN, PC Gamer, Polygon,Giant Bomb, Eurogamer, Gamespot (Insert name here) or were using Reddit, Twitter, or even Neogaff. Few didn't know

[darthokkata]

Originally posted by Loli-Nox-Tan:

Originally posted by darthokkata:

Stop acting as if that excuses this.

For starters, it wasn't released until well after most people had played through the game. Literally more than five years after it was released.

Few people knew about it, it was never widely publicized, and used a highly unusual method.

That alone pretty much nullifies your argument that "Oh, you should have known and had plenty of time".

If it was released shortly after the game launched, was widely publicized and announced, and wasn't disabled without any warning, maybe you'd have a leg to stand on.

None of that happened though.

Yes. Few people knew about it in 2014. Exception being people who were reading IGN, PC Gamer, Polygon,Giant Bomb, Eurogamer, Gamespot (Insert name here) or were using Reddit, Twitter, or even Neogaff. Few didn't know

Right, people were paying a lot of attention to a five year old game at the time. It was huge news that normal people who don't follow the industry closely and regularly keep up with trade publications would have been all over.

It totally isn't hidden away in a part of Steam average users hardly ever venture into, and isn't using a very unusual method for transferring a title from elsewhere.

You're jumping through a lot of hoops to justify all this and make it sound like it was common knowledge that everyone was aware of, when nothing could be further from the truth.

[LoliNoxTan]

1 question: If you didn't care enough to try and re-install Borderlands 1 in the last 4 years then why do you care now?

Anyhoo, you can pick up a digital copy for a few quid. Which you would've got for free if you didn't like under that rock of yours

[LoliNoxTan]

Originally posted by darthokkata:

You're jumping through a lot of hoops to justify all this and make it sound like it was common knowledge that everyone was aware of, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Not really. I'm talking to you while waiting for ads to finish. I have nothing better to do while waiting