Exult Forum

Something that always bugged me about Serpent Isle.

One of the copy protection questions asks about the woman who made fine-fitting lambskin gloves, who is obviously Drogeni. I remember even having the manual and looking this up as a kid.

The problem is, the correct answer to "how many letters are in her name" is actually 7, whereas when playing Serpent Isle itself, the correct answer was always 6 (unless you want everything to Oink at you).

Is there a way this can be corrected? It always kind of irked me that you essentially have to give a wrong answer, if asked, to continue with the game.

Are you playing without The Silver Seed expansion installed? It replaces the question entirely, and removes another confusing one.

No, I've had Silver Seed installed this whole time. And I could've sworn I saw this question recently...

I tried going through the copy protection questions a few times just now, and couldn't find the Drogeni question. So I'm sure you're right, and I'm just not remembering it correctly. Thanks.

I could add it back in with the correct answer.

That would be excellent!

The problem with adding it back in with the correct answer is that almost everyone will still choose 6, since that's what they remember and it's what the manual tells them.

So I'd expect a lot of unnecessary oinkage.

But the manual "Beyond the Serpent Pillars" clearly says "Drogeni's fine lambskin gloves" - 7 letters. Hence why I kept getting my own unnecessary oinkage even though I had a legit copy of the game.

Unless you're referring to the Ultima Collection manual (which I remember did say 6) or the online copy protection answers.

Is it possible both 6 and 7 could be accepted as correct answers, or does it have to be one or the other?

Yes, both could be.

Oh, I didn't realize there were different manuals. Yeah, I have the Ultima Collection and the GoG one. GoG has a separate pdf with the copy protection answers and also says 6.

The greatest improvement would be getting rid of the copy protection questions entirely. They are just a nuisance that doesn't serve any real purpose anymore.

I agree with you, but I have the feeling that might be illegal, even though the answers to the questions are posted all over the internet.

I'll probably take it out because it is annoying. The Beta has a functional placeholder for it. It just asks if you've purchased the game.

We wouldn't be able to support such a mod here anymore. They are annoying but circumventing the copy protection is a step we won't make or tolerate. We want to continue our existence and not be slaughtered by Elizabeth and Abraham...

Yeah I figured that was dicey legal territory, and they are the litigious sort. Not a good idea, but would "fixing" the Drogeni answer like I described be out of bounds?

No, it shouldn't be. That would actually be protecting them a bit.

Fixing the question is fine IMO

I've reimplemented the copy protection function, so every canonical question is now possible. From a quick bit of searching, I found on Dino's copy protection answers page a long-dead link that in reference says Crowley identified the question that was changed with the SS installation. That also matches the order listed on Bootstrike's answers as well as the flag list. So the changes are:

There's a 50/50 die roll on the "Other Landmarks" question, which will show the SS question or the original with Britannia corrected to Sosaria. The answer remains the same for both.


The lambskin glove question has been added back as 1 of 16 random questions. It accepts both the wrong-but-accepted answer of 6, and the factually-correct answer of 7. This uses ASKED_LAMBSKIN_GLOVES = 0x29 for the global flag, which was not used in SI+SS.


And finally, I added the SI Beta's copy protection placeholder question. This is only available if DEBUG_MODE is set manually via the cheat menu.


I might change some of the answer sliders as well. It doesn't make sense to ask 1-70 on every question.

Also, I vaguely remember running into a problem with Fedabiblio running out of copy protection questions. I may have cheated, or he may allow you too many attempts. But if he does, he will create the spellbook but without any spells in it. To avoid that, I've added a check that will admit he's out of questions.

Ha ha, the beta question is great

I think you have cheated somehow, since I'm pretty sure Fedabiblio kicks you to Oink! land after two tries.

Fedabiblio doesn't even have a placeholder question:
"I see that thou has brought the Mandrake Root. Presto, here's a spellbook."

Very nice, I love it!