Canadian Disc Heads up

[E Strongblade]

Check out the topic "Help me out, will ya, please" by Tarthar to get some interesting information about the T2: Pirate Cove Discs that are clearly marked Made in Canada. These discs have issues that could be responsible for the bulk of the problems people are having with their T2 games.  I posted the stuff I have picked up about it from this site and a few others at the Tarthar post today. Some of you won't be too happy... I went through this mess and solved the problem as described. I hope it helps some of you to play, because T2 is a GREAT sim game that is alot of fun.

[Coconut Kid]

It is my opinion that you should have included the basic information in this thread instead of referring to the other thread.

Do you have a Canadian copy of T2: Pirate Cove? If so, it will say it on the disc itself: Made in Canada. If it is a US copy, it will say so on the tiny writing that is on the outer edge of the disc. The US copy will easily accept the V1.2 patch. The Canadian version will sometimes NOT accept the patch and CAN be a FAULTY disc.   It also has copyright protection issues.   Some of the problems you mention HAVE been associated to the Canadian version, which was sold at one time through SAM's Club. Once the run on the Canadian discs ended at SAM's Club, the remainder/leftovers were resold to numerous different suppliers, and have since been found anywhere from used book stores to used computer supply stores. If you have one of these discs and your computer meets or exceeds all of the minimum game requirements with current drivers, your best bet is to go to Frog City and buy a new copy from them, as you will get a true US version. If FC can't help, your next option is to go to a game store and buy a used US version from them.

I recall the complaints from the begining of the sales at Sam's Club. No one related to the identification on the CD. I strongly suspect that the game lost hundreds of players because of the crap sold at Sam's Club, but I am stunned to learn that what Sam's Club could not screw its own patrons with, was unloaded on other "el cheapo" stores to screw yet another batch of customers.

At the time of the original complaints, I strongly suspected that Sam's Club simply repackaged (cleaned the packages of) the returns and put them back on the shelves.

When you buy at discount stores, you gamble on what you get. Personally, I'll bet the CDs marked "Made in Canada" were made in China by "intellectual" bootleggers.

 

[E Strongblade]

Well, we have to give Sam's Club the benefit of the doubt to a certain degree. It is doubtful that close attention is paid by their bulk buyers when it comes to what is actually bought, just the idea that it's a lot of them and the price is right. Like anything that goes through any bulk place, what isn't sold is moved out based on what new things are coming in, not quality of the leftover objects. In other words, Sam's Club just provided a product for the public; the maker of the product is the one that pulled might have pulled a scam. It is also possible that the maker was unaware of the problems on the disc, but I can't make any call on that one as I have no idea who made it or whether or not they got permission or any of those things. I DO know that MADE IN CANADA was boldly stamped on the face of both of the discs that came with what I purchased. The box was more or less the same as the original but there was no manual inside. It is doubtful that Sam's Club would endorse selling a faulty product knowingly, as that is one of the quickest ways to bankruptcy.
As comp. games are low on the bulk priority list, it's doubtful that Sam's had any inspectors to check out the batch of games in anything but on a surface "does it work?" level. They don't have the resources to "deep scan" every multi-thousand or million item batch of widgits that they buy, no matter what it is.
All WE can do is safeguard ourselves and depend upon fair buying and selling practices to allow us to return a product that we are unhappy with. That is what I ended up doing and although it was a pain, the end result was worth it because I ended up with a cool sim game. Had I not found the Canadian copy, it is doubtful I would have found T2 as the run is now two years old and I don't get a lot of comp. game mags. or notifications. When T2 came out, I was still saving for a computer so I missed the initial release.
Thanks for your response and sorry about the content thing-I didn't figure out how to activate quotes until after I had posted. Stupid I know but we can't all be Snoopy. (the beagle out of "peanuts") 

[Coconut Kid]

Posted by E Strongblade as a separate thread:

This is a clarification. I purchased a bad copy of T2: Pirate Cove. The copy that I purchased was boxed and, with the following exceptions, appeared to be a legitimate copy:
1) There was no T2 manual in the sealed box.
2) Both of the included discs 1 and 2 had "MADE in Canada" stamped in BOLD letters on the center right section of each.
I found that this copy that I purchased would not allow me to load the V1.2 patch. The two most common errors that I went through trying to do this were-"can't find the disc" and "bink32 error". These discs are faulty.
I also found out that the copy I bought was part of a bunch of these games that were sold at one time through Sam's Club. These copies can now be found in all manner of used book and used comp stores here in the US. They appear to be ligit copies of T2 but are not. Your first clue to this is no manual. The second is that it says in bold letters "MADE in CANADA" on the front of the discs themselves. A ligit copy will have "made in usa"  in the fine print around the edge of the discs. Buying a legit copy was how I solved my problem. If you are unable to get it through FC, you may be able to find it at a game store in their used section. You will notice marked changes for the better by doing so, as T2 is a very fun sim game. The V1.2 patch makes it more so, clearing up a few minor problems that the original had handily. It is well worth the price. I DO NOT WISH for anyone to believe that CANADA bootlegged T2. If anyone in Canada were making T2 legitimately, the disc would probably work just fine. There is a strong possibility that the words "Made in Canada" were stamped on the discs to mask where they really came from. As I am not privey to that particular information, I could not tell you whether these bootlegs were really made there or not. All I know is that the copy I purchased was stamped that way. I hope this clears up any confusion that may have arisen from my earlier posts. Thank you for your interest.

I have posted this copy here to make things clearer.

 

[E Strongblade]

Thanks Kid!! You're my new forum Hero! I'm so stupid that I don't even know HOW to DO quotes! I would love to transfer "Expansion Pack and POTC" to the general section from it's current location but have no clue how to do it. I goofed when I wrote it! I suppose it has to do with the fact that I'm one of those morons that goes out and buys a computer on gut feeling and stumbles along afterwards by clicking mouses and punching keys with little regard for results, good or otherwise. I'm the guy who did great in English, History and Literature while flunking simple math. Everyone has their cross to bear.... Thanks again for helping out here. I hope that my computer incompetence will lessen over the next 20 years or so but, oddly, I don't find myself holding my breath over it.

[felidstar]

Hi! I bought the Mucho Macho edition of Tropico/Tropico2 from Sams Club last year... I was able to install and play both fine for months but lost the play disc for Tropico2 and sadly uninstalled it. I relocated it the other day and tried to re-install but the installation is hanging up at the 100% and giving me no options but to cancel the installation. WHILE it's hung up I can manually choose to play the disk from the exe file ON the disc, but no other way. The reason why I'm posting here is because of the past "Made in Canada" Sams Club issue. I checked both of the Tropico2 discs thoroughly and they say NEITHER "Made in the USA" or "Made in Canada". Could these be faulty discs as well? I haven't checked the Tropico(1) discs because I lent them to a friend. I'm going to borrow them back, and try re-installing that and THEN Tropico2 again. I'll let you guys know how that works out. I was just posting here to discuss the possibility of a second batch of error-filled disks being released to Sams Club.