Bay 12 Games Forum
Other Projects => Other Games => Topic started by: Vendayn on August 27, 2013, 03:26:59 pm
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PlatinumSpore: http://www.sporebase.com/forum/index.php?topic=4263.0 (keep in mind, the old page this mod was hosted on had rogue ads. The mod got moved to this new forum though)...I use an adblocker and script blocker, so I don't know what will be on the forum (if anything). Thought I'd put this here as a warning though.
I'm not sure how good the mod is, or what is all in it. From what I was told, it was much more like how Spore was originally envisioned. But, I'm still in the installing phase of Spore.
Also, this is the "correct" install order (copied from Vexx's post on his mod forum page)
"If you already had the v5.1 patch installed, you need to do a complete reinstall, and install in this order:
Spore -> Creepy and Cute (If you have it) -> GA (Installs Patch 4) -> Patch 5.1
Otherwise you get godawful glitches thanks to Maxis' terribly outdated programming. :/"
Features (that I know of):
-More in-depth eras of cell, creature (major changes/additions), tribal, civilization (not sure how much was changed here) and space (major focus of the mod)
(all this is space features, not sure what is in the other eras)
-Better terraforming (supposed to be a lot better)
-10 x bigger planets
-more stuff to build on the planet itself
-more tools
-tougher AI ships
-More time/balance between pirate raids and ecosystem disasters
And...that is all I know.
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So now for the original content of the thread which is my rant of having difficulties with the 5 install limit.
Okay, so...yeah Spore didn't live up to the hype and so forth. But one of my friends wanted me to install it (he couldn't find his copy, and he is coming over next week)...I have spore+creature dlc+galactic...I needed both spore and galactic cause PlatinumSpore doesn't work on only vanilla spore (needs GA). And we heard that PlatinumSpore actually makes Spore worth playing.
Okay, so I call up EA and...I ask for them to give me an activation code for Spore (cause I guess I used up the stupid 5 install limit).
And you know what they did?
Gave me a god damn auto response (edit: To expand. It wasn't even a person that answered like how one usually gets when they call support. How lame is that? Granted, I probably called a bit too late in the day (it was a Friday afternoon), but still). I was on hold for literally 27 minutes and 39 seconds (I had a timer going)...and I did not get a damn activation code or an actual person.
Okay so I call again this morning...and was on hold for a shorter time (about half, but the timer ran out of battery)...and...they gave me a code (finally)...oh wait! its already been used! WTF...
And you know what makes matters worse? I'm pretty sure my phone bill (I have a limited amount of call time I can make, I had to greatly downgrade to due to lack of money) is gonna be...
okay so I can get spore and galactic adventures and everything on amazon for 30 dollars.
I went past my talk limit on my cellphone (I don't have a house phone that works). Granted, I had a couple of phone interviews for jobs (last about half an hour. Used skype for one, but thats free :P), but still pisses me off I was on hold for so long with EA to get sh! out of them. And the cd key they gave me probably was used by a damn pirate or something.
I'm pretty sure buying from amazon (cheapest place I see spore at) would be much quicker and in the end, cheaper seeing that my cell usage was higher than normal (they usually charge me 15 dollars if I go over your limit)...and I wouldn't have to sit on the chair waiting for EA to take forever to respond...
Guess spore isn't supported (probably explains the lack of actual person responding when I first attempted), but I spent a lot of money on it way back when. And mostly it was my friend that wanted to play it, but we both wanted to actually try out PlatinumSpore and see how that was. Since like I said, we heard it was much closer to how spore was envisioned. But I'm pretty sure that isn't worth the time and money on the phone...
Well, there goes any hope of buying a game or playing Spore+GA+Platinumspore this month. Only to get a damn unusable cd key...
Probably should have emailed them instead...but it probably be a stupid auto response that every company does...especially since they don't support Spore anymore...at least it would have saved the phone usage, but I figured I'd actually get proper help. Would have been more worth it if they gave a working cd key...
Well, now that the rant is over...that released some anger over this whole stupid EA and Spore...should have just re-bought Spore on amazon for 30 dollars (since it comes with everything)...would have been way easier...and way less stressful. Oh well...
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What I'd like to know is...why do they still have a stupid activation limit anyway, especially since they don't even support Spore anymore? They should patch it out so people can actually you know...play the game they spent money on without having to deal with their stupid support that doesn't actually support Spore...such a dumb system...
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And now you know why Spore is one of the most pirated games of all time - the pirated version is a significant improvement over the EA version.
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And now you know why Spore is one of the most pirated games of all time - the pirated version is a significant improvement over the EA version.
Probably. But, I don't have or will ever get a torrent program.
I'll try the email approach with EA and see what happens. I spent literally over 100 usd on spore+expansions, and all I want is to install it, play platinumspore and mess around and see if its actually worth playing again with the mod. Its supposed to be really close to how Spore was envisioned...and if so, definitely be worth playing.
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I had some shenanigans with my Origin account and Battlefield 3 last year and ended up having to contact EA Support.
What eventually convinced them who I was? My Spore CD-Key, which I have sitting in the boxed copy next to me. Literally, no other piece of information would satisfy them until the support person was like...."Can you tell me what your Spore CD Key is?"
I was kind of shocked that EA's records go back that far, but I guess Spore was really the start of EA's monolithic game services.
So I have to give them credit for that, even though I find it a little creepy EA has a longer memory than my state government for some things. Also I have to give belated props to Spore: You may have completely disappointed me as a game, but at least you saved me from having to rebuy Battlefield 3/recreate my whole EA account.
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Probably. But, I don't have or will ever get a torrent program.
Then your SOL dude, but rethink it maybe?
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Torrents aren't the only way.
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Regarding the private message I got and some of the comments here...
The reason (well one of them, but its definitely my main reason) I will not use a torrent program (minus the files that often have viruses, but not always) is cause a year and a half ago I downloaded Crysis (yup just the first one. I already bought it, but couldn't find the disc, box, cd key or anything anywhere) and I got a cease and desist order from my internet company and a bill of 50 dollars. The game wasn't even new or anything.
So...not going that route again.
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There is a deauthorization tool to get back keys. No clue how or if it works still, but it's worth a shot. http://www.spore.com/patch/deauthorization
The fact they have that kind of info on your computer is bullshit. Origin is built on that sort of intrusion.
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I actually kinda hate torrents and rarely use them. My internet is too crappy to seed stuff anyway.
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I got a cease and desist order from my internet company and a bill of 50 dollars.
I highly doubt that letter actually came from your ISP, because it's not legal for them to bill you over a C&D. That's extortion. More likely, some group scanning the torrent's peers saw your IP, wrote up an authentic-looking letter pretending to be from your ISP, and sent you a fraudulent letter to scare you into sending them money. I hope you didn't pay it. These scams are the #2 most prevelant at the moment, right behind the classic Nigerian Prince emails.
Looks like BigD's solution might be the best thing for you. Hope it works out!
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I got a cease and desist order from my internet company and a bill of 50 dollars.
I highly doubt that letter actually came from your ISP, because it's not legal for them to bill you over a C&D. That's extortion. More likely, some group scanning the torrent's peers saw your IP, wrote up an authentic-looking letter pretending to be from your ISP, and sent you a fraudulent letter to scare you into sending them money. I hope you didn't pay it. These scams are the #2 most prevelant at the moment, right behind the classic Nigerian Prince emails.
Looks like BigD's solution might be the best thing for you. Hope it works out!
I'll try that deauthorization tool, seems like it could be the best solution.
And yeah, I actually did pay xD
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Post unrelated:
Do you have a link to this platinum spore? I haven't been too successful with a google search. one article linked to a defunct domain (taken over by a domain squatter) and a link to the mod directly was lasted updated in 2011. Wasn't sure if that's the most recent version or not since I can't seem to find any official site for it.
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I got a cease and desist order from my internet company and a bill of 50 dollars.
I highly doubt that letter actually came from your ISP, because it's not legal for them to bill you over a C&D. That's extortion. More likely, some group scanning the torrent's peers saw your IP, wrote up an authentic-looking letter pretending to be from your ISP, and sent you a fraudulent letter to scare you into sending them money. I hope you didn't pay it. These scams are the #2 most prevelant at the moment, right behind the classic Nigerian Prince emails.
Looks like BigD's solution might be the best thing for you. Hope it works out!
In the US sure, but in some parts of the world this is a legitimate practise. Some time back in Sweden they jailed people and confiscated their computers on allegations of piracy.
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Post unrelated:
Do you have a link to this platinum spore? I haven't been too successful with a google search. one article linked to a defunct domain (taken over by a domain squatter) and a link to the mod directly was lasted updated in 2011. Wasn't sure if that's the most recent version or not since I can't seem to find any official site for it.
Here you go: http://www.sporebase.com/forum/index.php?topic=4263.0
I'm in the process of installing Spore (and GA) now :) I had to download GA though cause the disk didn't work at all. And I already bought it, not going to spend money to have to get it again. I cleaned it (properly) and everything, but it wasn't being found in my dvd drive. Probably a faulty disk, since all my other disks I've used work just fine.
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I renamed the thread title to something a bit more appropriate, especially since I got the 5 install limit fixed (thanks for that :))
Dunno if PlatinumSpore will be a thing or anything and I don't even know how good it is, but figured I'd make the thread mostly about that. I'll add some facts/link to the OP that I know about the mod, but it will be mostly from comments on Youtube or what I've been told...doesn't seem like a feature list on the mod forum page.
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Back before the local cable provider got bought out by Time Warner Cable, when they found suspicious activity they'd free the internet by making sure that their screen would come up first. It would detail what they thought had happened, and you'd have to click an Accept button on the C&D, but there wasn't any charges or extra fees. It sounds like you got scammed.
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Billing you for torrenting would make them complicit in any court proceedings. They'd be as guilty as you because they don't own the content either. They'd be a bit worse off because money changed hands and the ISP isn't the content owner.
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They'd probably have no problem with whatever fee gets tossed at them, however.
I got a cease and desist order from my internet company and a bill of 50 dollars.
I highly doubt that letter actually came from your ISP, because it's not legal for them to bill you over a C&D. That's extortion. More likely, some group scanning the torrent's peers saw your IP, wrote up an authentic-looking letter pretending to be from your ISP, and sent you a fraudulent letter to scare you into sending them money. I hope you didn't pay it. These scams are the #2 most prevelant at the moment, right behind the classic Nigerian Prince emails.
Looks like BigD's solution might be the best thing for you. Hope it works out!
And yeah, I actually did pay xD
Thats probably the least funny xd I've seen in awhile. :-\
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I got scammed then :( At least I didn't give them credit card info or anything, just sent a check. It looked really legit too.
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There is a chance its not a scam. But basically everything related to torrents and getting 'spotted' is a scam, unless its proved otherwise.
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Some torrents are uploaded with a specific tracker that'll allow law enforcement agencies to track it through IP domains and to specific computers. Mostly movies and music, because those are big budget industries that most complain about pirated materials. But all they can do is notify the internet provider; cause singular incidents aren't worth enough to press charges against.
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Well, nothing weird or anything is going on with the GA download I got and the PlatinumSpore creator linked it a while back. So all good. I'm not rebuying everything again when I already spent the money lol...thats too dumb.
In the end, I ended up going into EA live chat...2-3 minute wait and got a guy to put my Spore+Creepy and Cute onto Origins. And you know what? If I knew EA even had live support chat...I'd have done that ages ago. It was so quick and the guy was nice. He couldn't put GA onto it though, cause I have no idea where the heck my GA box/discs/cd key is. Probably in a box somewhere when I packed a bunch of stuff up. Even though it "should" be linked on my Spore account (actually might never have installed it rofl), I guess he needed the CD key for it. Ah well. Eventually I'll unpack and find it and actually go into live chat and put the official one on my account.
Oh and funny thing is...I went past my 5 install limit from installing it on Origins. Dunno if that how it works cause I got it copied over to Origins or the guy did something. But, I installed it just fine with the same cd key.
As for PlatinumSpore. I'm too tired for a detailed post...(stayed up to almost 4 am allying the Grox last night and still didn't get quite there :P)
Cell stage: I went Omnivore. Not much has changed. Takes longer to evolve. However, the cell creator is 3d instead of 2d...so you can create rather cool cells. And the higher end parts have special abilities.
Creature Stage: I went Adaptable. This could very well have the best changes in the mod...however Space is really really close to (which I'll talk about soon). The world feels like an actual world. Tons of creatures everywhere, lots of life. A TON of parts to find. And the world is a lot bigger too (but he did make planets 10x bigger). Like Cell, it takes longer to move to the next era (A LOT LONGER)...but very well done. Oh, and like cell stage...higher level parts have special abilities.
Tribal Stage: Very bad. Worst of the changes. Very little is changed...but I beat it in 10 minutes and it was so easy. What was changed, is much bigger unit numbers. Now, other tribes get that too...but don't use the bigger numbers properly. I didn't like it at all. I went friendly.
Civilization Stage: The same pretty much. I went economic route, so that made it take a lot longer and made it a lot harder. But the regular path of religion/military hasn't changed. Pretty much no changes that I could tell/remember.
Space stage: Coming up nearly tied/tied with Creature Stage for the best changes. This one is better changes overall, and along with GA makes space way better. Bigger planets, more tools, more weapons, more (and much better) terraforming and probably has the most changes really.
Granted, its still Spore...and Spore is well...Spore...but at least the mod makes it a lot better. Except tribal stage. But creature/space stages are vastly better in the mod.
Dunno how long I'll play for, but its pretty fun so far. I definitely wouldn't play without the mod again.
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Did the space stage controls get any better? I remember them being fairly decent until I actually had to fight something and then it was terrible.
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Did the space stage controls get any better? I remember them being fairly decent until I actually had to fight something and then it was terrible.
No, it is still the same. And yeah, they are pretty bad when fighting. Its really hard (at least for me) to target the enemy ships if using missiles or lasers.
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Regarding the private message I got and some of the comments here...
The reason (well one of them, but its definitely my main reason) I will not use a torrent program (minus the files that often have viruses, but not always) is cause a year and a half ago I downloaded Crysis (yup just the first one. I already bought it, but couldn't find the disc, box, cd key or anything anywhere) and I got a cease and desist order from my internet company and a bill of 50 dollars. The game wasn't even new or anything.
So...not going that route again.
Isnt in it a private life intrusion thingy? It mean they literaly sniffed what you did over the internet wich is heavily frown uppon in like 80% of the countries.
A lot of legit company use torrent and such, just to name one: planet explorer is on the torrent, i think you can even get eve online using torrent.
If you still have that cease and desist thing, go see a lawyer because in my book that should never happen.
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I once got a cease and desist for downloading Harry Potter.
The funny thing is... I didn't. One of the POSSIBLE files on that torrent was harry potter (It was a torrent with a big bunch of files on it)
Mind you they didn't know what I downloaded they only knew I downloaded something with "Harry Potter" in the description. I would have gotten it if I tried to torrent My Immortal. Ultimately it was just some automated message there to "scare" me.
Isnt in it a private life intrusion thingy?
No, Torrents are 100% public.
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Yeah, Comcast sent me a email when someone used my WiFi to download a movie the letter was just pretty much saying don't do it again or w/e but that was the only one I ever got.
Back on topic I'll have to try this mod out I play a spore mod a long time ago that made some of the stages better but not on the scale this one has.
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My recommendation in regards to that is basically to always be careful with torrents. Old torrents can be the worst imo. The only time I've ever gotten caught (of course, also the only time I've ever used torrents to violate copyright) was when I had downloaded the first few seasons of spongebob squarepants, then turned my computer on after it being off for almost an entire year and let the torrent run. Got a notice from my ISP that it was detected and to stop.
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Spongebob is sorta a popular thing though. in my knowledge, it tends to be less the oldness or newness of the torrent and more how popular it is at the time.
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You need to use some kind of obfuscated-connection Tor service for avoiding the blackmail clubs, I would think. No experience with doing anything really blackmailable, but if I had to avoid blackmail for something in particular, that's probably what I would do. Heavily encrypted generic-looking connection through Tor. Miscelaneous millitary-grade encrypted gobbledygook goes to an anonymous forwarder somewhere and comes from another elsewhere with absolutely no apparent relation to the actual activity.
A system could probably be set up to switch Tor routes occasionally too, so you get flagged for large downloads less.
Also, while looking at various esoteric security software, I discovered something called PeerBlock that looks pretty interesting. It's a firewall-ish program that takes blocklists of ligitious organizations, spyware networks, governments, etc. and goes completely silent towards computers in thier IP range. Apparently designed as a rudimentary stealth software against such blackmail, though easy to get around with botnets. Misidentified other computers on my Hamachi connection as Ministry of Defence (apparently the IP address lists of the two collide) but other than that I haven't had much trouble with it. It does block thier websites, but there is an 'allow all HTTP traffic for 15 minutes' button, as well as more precise settings.
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Yeah, let's not confuse "can my ISP punish me" with "can they bill me for torrenting". In any case, he paid the 'fine' and that discussion should pretty much have ended right there. He's got his key working, it's all sorted.
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I once got a cease and desist for downloading Harry Potter.
The funny thing is... I didn't. One of the POSSIBLE files on that torrent was harry potter (It was a torrent with a big bunch of files on it)
Mind you they didn't know what I downloaded they only knew I downloaded something with "Harry Potter" in the description. I would have gotten it if I tried to torrent My Immortal. Ultimately it was just some automated message there to "scare" me.
Isnt in it a private life intrusion thingy?
No, Torrents are 100% public.
I know torrent are 100% public, i meant your ISP checking what YOU are downloading at your home, with your computer, basicly scanning what you do with your connection, thats what i meant.
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Gave me a god damn auto response (edit: To expand. It wasn't even a person that answered like how one usually gets when they call support. How lame is that? Granted, I probably called a bit too late in the day (it was a Friday afternoon), but still). I was on hold for literally 27 minutes and 39 seconds (I had a timer going)...and I did not get a damn activation code or an actual person.
Protip: If they ever give you automated menus where you have to press numbers to do X, press the wrong numbers enough times and you get transfered to a real person without a queue or wait time.
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You sure? Most places I've tried that with say "Sorry, have a nice day." and just hang up. That's how it used to be, like... ten years ago, but not (in my experience) how it is today.
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ARISE, DEAD TOPIC, FOR I REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE!
After looking at PlatinumSpore, I saw that it could work with 0.3 or earlier instead of GA. However, due to using Steam to buy Spore, I can't use the provided installer to use 0.3. Could anyone pass me a link to download the .package file instead?