Legality of cracked (e.g. HOODLUM) EXEs?

[lpgunit]

Was it just me, or does it seem like as if the use of the said binaries are an exception to the no-warez rule? Well, since most mods that interface with the GTASA binary or expose its game logic are made with the HOODLUM or compact exe in mind, and I know that not everyone here is arsed with obtaining them through any means necessary either.

 

Oh, and keep in mind that I didn't write this to encourage or condone piracy either. I was just wondering as I've seen modders recommending the said binaries for their mods to run properly.

Edited July 3, 2015 by lpgunit

[Tabris666]

The reason of using the hacked exe is simple is because of the game checks,the original game run from cd and will make a check of the files on the hdd if is ok it will run if is different it will go to the interface and start repairing it happened to me,the other thing it could do is running the game trough disc thats what some people say it does but i dont know because if it runs trough disc it means the mods wont work.

Either way i use mods so i reccomend using the hacked exe because having to reinstall all the mods is quite a chore just because the game repaired the files with wrong checksums or wrong size (im talking of v1) so the use is up to you.

Well the only reason i have this game is because was a gift,but the modding capabilities are awesome so use mods and hacked exe otherwise the game is boring i got bored because is a game full of bugs,has lot of problems the graphics are lame,the females in game look like mens the gameplay is way too bad and repetitive,and the number of errors is way too much.

As you see is not worthy the game i have games from that year with better graphics and better gameplay,i still remember the minidance game no matter what you do you fail the other is the lowrider mission i alway got more points that the opponent but i lose for example it keep saying miss fail and that stuff and i pressed at the right time the button and i got 1800 pts and my oponent 1200 pts and i lose,but with mods you forget about that and to use mods you have to use the hacked exe no matter what soo i dont think is illegal,and i dont think that trying to avoid damaging the disc drive is bad because that was the purpose of no crack cd avoid the overuse of the disc drive

[OrionSR]

I'm not a legal expert and can't offer an answer that you can rely on. My interpretation of mods in general is that Rockstar could probably make trouble if they wanted to, but they know modding brings in a lot of extended revenue so they try to turn a blind eye. They don't want to be liable for how people mod their game. For a while there with Vice City they seemed to offer a lot of tacit support, but with the embarrassment of the hot coffee mod they seem much more firm about ignoring the modding community completely. So I always try to maintain the highest standards for myself, and I don't worry about what others are doing unless there's some sort of technical issue involved.

[lpgunit]

I'm not a legal expert and can't offer an answer that you can rely on. My interpretation of mods in general is that Rockstar could probably make trouble if they wanted to, but they know modding brings in a lot of extended revenue so they try to turn a blind eye. They don't want to be liable for how people mod their game. For a while there with Vice City they seemed to offer a lot of tacit support, but with the embarrassment of the hot coffee mod they seem much more firm about ignoring the modding community completely. So I always try to maintain the highest standards for myself, and I don't worry about what others are doing unless there's some sort of technical issue involved.

Not to mention that they wouldn't want to suffer from further backlash for locking the gane down like what happened to GTA V.

 

Using cracked EXEs for certain mods and ASIs to run is indeed a gray area, but imo for as long as no download links are provided here (as it would basically allow users of illicitly-downloaded releases to play the game, not to mention violating the DMCA), and that it is used in a good-faith way, I think we're more or less in the clear here. That being said since they're made with warez in mind, there's obviously a legal risk involved.