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[BlackBuzzard]

Can anyone tell me what that debug mode patch is and why is Namco eager to take it down?

Glad the situation was fixed.

Allows people to cheat like crazy in multiplayer.

 

[GoodMorningPluto]

Now we all can breathe sigh of relief. I guess we can't speculate anymore about DS1 remaster either.

 

[Sendou]

So what's the context with "debug mode patches" being taken down? What's the harm for Bamco there?

 

[Rolf NB]

So, what's the political process that can undo the DMCA?

 

[Gvaz]

Apparently it allows you to cheat or something online.

Seriously who fucking cares, just pull your internet if you get a cheater imo.

 

[Persona7]

Wow, glad to see it was all a misunderstanding.

 

[lewisgone]

Good news.

For the record, I only bought Dark Souls on the PC because I knew about DSFix. I was aware the game had problems and wouldn't have put up with them otherwise.

Shitty to hear someone sent an email full of threats.

 

[fastballspecial]

I'm glad everything was a misunderstanding. Your work is amazing.

What happens to the tag change now?

 

[Parakeetman]

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

 

[zXe]

If I can't use dsfix then I won't play dark souls. Simple as. We should make a petition to from software...

Edit - sees above post, is it too early to praise the sun?

 

[Auto-Reply]

Looks like a happy end after all!

 

[chaobreaker]

Nice work. NeoGAF is a veritable video game ombudsman. Fixing games, inquiring about issues and standing up for consumers.

Too bad this thread was nothing but mindless calls for blood over what was most likely a mistake from the get go. Very irrational reaction from most of you ITT.

 

[Kocolino67]

Good news: everything's ok guys!

/snip

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

Good job!

And to the one guy (from the internet) - FDS' job is to find illegal downloads, nothing wrong with that. And mistakes happen. Instead of writing disturbing emails, nice phone calls seem to work usually way better.

 

[Falk]

Get this man a tag. "Even the one who fixes sometimes needs something fixed"

.

 

[Durante]

Too bad this thread was nothing but mindless calls for blood over what was most likely a mistake from the get go. Very irrational reaction from most of you ITT.

I disagree. Most of the reactions in this thread were quite civilized, and a company using a legal instrument to take down something like DSFix should be heavily criticized, regardless of the story behind it.

• If it's on purpose, the reasons are obvious.
• If it's a mistake, it just shows how little care they take in controlling their legal hounds before causing collateral damage.

The latter is preferable, but in my opinion not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[dhlt25]

good to see the situation was resolved. I was ready to boycott all bamco game.

 

[Falk]

Well, playing devil's advocate, in this case it just seems the details were not properly communicated to the third party. As much as DSFix is a big deal to us enthusiasts, in all honesty it seems like an easy mistake to make for people not in the know. (Even in this thread there are people who only played DS on console asking what it did for example)

 

[ahnslaught]

Too bad this thread was nothing but mindless calls for blood over what was most likely a mistake from the get go. Very irrational reaction from most of you ITT.

Wait a minute, shouldn't Namco and the company they hired to do the notice be the one blamed for their mistake? Weren't they the ones being irrationa? I mean, DSfix isn't exactly new - it's been around for years now, and they suddenly do a takedown notice. Even if it was an honest mistake, how does that mistake get made in the first place, with something they clearly knew about and benefitted from for years?

 

[marrec]

I disagree. Most of the reactions in this thread were quite civilized, and a company using a legal instrument to take down something like DSFix should be heavily criticized, regardless of the story behind it.

• If it's on purpose, the reasons are obvious.
• If it's a mistake, it just shows how little care they take in controlling their legal hounds before causing collateral damage.

The latter is preferable, but in my opinion not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.

I do think that if it's a mistake it speaks to a specific litigious culture within the company that's obviously negatively affecting their product.

Think, for example, if Durante wasn't the paragon of post launch fixes. If he was just a dude who made a real nice patch and then faded into obscurity, never to be heard from again. We'd have (possibly) forever lost DSFix in that case because of a mistake.

While it's not as malicious as an intentional takedown, I do think in most ways that matter, it's just as concerning.

That said, they fixed it! So yay.

 

[Shinjica]

Removing the debug mode patch is really stupid. If they really cared about cheating they would have put Steam anti cheat system

 

[Dragon1893]

Glad to know it was just a mistake.
With all the bs we've been seeing from publishers I wouldn't put it past them. I expect anything these days.

 

[Durante]

Well, playing devil's advocate, in this case it just seems the details were not properly communicated to the third party.

Yes, but that's exactly what I'm criticizing. If you send out a lawyer to make what, in the end, are still legal demands, you should take care to very clearly specify what you want them to do.

 

[Aselith]

Nm missed where that was answered

 

[R_thanatos]

Glad it was "just a mistake".

Mistakes Do happen after all ( nobody is immune from them )

Appart from the minority that went on full of death threats , i'm happy that everyone actually understood what was at stake... and that still make me warry of all those potential takedown in our digital future , but that's another debate .

 

[Chariot]

As far as I understood the cheating in multiplayer is the issue with debug mode.

Also the heat - to a certain extent, threats are stupid - was quite helpful. Some Namco gus themselves already asked FDS what was going on and why he took down DSfix. For him the problem was that there apparently where a lot of instances of the debug mode, also some of them on dropbox. They realized the mistake only after they send the takedown mail to dropbox.

Also I have to fix something. Just had the time to look at my notes again. It was Bamco Japan that asked Bamco Europe, who then asked FDS. Bamco US was not named, my bad.

 

[doomquake]

So if they want to remove downloads of the debug patch (good luck!) then I assume there is a patch coming to disable its use. Maybe a good time to make some backups of the DS folder so it could possibly work offline.

 

[Nzyme32]

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US Europe one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

edit2: It was Bamco Europe who was asked by Bamco Japan, not US. Misremembered that, sorry!

Thanks for putting the effort in and actually calling them, Chariot!

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US Europe one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

edit2: It was Bamco Europe who was asked by Bamco Japan, not US. Misremembered that, sorry!

Only that edit is really sad why do people do that

 

[SerTapTap]

This is not the sort of thing it's acceptable to make a mistake with. This is abuse of an actual legal process with profound implications

 

[Easy_D]

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US Europe one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

edit2: It was Bamco Europe who was asked by Bamco Japan, not US. Misremembered that, sorry!

So just like Durante you did the job Namco failed to do. Thanks for clearing it up.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Hooray! It's a Christmas miracle!

 

[jim2point0]

Now Durante can have is old tag back, yes?

 

[illage4]

Oh wow that's bollocks. You should file a counter claim.

 

[Alucrid]

So just like Durante you did the job Namco failed to do. Thanks for clearing it up.

For real. Namco should start taking advantage of these unpaid interns more often

 

[BONKERS]

Wouldn't DS1 be the only bad port they made so far? Their later releases weren't that bad were they?

Ninja Blade is a mess too, but I don't think they ported that one.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Yes, but that's exactly what I'm criticizing. If you send out a lawyer to make what, in the end, are still legal demands, you should take care to very clearly specify what you want them to do.

Specially if that lawyer/contracter is speaking on your behalf.

I'm not sure why Scamco is out of guilt here. They should have make sure that the person or company they asked to protect their IP on their name was gonna make a good job or inform him properly of what he should do.

Ninja Blade is a mess too, but I don't think they ported that one.

They didn't, but I don't think is that bad of a port, runs well and even has some basic graphic options (and is not locked to 720p)

 

[Krusenstern]

So just like Durante you did the job Namco failed to do. Thanks for clearing it up.

lol
That's just hilarious.

 

[dani_dc]

Great news.

So just like Durante you did the job Namco failed to do. Thanks for clearing it up.

Who needs community managers when we have Chariot?

 

[abstract alien]

Oh so just a misunderstanding. Good.

This made so little sense it almost had to be a mistake. Not that we haven't seen some crazy shit before, but this just felt really...self destructive almost. For this title and a portion of your fans anyway.

 

[gogosox82]

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US Europe one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

edit2: It was Bamco Europe who was asked by Bamco Japan, not US. Misremembered that, sorry!

Thank god this is settled then. I figured this was the problem.

Edit: Someone sent him threats? Not cool at all.

 

[Dunkley]

I'm not sure why Scamco is out of guilt here. They should have make sure that the person or company they asked to protect their IP on their name was gonna make a good job or inform him properly of what he should do.

Because this was not a targeted attack against DSFix and instead just an attempt to get Debug Mode off the net? I mean sure, a lot of people HERE downloaded DSFix, but I am pretty sure there are also a lot of people that have no fucking clue what DSFix is, and the company probably just took down anything that might be related to the Debug Mode.

Expecting Namco to make sure out of all the Dark Souls files there are circulating around, they may absolutely NOT touch anything called DSFix is a ridiculous expectation far removed from real priorities here. Namco isn't working against DSFix, but it also isn't the center of their world.

 

[Saroyan]

I'm glad it was resolved, shame it had to happen at all.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US Europe one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

edit2: It was Bamco Europe who was asked by Bamco Japan, not US. Misremembered that, sorry!

this should be on the op

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

thx for heads up. Not sure what's going on, but I'll try to find out.

*meanwhile on GAF*

Good news: everything's ok guys!
I just called Volker Rieck from FDS File Defense Service. They were indeed hired by Bandai Namco, but not the germany division, but the US Europe one, to take down all the debug mode patches.

Dutante's DSfix was not part of the plan!
Mr. Rieck is currently writing emails to Namco and dropbox to clear everything. Durante is allowed to reupload the patch, there is nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Rieck was nice and took the time to explain the situation to me. I am currently on the phone, so I might add a bit more information when I come home in a few hours.

edit: also shame on the guy who send him a mail full of threats. He was a bit disturbed by that.

edit2: It was Bamco Europe who was asked by Bamco Japan, not US. Misremembered that, sorry!

 

[Inuhanyou]

It was obviously a mistake guys. I'm pretty sure Namco has expressed support themselves for Durante's work, right?

I mean unofficially of course, but you get the sense that they would not be that stupid.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Because this was not a targeted attack against DSFix and instead just an attempt to get Debug Mode off the net? I mean sure, a lot of people HERE downloaded DSFix, but I am pretty sure there are also a lot of people that have no fucking clue what DSFix is, and the company probably just took down anything that might be related to the Debug Mode.

Expecting Namco to make sure out of all the Dark Souls files there are circulating around, they may absolutely NOT touch anything called DSFix is a ridiculous expectation far removed from real priorities here. Namco isn't working against DSFix, but it also isn't the center of their world.

They should have made sure of that the company they contracted was gonna make a good job, or make sure they were competent enough to no fuck it up. They were acting on their name, Namco allowed it, so is their responsability when they fuck it.

Also DSFix, was one of the pillars of the success of Dark Souls on PC, it was featured on many websites (Kotaku comes to mind) and is highly unlikely that not even the EU or US offices aren't aware even in the slightest of that fact. So, yeah I expect Namco to know the work of Durante and make sure is not touched.

 

[Randam]

Allows people to cheat like crazy in multiplayer.

it does?

 

[Durante]

Since Chariot now cleared up the background (thanks again!), I filed a counter-claim. It certainly doesn't look like they'll contest it.

Now Durante can have is old tag back, yes?

I'd like that, because the previous one was a work of art

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

BTW I thought that the debug didn't allowed you to go into online mode and invade or getting invaded?

 

[Krusenstern]

BTW I thought that the debug didn't allowed you to go into online mode and invade or getting invaded?

It does. You can even swtich to being something like the Hellkite drake and roast your invader.