Phillyman

1 hour ago, johnnyblaze1986 said:

I’m just trying to figure out where I went wrong on it. I’ll compare the two folders. Want to make sure everything is right so the 2025 folder will be right too. I want to help by being able to archive this stuff in case you can’t get to do things with so much going on, at least I can help make the torrent or at least to help seed it. 

I got ya, you might have extra files that perhaps were replace.

Lets say someone uploads a 400MB file and they release it, and then someone points out that there is a page out of order, well then that person fixes the 400MB file and reuploads it to the seedbox, it replaces the existing file, but now you might have two copies.

Best thing to do is take my 2024.md5 checksum and run that against your folder and see what matches up and what doesnt, then you should know exactly what files to look more closely at.

I use this

http://getmd5checker.com/screenshots.html

+

https://pastebin.com/SQC79srJ

On 5/14/2025 at 7:19 AM, johnnyblaze1986 said:

Quick question: what’s the cut-off for the 2024 torrent? 
 

Because comparing the torrent to my Google Drive folder, mine is bigger by 4GB.

So below is my notes from the 2024 torrent. I start off by going into the 2024 upload folder which currently only I can see on the NAS people upload to. There were 962 files in there, then I look at the oldest file and the newest file that is in that folder and go find it in the download manager. When I find it in the download manager, I can check the date it was posted to Retromags. Keep in mind people can upload a file on Dec 31st to the NAS, but not get around to creating the download manager record until Jan 1st, so that was what I was checking for.

When I find the oldest files record and the newest files record, I can check the releases before and after it, by just going into my browsers URL and changing the number of the release +/- 1, the number XXXX- is how the url is redirected.

Then after I know the oldest and newest 2024 releases are right, I go into the backend of this site and drop all the records from the oldest to newest, and that number came out to 962 as well, so we knew that this was a complete account of all releases.

tl;dr: my torrent is 100% right  

Official 2024 Torrent is released

https://www.retromags.com/announcement/11-retromags-2021-2022-2023-2024-torrents-released/

I will catch up on the various things said in this thread later, but I will work on the torrent this weekend and hopefully knock it out. Since January I swear I have caught like 4 different illnesses, and between that and renewing my license and passport before I am unable to do so because no one works for those departments, time has been thin.

Retromags 2025 Fun-Raiser

Over the past month we have run a fundraiser to help offset the costs of running Retromags for the current 2025 year. We had 56 unique member participate and 98 donations of $20. I went to Google and did a random number generator between 1 and 98

I then looked for the 35th donation of $20, and the winner is....

@B coma

Thank you all for assisting with keeping Retromags going for the upcoming year. I know the economy is not great right now and I really do appreciate you guys assisting with keeping our lights on.

On 7/18/2024 at 5:33 PM, bombatomba said:

Did it get take down?

More like it got lost in the shuffle.

Back in the day, Retromags worked off a $10 per month webhost and we put all our files on MegaUpload or Rapidshare or Rapidfire, and everytime we got into one of those solutions, they would get shut down.

The biggest problem was, if I "Phillyman" was not grabbing new releases as they came out....or I missed some.....and then the service went belly up, well I didnt have them to move elsewhere.

Which is why, now all Team Members upload files to my server first, and then every 20 minutes or so, that server kicks a copy up to the seedbox for distribution. This way I can run backups and be absentminded and know I have a 1 to 1 copy here.

Cleaned up this thread, as it is about Magazine Database errors.

I have gone thru the magazine database and changed anything with 2015 from Not Allowed to Missing where applicable. I also ran a quick check of the following...

Magazines that are of Status Missing, but have a Download Link

Magazines that are of Status Preserved, but do not have a Download Link

for the first one I found about 8 magazines where they were marked preserved but I did not find them in the Download Manager, on the flip side I found about 15 magazines that were marked Missing but had a download link in the Download Manager.

After I get done with the Torrents for 2024, am going to go thru the Magazine Database and do error checking on various other parts, tidy it up for this new year. I will post progress here.

all fixed now, something got hung up on the seedbox and it needed a kick in the ass.

4 hours ago, KenMasters said:

Hi Phillyman, I've sent you a PM about this. 

done, and I am now closing that offer now that I am caught up. Thanks to everyone who participated.

5 hours ago, vDaedalus said:

Where might one find said collection? Came here immediately after seeing the kickstarter...

https://www.retromags.com/files/category/99-electronic-gaming-monthly/

Enjoy!

4 hours ago, kitsunebi said:

visiting a website which is nothing but copyright violations.

33 minutes ago, chibialien said:

Fascinating stuff. Something as important as Super Bowl I belongs in the Library of Congress. I guess the legacy of the NFL means very little to the NFL itself, and that's the sad part.

What is 1 million to the NFL? That is like 5 minutes of profit for them. Also isn't the NFL technically classified as a non profit? Which opens a whole other set of questions.

43 minutes ago, TresHombres said:

That makes sense, and in the end, with so many local copies, none of this stuff will really ever be lost. Also, I need to remember we are talking about video game magazines and not life-saving EpiPens here, and calm down a bit, haha.

This convo reminds me of this.....

Tale of the Tape: the NFL’s Copyright Claim to the Only Known Super Bowl I Recording

Quote

On January 15, 1967, over 62,000 spectators filed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Super Bowl I.[1] A further 51 million watched the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs on either the CBS and NBC broadcasts.[2] For the good part of half a century, the events of the game existed only in the memories of those who watched it unfold in real time, as both CBS and NBC taped over their respective copies of the broadcast pursuant to the common industry practices of that time.[3] In 2005, Sports Illustrated included the tape of the first Super Bowl in its list of “25 Lost Treasures,” estimating the potential value of such a recording to be upwards of $1 million.[4]

Soon after Sports Illustrated ran the article, Troy Haupt received a phone call from a childhood friend who inquired as to whether he remembered coming across a box labeled ‘Super Bowl I’ while playing in his attic some decades earlier.[5]Haupt had no recollection of any box, but his mother knew exactly what he was referencing.[6] The box—and more importantly the two reels of film inside—had remained in that same Pennsylvania attic all those years.[7] After they were removed and restored, Haupt discovered that his father had used a quadruplex recorder at his place of work to record the entire CBS broadcast of the game, with the exception of halftime and a portion of the third quarter.[8]

After making the discovery, Haupt took the tape to the most obvious buyer: the NFL.[9] However, instead of acquiescing to the $1 million price tag set by Haupt, the league took a different stance: they made him an offer of $30,000, which has since been rescinded, and threatened him with legal action should he attempt to find an alternative buyer.[10] Essentially, while the league concedes that Haupt owns the tape itself, its position is that the contents of the tape are protected by the NFL’s copyright and thus Haupt is prevented from commercially profiting off of its sale.[11]

While the NFL has thwarted any sale of the tape thus far, some scholars have characterized their position as “bluster” and suggested that it would be untenable if tested in court.[12] Others have asserted that “the law stands with the league.”[13]Critics of the NFL’s legal argument cite the first sale doctrine, an exception to the exclusive right of distribution provided by copyright law that permits the owner of any lawfully made copy to sell or otherwise dispose of that particular copy.[14] The applicability of this doctrine hinges on whether the copy made by Haupt’s father would be deemed “lawfully made” within the meaning of the statute.[15] Typically, the exception is applied with regard to legal copies that were purchased, the rationale being that the rightful owner of that particular copy is entitled to do with it whatever he or she pleases.[16] There is little indication that the doctrine would extend to an unauthorized reproduction, such as the one made by Haupt’s father. However, the determination may be further complicated by the fact that Congress did not explicitly extend copyright protections to live broadcasts of sporting events until 1976.[17]

 Although the strength of the NFL’s legal position is unclear, two filmmakers in Utah are determined to test it.[18] The pair plan to produce a documentary on the tape, with the eventual goal of purchasing it from Haupt and releasing it to the public.[19] The two have budgeted $100,000 for potential legal fees to fight off a challenge from the league.[20]

https://www.kentuckylawjournal.org/blog/tale-of-the-tape-the-nfls-copyright-claim-to-the-only-known-super-bowl-i-recording

1 minute ago, TresHombres said:

I think I see what you mean. Since these are free to download, it is kind of like when people uploaded these mags to Internet Archive. It is hard for RM, even the actual scanners, to say hey don't do that, because the rights aren't held here, and it was by the grace of these magazine companies to not send C&D legal threats to RM. So to say "Hey don't use these scans for monetary gain" is hard, because whoever owns the right to EGM would have that final say so. So if they saw original scans, it is like hey we didn't yell at RetroMags to take these down, so we feel ok utilizing them for our own project.

I guess looking at it from that perspective -- what EGM would gain from using the scans was already paid in the past by not requesting RM to take the mags down, which they easily could have.

I do hope though that they credit the scanners. I think that's a reasonable middle ground.

I also want to apologize for assuming the compensation; a tiny amount of the people attached to this project (John Riggs for example) are very  slippery folks so I thought oh no, not Philly too, haha.

It is a two edged sword. Retromags can ask that people do not resell our scans, or provide them as though they did the work. But in the end, once downloaded our files are unencrypted, no DRM, etc....we have no control.

But on the same token, the EGM collection is out there. You guys are seeding those torrents. If I am asked to no longer provide EGM, the torrents lose 1 seeder for each torrent, its not like they would stop working.

1 minute ago, TresHombres said:

Ok, since you did not answer my main question, it is obvious that they are using the existing RetroMags scans. Will you be financially or otherwise compensated for giving them these scans? 

To be honest, I am not sure one way or another. I do not know if any of our scans are actually being used. But I can assure you I am not getting any funds from the Kickstarter.

Here is the thing, in a perfect world, Retromags should not need to exist at all. Publishers should grant access to their past collections of magazines. Unfortunately we know that unless there is a big $$$ behind doing so, that it wont happen.

1 hour ago, TresHombres said:

I feel very conflicted about this. I think about the amount of time, money, and effort the scanners and editors here have put into archiving magazines here on RetroMags without any compensation. 

Phillyman, can you please clarify if they are using RetroMags scans for this project? If they are, and the original scanners are not being compensated, I do not feel comfortable supporting this endeavor. Even if the scanners themselves are ok with not being compensated, I would obviously respect their decision, but for me personally I still feel it is crummy. 

Also, can we get clarification if this means you foresee taking EGM off of here, and if so, if in the future if someone does a GamePro Kickstarter will it mean removing GamePro from here too, and so on...

Addendum: I wanted to add something based on what Kit said up above here. I agree with what Kit said and want to add  to this -- so we take down all the EGMs here. They put out the PDFs. And the PDFs aren't as high quality as the scans here. So now in order for a future fella to read EGM, he has to pay for inferior versions of what was previously freely available in better versions? 

Addendum 2: 

" It's the first preservation effort of its kind for any video game magazine."
 

What I can say at this moment is Retromags has not officially been asked to take down the EGM/EGM2 collection. Until we get that email from EGM, the EGM collection will be up. And just to clear any confusion they are aware of our project.

Everyone is so helpful, but I can't help but ask. Why @seldan700 do you need a high resolution scan of this particular advertisement. Are you the guy standing on that GameCube in the ad?

No, we only host scans that are created by members here. IA is our unofficial mirror, we are not theirs

So my thought process is an easier way to see progress. Right now if you want to know which magazines Retromags has fully preserved, you will need to go into the Magazine Database, drop into the USA section and then go into each category one by one and look for this at the top.

Which is totally doable, but what if you just want to know what Retromags has completely preserved thus far? Well if all the information is dropped out then its simple to sort.....

Wow look at that, Retromags has completely preserved 51 publications so far. I didn't even know it was that many. What about publications that are on the cusp of being fully preserved?

Well from the above data, it looks like if we scan 29 more magazines that are "Missing" and 15 magazines that need a "Rescan Needed", that we could add another 23 completed publications to the Retromags Download Manager.

I am just coming at this from the point of, more information can probably excite users to helping us track down and complete out areas we need help on. 

I threw this together with Copilot and a data dump from the Magazine Database section. I kept it simple and just pulled out the USA stuff for this first round. Would having something like this that is dynamically generated here at Retromags be of any benefit?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11wE6UuAGROH7onWOjb38ch9m6SIVQYVasy-HMa8PI7s/edit?usp=sharing

magazines-summary.csv

16 hours ago, unbanned said:

I'm going to have to make a video for @kitsunebion youtube when I get home tomorrow. Guys like this incense me. I've been online since 1995 and a pirate since even before that, and yet for several years, all of these newbies to the internet have tried LYING to me telling me it costs money to SHARE FILES ON THE INTERNET.

 

IT DOESN'T.

SHARING FILES ONLINE IS FREE. $0. I will prove it in a youtube video since I already know this @kitsunebi will never take a voice interview with me. When I prove it, he's going to either try to have me banned from retromags or youtube because guys like this just want your money - they will never tell you the truth.

 

-nirv

OGM, OOPA and Retromags and any other site that scans magazines COULD host all the files for FREE. He is right on that point. We at Retromags have been approached many times by IA to host our content over there. However this misses a point that IF IA was our hosting provider, that we are no longer in control of said downloads. Those missing scans that kicked off this thread, they would be gone regardless.

Also IA is not some free website, OGM asking for $20 to sign up and making it mandatory is because they are not IA with deep pockets and millions of dollars in donations rolling in each year. Now I am not going to invest a ton of time into this, but a quick dirty search looks like $30 million dollars?

On comparison Retromags takes about $2000 give or take to run per year. But again, you cant act like if we just dump up to IA that someone, somewhere is not funding those files being available. Retromags trusted Rapidshare and we watched them get shut down, Retromags trusted MegaUpload and we watched them get shut down. IA is in a legal battle over book lending, who knows what will shake out of that, do we want to trust them? I feel better being in control of our content.

Now Nirv also mentions hosting via home internet. This is something beyond most people. Most people have a home internet thru Comcast, Verizon or Cox in the USA. All these RESIDENTIAL ISPs usually have terms of service and will shut down your home internet in the blink of an eye if you try to start sharing terabytes of data. Lets look at what Retromags does in a month....

As you can see we fluctuate, but we are about 500GB per day on average. Some days is more some is less, and when we get mentioned somewhere it spikes. If you do this on your home internet and that is the only "good" provider in your area and you get banned for filesharing.....well I am not about to do that and I don't think you should either!

But Hey Nirv, if you want to mirror the Retromags collection, be my guest. We will touch on this in a bit.

Also Nirv is really downplaying the admin work, yes you can stand up Proxmox on an old Intel NUC or some old Dell PowerEdge server you got off Facebook for $100. But how many of us know or want to sit there and invest 50-100 hours learning how to set up Proxmox as a Hyper-V, buying 20TB hard drives ($300 or so last I checked), oh and you need multiple drives because if they die and you had everything on 1 hard drive, you are up a creek without a paddle. Then you have to learn how to stand up Ubuntu Server, how to patch it, how to secure it, and then whatever that program is that runs on Ubuntu Server to share files.

Nirv should really do a Youtube tutorial showing us how to set all this up from scratch. Think Nirv you could inspire dozens, maybe even hundreds of new magazine scanning sites! Teach us!!!!

And all of this, still ignores the "running of the project". Sure you can just come to Retromags and download all our Torrents, and you can then go over to OGM and snag all their stuff, and you can drag it into a folder and tada, your done.

But are you, now you are on the hook to keep going to all these websites, and there are about 15 of us out there. You need to grab anything new, upload it, convey that to the end users somehow. Should they download the Retromags copy of EGM Issue 34, or the OGM version...etc.

Retromags is more than just a file host of a few thousand magazines, I am surprised that Nirv has been around this site for soo many years but still misses the point. We are actively preserving stuff that has not been preserved before! We are closing out full runs of magazines!

To that point and let me make it super clear. Retromags is trying to preserve all the USA Gaming magazines! It will take MUCH longer to get to that goal if people do not know where to go to help out. So when people on the internet say ....

Oh cool, look IA preserved all the Nintendo Powers!

No, no they did not. All IA did was sit back and wait for one of there members to come here and snatch and reupload.

We want people to know where the scans originated from, because if someone sees 90% of a magazine run completed and they don't know we are the ones doing it, its not like IA or Nirv's solution will help them accomplish getting the other 10% of that magazine preserved.

Each magazine scanning site has different rules, and each of our sites probably looks at the other sites rules as silly. If OGM wants to require an account and $20 to access the files, that is on them. Retromags no longer requires donations to download or to download "unlimited" magazines. You can be banned and still come to Retromags as a guest and download magazines. We have been unlimited downloads for all since I think 2020?

But I am not going to have members at Retromags, using this site as a launching pad to try to attack another scan site. If you don't like OGM's required membership or $20 fee, that is well within your right. You can take it to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Yelp if you want to go public with your anger. Or here is a better thought, create an account over there and complain directly on that site!

But do not, bring it here! Don't come to Retromags to bad mouth other scanning sites. That is what Twitter is for, go launch attacks over there as I won't have it here.

I also love how Nirv glosses over how Retromags is not paywalled, and we dont even require a membership, hell like 90% of our stuff is on Torrents, how he tangled us up in this is beyond me, its like he thinks Retromags runs all the other scanning sites as well.

Nirv, you have my blessing, grab all our torrents and seed them for eternity, and if you ever get a DMCA to your home ISP, I want to see you ignore it (because if $30 million dollar IA pulls down stuff when asked, I don't believe you would be any different)

On 8/9/2024 at 2:02 PM, kitsunebi said:

I'm pretty sure he was being facetious.

What have I told you about using 32 point scrabble words on Retromags! I don't have time to be Googling these words dammit!

Bumping the topic, I have released all 260 files in the Download Manager!

https://www.retromags.com/files/category/486-game-informer/