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Abandonware |
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Is Abandonware Legal? Abandonware websites offer free downloads of classic gaming software. (To get the term classic, a game has to be at least 5 years old, although the average age of a classic title is about 8 years old.) Abandonware is illegal. And the ESA is doing their best to shut down all abandonware sites. Here is an Article from the ESA Website: "Isn't it OK to copy games that are no longer distributed in the stores or commercially exploited? No, the current availability of a game in stores is irrelevant to its copyright status. Unlike trademarks, copyrights are not considered abandoned if they are no longer enforced. Copyrights do not enter the public domain just because they are no longer commercially exploited or widely available. Therefore, the copyrights of games are valid even if the games are not found on store shelves, and copying or distributing those games is a copyright infringement. Haven't the copyrights for old games (like Atari & Commodore) expired? U.S. copyright laws state that copyrights owned by corporations are valid for 75 years from the date of first publication. Because video & computer games have been around for less than three decades, the copyrights of all video and computer programs will not expire for many decades to come." I will take this opportunity to remind you to read Oldgames.NU's Disclaimer. What is the definition of Abandonware? Abandonware constitutes software which has been abandoned by its Publisher/Developer, despite the fact that the copyright still exists. I.e. It is no longer sold or supported by its publisher or developer. Generally retailers will also have stopped selling this game if it is to be classified as Abandonware. Some games, despite the fact that they are no longer being sold, are still rather highly protected by The ESA (Entertainment Software Association a.k.a IDSA), and therefore cannot be made available on this site under the title Abandonware. Why is mention of Warez Forbidden? We don't provide or support Warez. WAREZ are illegal copies of games that are: 1) Still available for sale. 2) Supported by an ESA affialiated Company. 3):and any game still supported by its manufacturers and/or Company. ANY requests for Warez and/ or links to Warez sites will result in: 1st offence a Request not to do it again, with the offending post and any links provided DELETED. 2nd offence a WARN with the offending post and any links provided DELETED. 3rd time and you will be BANNED from Site and Forum with the offending post and any links provided DELETED. |
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Download Issues |
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The download box just isn't coming up!?! You should try to download from any of the mirrors available even if it is not close to you. If this still doesn't work, a likely cause could be your internet security settings rendering you unable to download from the site. So the first thing to do is to check your security settings to confirm that it is not a problem at your end. If you are on a public computer e.g. school, Library Downloads may have been completely disabled which would explain it. If that fails, visit the Feedback Forum, and see if any of the other members can help you out with your problems downloading. The game downloads Incomplete or the achive is Broken? In this situation the likely cause is that your connection to the server was reset. So you should retry the download. You will not have to use more credits, as you only have to pay credits for a game once. If your archive returns errors when you try to extract then check the filezises. Check the size of the file you downloaded against the size that we reported the file to be. If it is too small, then you have downloaded the game incompletely so you should retry. If the size is fine then report the zip file to us so that we can check, and replace it with a working one as soon as possible. To report a broken archive, post a new thread in the Feedback Forum with a title following this format: Game Name - Broken Archive. I can't get the game working!? Well the majority of games on this site have been tested or downloaded and all of them should work. If you are having trouble getting a game working, visit the Technical Help Forum. and also the Oldgames.NU Support Site. Perhaps some advice there can help you to get it working. What do those characters at the end of the game names mean in the console downloads? These are tags that help to identify certain aspects of the console ROM, giving you more of an idea of what you are downloading. Some are easy to figure out while others are somewhat cryptic, so below is a list of the tags you are likely to see and their meaning (note - may not be a complete listing). [a] - Alternate [p] - Pirate [b] - Bad dump [t] - Trained [f] - Fixed [T] - Translation [h] - Hack (-) - Unknown year [o] - Overdump [!] - Verified good dump (M##) - Multilanguage (# = number of languages) (###) - Checksum (??k) - ROM size ZZZ_ - Unclassified (Unl) - Unlicensed Console Specific Codes Atari (PAL) - European version Super Nintendo [BS] - BS ROMS [ST] - Sufami Turbo [NP] - Nintendo Power Coleco (Adam) - ADAM version Neo Geo Pocket [M] - Mono only NES [PC10] - PlayChoice 10 [VS] - Versus [hFFE] FFE Copier fmt Country Codes (E) - European (U) - United States (J) - Japanese Can I use Downloads Managers ? You can use downloads managers, but know that they are not supported in any way. However we had feedback on those Downloads Managers working :
Are your games all secure and virus-free? To put it simply, yes. Not only do individual users check the files they download but the administrators who have all the files check the servers regularly with the latest anti-virus software. |
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Login Trouble |
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I enter my details but it won't log me in? The site uses php sessions to keep your session data. In order to set a session you must first accept a cookie. Once this cookie has been accepted you will be able to log in, but if you refuse this cookie, you will not be able to log in. The cookie is called PHPSESSID, and will come from our domain http://www.mygames.dk So, if you get a cookie with those details, accept it, and you will find logging in should prove to be no problem at all. If you are not sure how to accept this cookie, do the following. In Internet Explorer, goto tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy. Then at the bottom of that window click the "Edit" button. Then set it so cookies are allowed from http://mygames.dk . If you are an advanced user and use advanced privacy settings, tick the "Allow all session cookies" box, or simply set yourself to be prompted for cookies. I just registered but it won't log me in? You must confirm that you have entered a valid email address. On registration an email will be sent to you, where you can confirm that the email address you entered is correct. After you have completed the confirmation you should have no trouble logging in. I can login but i cannot do anything. You're most probably unsubscribed due to inactivity. Ask an Administrator to reactivate your account. The fastest way to deal with that is contact DarkLord at one of fast messengers clients - check his profile in forum. |
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Navigation Trouble |
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Why i get some errors 404 randomly when i navigate on the site ? If the error 404 is included in the site and is located in the middle of the screen with picture, then the page you requested is no longer available. Please inform an Administrator of this broken link. If the error 404 is a general IE404 error, then it's possible that you use some software that blocks the ads. If you run ZoneAlarm Pro for example, try to disable the Banners/Skyscraper Ads feature to make the site run properly. |
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Forum: User Maintenance |
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Why Should I register? In order to fully utilize the abilities of this board, we require that you register as a member. Registration is free, and allows you to do the following:
To register, you will need to specify a username and password, and a valid email address. Entering your email address will not leave you open to 'spam', as you can choose to hide your email address, and messages sent to you via email do not reveal your address to the sender in any case. The administrator has configured the board to send you the final part of the registration process by email, so ensure that the email address you provide is valid and working. If you are under the age of 13, the administrator may require that a parent or guardian provides consent before allowing you to complete the registration process. More information about this is available during the registration process. Does this board use cookies? The use of cookies on this bulletin board is optional, but may enhance your experience of the site. Cookies are used to enable functions such as showing whether or not a thread or forum you are viewing has new posts since your last visit, or to automatically log you back in when you return to the site after being away for a while. When you register, you will be given the option to 'Automatically login when you return to the site'. This will store your username and password in a cookie, stored on your computer. If you are using a shared computer, such as in a library, school or internet cafe, or if you have reason to not trust any other users that might use this computer, we do not recommend that you enable this. This board also gives you the option to use a cookie to track your current session, ensuring that you remain logged-on while browsing the site. If you choose not to store this information in a cookie, the session data will be sent through each link you click. Choosing not to use a cookie may cause problems if your computer's connection to the Internet uses a proxy-server and you share links with other users behind the same proxy. If in doubt, we recommend that you select 'yes' to enable the cookie. After you have registered, you may alter your cookie options at any time by changing the settings on this page. How can I change the information in my profile? It is your responsibility to keep the information in your profile up-to-date. You should especially ensure that your email address is kept current. You can alter any of the fields in your profile, except your username. Once you have registered your username, it becomes yours for life. In extreme circumstances, you may request that the administrator change your username, but he will require a very good reason to do so. Edit your profile here. What is the signature for? After you have registered, you may set your signature. This is a piece of text that you would like to be inserted at the end of all your posts, a little like having headed note paper. Then you will have the option to include your signature on any posts you make. If you have specified a signature, then the board will automatically append your signature to any messages you post. You can disable signatures on a per-post basis by un-ticking the 'Show Signature' checkbox when you compose your message. You may turn the signature on and off on posts you have already made by editing the post and altering the state of the 'Show Signature' option. You can set your signature by editing your profile. I lost my password, what can I do? If you forget your password, you can click on the 'Forgotten Your Password' link on any page that requires you to fill in your password. This will bring up a page where you should enter your registered email address, and your password will be automatically emailed to you immediately. How do I get a picture under my username? These small images are called Avatars. They are displayed below your username on all posts that you make. There are two kinds of avatars: those provided by the administrator and those that you upload yourself. Christian has provided a set of avatars so you may select an avatar that best describes your personality. Custom Avatars are also enabled which allows you to upload an avatar image from your computer. For more information about avatars, click here. You can find a thread where users discuss their avatars here What are the buddy and ignore lists? The buddy list is used to keep track of the friends you have made on this board. By going to your "My vB Home", you'll be able to see which of your friends are currently online, and be able to send them a private message. Adding people to your buddy list also allow you to send private messages to multiple board members at the same time. You may add any member of this board to your buddy list by clicking this button  in a member's posts.Ignore lists are used for those people who's messages you wish not to read. By adding someone to your ignore list, those messages posted by these individuals will be hidden when you read a thread. You cannot ignore Moderators. I can Login but cannot access anything ! You're most probably unsubscribed due to inactivity. Ask an Administrator to reactivate your account. The fastest way to deal with that is contact DarkLord at one of fast messengers clients - check his profile in forum. |
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Forum: General Board Usage |
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Can I search the board? You can search for posts based on username, word(s) in the post or just in the subject, by date, and only in particular forums. To access the search feature, click on the "search" link at the top of most pages. You can search any forum that you have permission to search. Can I send email to other members of this board? Yes! To send an email to another member, you can either locate the member you want to contact on the member list, or click the  button on any post made by that member.This will usually open a page that contains a form where you can enter your message. When you have finished typing your message, press the [send email] button and your message will be sent instantly. Note that for privacy reasons, the email address of the recipient is not revealed to you during this process. Note that if you can not find an email button or link for a member, it means that the member in question has specified that they do not wish to receive email from other members of the board. Another useful email function is the ability to send a friend a link to a thread you think they may find interesting. Whenever you view a thread, you will find a link somewhere on the page which will allow you to send a brief message to anyone you like. Your referrerid is added to the link you send, so if your friend registers on this board as a result of viewing the link you sent to them, your referrals total will automatically be credited! Registered members may also be able to send messages to other members of this board using the private messaging system. For more information about private messaging, see below. Sending Private Messages Private messages work a little like email, but are limited to registered members of this board. You may be able to include vB Code, smilies and images in private messages that you send. You may send a private message to a member of this board by clicking the 'Send A Private Message' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the  button in a member's posts.When you send a message, you have the option to save a copy of the message in your Sent Items folder. Private Message Folders By default, you will have two folders in your private message area. These are the Inbox and the Sent Items folders. The Inbox folder contains any new messages you receive, and allows you to view all the messages you have received, along with the name of the person who sent the message to you, and the date and time the message was sent. The Sent Items folder contains a copy of any messages that you have sent, where you have specified that you wish to keep a copy of the message for future reference. You may create additional folders for your messages by clicking the 'Edit Folders' link. Each folder has a set of message controls which allow you to select messages, then either move them to one of your custom folders, or delete them completely. You may also have a button which allows you to forward multiple messages from a folder to another member of the board. There is currently a limit of 150 PM you can store, so it is recommended that you delete your messages in folders periodically. Whenever you read a message, you will have the option to reply to the message, or forward that message to another member of the board. You may also have the ability to forward that message to multiple members of your buddy list. Message Tracking When you send a new private message, you may have the option to request a read-receipt for that message. This will allow you to check whether or not a message has been read by its recipient by viewing the How do I use the Member List? The member list contains a complete list of all the registered members of this board. You can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the board, or by the number of posts the members have made. The member list also has a search function, which allows you to quickly locate members according to categories you specify, such as searching for all members who have joined in the past week etc. How do I use the calendar? There are three types of events on the calendar: public events, private events and birthdays. Public events are entered by the administrator or moderators, and are viewable by anybody. Private events can be entered and edited by any registered member, and are viewable only to the user who entered the event on the calendar. Private events enable you to use the calendar as your own personal online diary, entering engagements and events for any date you like. If you are a registered member, you can enter a new private event on the calendar here. Birthdays are shown on the calendar. Your birthday will automatically be shown on the calendar if you have entered the date of your birthday in your profile. Note: if you do not enter the year of your birth when you edit your profile, your age will not be shown on the calendar. What are announcements? Announcements are special messages posted by the administrator or moderators of forums. They are designed to be a simple one-way communication with the users. If you wish to discuss announcements, you will have to create a new thread in the forum, since you cannot reply to announcements. How do I rate a thread? You may find a small menu on thread pages which allows you to 'rate this thread' with a number between 1-5. Casting a vote for threads you view is entirely optional, but if you think that the thread is superb, you might rate it as a 5-star thread, or if you think that it's unspeakably dismal, you might choose to rate the thread with a single star. Once enough votes have been cast for the thread rating, you may see a set of stars appear with the title of the thread in the thread listings. These stars reflect the average vote cast, and can allow you to quickly see which threads are worth reading if you are on a very busy board with a lot of threads. What are referrals? You gain referrals by promoting OldGamersForum.COM using your unique referral link. The link you should use as your referral link is this: http://www.oldgames.nu/forum/index.php?referrerid=#### You should replace #### by your userid. This can be found by clicking on your userprofile. In the URL bar, you will then see something saying userid=####. For example, for Lex, the userid is 2291. Each time someone follows this link to OldGamersForum.COM and registers as a new member, your referral count will be incremented by one. The number of referrals you have can be viewed in your profile. There is usually 5 points awarded for each referral. Please be courteous when promoting OldGamersForum.COM by not spamming other web sites with your referral link just to gain referrals. |
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Forum: Reading and Posting Messages |
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Are there any special codes/tags I can use to format my posts and messages? For the most part, your posts will contain plain text, but on occasions, you may want to emphasize certain words or phrases by making them (for example) bold or italic. You cannot use HTML code to gain these effects. You must instead use vB Code: a special set of tags which you can use to produce the most popular text-effects. vB code has the advantage that it is very simple to use, and is immune to malicious javascripts and page layout disruption. This board has enabled smilies, which allow you to use small icons to convey emotion. At the moment [img] code is disabled so you cannot add viewable pictures to threads, unless as an attatchment. For more information about vB code, click here. What are smilies? Smilies are small graphical icons which you can insert into your messages to convey an emotion or feeling, such as a joke or embarrassment. For example, if you entered a sarcastic comment, rather than type 'that was a joke', you could simply insert the 'wink' smilie. If you have used email or internet chat systems, you will probably be familiar with the concept of smilies already. Certain combinations of text characters are converted into smilies. For example,:) is converted into a smiling face. To understand smilie codes, tilt your head to the left and look at the text: you will see that :) represents two eyes and a smiling mouth. For a list of the smilies currently used by this board, click here. On occasions, you may want to prevent the text in your message being converted into smilies. You will see a checkbox which you can select when you make a new post, which will allow you to 'Disable Smilies'. Code Buttons and Clickable Smilies These controls allow you to quickly and easily enter vBcode into your posts and messages. To use them, simply click the appropriate buttons or select items from the lists to enter vBcode. There are two modes available: normal and enhanced mode. When using normal mode, pressing a button will pop-up a dialog for you to fill with text. It will then enter the text with the appropriate vB Code tags at the end of your message. When using enhanced mode, pressing a button will insert the appropriate STARTING tag for the code, leaving you to enter text into the message area. When you have finished the text and want to close the tag, simply press the Close Current Tag button (alt+c). You may also nest tags in enhanced mode, and then use the Close All Tags button (alt+x) to close all open markup. Please note that the 'close tag' buttons only close tags that have been entered using the code buttons. To use the clickable smilies, simply click the smiley that you want to insert into your message, or click the Get More link to access the full list of smilies. How do I create and vote in polls? You may notice that some threads on this board also include a section where you can vote on an issue or question. These threads are called 'polls' and this is how to create them: Creating a new poll When you post a new thread, you may have the option to also create a poll. This function allows you to ask a question and specify a number of possible responses. Other members will then be able to vote for the response they wish, and the results of the voting will be displayed in the thread. An example poll might be: What is your favorite color?
To create a poll when you post a new thread, simply click the 'Yes! post a poll' checkbox at the bottom of the page, and set the number of possible responses you want to include. When you click the submit button, you will be taken to the poll creation page, where you can specify the question and the list of responses you want to include. You may also want to specify a time limit for the poll, so that (for example) it only stays open for voting for a week. Voting in and viewing a poll To vote in a poll, simply select which option you want to vote for, and click the [Vote!] button. You may view the current results for a poll before you vote by clicking the 'View Results' link. Voting in a poll is entirely optional. You may vote for any of the available options, or cast no vote at all. Generally, once you have voted in a poll, you will not be able to change your vote later, so place your vote carefully! What Are Attachments? Attatchments on this board are enabled, which gives you the ability to attach files of certain types to your posts. This could be an image, a text document, a zip file etc. There will be a limit to the file size of any attachments you make, as the board should not be used as an extension of your hard disk! To attach a file to a new post, simply click the [Browse] button at the bottom of the post composition page, and locate the file that you want to attach from your local hard drive. Only certain types of files may be attached: these are the valid file extensions for files to be attached to this board: gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg. After posting, the attachment will show up in the body of your message. To view the contents of the attachment simply click the filename link that appears next to the attachment icon  What are message icons? We have enabled message icons for new threads, posts and private messages for this board. Message icons allow you to specify a small icon to accompany your posting, which is used to convey the emotion or content of a post at a glance. Can I edit or delete my own posts? If you have registered, you will be able to edit yourposts. For various reasons we have disavbled the ability to delete your own posts. If you wish to have one of your posts deleted contact a moderator of that forum. To edit your posts, click the  button by the post you want to edit. After you have made your modifications, a note may appear, which notifies other users that you have edited your post. Administrators and moderators may also edit your messages but this note may not appear when they do so. Why have some of the words in my post been blanked-out? Certain words have been censored by the administrator. If your posts contain any censored words, they will be blanked-out like this: ****. The same words are censored for all users, and censoring is done by a computer simply searching and replacing words. It is in no way 'intelligent'. What is email notification? If you post a new thread, or reply to an existing thread, you can choose to be notified by email when someone else replies to that thread. You can also choose to receive email notifications of new posts in a thread without posting in that thread, by clicking the 'Receive updates to this thread' link displayed in the thread page. If you choose to stop receiving email notifications from a thread, you can turn off the option by either editing your post, or by unsubscribing from the thread here. Only registered users may receive email notification, and they can set whether they want to receive email notification by default by editing their options. Email notification is also referred to as 'Thread Subscription'. What is the maximum number of characters per post? For a post, the maximum number of characters is 30,000. For a private message, the maximum number of characters is 5,000. If you want to check the length of your post you can do so by clicking the "Check Message Length" button just below the text box. |
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The Crew |
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How Do I Become a Review Validator? The Head Reviewer handles such requests. Please note that many of the positions are taken. There is a full list of the validator positions available and other reviewing related things in this forum. You should speak with the head reviewer about filling one of those positions. How do I Become a Moderator? To be honest, the best way to become one is not to ask about it. Do not be in too much of a hurry to become one as the moderating team is currently completely full. What does a Review Validator do? Review validators are responsible for monitoring submitted reviews for their appointed language(s). They are the ones who award points for reviews, or turn them down if the review was unsatisfactory or suspected to be a copy from another website. What is a Moderator? Moderators oversee specific forums. They generally have the ability to edit and delete posts, move threads, and perform other manipulations. Becoming a moderator for a specific forum is usually rewarded to users who are particularly helpful and knowledgeable in the subject of the forum they are moderating. |
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IRC |
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How can I use IRC? There are essentially two ways of using IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to chat to other oldgames members. The simplest is to use the chat box in the right menu. Simply click 'enter chat' when logged in to enter the chatroom under your username. Alternatively, you may use your own IRC client (such as Mirc) to connect to it. If you want to do it this way, you will need to enter the following details into the IRC client: Servername: irc.chat4all.org Port: 6667 Channel : #Oldgames If you have difficulties with logging in the chat, you might find some help from here |
