I went to another Wiz 8 forum tonight and this was part of the posting:

"My 3rd got a fatal scratch and I am now unable to access Arnika. This is extremely frustrating because my only alternative is a very time consuming and expensive one. All I really need is the 400+ meg file located on CD 3. If anyone here is on a T1 or T3 and can ICQ or send it to me over AIM FILE transfer, PLEASE contact me - I will be forever greatful."

The general response was that this guy was trying to get around the copyright protection. If he posts here be on the look out!
For my part I have tried to burn a copy of the 3rd Wiz CD purely as a backup. I have always done this with games I have purchased in case the original gets a kids attack or similar. I have not been able to do it with Wiz 8....looks like the copyright thingy is working SIRTECH :)
My only question is if it does get damaged, do any of you guys know if SIRTECH will replace the disc if I supply the original with a receipt. I mean, if we cannot copy it due to the copyright protection that they have implemented it only seems fair that it would be replaced at a minimal cost. CD's are prone to damage and its scares the willy out of me that a weeny scratch could stop me playing.......Im hoping that Wiz 8 will be a loooonnnggg time on my hard drive.

well, i beleive that ebgames has a pretty nice policy. 90 days, they will replace them with no questions asked. that's on their regular sales. they might have an extended policy being that they are the publishers for this game. [img]smile.gif[/img]

but in the meantime, the first thing i did was toss the paper wrappers, and put them in their own jewel cases. i cleaned them first off. distilled water and a soft chamois is a great way to keep your cds clean and dust free.

now, don't laugh. i'm such a fanatic (i have done this with other games that i view as "the best i ever played")... i have a second copy. they're cleaned, in jewel cases, stored away for backup ~ just in case, a couple of years down the line, something should happen.

::makes a note to herself to do some research in the next week or so, to see what ebgames' actually will do if problems come up down the line::

Have you ever actually had a cd game fail? I don't understand you guys buying extra copies and burning 'backups'. I've been gaming since the late 70's and never made a backup of any game I've bought. I've never had a problem. Even back when games were on 5 1/4" floppies that had a much higher failure rate than a cd. I've NEVER had a cd get scratched so bad the data couldn't be read and if you are anywhere near careful with your cds they will not be scratched. Do you guys back up music cds too? What about your dvds? If you own a PS2 I bet you are super paranoid since you can't back those up!

-Strand

I have to agree with Strand on this one. I do put all of my important CD's in jewel cases then sleep like a baby, no worries. If, in the future, one of my Wiz 8 CD's goes tits up, I'm sure SirTech will stand behind it. If not, I'll simply buy a new one then.

I've got to disagree with Knip on this one, I'm a member of the other board in question as well. The guy in question is a regular poster whose previous posts were all about playing the game, not a hint of a warez question. What he asked regarding the file sharing might not have been proper, but I don't believe in automattically assuming that he's running a warez game. Hell, sometimes I've been sloppy with my discs myself.

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> Do you guys back up music cds too? What about your dvds? If you own a PS2 I bet you are super paranoid since you can't back those up! <hr></blockquote>

Well Strand, I have to admit that I dont copy music cds. The idea of having a song with a pop or skipping a verse or two doesnt really concern me. I dont listen much to them anyway. A pop on a game cd usually means throw it in the bin. (Also I still have a morbid fear of Murphys Law when dealing with computers)
Also a music cd usually costs a lot less than a game.
We dont own a DVD or Playstation 2.
Our kids have a Super Nintendo only and I probably would try to copy the game cartridges if I had all the electrical components. :)
My obsession with copying games began when my Age of Empires cd was damaged. My own fault. I was moving all my game cds out of our cabinet to clean it when I dropped a bunch of cds on the slate floor. The plastic cover smashed and the game got scratched. It couldnt be reckonised by the game anymore and I couldnt reinstall it. I had to fork out another $80 for a replacement. :-(
I also have copies of paper documents, some of my computer programs, personal photos, videos I have taken,,,,,,,wedding, kids birthday and stuff. I guess I am a copyholic when it comes to the things that are important to me :)

Thanks for setting me straight on this one Merkin. I guess I just saw RED when there was mention of illegal copies.
Priacy is a growing cancer and will eventually cause game designers to give up on computer games. I just hope Linda and SIRTECH make a squillion with Wiz 8 and decide to go with a Wiz 9+.

well, as for buying backup copies, we have 4 games that can't be installed ~~ my original baldur's gate, thief gold and might & magic 6 and 7 are scratched. (these are some of my perennial faves that get pulled out once a year, for a fun filled 2 week family game fest.) we have tried every trick in the book, right down to taking them to a friend's rental store and having her clean them professionally ( like they do with the dvds that come back scratched up). that worked for awhile, but no more.

unfortunately, with the games, if the installation aborts because of problems or if it's impossible to install by copying ( because the files aren't inflated or whatever :rolleyes: ) then i can't play them.

to you, i may be totally weird, but i don't care. [img]graemlins/headshake.gif[/img] i just like my stuff in good working order. you can make fun of me all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that, to me, certain things are worth the trouble. i love my entire library and take care of everything in it, books included.

Good news and bad news...Sirtech is an amazing company to deal with and they will replace all products damaged ect...free of charge BUT that only applies if they have some copies hanging around...they do not distribute the games and so they don't have any copies to hand out directly. Although they are more than generous if they have the games kicking around the office (scored a free version of Jagged Alliance 2 on a tour of the offices [img]smile.gif[/img] . That's the good news.

Bad news is that Sirtech has hit some kind of financial snag and has stoped making products aka: no more games of any kind :( Although I have not heard this from my programmer buddy that works there, HR is sending job application forms back with a "sorry we don't make products anymore" and indeed their HR email address are no longer active...I'm scared folks...and will get back to you all when I hear more about what is happening with Sirtech.

vesselle: we may have a common ancestory somewhere down the track. :)
I have made photocopy's of my fav game manuals so as not to wreck the originals. Maybe some day they will be worth something. Still it wouldnt matter as I probably wouldnt part with the games. I still have a copy of Darklands in pristine condition but cannot run it as it needs DOS with a heap of convent memory and I have win ME....ME being a DOS hater.... grrrr. I still cannot bring myself to part with it.
I guess some of us out there just fall in love with our computer games. And we care for our loved ones :)
Hey we have to be a bit weird dont we....we are in the minority of gamers, so the "experts" tell us. The ones that say classic CRPG'ers are are a dying breed. They probably are right....the majority of us are over our teen years but god willing I hope that when and if I make it to retirement age that I will still get the thrill out of a game that I have gotten from Wiz 8 :)