Purchasing U-Boat Missions Add On via Amazon

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Amazon seems like the most economical way to purchase the add-on, especially if one owns SH4 on DVD like me. I see Neal's announcement (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=131893) regarding the purchase benefiting Subsim, which sounds great, only I haven't purchased a game from Amazon. How does the licensing work? Does the contents of an installation CD download that can either be run or burned to a CD? Or does Amazon's game library client need to be running to install and use the game? Luckily the Amazon listing specifically mentions that it will work with either a download or DVD installation of SH4, so I think I'm covered there. Still, has anyone had any issues?

Ideally I'm still looking for a CD of the add-on, but it seems impossible to locate for an economical price (or any price for that matter). I see a couple UK listings, but they don't seem to ship to the US.

Thanks for the help! I'm looking to get back into SH after a long vacation.

[TorpX]

I can't help you here, since I've never purchased a download from Amazon, either. If you can find the 'Gold Edition', that has everything you need on one disc.

[Webster]

when you can find it, (you don't see large supplies when you see it for sale) you will see it selling for $20-$25 for the dvd which is the dvd gold edition and that is the one you want. it has the game dvd plus the expansion dvd.

just the expansion by itself AFAIK is only available in download because its cheaper that way so ubi makes more $$$$ off of it

I also think they purposely only release very few copies of the gold edition dvds every now and then just to keep the prices for the dvd high

the problem with downloads is later on when you need to reinstall the game some downloads only accept the key once or twice and after that you are left with a non working key and have to rebuy the game. many people at this site had to go through such things but it doesn't happen to everyone so some people have never had a problem.

if you can get the expansion download for $5 you really have nothing to lose so I would roll the dice that you never have to reinstall the game again or if you do that it will work, but before spending $10 or more I would just go buy the dvds for a few dollars more and be confident in having the dvds you will never have to rebuy the game again because of a download game issue.

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Well purchasing just the add-on makes sense for me since I've already invested in the base game. I can accept a download of the add-on so long as I'm not limited to how often it can be installed and what dependency there is, if any, with Amazon's client software. I'm hoping there isn't any, but I'm having a hard time determining what exactly is downloaded, and how it works once downloaded. Ideally, I'd like to take a key (assuming they provide one) take my downloaded installation files, burn to a CD, and never have to deal with Amazon again. I have nothing against Amazon, but I don't need another steam-like client to deal with.

There isn't much information to go on since Neal's thread originally had Direct2Drive links, which seems like the choice way of downloading the add-on pre-2013. But I'm not going back to a distribution service begging for a new activation code every time I want to install or re-install the game. I usually get into mods quite a bit, and we all know that a fresh installation may become necessary.

[Akotalaya]

i actually bought my copy from amazon, ive also had to re download it several times, you dont need the key to download or instill it the key is really only used for online play and since there is apparently no limit i havent had trouble with it at all

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i actually bought my copy from amazon, ive also had to re download it several times, you dont need the key to download or instill it the key is really only used for online play and since there is apparently no limit i havent had trouble with it at all
Thanks for the feedback! What actually downloads? Does it download an installer that then runs separately or simply download directly into program files and can be run directly? After installation, does the game need to be run via Amazon's utility, or does it launch like any other game?

Guess I'm looking for a step by step of what happens after one makes this purchase.

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For anyone that may have the same question in the future, here's what happens after purchase: The user downloads a small 1MB EXE that's essentially a temporary (throwaway) downloader. The downloader pulls down a ~600 MB file that then decompresses. These decompressed files look just like the contents of an installation CD, complete with autorun capability. At this point, there doesn't appear to be any further reliance on Amazon for installation or game execution as the user simply runs the setup file, and then runs the game normally.

It's still unclear to me whether this download that looks like a CD could be used on any PC as if I bought the CD version of the add-on. If there is some kind of PC-specific DRM at play here, it's very transparent. I suppose the worst case scenario would be to have to repeat the download from Amazon. The license clearly stated before purchasing that unlimited downloads are permitted on PCs you own. Guess I'll find out when switching PCs someday.