Entering your EV Nova registration code is still possible

In a nutshell: if you have a registration key for EV Nova and still know the moment when Ambrosia sent you this key (within an accuracy of a few days), you can still register new installs of the game if you set your computer's clock to a time just after that moment. You only need to do this for the registration, after that you can set your clock back to normal. It may be necessary to disconnect all networks to disable additional attempts of the registration app to check the time.

However, given that Ambrosia is now defunct and getting the game to run properly nowadays is a hassle, a better option is to just back the Cosmic Frontier Kickstarter campaign, and wait for the game to be finished. I'm pretty sure there will be a way to load the EVN scenario into this new game engine.

The long story:

Escape Velocity Nova, or EV Nova in short, was one of the most iconic games from the now defunct Ambrosia Software. Their website is still online at the time of this writing but buying anything would be a bad idea because their registration service is dead. Not that you would want to buy much of their catalogue because most of it is too outdated to run on modern systems.

Recently the GPU in my early 2011 MacBook Pro had self-destructed and I decided to buy a new MacBook Pro. While waiting for it to arrive, I could still use my old MBP by forcibly disabling the discrete GPU. Of course this meant I couldn't play any games needing the GPU, hence I started playing EV Nova again. Everything was fine until I finally got my new MacBook Pro and wanted to continue the storyline I was in. Two problems:

1. EV Nova simply does not work anymore in OS X Mojave. It seems some are able to run it, but for me neither copying the binary from my old MBP to the new one, nor reinstalling it and re-applying the RyuKorijo patch helped.
2. Entering my registration code in any newly installed copies was impossible because the code has expired and there is no way to obtain a new one, moreover Ambrosia's licensing server is dead anyway.

Problem 2 proved relatively easy to solve. The registration system will accept codes if they are not older than a certain number of days. This means you can still register the game if you turn back your computer's clock to e.g. 1 day after the buying date. Not sure how many days of margin one gets, but luckily I keep all my mails (and I really mean all) so I knew exactly when I had been issued my old registration code and I set the clock to 1 day after. Normally the game also does an online check of the code but that can of course be easily sabotaged by disconnecting all networks. With the Ambrosia servers offline however, even that is now unnecessary. Still, when trying it in Mac OS 9, the app seemed to somehow check the time online so I had to disconnect the network after all.

I still haven't solved problem 1 however. Others have managed to get EVN running in OS X Mojave but for some reason it keeps failing on my system. I have opened a new issue on the RyuKorijo GitHub in the hopes of getting some help. Given that there are rumours 32-bit application support will be entirely dropped in one of the upcoming major OS X updates though, trying to keep EVN running in OS X feels like a futile exercise anyway. I've tried running the game on two different platforms instead.

First in SheepShaver, because that would be the most convenient. I got the game to launch but the menu buttons lack their labels and do not work. Luckily the functions of the buttons can also be accessed by pressing certain keys: N for new pilot, O to open one, E to enter the game, P for preferences, Q to quit, and A for about (there's also an easter egg key by the way). There are some other minor problems like EVN sometimes crashing at startup and the target cursor not being visible which makes it difficult to select planets or ships. A plus however is that pilot files are interchangeable with the OS X version.

Next, in Windows 10 under Boot camp. Slightly annoying but I reboot for other games anyhow. I used all the tweaks found here and the game works, but it is only really playable in windowed mode. In full-screen the graphics are extremely jittery. I had to use these values in the resolution patcher to get the window take up almost the entire screen of my 15" MacBook Pro: 1600, 992, 1600, 800, 1280 (only the first two matter probably). A big drawback is that I can't port any pilot files from the Mac to the Windows version and there are some things off about the Windows version, like sound quality, readability of text, and the graphics are still jittery at times. And obviously it feels wrong to have to resort to Windows in order to play one of the most iconic Mac games!

In the end I prefer SheepShaver in spite of the issues it has, and I now play EVN inside it because the game just feels much smoother than in Windows and I can continue with my existing pilots. If the remaining issues in SheepShaver can be solved, I think it will end up the best long-term solution to keep playing EVN.

Update 2020/05: Cosmic Frontier: Override

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to remake the Escape Velocity: Override game engine for modern operating systems. Although it isn't clear yet whether it will be possible to run the EV Nova scenario in this engine, playing the previous EV instalments with improved graphics and UI will become considerably easier. The kickstarter ends on Tue, May 26 2020 7:23 PM UTC, so head over to the campaign page and contribute if you want this to succeed!