Starforce3..RIP?

[t.foster73]

No doubt you've all heard of the Windows Media Player 9 trick which you can use to play Starforce3 games (Read about it at CD FREAKS). I FINALLY get to play my Trackmania (ORIGINAL) for the first time. YEAH!

The thing is, is this simply one security hole that will be covered up in future releases, or a basic flaw at the heart of Starforce. And does this mean viable NOCD cracks are any nearer?

[Radeon]

Pls explain the solution !

[t.foster73]

Opening WMP9 just before you start the Starforce game messes up the protection system, and allows the game to run. Don't ask me how it works. Probably Tippex is the man to ask. If you go to this site:

http://www.cdsteam.net/modules/news/

Lots of details. Just use ALTAVISTA Translator to convert from Spanish.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Dodgy translation, but you can just about get the gist of it.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?threadid=92535

I thought this guy was having a laugh, or it was some sort of April Fools joke, but no, it works! I'm not saying it's a solution, more of a workaround, but it clearly shows up weak points in the Starforce3 protection. The problem with having an advanced protection system, is that hackers are even more attracted to it. There are now hundreds of guys on the crack sites working to break this protection. It may mean an EXE which has to scan ALL the installed game code, but I'll bet the solution is not too far away.

[ash2dust2]

Originally posted by t.foster73
Opening WMP9 just before you start the Starforce game messes up the protection system, and allows the game to run.

LOL, Microsoft and its infinite Security holes and flaws had undermined a multimillion dollar industry again.

[cdkiller]

Starforce.3.GENERIC.CRACK-MiCROSOFT ;)

it will be prolly fixed in the next sf 3 version.

[KAMiKAZE]

I tried to launch singles v1.2 and no sucess, but I don't mind that there is a security hole in starforce, because lots of other people say that the "trick" with wmp9 works. maybe singles v1.2 has an updated version of sf3 and it is already fixed:confused:

[Radeon]

Hi,

i tried these games:

Breed 1.0 - works
Kill.switch 1.0 - doesn't work
Black Mirror 1.0 - doesn't work

I think that the MP9 trick works only with the first SF3 versions !

[V_LESTAT]

new breed patch it dont work, at least not form me.

the "detecting cdrom" window opens, and then says it cant find it.

over and over and over, so,,,

hell they got a no cd for ver1 but im looking high and low for a no cd for the new version of breed but damn it must be a tuff one to crack, patch been out for a few days, and no one cracked it yet.

[Luciel]

well since its st3 u should wait like a new game (2 weeks) maybe then :)

[V_LESTAT]

yeah i aint worried about it but seems like GCW aint been updated recently so didnt know if i was missing anything.


ya know i dont know why people over at the breed forums are whining like bitches bout how sucky the game is, i think its a flippin blast and graphically its great.

[Morglum007]

Well, as said before, this is not a real solution. Just a workaround for SF.
And yeah, this works with almost every SF game title, but not with latest (Kill switch, Afrika korps...)

Uhh,, some more, that web page (which i'm admin) is out of order right now. Maybe tomorrow will be up again.

Good luck!

[Luci]

i'll be damned.it worked.
i tried it with MP8 so same thing
afrika corps is playing.(version 1.0)
so the job is done like this(for those you are bored to read the article)

1.unplaggue all ide devices(cd roms)

2.start windows media player

3.load the image to your virtual drive(created by alcohol daemon tools etc)

4.play the game

i instaled the game from an image so it works fine installing from a copy

[V_LESTAT]

since you unplug all your cdroms/dvdroms,, do you still have to use the media player trick ?

or since your virtual drive is now the only ide cd or dvd, then starforce is FORCED to believe that the virtual drive and mounted image is real ?

[Luciel]

do u actually HAVE to unplug the drives phisicly or would it be enough to disable then from the hardware manager?

[V_LESTAT]

good point

hell might be a whole lot easier just to go to radio shack and buy a switch so you can flip the switch and it kills the power to the cd or dvd instantly, and windows will detect its gone.

basically turns it into a hot plug cd/dvd

hhmm if this is the future of starforce and other protections, i might do it and give it a try.

[gh0sth@cker]

Originally posted by Luciel
do u actually HAVE to unplug the drives phisicly or would it be enough to disable then from the hardware manager?
They need to be physically unplugged

Note, that unplugging the drives and doing the WMP9 trick are two different workarounds.

[Luciel]

well i mean if u disabled them in the hdd manager technicly is as if they didnt exist so i dunno why should it make a diff

[guod]

i'll be damned.it worked.
i tried it with MP8 so same thing
afrika corps is playing.(version 1.0)
so the job is done like this(for those you are bored to read the article)

1.unplaggue all ide devices(cd roms)

2.start windows media player

3.load the image to your virtual drive(created by alcohol daemon tools etc)

4.play the game

i instaled the game from an image so it works fine installing from a copy


nonsense

@Luci:
unplugging all IDE Cd-roms is sufficient for a mounted SF3 backup to work.

The WMP trick is an attempt at REMOVING THAT ANNOYING REQUIREMENT.

If you remove all ide drives, then you don't need the wmp trick at-all.

The idea is NOT having to unplug IDE cdroms to run a backup.

--
@Luciel:
Disabling is not enough. No ide cdroms should be detected by windows at boot-time. Therefore, they need to be physically unplugged.

Although I haven't verified this, I don't think that disabling is "as if they didn't exist", since you can most likely re-enable them with a few-clicks. So information about these drives is still present 'somewhere' that SF knows about.

[gh0sth@cker]

Originally posted by Luciel
well i mean if u disabled them in the hdd manager technicly is as if they didnt exist so i dunno why should it make a diff

Disabling the drives in device manager etc doesn't work. They need to be physically unplugged.
I'm not technically knowledgable on this topic but I believe sf3 uses it's own interface to access the optical drives

[Luciel]

fair enough in any case i dont think its worth the struggle, by the way is painkiller sf3?

[t.foster73]

No, securom, thank god.

[cdkiller]

by the way is painkiller sf3?
painkiller is safedisc 3.20.022 within a dll

[Luciel]

good good, cos i just bought a copy and dont fancy going through all that strugge :D

[Luci]

well i tried to play a game using the unplaggue technique but didn't play..it still sais the cd needs verify.i tried it with breed.but you might be right cause neither with MP8 breed played.another user said that it worked...not to me

oh and i said i have MP8 not 9.maybe that's why bred wasn't playing...dunno man

[Morglum007]

For spanish version, Kill switch is Starforce 3.

And about that trick, we must test a lot yet.

Good luck!

[Radeon]

kill.switch *german*
The Black Mirror *german*

These games don't work with both methods

[mehlwurm]

Yepp, Black Mirror german dont work with this!!!

Thats Starforce3 f...!!!!

Think must wait for gamefix!!!!


mehlwurm.

[Radeon]

There's only a working crack for the english und french version of Black Mirror
^^

[mehlwurm]

Yes, functions, however you have then no German acoustic output more with the discussions and the sub-titles are in English!!!
No large fun to play!!!
There I must probably still wait!!!
Unfortunate, the Adventure makes a good impression!!
Times which other one than Battlefield or unreal Tournament!!

thanks!!! greeting, mehlwurm.

sorry for my english.

[Luciel]

English please! (read rules)

[GLH]

Hello mehlwurm !

It seems you didn't read the board rules.
This is an ENGLISH-ONLY forum.

Please edit your post, before the thread get closed by a moderator!


EDIT: Luciel was faster than me...

[mwitters]

Originally posted by V_LESTAT
yeah i aint worried about it but seems like GCW aint been updated recently so didnt know if i was missing anything.


ya know i dont know why people over at the breed forums are whining like bitches bout how sucky the game is, i think its a flippin blast and graphically its great.

well, i think the game sucks so far, I've only played it a little but... mp has like no one playing!