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BEWARE THE LATEST GTA SAN ANDREAS STEAM UPDATE !!!11!!

Paused the update.

K-DST
"Running Down A Dream"
"Woman To Woman"

Radio X
"Killing in the Name of"
"Hellraiser"

These are some of my favourite songs on San Andreas :( Running Down a Dream is fucking amazing when you're riding around the countryside.
 
I remember buying SA on sale on Steam so that I could just listen to the in-game radio. Shame they took songs out. I mean they took out Rage. They are off their Rocker.
 

Kadin

Member
Explain something to me, is this something the developers actually agree to when writing the original contract? Because at the time SA was released, digital distribution wasn't even a thing (at least for these games). Or was this something added in when the Steam version came along that none of us happened to notice? I know I clearly didn't.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
Paused the update, but there's no option to never update in the properties for the game anymore, only to prioritize updating or to only update it when you run it, both of which are useless.
 
I can understand updating the copies being sold and having to remove some songs because of licenses and stuff, but patching already sold copies that had the music in them when they were sold is shitty ass bullshitty... shit.
 
Dear Rockstar,


tumblr_lpuin7EjUl1qjjulmo1_500.gif



Sincerely,

Krappadizzle
 

kuYuri

Member
I currently don't have the game installed. Anyway to stop it from auto-updating if I install it? Steam has grayed out the option in the properties menu for some reason.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Explain something to me, is this something the developers actually agree to when writing the original contract? Because at the time SA was released, digital distribution wasn't even a thing (at least for these games). Or was this something added in when the Steam version came along that none of us happened to notice? I know I clearly didn't.

It is actually due to the fact that shit that didn't exist back when the basics of copyright law became precedent that we're in many of the situations we are today. People look at digital distribution and try to apply shit that made sense before computers existed to it.

Pop music is especially notorious for this. In games most of the time it's publishers bending over than it is the labels, because otherwise it'd be "fuck you, no, don't put our music in your game".

To answer your question, it was most likely (and I could be wrong, so don't quote me on this) a timed contract that said something along the lines of "You're allowed to use these pieces of music, that we own the publishing rights for, on your game _____ which will be manufactured on a timed basis from ____ year to ____ year" which makes sense for retail prints, but obviously doesn't take into account digital distribution at all which wasn't even a thing back then. Then they take that round peg and jam it into a square hole.

Rockstar's hands are very likely tied, here.
 

Yarbskoo

Member
It's a good thing I just finished this game a week ago. Still wish I had seen this thread before the update finished. It's a shame to see Rockstar still dropping the ball when it comes to PC.
 

Kadin

Member
Use this guys...

http://www.rockstargames.com/#/?lb=/mouthoff

It is actually due to the fact that shit that didn't exist back when the basics of copyright law became precedent that we're in many of the situations today. People look at digital distribution and try to apply shit that made sense before computers existed to it.

Pop music is especially notorious for this. In games most of the time it's publishers bending over than it is the labels, because otherwise it'd be "fuck you, no, don't put our music in your game".

Rockstar's hands are very likely tied, here.
Huh? When this came to Steam, I assume language pertaining to this is buried somewhere in the TOS right? Because it would have to be to legally remove it at any random future time.
 
J

Jotamide

Unconfirmed Member
Who says this won't happen to GTA V in the future?
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Huh? When this came to Steam, I assume language pertaining to this is buried somewhere in the TOS right? Because it would have to be to legally remove it at any random future time.

If it wasn't (and I don't think it is) then the onus is on Rockstar.

Like I said, modern copyright law as it pertains to music publishing/recording/writing/etc is a huge bunch of bullshit that's the equivalent of a tumor that has a dozen layers of band aids slapped on top of it (each which 'kinda made sense' at some point in time) while the tumor itself just grew and grew and is now a festering, toxic mess of pus that hardly makes any sense in the digital age.

Probably at that point of time, they got the music in the game any way they could, backslapped each other and called it a day without thinking twice about it. It was a massive achievement back then to license all the shit they had.
 

MormaPope

Banned
There is a San Andreas version downgrader for the steam version, its mainly used so mods can be used on the steam version of San Andreas.
 

Eusis

Member
I don't think I could've really done anything short of keeping it forever offline, and I don't care enough especially with access to the PS2 version.

The other stuff concerns me more actually, like how they fixed stuff and un-fixed and seemingly broke things. Gotta wait on the next patch I guess, assuming it even comes.
 

Yarbskoo

Member
Just booted up the game and tried to load one of my saves. Crashed. Tried to start a new game. Crashed.

Rockstar took my perfectly good installation that I had patched, modded, and tweaked to include non-stretched widescreen 1920x1080 with re-enabled character lighting and replaced it with broken dreams and reset control bindings. Shift to jump? Spacebar to run? Terrible. Steer/fly with mouse? You must be joking.

Sure, I can probably wipe everything and reinstall and it'll probably work, but it was already working fine before the patch and I had more music too.

Thanks Rockstar.
 
Huh? When this came to Steam, I assume language pertaining to this is buried somewhere in the TOS right? Because it would have to be to legally remove it at any random future time.

It doesn't really have anything to do with the TOS. The contract in question is between Rockstar and the various music labels, not between Rockstar and consumers. I highly doubt there's anything in the TOS that says Rockstar can't modify or remove code after the fact--after all, that's how patches work. You might be able to argue something in court if Rockstar removed significant functionality from the game such that it no longer resembled the thing you agreed to buy, but (and I am not a lawyer) the bar seems to be set pretty high. For example, there was a class action lawsuit brought against Sony for removing the PS3's ability to run Linux-based operating systems. That case was dismissed because while the judge said it might be crappy on Sony's part, it wasn't in any way illegal. That seems like a more substantial case than taking Rockstar to court for removing a few music tracks from the digital version of San Andreas.

Plus there may be an argument that Rockstar's legal obligations to the music licensors trump any implied obligations to consumers, and that no TOS would force Rockstar to re-license that music in perpetuity. But seriously, I'm really not a lawyer and am totally speculating based on tales from my ass.
 

Kadin

Member
It doesn't really have anything to do with the TOS. The contract in question is between Rockstar and the various music labels, not between Rockstar and consumers. I highly doubt there's anything in the TOS that says Rockstar can't modify or remove code after the fact--after all, that's how patches work. You might be able to argue something in court if Rockstar removed significant functionality from the game such that it no longer resembled the thing you agreed to buy, but (and I am not a lawyer) the bar seems to be set pretty high. For example, there was a class action lawsuit brought against Sony for removing the PS3's ability to run Linux-based operating systems. That case was dismissed because while the judge said it might be crappy on Sony's part, it wasn't in any way illegal. That seems like a more substantial case than taking Rockstar to court for removing a few music tracks from the digital version of San Andreas.

Plus there may be an argument that Rockstar's legal obligations to the music licensors trump any implied obligations to consumers, and that no TOS would force Rockstar to re-license that music in perpetuity. But seriously, I'm really not a lawyer and am totally speculating based on tales from my ass.
Yeah I'm really not too terribly concerned about this specific situation as I didn't even have it reinstalled yet, it just introduces a whole knew concern that I never really thought about with regards to digital purchases. I know we are only buying a license to play said game and as you said, they can patch it whenever they want. You just never think a time will come when they start stripping stuff out. Scary.
 

SURGEdude

Member
Just booted up the game and tried to load one of my saves. Crashed. Tried to start a new game. Crashed.

Rockstar took my perfectly good installation that I had patched, modded, and tweaked to include non-stretched widescreen 1920x1080 with re-enabled character lighting and replaced it with broken dreams and reset control bindings. Shift to jump? Spacebar to run? Terrible. Steer/fly with mouse? You must be joking.

Sure, I can probably wipe everything and reinstall and it'll probably work, but it was already working fine before the patch and I had more music too.

Thanks Rockstar.

But but but... GTAV is coming soon so uhhh. Yeah. Who wants to play smelly old last gen games anyways? 1080P and saving games is overrated too. /s
 

hidys

Member
Why would they take stuff that is in the game out? Is there some licensing issue I'm not aware of or are they just pricks?
 

Hip Hop

Member
I don't mind that they "broke" the game in some places but this, removing content that you paid for is something else. Especially when they just yanked it off of you. Not cool.
 

hidys

Member
This is also a gentle reminder that Steam gives way too much power to developers to do this sort of shit.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
One of the downsides to digital distribution. :S

Well, in this case, not entirely. What R* did with Vice City was make new packages for the game that included the modified data, which allowed those who'd bought the game earlier to retain the original music, but for whatever reason this same courtesy wasn't considered here and instead everybody loses the tracks regardless of when the game was purchased.
 

Spacejaws

Member
You need to start a new game :eek: I was already about 20 hours into my first playthrough...


I really hate that steam forces you to update games. I work away for months at a time and have to make sure steam is offline otherwise any of my games that ask for an update become unplayable. Even a simple integrity check for a game causing me trouble will lock me out of a huge number or games and I can't download 5gig updates with an hour or two in starbucks(my workplace has internet at 300mb for $20...)

This is something I really hope steam addresses in the future. Forced updates suck.
 
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