moddb is famous of its wrong message board engine, posts usually mix up with others etc.

the full story:

1st post:

5thHorseman Apr 22 2011, 8:02am replied: Online

LA is pretty much a new game.

2nd post:

dezodor Apr 22 2011, 12:22pm replied: Online

Yep, currently Lost Alpa doesn't need anything from SoC, installs separatedly as a new game, and eats a little bit more than 10gb (ca. 10.3gb) on your hdd. The only requirement is a LEGAL copy of Shadow of Chernobyl pc dvd, since the securom protection is still active in the edited launch files and dlls, and we won't hack it out. So if anyone want to play LA, he can't use no cd cracks, otherwise the game won't launch at all. We love this game so much that it deserves not to be cracked. People can buy it for a bargain these days anyway.

3rd post:

exostalker Apr 22 2011, 12:44pm replied:

Well that will make some problems for people like me, my disc is no longer recognised by PC, because of it's poor condition. I really can't find any other copy of original CD in my country.

4th post:

dezodor Apr 22 2011, 1:06pm replied: Online

Sorry to hear that, but we can't release LA with cracked exes (that's not even in our profile to make nocd cracks :)), and since we edited both exe-s and dll-s, they are seriously needed to run the game. I'm talking about deep hacks such as memory allocation errors, internal cache raised, and so on. It's not just about loyality to the original game and the devs, yet it's really important, but also the new binaries which contains such things, which are needed for LA to be launched and played.

All I can say, nothing is impossible about ordering a copy from other countries or buying on amazon or ebay, you guys still have several months until LA comes out

5th post:

Thryker 20hours 28mins ago says:

So, LA wont work with SOC installed with a cracked .exe?

The reason I ask is that I have the 'npc late spawning' problem with the stalker games, which only a cracked .exe seems to fix. I don't know if its as bad on SOC as it is on COP, but as standard I install any stalker game cracked due to this problem. (And no, im not using pirated versions, I have boxed copies of each game)

Even on GSC' official forum I was told 'Dl a cracked .exe' the only other solution being set the core affinity to 1 for SOC, but A.) That means a loss in performance B.)Doesn't work as well (if it all.)

Gsc-game.com (forum link)

This problem isn't limited and affects a lot of people playing stalker games on multi core pc's. Apparently it came about in version 1.004 of SOC, which leads me to ask, what version will LA be running on and has this issue has ever come up/ been considered when developing LA? The inability to use a cracked version of SOC may mean that many people wont be able to play your mod properly.

6th post:

dezodor 19hours 59mins ago replied: Online

ah and 1 more comment for this "official gsc forum" thing. that means nothing, since you get answers from ordinary customers, who also bought or dl-ed the game, they are not official members/developers of gsc. so if you read such things on that forum, it doesnt mean it has to be true, or it has higher value than any other post on other forums. just wanted to inform you about this

7th post:

dezodor 20hours 9mins ago replied: Online

la runs on 1.0007 which was never officially released, only some configs, but we have the full patch, and we are using it since late 2009, and havent noticed any issues with it, not to mention we all have multicore cpus these days. So: no worries.

8th post:

Thryker 15hours 53mins ago replied:

Well, NPC's weren't spawning in game, then I get told to DL a NOCD crack which, once applied, completely fixed the problem. Now, that solution may have come from some random forum member, but it worked. (The thread I linked isn't the one I meant to link, their forums are kinda screwy)

Why didn't an admin etc delete these posts telling people to use NOCD cracks on the official forums for the game in question? (Infact they try NOT to make any kind of official response to those threads for numerous reasons) Because they have no official solution and the NOCD method is the unofficial/official solution to fix this particular problem. They cant just say 'Use a NOCD crack' in an official capacity, so forum members do. from what I understand its some kind of engine limitation, and Just because an admin/team member didn't respond doesn't mean that it doesn't happen/the NOCD solution doesn't work.

I don't know if its a language barrier and im misreading you, or if you're being hostile, but it is a legitimate question/issue. it almost sounds like you think im lying/ not telling the entire truth. This problem DOES occur on some machines and it is completely gamebreaking. If it happens on too few machines to be bothered with, then fine, fair enough. But please don't tell me 'it means nothing' when I've seen, researched and solved this problem first hand.

9th post:

dezodor 6hours 24mins ago replied: Online

If you check the forum more often, you will quickly notice it has almost zero moderation, plus gsc devs never check it, so thats why such posts werent removed which contained info about warez/nocd/etc. The crack only did 1 thing, it accidentally disabled multicore support by default (which came in handy for several multicore cpu users), and the game used 1 core only, no matter how many your cpu had/has. You can do the same with the normal game, just alt-tab and check affinity in taskmanager, then uncheck all cores, only leave 1 on. But as I noted in my previous comment, we are using 1.0007, and we havent experienced any problem yet with spawns.

thats the story.