DriveThruRPG questions

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10-20-2005, 08:49 AM
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DriveThruRPG questions

I thought it would be nice to have a thread, where we all could post and share our questions, problems or experiences we had over at DriveThruRPG while getting our long awaited TREK or LOTR products.

I'd like to start this one off with the question of payment.

I've read in the LOTR or WORLDS threat, that there has been at least one problem with credit card use so far...

I haven't created an account yet, so I'd like to know what methods of payment are accepted.

Do they accept PayPal and what kind of Cards are welcome?
10-20-2005, 09:35 AM
Ergi

After browsing their site for several minutes, trying to find any kind of information about the payment, I've completed the first steps of ordering and was finally led to a page showing what methods of payment are accepted. PayPal is one of them, as are credit cards. Since I don't have a credit card I'll use the former method. Even if I had one, I wouldn't use it, since nobody has complained about problems with PayPal payment, yet, however the credit card system seems to be flawed.
10-20-2005, 11:28 AM
Ineti

I used Paypal. Took me 2 minutes to sign up for a DTRPG account, buy WORLDS, and download it. Took me a minute or two to set up my Reader software to accept DRMs, and I was good to go. Easy and no hassle. :)
10-20-2005, 11:56 AM
Tricky

I used DriveThruRPG to get my hands on Terra Primate,

No real problems that I can remember; Used debit card (is that bad?), got saved my book in my documents, and I still have 4 more downloads from the site!
10-20-2005, 01:58 PM
Jem'hadar

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ineti

I used Paypal. Took me 2 minutes to sign up for a DTRPG account, buy WORLDS, and download it. Took me a minute or two to set up my Reader software to accept DRMs, and I was good to go. Easy and no hassle. :)

What are "DRMs" and how does one go about adjusting Reader to accept them?

Is it absolutely necessary to do this adjustment to get the products from drivethrurpg?
10-20-2005, 02:04 PM
Ineti

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jem'hadar

What are "DRMs" and how does one go about adjusting Reader to accept them?

Is it absolutely necessary to do this adjustment to get the products from drivethrurpg?

There's a FAQ on DTRPG all about them. Basically, some of the products they sell (including Decipher's books) are watermarked and protected so that you can't just send a copy to everyone you know and have them able to use it.

Adobe Reader has a function that you can unlock (for free) that allows the software to read DRM-protected documents. It's easy to set up. A bit of a hassle, but it's a way to help prevent piracy.
10-20-2005, 04:45 PM
Tobian

DRM is basically short of 'Document rights management' - which basically is a system which the reader software has an 'identity' - which your file matches. This identity can be on up to 6 machines, but no more (according to their FAQ). It's basically much the same system as if you were buying a MP3 from apple, for Itunes, or the new and exciting DRM features the intell / microsoft consortium is trying to bring to the next version of windows (note the ironic lilt in my annoyed voice :D)

There doesn't seem to be any restriction to the watermarked version, other than it has your name and order number on every single page.. so if it was pirated, they would know where it came from! :) It's not too intrusive, just mildly annoying, and definatelly less so than the DRM annoyance.
10-20-2005, 08:02 PM
Sho-sa Kurita

I have several files from DriveThru, and I've never had any probs with them, regardless of payment method or file type.
10-20-2005, 10:15 PM
Mazza

I bought Worlds and Paranoia XP Service Pack 1 from drivethrurpg the other day. I paid with a credit card. Everything worked fine. I'm using a Mac and as soon as the files downloaded, the files opened in Preview straight away with no tinkering around for the DRM stuff.
10-21-2005, 12:20 AM
black campbellq

No problems with any of the stuff I've downloaded from Drivethru. Credit card works fine.

Over at Heresy Games, we've had a bunch of sales through the site. No problems reported to us.
10-21-2005, 11:53 PM
Shoshuro

Apprently they've dropped the DRM thing for just the watermark though, since I've taken my copies on a thumb-drive to school and read them there.
10-22-2005, 05:50 AM
Pantoufle

Just bought worlds with my credit card too, with no problem whatsoever
10-22-2005, 04:43 PM
Shoshuro

Has Decipher given any kind of hint of what kind of release schedule their using? Once a week, Month, etc?
10-22-2005, 09:12 PM
Ineti

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shoshuro

Has Decipher given any kind of hint of what kind of release schedule their using? Once a week, Month, etc?

No, no formal release schedule. Which is probably a good thing given the amount of crap slung their way when they miss a deadline they impose on themselves. :)

Mirror Universe and Isengard are slated to come out sometime in November. Releases beyond that are up to Decipher and how fast they can get product together to release. I've heard them talk about releasing all the older books as PDFs as well, and Kieran suggested that they might do a proofread/errata fix pass on the older books before releasing them.

We'll have to see.
10-23-2005, 05:26 PM
Capt Daniel Hunter

Ordered Worlds and downloaded it woth no problems. I made a point of paying by Paypal though.

The book itself looks great. I'm glad it's seen the light of day. :)
10-24-2005, 01:47 PM
D.S.McBride

Just to let everybody know: finally managed to download the thing. Turns out there was some sort of firewall on Windows XP (which I only got a few weeks ago) that was preventing proper transmission. The help that was offered by the population here was much appreciated. Now, if I can only get Drive-Thru to reverse the two dupicate charges and save myself some Christmas money...
10-24-2005, 02:54 PM
black campbellq

I had figured it was a firewall thing. Tends to be the first thing to look for with network problems. (Well, that at chair-keyboard interface problems...)
10-24-2005, 06:18 PM
Tobian

Evil Windows firewall! protecting your computer from.. the internet, all of it :D

Glad to hear you finally worked through your problem and got it.. at least it means they are innocent in this :D Though perhaps you should not be able to buy the same product more than once, as a precaution!
11-04-2005, 02:49 PM
C5

I have this most annoying problem with DriveThru...

I created an account and got the email confirmation.
Now I can log on their site, but, strangely, whenever I click on a "Buy now" or "Add to cart" link, I either get bounced on the "You've been logged off" page or the "Sign in" page.
It seems my session isn't actually logged and just leaving the first page returns me to a disconnected state. My browser accepts cookies (it's plain simple IE anyway), but I don't see any cookie from drivethru appearing in my cookies folded.

Anyone has any ideas about this or has it seen happen ?