frob, I really appreciate your input, so please dont stop.

I have a few challanges for you.
-I wrote above that its written in C++ and server software are made for Linux, and clients are made for windowsXP.

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To the points you made above:
I work in an oil company and I setup all the computer/software/servers/network for oil drilling operations. (of course not alone)

My company have delivered this equipment packages since about the year 2000, and to about 500 oil rigs.

You could name almost any of the oil rigs going back to the year 2000 and the hardware we used then, and I would be able to setup any of them inn a test enviorment ~12hours.
Because I am professional

Even tho you cant really compare computer games and oil rigs, I would say the same thing about them.

They are professionals and to setup some kind of test, should be fairly easy.

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Maybe the best thing would be just to buy some kind of distribtion rights, and have software dump on a server. I just fear all the legal stuff, where I would be responsible for software security etc...

* Go through the archives and find the software. It was 13 years ago. Does this software even still exist in our backups and archives?

The counterargument to this is cashing out on a 'dead vein'.

The case has arisen for me very recently, though not a 13 years gap.

The risk of not coming up with an agreement is high, but it's not entirely impossible. And on the plus side, this was web-based correct? So the technical dependencies from a frontend perspective should be less tricky (server-side may be total mayhem though).

I'm assuming then that you have hardware laying around from the 2000 era you can restore these backups onto?

Yes

And on the plus side, this was web-based correct?

Did anyone bother to click the wiki link I provided and check the game on youtube?

Some of you ask questions that are answered in many of my replys.

I dont want to be unthankfull, but its very difficult to communicate like this.

Did anyone bother to click the wiki link I provided

Yes, and this is a wiki.

The fact there's an installer does not say it can't be web-based. A number of online installer-based games are still web at their core.

check the game on youtube?

No. I did not consider it mandatory.

By the looks of it however, I did put more consideration my reply than yours, given the level of typos in yours:

replys

replies*

dont

don't*

unthankfull

unthankful*

That's a lot of typos for such a small message, and I wouldn't normally point it out, because that's what communication implies: effort on both ends. You came up with a question, you need to wrap your message efficiently. We cannot be held accountable for not having all the fore-knowledge. In counter-part, we can live with a few typos here and there given this is not your primary language, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Now back on topic:

Is IT web-based, or should I consider based on your somehow rude reply that it isn't? (in which case it would imply the tech would most likely be out-dated and much harder to re-implement, further diminishing your chances of success).

The game's link has a client built for Windows 2000, and mentions linux servers.

From what I have read, this is not just a matter of dumping the executables on a machine.

So much has changed. Middleware has changed. Hardware has changed. Operating system requirements have changed. Even the C++ language has changed four times.

Instead of just pulling it out and running it, my guess will be it means pulling it out and seeing it won't run correctly or run at all. Then trying to figure out and reconstruct the build chain. Then finding the oldest versions of the libraries that can be built, and trying to build it, fixing whatever is broken. Then building the executables again, fixing whatever is broken. Then running the game and hoping it mostly works okay. This will need to be done both for the server and for the client.

Again...

You might get lucky and have everything work out of the box. In that case, yes, they would likely give you a license to run the program for $50K. Then the responsibility is on you to get the machines running and keep them going, whatever the cost is to you.

But much more likely you will need to have several months of major development to get the game working on modern equipment. In that case you are looking a a million or so to pay the studio to get the game up to a working state and keep the servers running.

Thank you for all replies, and specially to you frob, really appreciate it.

I got a lot of new information.

Im good for the money, I wouldnt have to put down a deposit on any of my realestates

About the money aspect and "wasting" $50k.

I dont think Im a bad person for doing that, yes I could give it to chairity or maybe start collecting stamps, but Its not my passion or hobby. Ive decided to try and revivie this game, one way or another. I have friends working on their cars and spending much more then $50k a year, to only drive them one weekend and then start redoing it all over again. Im very glad for them, its their passion.

I dont think this community have more drama then any other game community, nor does it have more hacks then Counter-Strike or the other big games.

With small games, and small community, news tend to go faster and impact to be bigger. I know about the hacks you talk about, and they where valid in the early stages of the game in 2003. The game developed until 2007 and I dont think much of the old hacks where still usable.

Of course that doesnt mean, if the game would continue, new hacks wouldnt be found.

Its a risk I would take, and if it would endup with only me and 10 friends in this game because everyone else I had to block for cheating, I would still write it off as an success for myself