Starforce revisited.

So I figured I'd get the Heroes of Might and Magic V Beta (read: Multiplayer test) since I've been a fan of the series since it was called "Kings Ransom" on the Amiga.

Ofcourse the geniuses over at Ubi decided they needed to protect the game, with Starforce. Why would you want to 'protect' something you're giving away for free? I remember the LEGO: Starwars *demo* had similar rediculous protection schemes.

What the hell is wrong with these people?!? I used to think Ubi was a kinda cool company, because they released all the cool games (Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia), but this overzealous obsession with copyprotection has gone way to far. I'm done buying Ubi games, I don't care if they do make the next Bejewled.

They're probably crying over lost income right now, Flame.

I agree
I was going to buy King Kong until it held my DVD writer for ransom....

I was going to buy King Kong too, until I reaslised it was utter sheeite.

That too. :P

Silent Hunter III is doing the same sorta thing to my combo dvd/cd writing capabilites...

... but i liked the game so much, i play it, then run the starforce removal tool so i can use the drive...

i've gotta do this everytime i play it though since it reinstalls the starforce demon everytime it runs...

i think i'll also pass on any more starforce protected games in the future as well...

--Mike

These companies need a sharp Starforce'd up their backsides.

I also think twice before buying a starforce protected game. I have 2 currently and they are both a pain in the ass. Another 3 games I was considering buying have it, I chose not to purchase them as a consequence.

I hope oblivion doesn't use it, as thats a game I'm really looking forward too.

I read on another site how hackers rip out the starforce proctection and distribute the 'clean' game to groups etc..

Ironically, only legitimate buyers of the original game have the potentional to fall foul of this 'copy protection' and thus risk destroying their PC setup.

Not to take sides with the hacker but you can see why people are tempted to get hold of ripped games rather than put up with all this nonsense which gets blindly installed.

I'm with you on oblivion Evak. I've not bought x3 because of starforce. If it weren't for that I would have bought it long ago.

As with all kinds of protection, it only keeps the good guys out.

The only game I'm really looking forward to is Spore, but since that's Will Wright/Maxis/EA I think I will be OK =] EA don't seem to use Starforce. Only the lesser companies...


Later version of Starforce support encryption of all data files - so if a game gets cracked simply with protection removed it can no longer read any files. I suppose it is easier/safer to bundle a demo using the same encrypted files than to ... not. And it gives you a bloody good idea of what game you are not about to buy in the future!


And blaming it on pirates.

Codemasters forums has a thread with 5 pages full of angry people voicing their opinion against Starforce. Codemasters official response is 'Starforce is causing a stir because it is working and pirates can no longer use our stuff'. Of course, neither can their customers, but Codemasters don't need to worry about them because they've already paid their money.


Not any more. Case in point : Worms 4. A 3meg executable with a ---16---meg dll for the protection. No cracker is going to go through that. As a consequence, Worms 4 is only playable with a perfect 1:1 iso, daemon tools and your ide optical drives unplugged.

I almost always install "fixed-exes" when I buy games so that I can run it off the harddrive and don't worry about switching cd's.
That is so 90's.
I remember playing Baldur's Gate on 5-6cd's or what it came on. It was a real pain switching all those plates.

I remember doing a full install once, the amount of times it asks you to swap back to a CD previously already used in the installation, just to install more game data from said CD to the HD from is ridiculous.....

As for the copyright protection, I pretty much just do what AshMantle does, grab a dummy image, or a fixed exe. I cant be bothered to have to look around for CDs to insert just to play a game that uses CD for verification scheme, then not doesn't even use it for the entirety of said game.

I am also one of them guys against the use of StarForce protection, thankfully for me it hasn't affected my DVD/CD-R Combo drive at the least, but man have I heard alot of horror stories from reliable sources regarding it...

I wish they would be more like console games. My old 40GB 2nd HD died this week, and I got all worried about losing a bunch of stuff. It was half full. Turned out that I had installed 4 games on there which had taken up the best part of 20gb!!!!. A little less than 4 DVD's. I'd like to see PC games install more like Xbox games.

Well that would be an excellent arguement, if it wasn't total bull@#!*. Starforce is no more or no less effective at preventing piracy, than any of the other obscure, draconian methods publishers have used over the last 2 decades.

well... it WAS. Not as much now though.

The first "fixes" for the screwed up starfarce had people unplugging their optical drives and running different types of cd faking software to get a game to work. I haven't looked since then but I've heard that it's gotten easier.

Who's got the Starforce drivers on their system but does not realise it?
Find out by following these instructions:

1) Right-Click 'My Computer' and choose Properties
2) Now click [Hardware] tab then [Device Manager]
3) Under Device Manager select (Menu) View > Show hidden devices
4) Open up [+] Non-Plug and Play Drivers

That's where you'll see a list of Starforce drivers ...

So again, not effective at preventing software piracy. As long as people are willing to go to such extremes to use illegal software (never mind the honest buyer who just happens to have a PC configuration that starforce disagrees with) there's no way to prevent it.

But that still leaves the question unanswered about why Ubi and LEGO seem so intent on using copy protection on a freely distributable game. Doesn't that go against the whole idea of having freely distributable software in the first place? Why on earth would you want such a game to be protected from copying?!?

I used to. I had to remove them to get Civilization IV (which is SafeDisc protected if memory serves) to work. I think it's brilliant how one copy protection scheme will determine that a competeing copy protection scheme is a circumvention device. And ofcourse only honest buyers have to worry about that, as all the h4xx0rz have protection-less games. Sigh.

The only game I have any major time for these days on PC is Spheres of Chaos. Everything else just seems like a graphical demo, no real gameplay involved.

How many new PC games have a highscore facility?

Civilization IV.

Are these 'starforce protected' games warning you that they are about to install the drivers?

I got mine by installing the Trackmania demos. I only got this sort of warning AFTER installing the game:

'Starforce installed. You need to reboot!"

At first I thought a virus had sneaked it's way in.
I posted on their forum asking what the heck Starforce is and why was I not informed it was going to be installed.
They replied to the effect of, "Don't worry, its harmless and protects our game and by the way, did you read the EULA? blah"

Naturally I told them I will not be purchasing any of their products.

The thing is, they could at least warn us first and suggest creating a system restore point just in case.

Soon, getting warez versioned of games/utils will not only be cheaper but also the superior version of the product.
I can't help feeling that time could be better spent elsewhere.

That's probably the biggest problem. Think of all the money game developers spend on copyprotection. One has to wonder if all that money spent outwieghs any real or percieved loss in sales?

Someone needs to do a cost-benefit analysis of this, and not someone like ESA or ELSPA. Does the use of copy protection software, provide such a large boost in sales that developers can make up the cost of copy protection? I seriously doubt it.

Maybe the free starforced game demos upgrade the existing drivers negating older versions of the cracks?

Must have been something to do with your local region's product, as the standard English/US version didn't do anything of the sort. Odd though. I guess other languages were rushed...


Except for Worms 4. =] (I don't consider unplugging my optical drives a practical solution - using software that tells the OS to pretend that the drives are no longer there is another story, but that doesn't work on this particular game either)


It isn't. Read my post above.


You did ;] I agree with you totally - StarForce is NEVER mentioned in any game installers, covers or EULAs BY NAME. The only time you know you've got it is when it is too late. It doesn't even provide a Remove option in Add/Remove Programs. I fully don't understand why it isn't considered malware by antiad/spyware programs.


Nope. If a game is cracked properly, all references to Starforce are removed/bypassed, there is no way a new Starforce version can recognise that, unless it specifically keeps a list of filenames, filesizes, md3s and a directory scanner.

You know, I wouldn't be surprised if it does.

Then get/make a molex power connector switch, and use that instead. You can mount the switch externally.

I did. But the Starforce kernel drivers are not nessecary for encryption.

And that requires work. No, actually, the best solution I've seen is to get an IDE-->SCSI board and get those drives recognised as SCSI.


Being that they are the Starforce kernel I would assume it is fairly deeply integrated.