Corrections/Additions for Missionforce: Cyberstorm Game Info

[Adam Wykes]

If you guys take a look at http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=3373 you'll see that this game is listed as not having any multiplayer. This is not, in fact, true: the game features direct modem connection play and LAN play, and the multiplayer mode is quite robust, allowing for up to 8 players + AI to fight simultaneously on a single server.

There are a few other points of interest for this game:

Cyberstorm runs on a version of DirectX (D3D) that is totally incompatible with all operating systems after Windows XP and before Windows 95. It doesn't run well in WINE, either. Therefore, you must run this game in Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, or XP. For ME and XP, some compatibility settings are required. To run this game in Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10, you will need to run XP or another of the previously mentioned compatible OSes in a VM using Windows XP mode or VirtualBox with hardware passthrough disabled. It does run flawlessly in a VM of XP under either of these virtualization tools once the proper compatibility settings are applied. 

In XP, these are as follows:

- Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 95

- Display Settings: Run in 256 colors

- Input settings: Turn off advanced text services for this program

Finally, a point of note about getting this game and where it stands legally: This game was developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra. Dynamix was abolished by Sierra, to whom its intellectual properties were transferred. Sierra itself went under shortly thereafter, and took its IPs with it. Recently, the related Tribes IP was picked up by developer/publisher Hi-Rez Studios for use in their Tribes: Ascend franchise, but the rest of that universe (Starsiege, Earthsiege, and the Cyberstorm games) remains unused, unreferenced, and to my knowledge, unclaimed. It would probably not lead to any legal action should anyone choose to host the game files. 

[LotBlind]

Thanks for the info! I've made some corrections based on what you wrote. Tell me if you're not okay with having it mention your name as a source for them.

Hmm... maybe Archibald can comment on hosting the game.

[Adam Wykes]

Thank you, Sir. If you need the game files, I can provide them. They come in a folder and run from that folder without any installation.

[LotBlind]

As a legal precaution, HotU won't host those files at this time, but thanks for the offer!

[Adam Wykes]

Out of curiosity, I have to ask why? In the past many games were hosted at this and other sites like it, with the proviso that if a cease and desist order were handed down, they would remove the offending content at that time. Given that abandonware is usually in some kind of legal limbo like this, doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of sites like these to assume the proprietary rights are still held rather than the games having become public domain? Especially given that the game would not be distributed to generate revenue, I have a hard time believing it would likely face any kind of legal challenge.

Do I misunderstand some part of the law about this kind of thing? 

[LotBlind]

It doesn't answer the question, but the hosting costs prevent keeping big files around anyway.

[Adam Wykes]

We really need to get a list of torrents going for these things or something... anything to modernize it.