www.smrsimple.com is done, I only need to add one or two more things but for the msot part it is done, now for it to stand the test of time.
Latest Entries »
[Older update:] Forget it. There will not be a crack for Cities XL. There simply is no reason for crackers to go to the effort. The protection used effectively turns even the single player version of the game into an MMO as far as crackablity is concerned. If you have a Cities XL torrent running at the moment, cancel it. You can either buy a legal copy or move on, yes yes I know “civil piracy is not illegal”, what else would you have me call it? I would suggest moving on, there is not much in regards to re-playability to Cities Xl as it is now, maybe they’ll revamp much of it, doubt it. Right now Monte Cristo has let their dreams of MMOhood get in the way of making what they should have, a fun and challenging city builder. Instead you get a giant ad for the “planet offer” also known as Xbox live style “online services”, really all it is good for is the global chat and trading “goods” . Oh I guess you also get a pretty map which is a bit exciting, until you realize that it is no more than a picture and has no effect on game play. Weep a bit and then move on and do something more productive, like say learning Japanese, or exploring the other side of the world. [/update]
I know that when I had troubles finding a key I check out the The Pirate Bay and Google to see if Cities XL had been cracked and released, that did me no good since there is no Cities XL crack even still I really wanted to play it. Well looking at the web searches that lead people to this site I can see that there are some other unfortunate souls willing to hit the torrents just to play Cities XL. Well I have some news for you, its not going to happen until a street release at least and liekly never for the planet offer. The current Cities XL requires not only net access to login but also a constant internet connection to play online. There is no offline so no hope of getting past the beta key requirement. If you do want to play the game I would suggest downloading the client while you are searching for beta keys. That way you are ready to go when you do get a beta key and you can also check out the in-game music which is stored in “Monte Cristo\Cities XL\Data\Sound\Music\XL”, I know this because before I got my key I searched the game’s files and found the music. So yeah stop searching for a cities xl crack, hack or leak and get back to looking for a beta key. Oh and any Cities XL Torrent you happen to run across will either be a repost of the same client you can already get from Monte Cristo or it will contain spyware/malware.
So while SMRsimple.com is not even feature complete yet I have gotten myself addicted to another game, Cities XL. The new fansite is not surprisingly citiesxlsimple.com Right now the game is still in closed bata and as a tester I’m under a NDA so there really isn’t much to do for the site. I may write up some things and then set it to release after the NDA lapses. I may also add a passworded section so that me and some other beta players can have some place of our own.
Just only about a week ago I had my third Seagate 1.5TB fail, instead of exchanging it yet again I have ordered a 1TB Hitachi to use as my primary backup. I will then use the Seagate as a archive, or shortstroke it so that it does not run into the problem areas.
Which brings me to my next failure, I just woke up today to find that my computer would not turn on. Turns out my Silver Stone strider is striding on its last legs and that it sometimes makes a “pop” then it has to be turned off at the back for a minute or so. I’m going to take a risk with this and use it until the Earthwatts I ordered arrives, I can only pray that it does not blow up and take other hardware with it. Especially now that I do not have a backup. What I think I will do is turn it off at the back when it is not in use.
My speakers and keyboard also have seen better days, I’ve leave them. Really all this can be attributed to the fact that I got off the upgrade wagon, I like my new found frugality.
PS: I see that the foam on my secondary chair’s arm rest is splitting, I’ll leave it until I can justify buying a really nice chair.
So I just got another mp3 player this time it’s special. The first iPod shuffle 3rd, gen knock off. They are available in two gigabyte and four gigabyte versions with a full range of colours in each size. This one which was bought with my sister in mind is orange and weighs in at fourteen grams and two gigabytes. It comes with the same type of usb connector as the iPod shuffles. For my first small batch of songs it transfered at a modest 1.3 MB/s, I’ve seen worse.
The USB connector
The unit itself shipped with the standard “2GB” holo sticker and box that you will find with just about any chinese mp3 player. The sticker came off easy and left just a bit of adhesive which came off well with a little rubbing. Audio quality is no different as far as I can tell form my Zune and iPod Touch, although that is while using my own headphones, the ones it ships with are as to be expected, subpar. As you can see it is quite nice with no nicks on the surface and feels very solid.
It is just a bit larger then the real iPod 3rd Generation Shuffle as you can see when compared to a skin for the genuine thing.
The knock off compared to a skin for the genuine
Although I did not let that stop me from using the skin.
It fits, kind of.
It is not without its faults though. For instance while the manufacturer claims that it will tell you what is playing I have not found this feature, and there are only two buttons. The player also sadly only handles track order in the most basic way possible, it orders the songs, most likely alphabetically, then it plays from the top. If you turn the unit off and on it will simply start from the beginning. While I do not expect it to shuffle it would be nice if it remembered what it played last. This might though be a plus for anyone wanting to make a playlist, all one would have to do is rename the first song “1″ and the second “2″. The manual sheet of paper that it ships with is useless since it was printed for a second generation knock off,who knows maybe latter batches will fix this. For those wondering here is a quick guide to this units control scheme.
- To change songs press either “-” or “+”
- To increase volume hold either “-” or “+”
All together it is a quite nice and small mp3 player. In truth if I was given a choice between this or a Apple 3rd Generation Shuffle I would chose this one if only because I get to use my own headphones out of the box. Of course it is also a lot cheaper, I got mine from Focalprice for 13.03 USD which is much better then the ~70USD asking price for the Apple version.
Big news! A crack is out and it works! Thanks to Nob Ody for alerting me to it. You can get it on isohunt here are the instructions:
I can tested it and it is virus free and works perfectly, the author has even included all the current patches.[Older update]
JDMans over at the Pirate Bay posted instructions on how to use the torrent with the Cities XL trial