View Full Version : Starforce Petition!
There seems to be some strong (maybe even heated) discussions happening through these forums regarding the Starforce protection.
Which brings me to start this thread. I would hope that only a simple comment is needed here: "Yes, I am boycotting Starforce games". That is really all that needs to be said! There is no point in congesting this thread with arguments, its not what I would like to see happen here! There is no need to say anything else! If people are serious then leave a short message here.
I would also hope that if this thread gains enough support then it could maybe become a future 'Sticky'? After a few weeks or months we will know if this is worth persueing.
Its not that I am supporting Warez or Piracy, I just dont agree with Software being installed onto my system without my approval!
Come on all, place your support post here. If you dont agree with what I am saying then simply do not post here! A post here is a post counted. ;)
Thankyou for your post/vote.
Ok, a big thankyou to Morglum from cdsteam (http://www.cdsteam.net/modules/news/) who has been kind enough to let me use his original Starforce Protected Games List (http://www.cdsteam.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=199&forum=10&PHPSESSID=a09cb2c37b0f844d38f7c697f3535027). It was originally a Spanish only list! Feel free to let me know of any other Starforce games which are not on the list? I will edit the list to keep it up to date.
NOTE: List was updated on 21-6-05 from the list supplied by 'thebluegr'. Nice work 'thebluegr'. ;) An Updated list can be found HERE (http://fileforums.com/showpost.php?p=299834&postcount=205).
'thebluegr' has also supplied some interesting reading which can be found here (http://fileforums.com/showpost.php?p=283858&postcount=125) in Post #125 of this thread. ;)
Starforce Protected Games
- 1944 Battle of the Bulge
- 7 Sins [3.4.71.19]
- Ace Saga
- Afrika Korps VS Desert Rats [v3.3.31.21]
- American Conquest (Russian)
- Anstoss 4
- Area 51
- Army Men (Russian)
- Asterix & Obelix XXL
- Beyond Divinity
- Blitzkrieg Rolling Thunder [v3.4.50.1]
- Breed
- Chaos League
- Club Football 2005
- Codename: Panzers Phase One (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.2]
- Codename: Panzers Phase Two
- Codename: Outbreak [12-10-2001]
- Colin McRae Rally 2005 (DVD) [v3.4.49.1]
- Cossacks: Back to War (Russian)
- Cossacks: European Wars (Russian)
- Cossacks II Napoleonic Wars (2 CDs) [v3.4.65.11]
- Counter Terrorist SF Fire for Effect (DVD) [v3.4.71.19]
- Creature Conflict The Clan Wars
- Cross Racing Championship
- Cycling Manager 3
- Cycling Manager 4 [v3.3.36.1]
- D Day (2 CDs) [v3.4.41.1]
- Dead to Rights (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.26]
- Demonic Speedway (Poland)
- Domination
- Etherlords
- Etherlords 2 (2 CDs) [v3.3.31.21]
- Fair Strike (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.3]
- Fire Department
- Fire Department 2
- Gadget and the Gadgetinis
- Gangland [v3.3.36.1]
- Garfield
- Gooka – The Mystery of Janatris
- GTR FIA GT Racing game (2 CDs) [v3.4.70.2]
- HOMM 4 (Russian)
- Horse Race Manager
- Icewind Dale 2: Heart of Winter
- IL-2 Sturmovik (Russian)
- I-Ninja
- Kill Switch (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.8]
- Korea Forgotten Conflict [v3.3.27.36]
- LMA Manager 2005
- Magna Carte (Korean)
- Magnamedia (Russian)
- Maximus XV: Abraham Strong Space Mercenary
- Medieval Lords
- Might & Magic 9: Writ of Faith (Russian)
- Narsillion (Russian)
- Obscure (1 DVD) [v3.3.36.1]
- Pac Man World 2 [v3.3.30.11]
- Pax Romana [v3.3.30.11] (no information available)
- League Manager 2005[v3.4.50.1] (Spanish)
- Postal 2 Apocalypse Weekend
- Pro Rugby Manager 2
- Psi Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy
- Psychotoxic
- Rally Championship Xtreme
- Real Madrid Club Soccer (DVD) [v3.4.50.1] (Spanish)
- Rendezvous 3 (Russian)
- Restricted Area
- Scrapland (2 CDs) [v3.4.50.1]
- Second Sight
- Seventh Seal (Asian)
- Shade Wrath of Angels [v3.4.53.0]
- Shtyrlits 3: USSR Agent (Russian)
- Siege of Avalon (Russian)
- Silent Hunter III [v3.4.71.19]
- Silkolene Honda Motocross GP
- Singles [v3.3.33.6]
- Singles 2
- Sniper (Poland)
- Soldiers Heroes of WWII [v3.3.36.1]
- Splinter Cell Chaos Theory [v3.4.71.19]
- Still Life
- Street Racing Syndicate
- Sudeki
- SuperPower 2
- Tennis Masters Series: Battleground of Champions (Asian)
- The Black Mirror (2 CDs) [v3.3.27.36]
- The Fall Last days of Gaia (2 CDs) [v3.4.63.3]
- The Heroes of Three Kingdoms (Asian)
- The I Of The Dragon (Russian)
- The Kreed [v3.3.27.36]
- The Moment of Silence
- The Suffering (2 CDs) [v3.3.37.2]
- Toca Race Driver 2 (1 DVD) [v3.3.35.2]
- Trackmania
- Trackmania Sunrise
- UFO Aftermath ( 2 CDs) [v3.3.27.31]
- Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun [v3.3.30.5] (no information available)
- Virtual Skipper 3
- War and Peace
- Will of Steel
- WWII Frontline Command [v3.3.0.26]
- Xpand Rally [v3.3.x.x]
- Xuan-Yuan Sword 4 (Asian) (no information available)
Changes
=======
- Juana De Arco [v3.3.36.1] ----> Joan D'Arc, protected by SecuROM New / CD-Checks
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/game...an_of_arc.shtml
- The Entente [v3.3.37.26] ----> protected by CD-Checks
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/game...e_entente.shtml
- The Black Mirror ----> updated StarForce version, correct is v3.3.35.1
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/game...ck_mirror.shtml
- Updated Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun with the proper English title
http://spacetarget.com/games/pc_victoria.shtml
- Updated some of the unknown games
- added some more games
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Here (http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starforce_interview/) you can read an article about Starforce. It is an interview with Abbie Sommer of StarForce.
She discusses many aspects of the Starforce Protection, what it is, what it does and why it is needed.
Here is just a small portion of that interview:
Question: There's an uproar among segments of the game community that StarForce is installed without user approval. Is this a potential legal concern for your company?
Answer: There is no legal concern because before a user loads a game, he or she has agreed to accept the conditions of the end-user licensing agreement, typically known as a EULA. These are also known as click and go, or click and accept agreements. When you accept, you are saying I will load this game or application at my own risk, and have read and understood the terms. Or there will be a disclaimer that protects the publisher from damages of any kind due to their products’ use. Our product is licensed to our customers, and becomes part of their product, so the user by accepting the terms, is giving approval.
Now here Abbie states "When you accept, you are saying I will load this game or application at my own risk, and have read and understood the terms."
Tell me please people, how many of you, after reading the EULA, actually understood, from those terms, that an intrusive protection was going to be installed onto your system? Do you think her statement only implies to 'The Game' itself? I believe the EULA should tell us about the protection being installed!
If in fact there was nothing to worry about why is this statement included?
"Or there will be a disclaimer that protects the publisher from damages of any kind due to their products’ use"
The word 'Products' should really only say 'Game'! After all that is all we have been made aware of installing, as thats all it says earlier!
To be fair to the gamer this is how I believe that part or the EULA should be written:
"I will load this game and the Protection application at my own risk, and have read and understood the terms."
I still believe it is only a matter of time before this issue finds its way into a court of Law! The wording of documents like the EULA must be written in a way so as not to decieve the consumer! We must be given the opportunity to be 'fully' aware as to what we are actually installing!
Grumpy
Id just like a sticky here with links to the gamelist with SF.
But I hope they do go down the tubes too.....
I buy all my games,and will attempt at my very best to avoid
any SF games,mainly because I use a RAID system on SCSI.
The GTR demo,back last year,gave me a fit I'd care not to explain.....
chaosmaster
17-05-2005, 11:25
I will boycot Starforce too, because i dont like Drivers, which run in the back and i don't know what they do!
Sry for my bad english :o
that`s the reason why i will boycott sf games. and i think that it can`t be that the protection drivers don`t allow to read dpm info from cd`s anymore. that is a feature, which is necessary to make copies of your original discs.
i think that it should be forbidden for the programmers of protections to manipulate installed software or to run a driver like a trojan in the background.
sorry, but my english is also not perfect
i refuse to buy any more starforce protected games :mad:
LoxHazard
17-05-2005, 12:50
I am boycotting Starforce games.
Starforce=Virus
Monty Burns
17-05-2005, 12:55
I have always been boycotting them, since I tried a sf3 game once (it was Black Mirror, I think).....
Many titles slipped me by, but...so did the money for the developer!
time for an anti-virus application :p
I HATE StarForce, I will never buy any SF protected game, even if it is rewarded as 'Game of the century' or whatever.
No starforce for me either.. Never ever... EVER!
Whos_Ur_Paddy?
17-05-2005, 15:12
yes I refuse to buy any starforce game i wont mess up my pc over that Shlt did it once never again DIE STARFORCE DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Game-Hacker
17-05-2005, 16:04
Don't worry guys, Sooner or later D-tools or any emulation tool will find a way to solve this problem as I am sure Starforce is also a great problem to them besides to us.
chaosmaster
17-05-2005, 16:11
And with the new Starforce Version after the new D-Tools release there wont work anything! And the Starforce Virus is still installed on your PC! :mad:
ash2dust2
17-05-2005, 16:31
As with any addiction, I'll buy it if its a must have. But as a rule of thumb, no I wont purchase Starforce protected games.
So far I've only bought one and that was the last one. I had to reformat and the game went on Ebay. But if 9/10 of my buddies are playing the game and the game lasts more than 6 months, then I will try once more. So far that hasnt happen. Most games are a flash and forgotten in a couple months. Oh well, at least I found a way to save some money.
Game-Hacker
17-05-2005, 20:12
And with the new Starforce Version after the new D-Tools release there wont work anything! And the Starforce Virus is still installed on your PC! :mad:
Sorry for my lack of knowedge, you mentioned Starforce Virus? What are those? I have Kasperky anti-virus installed but when installing Stronghold2 I do not get any alert so is after scanning my PC with it? Do you mean StarForce Virus as a real virus?
Xenophon
17-05-2005, 22:45
Sorry for my lack of knowedge, you mentioned Starforce Virus? What are those? I have Kasperky anti-virus installed but when installing Stronghold2 I do not get any alert so is after scanning my PC with it? Do you mean StarForce Virus as a real virus?
Perhaps because U installed a Non Starforce protected game!
Stronhold 2 protection is:Securom 7
@Grumpy.
Excellent my dear Grumpy. This is what we need, someone with a little time to maintain and monitor the thread, I would have done something along the same lines if I had more time on my hands to give it the level of attention that it deserves.
May I make a suggestion? "Yes you may comrade dajunka", thank you.
It would be great if you could maintain a list of games that have had the SF removed such as X2 the threat and all new game releases that are SF free.
This not only gives readers I quick guide to what they may buy without breaking the boycott but also will reflect the mod of the publishers, giving us some insight to if our message is getting though to their bank accounts or not.
Most new releases of late have adopted SF as their chosen protection so any fluctuation in future releases should become obvious.
Keep up the good fight Grumpy and I would like to nominate this thread for a sticky.
chaosmaster
18-05-2005, 05:14
Sorry for my lack of knowedge, you mentioned Starforce Virus? What are those? I have Kasperky anti-virus installed but when installing Stronghold2 I do not get any alert so is after scanning my PC with it? Do you mean StarForce Virus as a real virus?
with virus i mean, that Starforce is software which is installed without my knowledge and which can destroy some hardware in my PC!
The-S-Owl
18-05-2005, 05:15
Great idea, Grumpy :)
I have never bought any Starforce protected game before, and i never will. I have encountered several issues with Starforce protected demo's: after installing such a game demo, my system became unstable... i randomly got Blue Screens Of Death. I uninstalled the SF drivers, and hey, all of a sudden no more BSOD's !
However, almost no protection is 100% "clean": Safedisc, Securom, Tages, VOB ProtectCD and most other commercial copy protections do install 'hidden' drivers:
- Secdrv is a driver installed by Safedisc
- UAService7.exe is a service installed by Securom 7 (i do not know if this protection installs a driver)
- Enodpl/Tandpl/Lemsgt/Hwpsgt are drivers installed by Tages
- SshDrvXX (where XX is a number) is a driver installed by ProtectCD
As you can see, almost all protections install "something" without your knowledge. But there is one big difference: the drivers installed by the protections apart from Starforce seem to be totally harmless. For example, I have never ever heard problems that were directly related to the Safedisc driver.
The Starforce drivers are getting worse each time they are being updated: the latest versions even prevent you from properly reading DPM info from CD/DVD media, which is, in my opinion, a real shame, and illegal !
The SF coders surely know of the current USB drive trick. What will be next ? That the new drivers will prevent you from using a USB CD/DVD drive ? I hope not.
Great idea, Grumpy :)
I have never bought any Starforce protected game before, and i never will. I have encountered several issues with Starforce protected demo's: after installing such a game demo, my system became unstable... i randomly got Blue Screens Of Death. I uninstalled the SF drivers, and hey, all of a sudden no more BSOD's !
However, almost no protection is 100% "clean": Safedisc, Securom, Tages, VOB ProtectCD and most other commercial copy protections do install 'hidden' drivers:
- Secdrv is a driver installed by Safedisc
- UAService7.exe is a service installed by Securom 7 (i do not know if this protection installs a driver)
- Enodpl/Tandpl/Lemgst/Hwpsgt are drivers installed by Tages
- SshDrvXX (where XX is a number) is a driver installed by ProtectCD
As you can see, almost all protections install "something" without your knowledge. But there is one big difference: the drivers installed by the protections apart from Starforce seem to be totally harmless. For example, I have never ever heard problems that were directly related to the Safedisc driver.
The Starforce drivers are getting worse each time they are being updated: the latest versions even prevent you from properly reading DPM info from CD/DVD media, which is, in my opinion, a real shame, and illegal !
The SF coders surely know of the current USB drive trick. What will be next ? That the new drivers will prevent you from using a USB CD/DVD drive ? I hope not.
At last someone who knows what they are talking about for protections.
Im not gonna start a flame in this thread, just saying congrats to this guy for having knowledge of what he is debating about :)
Joe Forster/STA
18-05-2005, 06:26
Hi guys,
As a software developer, I believe that adding suspicious or potentially malicious code to a software hurts the user and voids the trustful connection between the developer and the user. While the developers always disclaim all damage and loss, caused by their own software, they shouldn't add questionable code on purpose.
As a hacker, I believe that using undocumented system functions is a very bad idea (unfortunately, M$ operating systems are known to be extremely ill-documented, except when a third party comes to the rescue!) because their functionality may not be exactly as documented and may change any time, without notice. As a result, you may have strange problems if your PC has "non-standard" hardware or software installed. (Meaning: hardware and software that the code hasn't been tested with.)
As a self-conscious user and administrator of the home PC's of my family, I would hate to have any software running on my systems, without my knowledge. This even includes those sh*t little icons in the system tray, which I carefully get rid of; viruses, ad-ware and other malicious code is much worse than that.
The Starforce copy protection has gone too far in the last year or so. It's becoming too similar to trojans and may have severe consequences to the stability of your system. (And the average user doesn't even know the reason as all copy protections are well hidden, for a reason!)
Whether this thread has any chance to call the attention of game publishers, I don't know. Actually, I don't think so... Still, I'm against intrusive software, be it trojans, ad-ware or copy protection!
Joe
No SF game for me. Never :(
Come on all, place your support post here. If you dont agree with what I am saying then simply do not post here! A post here is a post counted.
Thankyou for your post/vote.
Thanks for you vote Dabhand! ;)
To all others who have posted here already I thank you also. The only reason I am thanking Dabhand personally is because he believes there is nothing wrong with what Starforce does!! But still he posted a vote? :D
Thanks for you vote Dabhand! ;)
To all others who have posted here already I thank you also. The only reason I am thanking Dabhand personally is because he believes there is nothing wrong with what Starforce does!! But still he posted a vote? :D
Grumpy there is a reason why you live in australia :P
@Dabhand
LOL Yes thats because from here I cant poke you in the eye to wake you up!
Ok just incase all of you who have started to follow this thread do not read the first post again, there is now a Starforce Protected Games List in the first post of this thread. ;)
rebelcpu
18-05-2005, 10:37
Thanks Grumpy for the effort. I do hope this gets out to the unlearned customers in the hope the bloody PC gaming industry doesn't sink any lower than it has. Its beyond pathetic now.
However, how do we, the learned consumer, make a change to the PC industry? I gather this is one small step. The madness MUST end!
I cannot begin to express my absolutely disdain for both Securom7 and StarFarce3! Hidden virtual device drivers are simply wrong!!! YOU DON'T NEED TO SELL A GAME AND THEN TAKE THE CUSTOMER'S RIGHTS AWAY! A game sells on merit and doesn't need over-protection. There are better ways to make money then further alienate your customer base with such assinine measures.
I've already said plenty on this matter in other forums across the web and I do pray this "protection idioicy" ends soon.
Also do wish game devs would release NoCD/DVDs upon their first or second patch as a goodwill gesture for thanking us, the paying public, for buying their games. A gaming industry that still requires the CD/DVD to be inserted before and during gameplay is sooo 90s. Gawd industry WAKE FRICK'N UP ! ! ! !
THe ReB.
You have my vote. No SF for me. :cool:
expandyourmind
18-05-2005, 14:35
Thanks for that games list I was wondering why my system developed problems after I installed heroes ww2. I will never ever purchase a product that uses starforce again.
frisk eucalyptus
18-05-2005, 15:55
You can add StillLife (StarForce v3.4.65.11) to the list... :(
IMMANUEL
18-05-2005, 16:20
I don't buy any starforce protected game, never ever. It's crap and one more step to a global fascism, whenever some concerns own the whole world.
But just they will be satan's slaves. :p
Maybe time to stop playing? :D
lol ppl :D
99% here cant emulate the SF and there is no crack to it, so they became angry
relax, okay games you like, forget about drivers - it didnt do any "backdoor" work
http://www.star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=91
@nerva
Unfortunately that link has no date on the page! I have read that before and it could refer to any version of Starforce? I assure you the later versions of Starforce is a whole new ball game!
Of course Starforce are not going to tell you openly about the hidden fuctions of thier protection! :rolleyes:
A Quote from the first paragraph from that site:
Those drivers are necessary for the StarForce specific CD/DVD checking procedure, only. They do not include any hidden functionality. The drivers are active only at execution of the protected application.
If they do not include any hidden functionality and are only active at the execution of the application then why is it then you can now no longer read the dpm info from your other CD's!! So by installing the latest Starforce Protection you will be prevented from performing a function you were able to do before. In my opinion, and I am sure many will agree, that itself is a hidden function! Nowhere do Starforce mention this!
Look many can argue we are only picking up a fuss because we cant rip of games anymore! I am self employed and earn very good dollars, I dont need to steal games! But I do like to be able to walk into a shop and purchase a game which will not cause havoc to my system!
What we are trying to do here is make people aware that all is not what it seems in the Protection industry!
Nerva, you say there is no backdoor function, well clearly none that you know of! ;)
MontyBurns1985
19-05-2005, 08:16
StarForce 3 really sucks hard!
The only StarForce 3 protected game I have is "Splinter Cell 3 - Chaos Theory". It came together with my new Graphics card (Leadtek Winfast A6600 GT TDH).
But I will never buy such a game. This protection is very customer-unfriendly!
MfG MontyBurns1985
whacko_kazaa
19-05-2005, 19:41
Thanx for the list of games protected by SF. Will ensure that I don't download those. Pls. don't mistake me for writing this. I download games and not buy them 'cos, here in India they cost around 1500 bucks. No way someone's gonna pay that and also get their PC INFECTED with SF. So no more SF game downloads. Cheers for starting this topic.
@ Whacko
May I suggest you go and read the forum rules! This site is not to help you choose which games to 'download'!
People like yourself are the reason these type of intrusive protections are released!! Games are expensive in every country, what makes you think it is ok to download games just because you cant afford them!
I cant afford a Rolls Royce car but it doesnt mean I can just steal one! Developers etc work very hard to release games, so you will have to work just as hard to be able to purchase them! You obviously can afford a broadband connection therefore you can afford to buy games!
Enjoy your upcoming ban from this site! :mad:
I don't know! Seeing how much the game industry still makes, even with Piracy, I think the reason we see such protections is more because they can get away with it than anything else. Isn't it grand how the government has no problem helping big business screw over legitimate consumers, but won't do squat to help with our rights when it comes to software?
The whole thing is BS in my opinion. I will practically buy any game I want, but (Except for Kill.Switch and XIII) I will never buy another game with either StarForce or Tages. Funny how both were cracked eventually anyway... :rolleyes:
Sean
I think it goes without saying that I’m for the boycott.
I got to say there's a lot of cool arguments mostly against SF coming from forum members, stuff that I've never really given much thought to before.
One plus to this campaign is that SF is getting discussed more and more on game forums, mostly shouting for it's demise. The minus is that more and more game forums are closing or deleting threads that attempt to discuss SF, shoot, what is there to hide.
Read for more info on the Starforce virus.
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000477025364/
Come on my dear mods nominate this thread to the big man for a sticky badge.
I am not surprised, many forums don't have the balls to stand up and talk about this stuff. Too afraid of getting closed down... :rolleyes:
Monty Burns
20-05-2005, 17:22
Just to make one thing sure: I DO BUY all of my games......And yes, almost every protection has to install "drivers" to function properly. SF really made my system to become unstable......and before any "wise man" comes and says something like "Hey, if sf makes your system unstable, you probably have a problem with your configuration", I have to admit that I am a sysop at a rather large company, and I know how to setup a system.
BTW, I have several systems at home, some of them are pure (fast and reliable) scsi systems. I am afraid I am a SCSI fan......but sf3 developers surely don't like me....
The reason why I don't like sf is NOT tht it is very hard to crack....it is more that sf games totally refuse to run on some of my systems cos I DARE to have hardware equipment, which sf does not like. Even if it thinks that I deserve having a look at the game, sf sometimes screws up my system.....
That's my bottom line.....
I had no problem with Starforce when I bought Kill.Switch, that said, I just don't like the idea of us getting screwed over with protections, that do nothing but inconvenience legit consumers of the software. Tages is the only one that gave me problems and am glad Ubisoft decided to stick with other types since putting it on XIII...
ash2dust2
22-05-2005, 10:15
The reason why I don't like sf is NOT tht it is very hard to crack....it is more that sf games totally refuse to run on some of my systems cos I DARE to have hardware equipment, which sf does not like. Even if it thinks that I deserve having a look at the game, sf sometimes screws up my system.....
That's my bottom line.....
Not to mention they decide what software you may have installed on your computer. Does the box state you cant have daemon tools as part of its specs? Dont be surprised if they also start blacklisting websites. "You have visited www.fileforums.com, sorry you can no longer play the game."
Not to mention they decide what software you may have installed on your computer. Does the box state you cant have daemon tools as part of its specs? Dont be surprised if they also start blacklisting websites. "You have visited www.fileforums.com, sorry you can no longer play the game."
Naaaaarrrrrr! they wouldent do that................................would they????
Well, I can see class action law suits happening if they continue to push such boundaries. Again the government isn't doing anything, but we already pay taxes on recordable media and burners to pay them for the privilege of making backups. That doesn't stop them from taking our rights away still. Sound unlawful to me... :slant:
There's looks to be a "media/technology" war coming up methinks...
StarForce breaks one of the basic laws which is the right to backup applications (even dictionaries!) and games which I had purchased LEGALLY. BOYCOT STARFORCE!
Monty Burns
24-05-2005, 13:26
I do not have to add something, just wanna push a little (Grumpy! that would have been your job :D).
I am interested in other opinions.
chaosmaster
24-05-2005, 13:46
How's about a sticky for this post?
Monty Burns
24-05-2005, 14:54
Okay, I just had a dispute with a very good friend of mine, who is a lawyer. I really get sick and tired of discussing this stuff...so here are my final words: :D
Music industry has almost learned its lesson. Incompatible Audio CDs are just not acceptable for legetimate customers. I personally do not have a CD Player (Standalone) anymore, cos they are far to expensive compared to DVD players. Some of my original audio cds simply refused to run on my dvd standalone (cos it used a pc dvd rom). I didn't return them (some of my friends did, after backing it up with clonecd!)...I just copied them with clonecd and thus circumvented european law...just to listen to the music I LEGALLY bought.....Meanwhile I cannot find many audio cds that actually have a copy protection...which play in every player I own (car cd changer, home dvd player, discman, etc.....GOOD!!!!!).
On the other hand, video industry is running into the same problem the music industry used to be in some years ago. Meanwhile, there are DVDs which refuse to play in standalone dvd players (greets to ArccOS, etc.). Is this really necessary ? People start to return dvds to store... I assume there will be some new protections...and some day, when problems due to copy protection increase rapidly, the protection will be gone.
In this case AnyDVD was of great help for me. I bought "The Forgotten" which didn't play fluently on my DVD standalone. AnyDVD is forbidden in Germany...but hey, I bought it..and I want to watch it. AnyDVD did the job, i.e. it got rif of the silly protection...
Finally, we come to games, and I think, "game protectors" will never learn. Okay, I see a DVD or a audio cd is only around 15 € and a new game is almost 50 @ and up, but in my opinion the price is not important.
I buy all my games, DVDs and audio cds. I do not see any need for backing them up (exception: Audio CDs, cos I use them fairly often in different places, e.g. in my car, at home, on vacation). I don't regularly watch a movie 20 times a week, so the dvd won't get '"hurt". I sometimes use nocd cracks, just bceause I am too lazy to swap disks all the time. But that is just convience and I cannot expect that a backup does as well as an original.
BUT... what I can expect is, that an original runs on a system it was actually developed for (i.e. a dvd runs on a dvd player, a audio cd can be listened to in every cd/dvd HI-FI component, and finally any game runs fine on my computer, as far as I have the neccesary system specs, like CPU speed, Graphics card, etc.).
Here comes starforce's special hour. Every effective protection has broken standards (e.g. CDS for audio cds, you cannot call this audio cd anymore; ArccoS, see above; or Starforce....).
I know, that SecuRom7 also has almost nothing to do with any standard, but Starforce is miles ahead...
--> Quote from Starforce Nightmare developres:
"Since starforce version 3.4.65.09 to prevent old star**** methods for deactivating
cd drives starforce goes a very hardware incompatible way. StarForce protected game tries
to reset ide channel before it begins to check protected disk. Therefore this can take up
to 2 minutes before starforce begins with its disk check. All users, who have CD
drive on SCSI controller, ATAPI CD Drive on ATA/RAID controller, CD drive on USB controller
and even coming hardware innovation called CD drive on SATA controller, all those users are
involved by this hardware incompability issue of Starfore protection. This hardware
incompability appears even than, if you remove all your drives from IDE channel physically
and deactivate your IDE channels in BIOS to set needed resources free, also you don't even
need to use our program to find it out."
(If you have read so far, don't hesitate to begin your answer with: "Yepp, you are right Monty")
I know that SafeDisk, SecuRom, etc. install drivers on my system too, but none of them is that aggressive like the Starforce one.....
I know, there are a lot of people saying that they had no problem with Starforce.....just wait a little....
The first audio cd,dvd or game protections didn't harm me either, but the day will come!
Monty... Gotta tell you that was pretty d*mn nice written! I'm proud of you.. ;)
The part about music and video made me think a little and as I thought I suddenly realized I stopped using CD's years ago. Haven't even thought about it because as soon as I buy any new CD I rip it as it comes through the door.
This started because my portable CD-player wouldn't play some original discs but all burned discs I threw at it. Nowadays it is my mp3-player that needs the music.
But back on the starforce topic (its the point of the thread right? :D ).
I have bought 2 Starforce games and I managed to get them working on my second PC. It refused to work on my gaming rig for some reason. Ever since there is no starforce for me.
Long story short, monty I couldn't agree more :) (if it is something to be happy about :confused: )
Monty Burns
24-05-2005, 15:35
Monty... Gotta tell you that was pretty d*mn nice written!
Thanx!
But back on the starforce topic (its the point of the thread right? :D ).
After rereading the thread I am not entirely sure about this :D
Long story short, monty I couldn't agree more :) (if it is something to be happy about :confused: )
Yep.
Not really.
ashleymalpas
24-05-2005, 15:36
I am also never buying a starforce protected game ever again. I brought I-Ninja (which I didn't know had starforce V3 protection until recently) and since installing the game my system has been very unstable and constantly crashing. So today i downloaded the starforce cleaner and surprise, ive had no problems whatsoever since, whereas before it would crash 4 or 5 times each hour.
I think starforce is BS, those A******S need to stop putting this crap on games.
Monty Burns
24-05-2005, 15:45
SF can make your sytem unstable that is for sure. The protection itself does not have anything to do with any standards.
Again: If developers want to protect their software, they should always have in mind that an average customer should be able to use their soft without any problems. Customers in trouble are customers in search (for alternativrs!). I like protections which protect software frome being stolen, but they should not be recognized by legitimate customers!
@Monty Burns
Yes very well written mate. ;)
Joe Forster/STA
25-05-2005, 04:31
Hi guys,
A few weeks ago, in one of the threads, I suggested someone to not upgrade to the very latest nVidia Forceware drivers as they're causing instabilities on my Windows XP system: after playing a game, opening Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs function or launching a DVD in Cyberlink PowerDVD causes a "BAD_POOL_CALLER" blue screen of death.
For this reason, I downgraded to Forceware 67.66 or something about two or three weeks ago but the crashes still occurred during the next one or two weeks. Then something came to my mind and I removed the Starforce drivers with their own utility. Guess what, no crashes for the last week!
So, if someone tells me that the Starforce drivers cause no system stability problems, all I can say "F*CK OFF!"
Joe
Hi guys,
A few weeks ago, in one of the threads, I suggested someone to not upgrade to the very latest nVidia Forceware drivers as they're causing instabilities on my Windows XP system: after playing a game, opening Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs function or launching a DVD in Cyberlink PowerDVD causes a "BAD_POOL_CALLER" blue screen of death.
Joe
the nvidia drivers also cause a nice crash in softice.. makes you wonder what nvidia are playing at, quite suspicious.. downgrade the drivers, all is fine
Joe Forster/STA
25-05-2005, 04:42
Well, TippeX, yeah, the next step of the test would be upgrading to the latest Forceware drivers again. I have the feeling, the crashes won't come back; it's probably not the Forceware drivers causing it but Starforce!
Morglum007
25-05-2005, 06:41
The way nvidia may crash or not work properly is the same with Starforce. Nvidia main chipset, nforce have no public chipset specs, so it is so difficult to program something for non public and unknown micropics. The same happens to Starforce, cause when trying to access with certain bad coded instructions, win return a big BSOD, an exception.
SF crash cause it tries to access almost to everything in ur system, to get ride of it and control it. When it can`t, then system gets unstable. Anyway, thats a soft problem, and not like the worst one, a drive death, the final effect of having SF installed on ur system. Lets see how many drives must dead to people have knowledge of what SF is doing.
Sice and SF are incompatible, cause SF works in ring0 level, and a debugger too ( specially sice), so it can only be one at once working: sice or SF, but not both. There is a pretty warn when trying to launch a SF protected title, but if u override such warn, cross ur fingers, a boom is near.....
I do not like SF for its drives secondary effect and windows bad working: lets wait...
The only piracy I support is the one practiced inside Sid Meyer Pirates!, but Starforce is not the answer for software piracy. As a legal costumer I am suffering for the wrongdoings of others. After 3 Starforce games, two of them giving me serious problems (had to return them and spent quite a few hours around my system), I am going to give them a wide berth.
Besides, take for instance Paradox Entertainment, a small swedish software developer: to generate lots of money a game don't need to be protected at all... it just needs to be good. ;)
Buy Europa Universalis 2 or Hearts of Iron 2 or Crusader Kings...
The-S-Owl
25-05-2005, 08:36
Yes, as John Carmack (ID Software) ever said: Quality software is the best protection ;)
ok, I'm not gonna buy any starforce protected games anymore.
cya
DUKE_NUKEM
26-05-2005, 06:49
Hi guys, sorry for my english but I'm italian. I've been checking this forum for months before I decided to post something (how great is the power of Starforce :D ).
I have been playing gamez since 1992, and I see that in these years they've become a BIG BIG BUSINESS. And where's the money, there comes a trouble! :eek:
Too many gamez, too high prices, too much generous reviews (=too many "must buy" gamez) and , last but not the least, hyper-aggressive protections. The truth is, pc gaming was, it's still and it will forever be a hard matter if compared to consoles' easy-gaming. I don't think a honest-but-normal customer would spend thousands of euros (or dollars as you prefer) for the hardware and then fall into the deepest despair by seeing that some f@*#ing protections is devastating his system.This is a paradox: a guy who buys an original games have more problems than a warez kiddie.
Also, we should consider that a 6 to 18 years old guy often cannot afford a price of 50 euros for a game (while, with the same money, he can download a lot of stuff, including gamez from the net, I know this isn't the right way of thinking, but this is REALITY); so, you say gamez are not necessary to live, I agree but nothing related to entertainment is, so the common way of thinking is: if you can have them for free, why not).
In the end, I would like to remember that, even if it was possible to release a new starforce version every day, pirates would always have TONS of games to play with, choosing among old games, new-but-not-starforce-protected games and almost-new-starforce-protected-but-already-cracked games.
Cracking games is just a matter of time.
So, what are they waiting to cut the prices? By the way, isn't it primarily a problem of money?
DUKE_NUKEM
26-05-2005, 13:37
Ok, guys, now I'm getting reaaly angry. A few days ago I re-installed DTM Race Driver 2 just to have a decent run with a decent car (why not to try GTR? Cuz it's Starforce again, no more for me too! :) ) and today my drive refused to backup the backup :D of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone. The curious thing is that I created that back-up after formatting, just about three weeks ago. Then I installed the game without any problem from the same disc.
Another strange fact, alcohol gave me errors in different sectors from one time to another. Don't know why, I start feeling the stink of Starforce: these are the things that typically drive a guy into the crazy-warez-world....
Ok, let's have a "succesfull system install" again: Sometimes I can't really afford the thought that I can't play with masterpieces like Scrapland, Colin 2005 and Street Racing Syndicate (Still Life?) but if this is the price to pay for playing a starforce game, ok then, where is the petition? Where do I have to sign? :mad:
@Duke Nukem
Its never a good idea to create a backup from a backup! Always backup from the originals.
DUKE_NUKEM
26-05-2005, 22:36
@ Grumpy
THX for the advice, man, you're damn right. But it is too late! :eek: The holy fire of purification has already burnt away the f@#*in' starforce virus from my pc! And, of course, alcohol went through the "backup of the backup" :D .
One final consideration: this is not the end of piracy, as someone said, this is really the end of games. :(
Anyone heard the latest?
As you know the new Windows XP64 final is out. In tests all games worked flawlessly and looked spectacular that was all except.....except......yes starforce games would not load. Hehehehehehehehe! What a bummer uh! :D
Anyone heard the latest?
As you know the new Windows XP64 final is out. In tests all games worked flawlessly and looked spectacular that was all except.....except......yes starforce games would not load. Hehehehehehehehe! What a bummer uh! :D
Can you give us a link for that news ? We would like to read it too :)
Thnx
Anyone heard the latest?
As you know the new Windows XP64 final is out. In tests all games worked flawlessly and looked spectacular that was all except.....except......yes starforce games would not load. Hehehehehehehehe! What a bummer uh! :D
SF has already 64bit support, if u do not know something do not talk on it on public ;)
Well its not strange to me that such thead started here. 95% of visitors cant emulate or crack SF or have serious problems doing that, and often kill your systems after such tryes, and such petition will be some kined... mmm a vent for anger of those who can't...
Yes! many of us want to play SCCT, but not spend money on it. But there is a f*ing starforce prevents us from doing that! And there is no crack yet! (Hey hackers!!! Where r u???) And yu know ppl SCCT is a BIG title and im shure that the best "specialists" working on it. So... no crack - what we have to do? Lets smear SF and get some relax...
I know that SF has problems with compatibility, and many users who legally buy the game want play but cant - but you know where most of such ppl talks? There (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/ubb.x/a/frm/f/954105331), and not here. And there is too little SF ralated topics.
go on
(sorry for enlish - not native)
You have my total support here, the one Starforce game I did install (Unwittingly) totally screwed my PC, & I only sorted that one with a format.
You can add X2: The Threat to your list as well. (All versions except US)
-Leezer-
You have my total support here, the one Starforce game I did install (Unwittingly) totally screwed my PC, & I only sorted that one with a format.
You can add X2: The Threat to your list as well. (All versions except US)
-Leezer-
Egosoft have got a new patch for download that removes the protection from the game apparently they where asked to remove it by the publishers, so no more starforce for X2 and hopefully none for X3..
SF has already 64bit support, if u do not know something do not talk on it on public ;)
Sorry but I make a practice of not talking to rude 3 year olds.
Can you give us a link for that news ? We would like to read it too :)
Thnx
I didn’t bookmark "I know I should have done" , but if you just do your own search for "windows xp64 review". I stumbled on it by accident, it's the review of the final version and not the beta, and it was out of all the games they tried 2 wouldn’t load and both had SF.
MarceloTF
27-05-2005, 10:16
I think the real name of "League Manager 2005[v3.4.50.1]" is "Championship Manager 2005" Im not sure about it ...
Sorry my bad english Im from Brazil.
PS: If u dont know what Im talking about, check the list on the first page :D
CYA
Stirling
27-05-2005, 19:00
I will boycot Starforce until one or the other of us is dead. :p
I threw my Silent Hunter 3 game (my favorite) in the trash. I refuse to pass on malware so I didn't pawn it off on someone else.
Here's I little more information on starforce and how it effects you, handy for those who would like to know more.
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.php?fn=view_thread&t=526623
ashleymalpas
28-05-2005, 15:02
I got that p*****d of with this crap that i just emailed star force telling them what i think about it. Message below
I am writing to complain about your so called Starforce V3 protection, it is the biggest pile of B*** S*** to ever be called a copy protection. How can this be classed as a suitable copy protection when all it does is F*** UP your PC. Since installing Starforce V3 games, ive had nothing but system problems. But amazingly they all disapeared after using sfclean. Like many others I certainly wont be buying any products with this bag of s*** on it. Isn't this protection Illegal? as it totally f***s with your system. If your going to make a copy protection at least make it so it works without f***ing up your PC!
Does Anybody think they'll reply :-D
Monty Burns
29-05-2005, 14:41
Surely, they'll reply :D
The "creators" of starforce are not the problem. If a game is protected with starforce, they have already earned their money....no matter if customers buy the game or not.
If sf games remain in the shelves, developers will start thinking about it (okay, in fact they don't, cos they don't give a ****ing **** about customers as long as there are enough idiots buying their crap).
The only chance of stopping starforce, is boycotting it. But this will never happen.....at least not to a degree which would be remarkable....
coffin filler
29-05-2005, 15:33
Ahhh the beloved star force. Another moan and groan. and why not ?. Well im happy to say that i have not installed ANY starforce protected games on my PC and thats compleatly down to the info i am privy to here as a fileforum member. Its thanks to this place i have not made the mistake so many other ppl have made. I buy all my games and i also back EVERY SINGLE one of them up and i refuse to buy a game that once installed will fu(k up my chances of backing up other non starforce protected games as well as the genral well being of my PC. I dont have anything against a copy protection that makes backing up one of my original disks hard and a challange but what i do object to is having a so called copyprotection compleatly screwing with my PC and all backing up procedures that i will attempt in the future. My thanks go out to GCW F/F. Also thanks for the link that you sent me a while back Grumpy in a PM to the starforce info.
Ohh and yes i will continue to boycott any starforce protected game in the future. I wish enough of us would do the same and if the numbers got big enough dev's/publishers would realize but in reality thats not gonna happen. The worst thing i have had to deal with (as an avid gamer) is not having had the experience of "Splinter Cell 3. C.T" . Its my only regrett to not allowing any SF protected game on my PC. :(
0_o
who pays you guys? easy cracking macrovision or the same securom? ;)
the most content from varios forums that you quote here taking from StarForceNightMare readme. But we know (just look at SCCT results) that SF succesfuly beat SFN with out any system troubles. More than 100000 users, succesfuly play the game.
You thread one big LoL for ppl who knows... :D ;)
Monty Burns
30-05-2005, 01:50
Now, we know ! :rolleyes:
Thank you for enlightening all the "small minded" kids here......
The-S-Owl
30-05-2005, 07:45
0_o
who pays you guys? easy cracking macrovision or the same securom? ;)
the most content from varios forums that you quote here taking from StarForceNightMare readme. But we know (just look at SCCT results) that SF succesfuly beat SFN with out any system troubles. More than 100000 users, succesfuly play the game.
You thread one big LoL for ppl who knows... :D ;)
I begin to believe that you are one of the Starforce developers who tries to defend your own crap :rolleyes:
ripper_george
30-05-2005, 08:26
In a few words, it's sure that publishers should protect their software(PC Games) from illegal copying, but you should be capable of backing up the cds. A CD isn't a 100% indestructible thing. It may suffer severe damage either when it's in or out of the PC. That's why we should back them up. Not to mention that the costumer's support is not satisfying. Especially in countries like Greece, where after the purchase, no support is available.
So the sure thing is that they must do something about the protections, so I don't have to be anxious, because I have to play my vidoe games with the original disk.
I have a starforce game, silent hunter 3, and unfortunately I can't back it up. That's why I stopped playing it.
I am boycotting Starforce Games!!!...
Is starforce boycott working? Price of SCCT for PC is already down to $30, while console version remains $50...
Interesting...
I think it's working but your not going to get publishers announcing the fact, they will just quietly remove it from there software without fanfare.. :D
Read this if your thinking of going 64bit scroll down page untill you get to the bit about starforce.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1816231,00.asp
http://www.64bitstuff.com/index.php?showtopic=1644
When Silent Hunter III was released, it was far from being offered here in Brazil. As a long time fan, I had no choice but to download it. I figured that when it is available, I'd buy it. three months later, it finally reached the stores in a reasonable price (not the most expensive, but above the average). This time gave me the opportunity to try the several methods of backing up (with no success) and to notice the overwhelming amount of bugs and inconstancies with history, engineering and even the previous Silent Hunter II. Coupled with the fear you and several other people displayed in installing StarForce, I've made up my mind: I won't buy it and will delete my illegal copy. Thank you.
coffin filler
02-06-2005, 16:17
When Silent Hunter III was released, it was far from being offered here in Brazil. As a long time fan, I had no choice but to download it. I figured that when it is available, I'd buy it. three months later, it finally reached the stores in a reasonable price (not the most expensive, but above the average). This time gave me the opportunity to try the several methods of backing up (with no success) and to notice the overwhelming amount of bugs and inconstancies with history, engineering and even the previous Silent Hunter II. Coupled with the fear you and several other people displayed in installing StarForce, I've made up my mind: I won't buy it and will delete my illegal copy. Thank you.
So glad we could help..Tut tut to D/L it (warez) is not tollerated here @ GCW. Just be carefull what you say here otherwise you will be reciving a ban. (may i suggest you read the rules as to avoid this happening to you like it happens to so many others)
(Ive mentioned these points in other threads but thought they also deserved to be mentioned here) :D
If I was given a choice between a game with Starforce protection or a game with an Online Activation (like HL2) I would honestly prefer the online activation!
Starforce messes with your system and can cause hassles with other programs the whole time! And does their Starforce Clean really fix those hassles? Starforce doesnt tell you its installing!
Online Activation however is only a hassle for a short time, thats during the actual activation (except for dialup users, the hassle could be a longer one). Online activation tells you what is happening, it is not hidden from you! Once the game is activated you dont have anymore 'hidden' hassles. Like with HL2, once the game has earnt its profits they can release a patch so you dont need the disc to play, they can possibly even release a patch to stop the online activation?
But even if a starforce game has earnt its profits, and they release a patch for you to be able to play without the disc, would you really be free of the problems starforce has already created for your system?
I really dont like the Online Activation, it is a hassle but nowhere near the hassle of Starforce!
Since I for one had major problems with the Starforce Protection, I always create a ghost image before installing a new game. Luckily I had ghost images from before my system ever came in contact with a Starforce game! After installing a starforce game i found a lot of my other games would not even autoplay, my drives where reading the disc names even after the disc had been ejected, I had programs no longer working properly, I had CD's/DVD's which would not eject, I had all sorts of problems!! I never had any of these problems before I installed Starfoce and even after using 'Starforce Clean' these problems were still there!
But as soon as I ghosted back to before Starforce all my problems magically disappeared!
Regardless of how much any future games gets hyped up I will not be installing them if they have the Starforce virus! ;)
The only chance of stopping starforce, is boycotting it. But this will never happen.....at least not to a degree which would be remarkable....
Sorry my friend but it's already happening surf the game forums/sites. This is the type of war that as a consumer you LOSE, but as consumer's you definitely shall WIN.
coffin filler
04-06-2005, 17:11
Sorry my friend but it's already happening surf the game forums/sites. This is the type of war that as a consumer you LOSE, but as consumer's you definitely shall WIN.
Well we can live in hope but hope is all we have and will ever have if there isnt a solution found. (which dosent look promising). I also belive (even though i dont and will never own a SF protected game) that we are on loosing side. There will never be enough people who will not buy anymore or diss-continue buying SF protected games and lets be realistic unless a big ammount of revenue stops going to devs etc then SF will continue. Its down to £s and the devs,pubs,etc arnt loosing enough of it for them to concider implementing "other" protection's. (IMO) Why would they cause lets face it it dose what it says on the tin (and plenty more besides) and unless there were a lawsuit of somekind (due to the system instabilities etc etc etc SF can cause) then i belive its here to stay :(
SF is not a protection its a damm virus! (As Grumpy and so many others have stated)
MasterYoda34
04-06-2005, 19:28
If game developers are going to use starforce they NEED to AT LEAST have a pop up box to confim before install. And it should state that it can cause problems on some systems.
I have been reading about all the problems that people have been having with StarForce for a while now, but I never thought anything would happen to me. Well now my system has crashed a couple of times recently and before I UNKNOWINGLY installed StarForce, crashes were extremely rare for me. And one time when I double clicked on one of my CD Drives in My Computer it asked me what program I wanted to use to open it. WTF. Also, BlindWrite seems incapable of making images now. I MOST CERTAINLY will not be buying any starforce protected games anymore.
If game developers are going to use starforce they NEED to AT LEAST have a pop up box to confim before install. And it should state that it can cause problems on some systems.
I have been reading about all the problems that people have been having with StarForce for a while now, but I never thought anything would happen to me. Well now my system has crashed a couple of times recently and before I UNKNOWINGLY installed StarForce, crashes were extremely rare for me. And one time when I double clicked on one of my CD Drives in My Computer it asked me what program I wanted to use to open it. WTF. Also, BlindWrite seems incapable of making images now. I MOST CERTAINLY will not be buying any starforce protected games anymore.
Yerr, hope is a major player here, hope that SF become totally un hip and anti social, hope that main line publishers see the light, hope that some dude take some publisher to court over SF and wins, hope that SF will once and for all be cracked.
chaosmaster
05-06-2005, 05:02
If game developers are going to use starforce they NEED to AT LEAST have a pop up box to confim before install. And it should state that it can cause problems on some systems.
I think it is useless, if they build in a pop up box because its too late if you see it before installing, that the game has SF! Then you cant bring it back to store because you have already opened the packing! It shold be placed somewhere on the cover!
(Ive mentioned these points in other threads but thought they also deserved to be mentioned here) :D
If I was given a choice between a game with Starforce protection or a game with an Online Activation (like HL2) I would honestly prefer the online activation!
Agree!
coffin filler
05-06-2005, 08:35
Aye. While "Steam" has many anoyances for the user it dosent do what SF dose. Anoyances are (imo) eaiser to deal with and leave you with a working PC. (Unlike what SF can leave you with besides a head ache). Online activation is more straight forward. It dose what it says on the tin and thats that. Once you uninstall a game with online activation (HL2 etc) then its gone where SF isnt. As the devs etc look for better ways to protect there games from piracy etc we are gonna come into contact with such things i guess. Therefore its up to us (the consumer) to let the ppl who matter (devs,publishers etc) know that were not happy with a protection like SF due to the consequences having a SF protected game can cause. I wonder if On-line activation is the way forward ?. I for one would perfer that. Its the better of two evils is it not?. Its not a cast iron guarentee to protect games from becoming warez (which is what the devs etc are looking for is it not?) because as im sure many of us know there was a version of HL2 avalible with the online activation ripped out meaning the S/P part of the game was playable. I do belive online activation is more user freindly than SF and i dont mind having games with online activation installed on my PC unlike SF protected games. Do you think its the way more and more games will be protected ?? It is a winner in many ways is it not ? I say that because people who own the original game (bought from shop etc) are able to back it up quiet easily and its all about the code. The only loosers in one way are the ppl who wish to own the game for nothing weather thats by D/L or whatever, and thats what its meant to stop is it not?. Having said all this i wouldnt be surprised is ppl arnt of the same opinion and dont want online activation instead of "other" protections. So SF or Online activation ? (im intrested to know which ppl would choose if given the option).
I think there will be solution to backup every SF3 title released so far, with new Daemon Tools 4 Pro, which will go out very soon.
From other forum -
Some guys in the BETA of Daemon Tools PRO v.1, tell that from a ORIGINAL dvd of Splinter Cell 3, you can clone with Alcohol (mdf+mds) and play mounting the mds emulating Starforce with Daemon Tools...
So, just burn the game with Alcohol 120% (latest). and mount with Daemon Tools, install and play. This is tested with the latest staforce (the 3rd Splinter Cell 3 patch)
http://img27.echo.cx/img27/8028/daemontools43yf.jpg
http://img65.echo.cx/img65/55/dtoolssf35la.jpg
That won't help, since the SF devs will soon realize how daemon tools gets around the protection and release a new version. we do not only need ot boycot starforce, but any kind of copy protection! for software and music as well. as i already said, poeple who buy the software get the copy protection with it. people who download it from the internet don't, so what#s the point?
Btw, a french court dicided that copy protections are illegal, because the are against the users right to make one backup copy. very sad that the french have to show the rest of the world what is right...
Yes i agree ,
i'm will not pay to get some kind of Trojan , Virus or something else to my Pc.
So i hope all ****in Starforce programmers will die a low age!!
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Psi ops is Starforce 3 protected too
So i hope all ****in Starforce programmers will die a low ageNext time, TURN ON YOUR BRAIN, before posting such a crap !!!
Wishing the dead to people, only because you can't make a backup of a software.......... :confused: :confused: :confused:
That won't help, since the SF devs will soon realize how daemon tools gets around the protection and release a new version.
But then again, Daemon Tools developers will release just a small update, and thats it. It will be easier for them, because they know now, how SF3 works.
But then again, Daemon Tools developers will release just a small update, and thats it. It will be easier for them, because they know now, how SF3 works.
Wait a second, shouldn't the people who actualy make the protection know better what they do, because they have the source? It's always more difficult to reverse-engineer, because you only have the asm "source".
Wait a second, shouldn't the people who actualy make the protection know better what they do, because they have the source? It's always more difficult to reverse-engineer, because you only have the asm "source".
I know that, but DT devs are also NOT stupid. :eek: There will ALWAYS be some kind of workaround - from hakers, Virtual Drive devs, or someone else... SF3 people are NOT the smartest people on earth. I know that there are some smart talented people that know how to crack dificult SF3 games (with dificult VM, PC Codes, and other custom stuff) in quicker way, but they are keeping it for themselves. They are not part of the warez scene... By the way, ALOT of good legendary crackers got busted last year (Fairlight, Immersion, Razor 1911, Deviance). With them, SF3 would be dead already, but nevermind, there WILL ALWAYS be some kind a workaround... :D Just my 2 cents.
@Stevi and Impic0
C'mon guys this was supposed to be a Starforce Petition thread! Go chat to each other in the 'Chit Chat' forum please. :rolleyes: ;)
Well sorry, but this thread makes no sense since you "sign" against the (almost) only copy protection that is still hard to crack. so what do you want? that software is protected by weak copy protections that erverybody can crack with help of some "tool"? i don't think publishers will agree with you. wouldn't it make more sense to start a petition against copy protections?
LoxHazard
14-06-2005, 08:39
Well sorry, but this thread makes no sense since you "sign" against the (almost) only copy protection that is still hard to crack. so what do you want? that software is protected by weak copy protections that erverybody can crack with help of some "tool"? i don't think publishers will agree with you. wouldn't it make more sense to start a petition against copy protections?
Wrong
The petition is for starforce and his malicious drivers (work as a virus in your PC), not for protections in general.
If you read all post in the thread you get enough information about this.
@LoxHazard
That is exactly right. Well said. ;)
NOTE: Its a shame the 14 1/2 thousand who have viewed this thread so far didnt come on board and submit their disgust at the Starforce Protection!
Not that they all would have been a different member etc, nor would they all have neccasarily agreed with what we have to say, but yeh it would have been nice! ;)
Joe Forster/STA
14-06-2005, 09:15
Hi guys,
On a sidenote, Starforce developers are developing software for the money. Dameon Tools developers, on the other hand, are developing free software for the fame. Guess who has more enthusiasm to trick the other? :D
Joe
Dameon Tools developers, on the other hand, are developing free software for the fame.
When i remember right, the new DAEMON TOOLS PRO 1.0 will be not for free !!!
Wrong
The petition is for starforce and his malicious drivers (work as a virus in your PC), not for protections in general.
If you read all post in the thread you get enough information about this.
So your opinion is, that copy protections are ok? I mean, not that they just make it hard for you to make a backup of your legally owned software. They also let your game become more expensive.
twisted logic there, most of the times you dont legally own the software you own a license for it, and if the cd breaks you use the existance of that license to get a replacment from the publisher, as for protections costing more, they cost a fraction of the game price if you want to see where the real mark up is , its in the store, check retail price against the supplier price.. thats where the money is made, and with piracy simply exiting most publishers weight the cost of a few cents per cd for the protection and go with it, if you have a problem with the original cd then contact the publisher, thats how it works, the main 'issue' with starforce that most ppl have (apart from jumping on the 'waaah, no cracks exist for xxxx, i cant play it now' bandwagon) is the fact that the drivers make their system unstable and cause intermittent crashes, and that uninstalling the game does not uninstall the drivers etc.. thats the main argument of this thread
twisted logic there, most of the times you dont legally own the software you own a license for it, and if the cd breaks you use the existance of that license to get a replacment from the publisher, as for protections costing more, they cost a fraction of the game price if you want to see where the real mark up is , its in the store, check retail price against the supplier price.. thats where the money is made
You own the right to make a backup copy.
having the right to make a backup copy and physically being able to do it are two totally different things all together, the industry protects the industry, no more, no less, as a consumer you really have zero rights
LoxHazard
14-06-2005, 12:47
So your opinion is, that copy protections are ok? I mean, not that they just make it hard for you to make a backup of your legally owned software. They also let your game become more expensive.
No. I only say that this Thread is for starforce and his infernal drivers, I don´t say my opinion about others protections.
Protections aren´t good for legit customers, i agree with this, but Starforce not only protected backup posibilities, installed evil drivers in ours PC too. For this, is that this thread exists.
Anyway, I agree with Grumpy that this thread is for petition, not for discussion.
You can create a thread over other protections or other things.
thebluegr
15-06-2005, 10:27
There are some more games that are protected by StarForce, apart from the ones mentioned. There's also Beyond Divinity and some more games listed here:
http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections_star_force.shtml
I totally agree that it's 100% illegal not to inform the user about the existence of Starforce drivers on his system. Trojans get installed in exactly the same way
There are some more games that are protected by StarForce, apart from the ones mentioned.
Update -
Pro Rugby Manager 2
Psychotoxic
Sudeki
Creature Conflict - The Clan Wars
Cross Racing Championship
Restricted Area
Trackmania - Sunrise
Singles 2
Codename Panzers - Phase Two
1944 - Battle of the Bulge
Second Sight
Postal 2 - Apocalypse Weekend
Area 51
Psi Ops - The Mindgate Conspiracy
Domination
Still Life
SuperPower 2
Chaos League
Maximus XV: Abraham Strong Space Mercenary
Will of Steel
Garfield
The Moment of Silence
Medieval Lords
Gadget and the Gadgetinis
Gooka – The Mystery of Janatris
Xpand Rally
Asterix & Obelix XXL
Breed
Club Football 2005
Fire Department 2
I-Ninja
LMA Manager 2005
And maybe some more...
Muji-FightR
15-06-2005, 11:47
Addition:
Afrika Korps vs. Desert Rats (or Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps)
Was it mentioned yet? Couldn't see it :confused:
Thanks for the update on the starforce games guys. I will update the list (in post #1) sometime tommorrow. I would do it now but its 4.30am here and I will be punchin Z's soon! :D
There seems to be some strong (maybe even heated) discussions happening through these forums regarding the Starforce protection.
Which brings me to start this thread. I would hope that only a simple comment is needed here: "Yes, I am boycotting Starforce games". That is really all that needs to be said! There is no point in congesting this thread with arguments, its not what I would like to see happen here! There is no need to say anything else! If people are serious then leave a short message here.
I would also hope that if this thread gains enough support then it could maybe become a future 'Sticky'? After a few weeks or months we will know if this is worth persueing.
Its not that I am supporting Warez or Piracy, I just dont agree with Software being installed onto my system without my approval!
Come on all, place your support post here. If you dont agree with what I am saying then simply do not post here! A post here is a post counted. ;)
Thankyou for your post/vote.
P.S: I truly hope Empire doesnt mind this sort of petition?
Ok, a big thankyou to Morglum from cdsteam (http://www.cdsteam.net/modules/news/) who has been kind enough to let me use his Starforce Protected Games List (http://www.cdsteam.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=199&forum=10&PHPSESSID=a09cb2c37b0f844d38f7c697f3535027). Now it was originally a Spanish only list! So some of these games will need to be checked. The Games with '???????' next to them are the ones I am not sure of the correct English title? So feel free to let me know of the correct title or any other Starforce games which are not on the list? I will edit the list to keep it up to date. (Some of the games may only be Spanish games as well, I havent checked them all yet.)
Starforce Protected Games
- 7 Sins [3.4.71.19]
- Afrika Korps VS Desert Rats [v3.3.31.21]
- Blitzkrieg - Rolling Thunder [v3.4.50.1]
- Codename: Panzers - Phase One (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.2]
- Colin McRae Rally 2005 (DVD) [v3.4.49.1]
- Cossacks II - Napoleonic Wars (2 CDs) [v3.4.65.11]
- Counter Terrorist SF - Fire for Effect (DVD) [v3.4.71.19]
- Cycling Manager 3
- Cycling Manager 4 [v3.3.36.1]
- D Day (2 CDs) [v3.4.41.1]
- Dead to Rights (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.26]
- Etherlords 2 (2 CDs) [v3.3.31.21]
- Fair Strike (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.3]
- Fire Department
- Gangland [v3.3.36.1]
- GTR FIA GT Racing game (2 CDs) [v3.4.70.2]
- Juana De Arco [v3.3.36.1] ???????????????
- Kill Switch (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.8]
- Korea - Forgotten Conflict [v3.3.27.36]
- League Manager 2005[v3.4.50.1] ???????????????????????
- Obscure (1 DVD) [v3.3.36.1]
- Pac Man World 2 [v3.3.30.11]
- Pax Romana [v3.3.30.11] ??????????????
- Real Madrid Club Soccer (DVD) [v3.4.50.1] ???????????????
- Scrapland (2 CDs) [v3.4.50.1]
- Shade - Wrath of Angels [v3.4.53.0]
- Silent Hunter III [v3.4.71.19]
- Singles [v3.3.33.6]
- Soldiers - Heroes of WWII [v3.3.36.1]
- Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory [v3.4.71.19]
- Street Racing Syndicate
- The Black Mirror (2 CDs) [v3.3.27.36]
- The Entente [v3.3.37.26] ???????????????????
- The Fall - Last days of Gaia (2 CDs) [v3.4.63.3]
- The Kreed [v3.3.27.36]
- The Suffering (2 CDs) [v3.3.37.2]
- Toca Race Driver 2 (1 DVD) [v3.3.35.2]
- Trackmania
- UFO Aftermath ( 2 CDs) [v3.3.27.31]
- Victoria – Empire Under the Sun [v3.3.30.5] ?????????????????
- Virtual Skipper 3
- WWII Frontline Command [v3.3.0.26]
Here (http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starforce_interview/) you can read an article about Starforce. It is an interview with Abbie Sommer of StarForce.
She discusses many aspects of the Starforce Protection, what it is, what it does and why it is needed.
Here is just a small portion of that interview:
Question: There's an uproar among segments of the game community that StarForce is installed without user approval. Is this a potential legal concern for your company?
Answer: There is no legal concern because before a user loads a game, he or she has agreed to accept the conditions of the end-user licensing agreement, typically known as a EULA. These are also known as click and go, or click and accept agreements. When you accept, you are saying I will load this game or application at my own risk, and have read and understood the terms. Or there will be a disclaimer that protects the publisher from damages of any kind due to their products’ use. Our product is licensed to our customers, and becomes part of their product, so the user by accepting the terms, is giving approval.
Now here Abbie states "When you accept, you are saying I will load this game or application at my own risk, and have read and understood the terms."
Tell me please people, how many of you, after reading the EULA, actually understood, from those terms, that an intrusive protection was going to be installed onto your system? Do you think her statement only implies to 'The Game' itself? I believe the EULA should tell us about the protection being installed!
If in fact there was nothing to worry about why is this statement included?
"Or there will be a disclaimer that protects the publisher from damages of any kind due to their products’ use"
The word 'Products' should really only say 'Game'! After all that is all we have been made aware of installing, as thats all it says earlier!
To be fair to the gamer this is how I believe that part or the EULA should be written:
"I will load this game and the Protection application at my own risk, and have read and understood the terms."
I still believe it is only a matter of time before this issue finds its way into a court of Law! The wording of documents like the EULA must be written in a way so as not to decieve the consumer! We must be given the opportunity to be 'fully' aware as to what we are actually installing!
Grumpy
Ok, since they hide Starforce within the game EULA, them I beleave that they will be buying the games back? Since the rules are once you buy a game and you open it YOU KEEP IT. There is no returning open games. So if we dont want Starforce in our systems then due to the manner in they hide this piece of software, sounds like a type of computer highjack, within the content of the game maybe they can be held accountable and therefore refunding gamers for the damage software?
acal3000
16-06-2005, 00:21
You can add two more starforce protected games to the list:
Xpand Rally
Warlords Battle Cry 3 (European Version Starforce protected not the english one)
Thank god I found working no cd cracks for them
Wrong
The petition is for starforce and his malicious drivers (work as a virus in your PC), not for protections in general.
If you read all post in the thread you get enough information about this.
LOL :D
Dude you scare me... But i know the truth. So stop bagging others!
Where is the proof that SF drivers is a virus??
No one antivirus software company update thier antivir bases with StarForce! NO ONE!!! No articles where wrote on it in serious antivir resoures. You just use the hearings and conjecture from the web.
Think when you drink! :p
i refuse to buy any more starforce protected games :mad:
dito!
i refuse to buy any copy protected game, but starforce even more because it goes to mutch into my system. and i refuse to belive that starforce drivers are malicious, because that doesn't make any sense.
LoxHazard
16-06-2005, 07:30
LOL :D
Dude you scare me... But i know the truth. So stop bagging others!
Where is the proof that SF drivers is a virus??
No one antivirus software company update thier antivir bases with StarForce! NO ONE!!! No articles where wrote on it in serious antivir resoures. You just use the hearings and conjecture from the web.
Think when you drink! :p
I don´t drink.
First, i don´t say that starforce is a virus, i said that works similar as a virus, because attack other software like alcohol 120%, and other bad things. There are a lot of writer drivers broken for starforce drivers, is true.
Anyway you are totaly partial, how you are starforce admin forum and works for starforce:
http://star-force.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38
Your opinion is not valid in this case.
Joe Forster/STA
16-06-2005, 08:10
@LoxHazard: the nerva user on this forum can't be that Nerva admin on the Starforce forum: that Nerva has style and proper grammar, this one has neither! ;)
LoxHazard
16-06-2005, 08:46
True ;) , maybe i wrong with this.
Then, that Nerva from Staforce forum excuse me for comparation.
Anyway, there is an interesting thread in starforce forum, and is in the correct forum, of course:
http://star-force.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
coffin filler
17-06-2005, 11:36
Quiet simpily SF can alter,interfer,with settings within other CD/DVD copy programs ie. Clone,Alcohol,Nero etc. which can in some cases make it impossable to Burn some other protected game Images etc to DVD/CD. If It can mess things up to that extent (without a warning on the Packaging) Then its easy to see why people lable SF as a "Virus type" program because it dose things you do not agree to (or are even told about). There is to much myth about SF within some forums. So many people have looked at this thread but not done as the heading suggests (StarForce Petition).
StarForce Boycot
18-06-2005, 14:53
:mad: I do not like that I cannot make a backup copy for my game. I do not want to buy it more than once. I did buy Splinter Cell 3 because I did not know it was protected by Starforce. I will not buy any Starforce proctected games. However, if a good crack becomes available for the game that I am interested in and I can verify that the crack works, I will consider buying it.
thebluegr
20-06-2005, 23:26
More information about StarForce:
The drivers that Starforce installs in your system are a likely security breach!
Starforce drivers, installed in your system, grants ring-0 (OS core) privileges to any code from ring-3 (user level) - in this case any virus or trojan can get OS privileges and totally control you on your system. (...) Do you know, why some Protection Technologies (and similar) ignore [Microsoft's] conventions about safety and trusted code for execution in system level (ring0 )? They even modify ntoskrnl.exe (SwapContext function, for hooking system scheduler) . Look for evidence in their code - what you think, why they did'nt sent their drivers to Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL)? One answer: their code ignores any safety and quality policy on operation system level (including granting system privileges to any user-level process).
http://www.starforcemeat.tk/
StarForce 3 protected games will NOT run under Windows XP Pro 64:
http://www.planetamd64.com/lofiversion/index.php/t6881.html
http://wiki.planetamd64.com/index.php/GamesOnWin64
Update: StarForce 3.5 has x64 support:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/tm.asp?m=111681&mpage=1
Updated list of Starforce protected games from all the possible sources I could find - please update the list in the first post with this one :)
- 1944 Battle of the Bulge
- 7 Sins [3.4.71.19]
- Ace Saga
- Afrika Korps VS Desert Rats [v3.3.31.21]
- American Conquest (Russian)
- Anstoss 4
- Area 51
- Army Men (Russian)
- Asterix & Obelix XXL
- Beyond Divinity
- Blitzkrieg Rolling Thunder [v3.4.50.1]
- Breed
- Chaos League
- Club Football 2005
- Codename: Panzers Phase One (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.2]
- Codename: Panzers Phase Two
- Codename: Outbreak [12-10-2001]
- Colin McRae Rally 2005 (DVD) [v3.4.49.1]
- Cossacks: Back to War (Russian)
- Cossacks: European Wars (Russian)
- Cossacks II Napoleonic Wars (2 CDs) [v3.4.65.11]
- Counter Terrorist SF Fire for Effect (DVD) [v3.4.71.19]
- Creature Conflict The Clan Wars
- Cross Racing Championship
- Cycling Manager 3
- Cycling Manager 4 [v3.3.36.1]
- D Day (2 CDs) [v3.4.41.1]
- Dead to Rights (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.26]
- Demonic Speedway (Poland)
- Domination
- Etherlords
- Etherlords 2 (2 CDs) [v3.3.31.21]
- Fair Strike (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.3]
- Fire Department
- Fire Department 2
- Gadget and the Gadgetinis
- Gangland [v3.3.36.1]
- Garfield
- Gooka – The Mystery of Janatris
- GTR FIA GT Racing game (2 CDs) [v3.4.70.2]
- HOMM 4 (Russian)
- Horse Race Manager
- Icewind Dale 2: Heart of Winter
- IL-2 Sturmovik (Russian)
- I-Ninja
- Kill Switch (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.8]
- Korea Forgotten Conflict [v3.3.27.36]
- LMA Manager 2005
- Magna Carte (Korean)
- Magnamedia (Russian)
- Maximus XV: Abraham Strong Space Mercenary
- Medieval Lords
- Might & Magic 9: Writ of Faith (Russian)
- Narsillion (Russian)
- Obscure (1 DVD) [v3.3.36.1]
- Pac Man World 2 [v3.3.30.11]
- Pax Romana [v3.3.30.11] (no information available)
- League Manager 2005[v3.4.50.1] (Spanish)
- Postal 2 Apocalypse Weekend
- Pro Rugby Manager 2
- Psi Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy
- Psychotoxic
- Rally Championship Xtreme
- Real Madrid Club Soccer (DVD) [v3.4.50.1] (Spanish)
- Rendezvous 3 (Russian)
- Restricted Area
- Scrapland (2 CDs) [v3.4.50.1]
- Second Sight
- Seventh Seal (Asian)
- Shade Wrath of Angels [v3.4.53.0]
- Shtyrlits 3: USSR Agent (Russian)
- Siege of Avalon (Russian)
- Silent Hunter III [v3.4.71.19]
- Silkolene Honda Motocross GP
- Singles [v3.3.33.6]
- Singles 2
- Sniper (Poland)
- Soldiers Heroes of WWII [v3.3.36.1]
- Splinter Cell Chaos Theory [v3.4.71.19]
- Still Life
- Street Racing Syndicate
- Sudeki
- SuperPower 2
- Tennis Masters Series: Battleground of Champions (Asian)
- The Black Mirror (2 CDs) [v3.3.27.36]
- The Fall Last days of Gaia (2 CDs) [v3.4.63.3]
- The Heroes of Three Kingdoms (Asian)
- The I Of The Dragon (Russian)
- The Kreed [v3.3.27.36]
- The Moment of Silence
- The Suffering (2 CDs) [v3.3.37.2]
- Toca Race Driver 2 (1 DVD) [v3.3.35.2]
- Trackmania
- Trackmania Sunrise
- UFO Aftermath ( 2 CDs) [v3.3.27.31]
- Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun [v3.3.30.5] (no information available)
- Virtual Skipper 3
- War and Peace
- Will of Steel
- WWII Frontline Command [v3.3.0.26]
- Xpand Rally [v3.3.x.x]
- Xuan-Yuan Sword 4 (Asian) (no information available)
Changes
=======
- Juana De Arco [v3.3.36.1] ----> Joan D'Arc, protected by SecuROM New / CD-Checks
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_joan_of_arc.shtml
- The Entente [v3.3.37.26] ----> protected by CD-Checks
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_entente.shtml
- The Black Mirror ----> updated StarForce version, correct is v3.3.35.1
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_black_mirror.shtml
- Updated Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun with the proper English title
http://spacetarget.com/games/pc_victoria.shtml
- Updated some of the unknown games
- added some more games
@thebluegr
Nice work on the list. I have updated the list in Post 1 with your updated list. Once again, very nice work indeed. Thanks. ;)
Lundholm
21-06-2005, 16:30
@ Grumpy
Very nice initiative m8.. Petition signed :D
coffin filler
22-06-2005, 03:48
A little off topic i know (sorry Grumps :) )
Anyway im wondering where all this is going, As in how many devs etc are going to be protecting the new games with SF. I mention this because as im sure many of you already know some of the new releases are NOT SF protected. I wonder what the thinking by devs,publishers etc is as regards to what protection they choose to go with. Cost is im sure one major factor but what else ?. Im finding it hard to work out why some of the new releases are not SF protected. I would like to belive its because the people who decide what protection is to be used are not so sure about SF and the reported problems acossiated with it. (i would realy like to think its because there afraid of some legal suit which may come about in the future and because of that they dont want to leave there selfs open in any way). (yeah well i can dream cant i ?). Well here's hopeing SF is not the way forward and the Dev's,Pub's have woken up to that.
knothead
23-06-2005, 06:18
:confused: :eek: HEY GRUMP; Bought that AREA 51 about a week ago and have been reading ALL the things that its supposed to do or is going to do.. HAVE Not OPENED THE BOX YET and I really don't want to' because I just formated this thing from the last run around with I DON'T KNOW what. loaded a game FAR CRY played it for a bit beta it and then checked the online bank account and it redirected me to A Place that wanted me to refresh ALL MY PROPERTY'S EVERYTHING INCLUDED.. Only way to get it gone was FDISK IT....reinstall and I have seen that far cry was and is STAR FORCED.. I AM BOYCOTTING ALL THESE GAMES THAT ARE STAR FORCING US TO KEEP REBUILDING OUR PERSONAL COMPUTERS.. SO I WILL SAY KEEP IT UP CAPT. AND SOCK IT TO EM.. If I open it then I am stuck with it//WAL MARTS THING YA KNOW. Waited 4 months for it get to CD rom and then find this ****e( CRAPA ) outa.. thanks yall for just posting these results as I do know how to read it's the typin thats a Killin me.. Thanks yall for BEING HERE THIS TIME.. SHES A GOING BACK TODAY.. Tried to find the cd rom crack and game copy world site has been giving me a WHOLE lot of probs with POP UPS and TROJANS even minor VIRUS'S.. THANKS AGAIN YALL HANG IN THERE AUSTRALIAN GRUMPY DUDE.. I'll Have a FOSTERS FOR YA TONIGHT........GREAT POSTED FORUMS THIS WEEK IS THIS ONE TIME FOR A STICKY I THINK... :confused: :mad: :mad: :confused:
knothead
23-06-2005, 06:24
:mad: having the right to make a backup copy and physically being able to do it are two totally different things all together, the industry protects the industry, no more, no less, as a consumer you really have zero rights
STAR FORCERS ALL SAY IT SUCKS TO HAVE TO F-DISK IT BECAUSE OF A D&*^*&^ M GAME...I AM BOYCOTING ALL THEIR GARBAGE and learning to type and spell.......... :mad: :mad: :mad: :confused:
coffin filler
25-06-2005, 08:25
@ Knothead... Far Cry is not SF protected. I own that game and if i remember correctly its Safe disk v3 protected. I wont have ANY Star Force protected game installed on my PC .
10823berlin
28-06-2005, 06:29
@ Whacko
May I suggest you go and read the forum rules! This site is not to help you choose which games to 'download'!
People like yourself are the reason these type of intrusive protections are released!! Games are expensive in every country, what makes you think it is ok to download games just because you cant afford them!
I cant afford a Rolls Royce car but it doesnt mean I can just steal one! Developers etc work very hard to release games, so you will have to work just as hard to be able to purchase them! You obviously can afford a broadband connection therefore you can afford to buy games!
Enjoy your upcoming ban from this site! :mad:
Hi,
I just would like to say that I neither have any moral problems nor I dont understand your agression to this Indian guy! He lives in a Third World country and you tell him to waste lots of money for some ****ing games which generate some fun for very little time. You didnt make the rules so dont play the judge here! I guess that my computing knowledge is quite limited to all of you specialists here and I even didnt know that copy protections are running like trojans in the background - but I honestly have very little moral problems of being a software PIRATE. When the software or movie associations present their statistics of financial damage caused by internet piracy they assume that every stolen game or movie is a product which the thief would have bought if there would exist a technical solution of stealing it. (I appologize for my poor English - my German is better;) So in their statistics I am a person which would go EVERY day to the cinema and I would go to my game dealer TWICE a week if I couldnt have the possibility of downloading movies or games. What a god damn stupid mendacious logic! As a mixture of being a student and a self-employed I know about the illegal character very well. But playing games for me is just like testing them. And 80% of these games i quit playing early and I would kill myself if I would have bought them! I absolutely do not accept the price system for this service and 60 Dollar for a game which i quite in 80% before finishing is unacceptable. (Software is more a service than a product!) If the developpers would be clever they wouldnt waste lots of money in programming copy protections which gets cracked anyway. They should answer the global privacy with new ways of payment. Like a "pay per play" or something. What they do is strategically wrong. Battlefield is doing it in pretty good way. They offer infact a online game. You HAVE to buy it if you want to play it. Thats everything I got to say. And if some people here want to ban me now: Do it. I give a ****.
@10823berlin
I am not having a go at 'Whacko' because he lives in India! I had a go at him because he clearly did not read the forum rules! True i did not write the rules but without these rules this site would be swamped with all sorts of questions regarding warez and piracy which in turn would put this great site at risk of possible closure! I enjoy this site and I enjoy all the friends I have made and met here. I dont want Fileforums to disappear.
To use the excuse he lives in a third world country is Lame! He can afford his broadband connection!
To say you only download games to test them is just nonsense! Surely you have heard of game Demo's! I also know for a fact you have Game Rental Shops in Germany! Why cant you rent a game for the purpose of testing, if you then like it you can buy it! The shop I rent games from will even take off the price I payed to rent it if I decide to buy it.
And with Battlefield 2, not everyone wants to play a game online! And as far as 'Pay per play, I have already stated in a previous post that I would much prefer the Steam Activation method than Starforce!
Read all the posts before you comment on what I write to others! Unlike you I will still be a member tommorrow! ;)
10823berlin
28-06-2005, 07:15
@10823berlin
I am not having a go at 'Whacko' because he lives in India! I had a go at him because he clearly did not read the forum rules! True i did not write the rules but without these rules this site would be swamped with all sorts of questions regarding warez and piracy which in turn would put this great site at risk of possible closure! I enjoy this site and I enjoy all the friends I have made and met here. I dont want Fileforums to disappear.
To use the excuse he lives in a third world country is Lame! He can afford his broadband connection!
To say you only download games to test them is just nonsense! Surely you have heard of game Demo's! I also know for a fact you have Game Rental Shops in Germany! Why cant you rent a game for the purpose of testing, if you then like it you can buy it! The shop I rent games from will even take off the price I payed to rent it if I decide to buy it.
And with Battlefield 2, not everyone wants to play a game online! And as far as 'Pay per play, I have already stated in a previous post that I would much prefer the Steam Activation method than Starforce!
Read all the posts before you comment on what I write to others! Unlike you I will still be a member tommorrow! ;)
About my testing thing, you know for yourself that demos dont give a good overview of the game. At least not for me. I also didnt want to masquerade me like "I am a tester" or something. And regarding the prices for a broadband connection in India: Maybe you can tell me how much they are? You seem to know about it....Aha, just for your (all the people which buy cd´s/dvd´s and talk about bringing it back to the shop) information: Believe me that buying a cd or a dvd and going back to the store and changing it cause it doesnt work in your standalone players doesnt work in Germany aswell. If the box is opened, they will just say that you obviously had the possibility of making a backup which means that they wont give you back your money.
@ Nerva- Would you define a virus as something that interferes with your proper and legal operation of your PC (IE. Busts SATA dvd drives?)
That is precisely what Starforce does- Also, they caused my PC to permantly BSOD to the extent of a FDISK- Tech support not interested!
I rest my case.
-Leezer-
thebluegr
30-06-2005, 03:52
@10823berlin:
Game demos DO give a good idea about what the game is about. Each game takes years and a group of programmers to make, something which you obviously don't respect. I'm not saying that I have bought everything that's installed on my PC, but I have bought a lot of software titles that I really enjoyed playing (Splinter Cell 1-3, Need For Speed Underground 1-2, Far Cry, Half Life 2 to name a few). Movies "generate some fun for very little time" as well, but I do go to the cinema. You can't just pretend to be poor, I've been a student, I've worked at the same time and still had money to go to the movies once per month and to buy a good game every 1-2 months.
As for game testing, you can always get the demo from a magazine or from the company's site, and yes that's usually more than enough to see what the game looks like. And you can still rent games from a video club. And in UK, you can return a product you didn't like (game, movie or music CD)...
Finally: nobody said that you HAVE to buy EVERY new game or movie that comes out. Noone forces you to do so. You just buy the stuff you like. That's why demos and trailers exist...
Buck Rogers
04-07-2005, 08:38
The key to end this war?
1) produce good quality games;
Money doesn't grow on trees so develop good games and
you have my bucks! otherwise go harvesting carrots!
Thats why game developers should have their respective public forum to ask customers what they want from the new incoming game, maybe even using them as beta testers.
2) lower the price (20 euros):
The price will be lower enought to be stupid to dwl a warez version, so the customers of original game will grow and no protection will be needed at all! we are about 60 million people around the world, get only 1 milions x 20 dollars=20 millions dollars!!! is enought for writing a game? (no other costs see below)
3) buy online and download it:
No more intermediaries between developers and customers, if a game could be sell at 20 euro, at the shelves cost 3 times more!! so you can be able to download a PERSONALIZED copy of the game, in your language and with an embed mention to who is the owner of such game (e.g.: this copy of the game belongs to etc etc, thanx for buying etc etc) let people customize what they purchase, let it be unique!
4) I really think that is my right to try-before-buy, so release ALWAYS a fully enjoyable demo version of the game (ID software docet!) before the final game, i have to know if the game is REALLY as CoOL as shown in the magazines or in the internet gaming site reviews.
but this will never happens, there is a weird project.. and al this projects leads to the same reason.. MONEY!
Antivirus: they are free.. you can use it freely but you know why? because in the future you will pay for it for sure!
antispam: same as above
Internet Game servers browsers: same as above
cheats website: same as above
and so on..
even the cracking tools have a cost! so why this mess should end? naaa... too many people earn easy money...
and my opinions is useless.. just like yours. :o
1. They do this already, and most publishers/developers do have beta testers.
2. Even if the game was $5 people will still steal/download the games, cause they are fat greedy feckers.
3. A good option, for the broadband people, people with 56k may miss out. But, then comes the Steam idea, they would have to protect the game via a steam like app, or else someone will get the game and sell to pals for $5 so they can play it.
whoeverxxx
04-07-2005, 16:46
I feel Starforce ruined one of my Sata drives in my raid0 array a while back on this computer. I've heard that this can happen if you have raided drives but I have no way to prove this is what happened to my drive. The drives were just a few months old and after I installed the game called Scrapland, the problems started and then one of the drives developed unrecoverable errors and turned to scrap just like the name of the game.
LoxHazard
05-07-2005, 00:12
I feel Starforce ruined one of my Sata drives in my raid0 array a while back on this computer. I've heard that this can happen if you have raided drives but I have no way to prove this is what happened to my drive. The drives were just a few months old and after I installed the game called Scrapland, the problems started and then one of the drives developed unrecoverable errors and turned to scrap just like the name of the game.
There are more real cases with starforce games how yours. With raid 0 and raid 5 too, with important consequences, unrecovered and data lost.
Some people continue buying starforce games without preocupation, ok, they chosen their way. Luck for them.
DUKE_NUKEM
05-07-2005, 08:38
@ DABhand
I don't think that, if ALL gamez had low prices, people would continue to download them. I feel sick when I see dl links to gamez which cost 15 euros, but I understand (NOT justify) the motives of those who download games which cost 50-60 euros. There are too many games, too much similar, nobody obliges us to buy everything, it's true, but if a game would last one month (= approx 30-45 hours), 40 euros (not 50 anyway) would be an honest price. 90% of games last max. 20 hours, it's not possible to include in this type of considerations the online gaming 'cause it's not a "quality" of the game, it's a mere possibility. However piracy is not so dangerous as they want us to believe, it hurts small software houses leading them to give up but the big ones (EA, Ubisoft and so on) still have big income as they are able to "recycle" their preceiding gamez without offering any of really "new". So don't worry, I don't think they will ever know what is poverty....
In my opinion there are some more reasons that people DL warezed Games. Not only for the price. I´ve no need to dl such games, my wife has a games store so i can test or play the newest releases. But i can say its more comfortable to play with cracked versions. It´s extremly annoying to type endless Cd/dvd keys, 2 or 3 times reboot the system, waiting for verification the protection, hear spinning the Cd/dvd device while my playing session, the boring questions for registration the game, cancel for more and more games the fuc**** "Gamespy", watching minutelong boring Intros - in some cases without chance to break it - , and so on. I just want to install a game, remove my CD/DVD and start playing simple. For me the only reason for using Gamefixes from GCW or other pages.
And i´m sure, this could be an reason for DL warezed games. They are much more comfortable, smoother and sometimes more stable. Here´s the point for the games industry to learn. If somebody spend 50.- Euros for an game, he has to got an userfriendly product and not an bull**** like starforce and Co.
Tijay
Most people that downloads games are from latin america, the main problem here is that games never reach to our stores... I would like to walk a few blocks and buy the cossacks 2 or any new game that have been released in europe and USA, but here in this ****ing far away country on the southern part of america games never reach.
I I go to a store they only sell a sims game or an AOE!!
Its too sad that some countries are left out of a certain market, here a customer is almost forced to download a warez game...
Hopefully Ive joined e-bay and bought the new cossacks, but I have to wait that the seller sends it by an expensive mail company which will double the price of the product... So ones again the poor and undeveloped countries have to pay more in order to buy legaly.
coffin filler
05-07-2005, 16:12
@ acha...Whilst you have my sympthany due to not getting good games released in your part of the world there are still "other" ways to obtain games without resulting to warez!! One simple option is to buy from a reputable source (many on the www) where by you can order almost any game and if you are to young or dont own a credit card you can pay with "pay pal" etc. Of course this will result in extra charge for postage but its not a massive hike in the original price. Also its not just the poor and under developed countrys that cant buy certian games as i myself (UK) had to buy a game called Enclave online from another country as it wasnt being released over here. I could of easliy downloaded a warez copy of the game but i am one of the few (mabey even a fool) that tries to support the dev houses etc that are responcible for brining us these great (and sometimes crappy) games. (i have a fast connection with unlimited usage and download size but i choose to buy it with my hard earned £s. Anyway this is getting off topic (as its a thread for SF ). (its just i see so many lame excuses where people try to justify there warez illness ;)
aycabron
21-07-2005, 19:39
So let me see if I got this staright...
Ubisoft has installed a secret program (without my authorization) that can cause some problems generaly asociated with a computer virus...If I were american I would SUE THE F**K OUT OF THEM! How dare they do that? I bought a legitimate copy of their damn game and they treat me like a thief the have to keep tabs on? Maybe the starforce is also a troyan which is secretly spying on my files too...at least steam let you know what you might be getting into....I´m in too, Boycott Starforce!
I own a Pizzeria, and it´s like saying that you are not responsable for someone beign foodpoisoned because of your food, because nobody forced them to eat it...you hold a responsability to your customers. And in NO WAY is the use of starforce covered in those in the agreement...because it´s not only a troyan (insalled without warning or notification of it´s consequences), but it can cause damage to your PC and interfer with it´s operation...so by this rationale, publishers could include troyans & even more delightful virus in their games, and nobody would be accountable for it but the end user....I´m one of the idiots who paid for a legit copy of their game....but I sincerly hope that those looking for the cd fix can come through and then "distribute" their damn games all over the damn world!
HACK THE PLANET!
Forestmarko
22-07-2005, 13:59
sign me up for the protest.... And about piracy... Yes many (maybe too many) people are downloading/burning the game illegally but as a matter of fact those games really cost too much... By loverin the prices the pirecy would Slowly dercrease. I dont think, that it will dissapear (at least not now or in near future), but surely it will decrese a bit and game companies will still have their profits... I dont think, that the costumers(aka pirats) are the only greedy people in this bussyness
(sry for my english ... Slovakia :) )
boycott, yes. but to all those who own the games that use sf, take the game back and say its faulty, if the shop says why then say the sf protection wont let me load it, what can they say even if has been opened, after all you cannot copy sf games.....
coffin filler
24-07-2005, 10:58
boycott, yes. but to all those who own the games that use sf, take the game back and say its faulty, if the shop says why then say the sf protection wont let me load it, what can they say even if has been opened, after all you cannot copy sf games.....
you can copy (some SF protected games) the problem can be getting it to play. ie no NOCD,NODVD ect ect unless a 1.1 copy is made. As far as im aware the problem arises when trying to get the SF protected game to run not to copy them. (i may be wrong though as i dont own ANY SF protected games and will NOT own any SF protected games so i can not speak from experience. Every other game i own i have backed up (and i own many games) and i belive this is a right we as consumers should have. SF is IMO a virus associated program where in it dose things that the user is not aware of and also alters the way in which windows works ect which is lets face it is what some viruses do. (thats trying to keep it in laymans terms). Come on consumers we need to let the devs ect know that we (the consumer) who are responcible for their profits know we are not happy and will not tollerate SF as a viable way to protect software when there are so many other viable options avalible to them. The only things that seem to work within the money
industry is money and so if a big enough dint is made in the profits of SF protected games the dev,s,publishers ect ect will get the message eventualy but we have to stick with it,see it through and there needs to be a larger amount of people refusing to buy SF protected games than there curently is. (in all honesty though i belive myself to be in a very small minority when not buying SF protected games which is bad news for the consumer as it gives out the message that we the consumer will tollerate anything so long as we are able to buy the games which begs the question as to what is the next thing we have to endure??)
Bru_Master
30-07-2005, 20:52
I fully support the petition to boycott SF games.
I had the "privledge" of having SF F*ck up my system (aka BSOD) and after removing it ...POOF bye bye BSOD
i also looked up the term "virus" at webopedia.com....heres a snipet from it..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virus - www.webopedia.com
"A program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. "
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hmmm...does anyone think that this remotely sounds like StarForce?
Or maybe I'm just paranoid...
Event Horizon
06-08-2005, 09:48
From now on I will boycot Starforce games. As a father of 3 kids I suggest to all parents to think twice before buying a Starforce protected game. I fully support this petition in all ways. I also have a small suggestion. We write on the cigarettes "It is bad for your health". Why shouldn't be write "It is bad for your OS" on Starforce protected games' case?
I fully support the petition to boycott StarFoce games.
I will never again buy a StarFoce protected game. Never.
Total support from me, too!
I use a Notebook with a Teac DL DVD Burner - NO CHANCE to run Cossacks II or the 1.4 Version of Silent Hunter 3.
I will NEVER waste my money for a StarForce Game!
Greetings, Sascha
ripper_george
09-08-2005, 22:52
I have been waiting for years and much patience for the release of silent hunter 3, and finally I purchased it....
But i didn't know what Starforce is...
I found it out, when I entered this site to find more downloads mods e.t.c.
I have to confess that I play this game, so I am risking breaking my computer down... But this game is like drugs.... Once you've played, you want more and more... :( .
But I really want to get rid of Starforce...
I won't ever buy any other game with Starforce, but this I thin was the game of the century...
By the way, in my country (GREECE), illegal copies can not only be downloaded, but also bought from local shops!!!!
So if those Richasses wanna stop piracy, why didn't they take care of this ****????
But if piracy stops, protections are useless, so protection creators don't wanna really eliminate this problem...
What I wanna finally say is:
Can't we complain or even go the PUBLISHER TO THE COURTS????
I think it's not allowed distributing a virus-bug with a software, is it???
I would love to see Ubisoft bitches paying a fortune because of having Starforce in Silent hunter 3.
Probably there is sth we can do, except for boycotting, right???? ;)
I never will buy or play a further StarForce-Game. Installing DRIVERS for a COPY-PROTECTION?? Not with me. I've got better things to do than waiting some hours for starting a game.
PsiRedEye22
04-09-2005, 11:29
Of course I won't stop buying StarForce games. There are very few things I just plain don't understand when it comes to making No-CD's for my games. StarForce is one of them. I barely understand it as it is, and if I stop buying the products attached to it, I'll never figure out what makes it tick.
Monty Burns
04-09-2005, 14:03
I never will buy or play a further StarForce-Game. Installing DRIVERS for a COPY-PROTECTION??
Yes, that is, what the whole f***ing starforce is all about !
starforce messed up my computer i will never use an application that uses it again
pigfister
07-09-2005, 02:15
i will not ever purchase i starforce protected game ever again as i believe that silenthunter 3 disc destroyed my nec dvd drive + how do i make my backup so the original is not damaged? A** Hole game companies!
Starforce is a program used to intimidate the general public to the software companies way of thinking, if no one can use a Nocd crack then there must be no piracy, as we all know this doesn't work. :mad:
It crashes your PC causing bad feeling and hardware issues, all the software companies are doing is alienating themselves further from the public, and therefore the public will push back financially.
I for one will not be buying Starforce protected games anymore, and I encourage others to make up there own minds, but be prepared for people to say TOLD YA SO!!
Have you considered that it does bad things, if you try to circumvent it, i.e. try to fool it or work around it?
markkram95
25-09-2005, 13:27
All games should state on the packaging what protection they use, then the end user knows what they are getting. There is no good reason not to inform us what protection is used after all!
XdaywalkerX
25-09-2005, 16:15
time for an anti-virus application :p
I HATE StarForce, I will never buy any SF protected game, even if it is rewarded as 'Game of the century' or whatever.
and what's about - "BEST GAME EVER" :D :D :D
my latest SF3 game is SCCT - i hope F.E.A.R will not protected by SF3 - i'd problems with scct last time - because SF3 :mad:
i hope F.E.A.R will not protected by SF3
I am guessing F.E.A.R will be Securom just like the Demo. ;)
coffin filler
26-09-2005, 06:05
I am guessing F.E.A.R will be Securom just like the Demo. ;)
I bloody hope so Grumps. This is a good example of my earlier posts. I stated i will not ever buy a SF protected game. I am looking so forward to FEAR (after the demo and mag reviews) but i can honestly say if its SF protected it wont be installed on my PC. (i cant imagine many other people taking the same stance though expecialy when its a game the person is realy looking forward to. Shame realy as this is the way to get the attention of the people who's attention we want/need to attract. £s speak a louder and a more direct language than us the lowley customer).
@Coffin Filler,
Well lets all pray it is not SF as then I too will be missing out on a top game as I also wont be installing it! :)
It really does make it hard to pre order games now as I dont want to take the chance that when I do recieve it will be protected with SF! :(
MistressDeath
26-09-2005, 13:07
Anyway, I have never bought a Starforce game. I ran into the Starforce virus while installing a demo during it's early stages. It killed my system to the point I didn't trust it because of the BSOD. I had to reinstall Windows so that I could trust and be happy with my pc again. I started telling all my friends to wait until you know what protection a new game is going to use before you buy or install the demo. My friends and I think the same way and will not install a demo or buy a Starforce protected game. It pains me to see the games that I have missed out on. But it also makes me feel good knowing my pc is sound and that I am able to play all the other copy protected games with high efficiency. It's true that all protections install something. But at least the others don't kill my pc, but are just quiet in the background not causing my pc harm. There is nothing worse than ghosts in the machine for any type of pc user. Not really sure why you received that BSOD. Starforce will not endure as game sales will drop. DTools 4.0 will beat Starforce's current versions. Starforce will come out with a new version to stop DTools 4.0. This new version will reek even worse havoc on all pcs that install the game or demo. It's kind of ironic if you think about it. Starforce was created because the the pub/dev were losing a small percentage of sales to warez and pirates. But in all actuality they will lose more sales because of no one will want to buy a Starforce protected game. 85% of computer gamers don't even know what warez is or pirating. They just live in a bubble and hang out at EB. This boycott is great idea and I support it very much. Pub/Dev's please use Securom or Safedisk. Even though these can be bypassed by current means at least your games cannot be copied by normal users and normal means. You are hurting the very customers you are working so hard to create your games for. You are going to learn a tough lesson. Don't bite the hand that feeds you and your family.
Hmmm, this brings back memories of Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. Something that is created to benefit that actually ends up doing more harm.
MD
XdaywalkerX
26-09-2005, 15:06
...
Hmmm, this brings back memories of Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. Something that is created to benefit that actually ends up doing more harm.
MD
Starforce=Skynet
...where is my "radioactive-protection-suit" - may it rains a few bombs next time... you never can tell - but you can "talk to my hand" :D :D :D - in german he said "Sprich zu der Hand" - i don't know what he said in english... ;)
It appears the Starforce Petitions and the Boycotting of purchasing Starforce protected games is starting to take effect!
Codemasters is no longer using Starforce to protect its games! They have moved to Securom 7. :)
(Thanks to cdsteam for the information)
XdaywalkerX
27-09-2005, 03:46
never even dreamed of saing it - I LOVE SECUROM - but i think this protection install drivers too... or i'm wrong? :confused:
coffin filler
27-09-2005, 06:19
@Coffin Filler,
Well lets all pray it is not SF as then I too will be missing out on a top game as I also wont be installing it! :)
It really does make it hard to pre order games now as I dont want to take the chance that when I do recieve it will be protected with SF! :(
AMEN...AMEN
It appears the Starforce Petitions and the Boycotting of purchasing Starforce protected games is starting to take effect!
Codemasters is no longer using Starforce to protect its games! They have moved to Securom 7. :)
(Thanks to cdsteam for the information)
Its not true
Sorry to disapooint you about this. Codemasters announced Securom 7 in Heroes of The Pacific a month ago in their news letter as a 1 game contract because starforce would have slow down the game to much. They said that they might use it more often if there is no release of it in the near future but it came out as clonecd the day it was retail store so i guess (or better said im pretty sure) the next important games like TOCA 3 and CMR 2006 will have sf3 again as the Beta versions have sf3 already (v 3.5).
----------------
never even dreamed of saing it - I LOVE SECUROM - but i think this protection install drivers too... or i'm wrong?
you r right dude!
and just look how many problems it has on Myst 5 UbiSoft forum :p
Seems that publishers begin to realize the pirate threat - so StarForce really hrlps in it, and after that Securom and Safedisk begin to make more relible protections.
Evil Homer
03-10-2005, 05:56
Well sorry, but this thread makes no sense since you "sign" against the (almost) only copy protection that is still hard to crack. so what do you want? that software is protected by weak copy protections that erverybody can crack with help of some "tool"? i don't think publishers will agree with you. wouldn't it make more sense to start a petition against copy protections?
Guys, you both miss the point, it's not the fact that the game is protected that is the problem, it's what StarForce does when installed. :mad:
So it doesn't matter if later someone finds a fix for it (eg:daemon v4) and you can copy the game, you are still installing starforce when you install the game and that will still mess with most computers at some stage or other.
From what I hear and read when U finally go 64bit you'll be lucky if your machine runs at all if you've installed a starforce infected game.
So I also am joining the boycott, I do have quiet a few of the infected games but I will never buy another and hopefully nor will most of U.
I also think this should be a sticky, very important and very relavent issue for todays gamers. :eek:
thebluegr
05-10-2005, 00:35
Just to clear some confusion here: almost ALL protections (Starforce, Safedisk, Securom) load device drivers (SecuRom installs drivers from v7 onwards (http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/uaservice7.exe.html)). For example, safedisc installs a driver called "secdrv.sys" in windows\system32\drivers - there is an update for it here:
http://www.macrovision.com/products/safedisc/downloads.shtml
However, these drivers are not obtrusive (I have the Safedisk driver installed in all my PCs) and cause no issues (apart from an error with older Safedisc drivers, fixed from the page above). Each well-known protection apart from StarForce loads ONE driver (e.g. secdrv). On the other hand, StarForce installs a LOT of drivers (about 6 or so) that mess with the normal operation of the PC and they tamper with things they are not supposed to (e.g. the PC's IDE channels). That's what's causing the BSODs and system instabilities. The issue is not that StarForce uses device drivers, it's about the damage these drivers cause to the systems they are installed, as well as the things they do behind the back of the user. Note that StarForce is the ONLY protection that has an uninstall program for their drivers - they "silently" aknowledge that their own program is causing problems to PCs it's installed on. No other protection offers uninstall programs, because no user has had issues with these drivers.
I'm mentioning this because StarForce authors claim that all protections use device drivers and that user eggagerate when they talk about the SF drivers. This is not the case, as their drivers are far more complex and affect many things in a system they are installed on.
To sum up, the issue here is that StarForce drivers are complex, they are many (not one, as most protections), they tamper with things they are not supposed to and they do a lot of nasty things "under the hood". This causes system instabilities, BSODs and a lot of unnecessary grievance just to protect some games. Finally, SF protected games do NOT work on Windows 64-bit without a vendor patch, and very few vendors have supplied such patches
Like others do, I too recommend all my friends not to install SF protected games for the sole reason that SF drivers are a major pain in the ass
Wikipedia has a nice article about StarForce here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starforce
There is also an article with the response of Starforce to many user's comments here:
http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_061a.html
and a discussion thread about it here:
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=37;t=007110
There is also a very good page dedicated to boycotting StarForce :D here:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/
Note that StarForce itself has a page containing their latest drivers, an uninstall program and some answers to common questions here:
http://www.star-force.com/protection/users/
they tamper with things they are not supposed to (e.g. the PC's IDE channels)
You are very far from the truth.
A short analysis of sfcure demonstrate that SF hook two Microsoft drivers:
1= classpnp.sys: all Read/Write operation
2= netbt.sys; all operation (except load/unload)
1) means that SF spy everything that is read/write, from optical discs or hard discs
2) netbt is netbios over tcpip. It means that they can send to anyone what the spyed at stage 1)
Many thanks to eip.
You unplug your CD readers? Unplug your internet connexion!!!
GTrunner
06-10-2005, 08:48
I also support this petition!
I had a problem with Colin McRae Rally 2005, didn't work & f****d up my computer. I also could not returned it to the store becouse ''I opened it''. :mad:
I definitively won't buy another Starforce protected game ever.
coffin filler
06-10-2005, 10:07
Yawns, Rubs eyes and conceeds that there will always be a few of "them".
Now i am not confesing to know all there is to know about SF or indeed prots in general. However i do have an understanding above the average user who has not looked into or wanted to know more about game protection ect. There are indeed many misunderstanding where SF is concerned. People do sometimes over exaggerate the problems SF can cause but make no mistake about it, SF is EVIL :mad: Joking aside though i have read many peoples posts (here @ GCW and "other" forums) playing down the FACT that SF can and dose cause unstable PC's in many different ways. Now one thing many people dont realize (apart from the Legal issues regarding SF and how it "works" within your OS) People dont realize that from having a SF protected game installed it can effect other non gaming related processes. For example a non gaming related issue would be = Not being able to backup other non SF protected games (without needing to know more than many people do) and this isnt just related to backing up games. It "can" effect the writing of other formats to DVD or CD. Now i dont know about you but if there is a possability that a SF protected game can hamper my DVD-RW's writing to disk opperations then that should be made clear by the Dev of SF should it not ?. (this can also tie into the legal argument about SF) and if indeed its a prot of even a virus/Malicious program because a virus/Malicious software dose things it dosent have the users permission to do (and yes i know im being very basic here). So to some up. Is SF capable of all the roomers. Probarly no is the correct answere but it is capeable of causing an unstable PC and its capeable of not only effecting gaming processes but also non related gaming opperations to.
Sorry to of weebled on for so long but this is something i feel very strongly about and as a consumer i feel if i were to purchase a SF protected game (which i have never personaly done and never would) i would not be privvy to all the information needed for me to make a educated decision and the lack of truthfull info is wrong, The lack of warning on SF proteced game cases and a list of possable effects is wrong. And if another product was being sold in this way there would be laws being broken,trading standards would be involved,the product would be taken off the shelvs until either the correct warnings were implemented on the case or SF was ammended ect ect.
So to all who claim SF dosent do damage to your PC 's (mabey you were one of the lucky ones?). SF dose have the Potential to and dose in fact cause many people problems. (problems the consumer should be made aware of before Purchase).
All of my above post has been posted (by myself and others) here at GCW previously. In my previous posts concerning SF(some of which are in this actual thread) It amazers me that people still post here trying to state that SF dose not cause problems in any form :confused: Do people actualy read the whole of threads before making a post ? ( i think not) I think to many times people respond to the later part of threads rather than to read the whole thread. If they did then there might possabily not as many incorrect posts. (JUST because something hasent effected you dose not mean it wont/hasent effected others and in many cases people wont even know what SF has done to their PC). So many times i read the same posts that have already been discused earlier in a thread (expecialy long threads that im subscribed to). SF Is a naughty Entity from a naughty region designed to do naughty things to our beloved PC's. (mabey that will help some to understand before they post) :D
funny you say that..about it messing with other back ups..etc.
after my last fight with star force (toca 2) i ended up with one dead cd rw drive and one dvd rw drive that would not burn succsefully from the moment starforce hit my machine.
i fixed that drive by reflashing it.(about 4 times)
i later bought a new phillips dvd rw drive,working fine...then i decide to install toca2 again and bang! same thing happens.
since then i have sold all my starforce games to the local gamestation store...its really not worth the hassle.(and i aint just talking backing up hassle..im talking starforce in general)
coffin filler
06-10-2005, 17:21
since then i have sold all my starforce games to the local gamestation store...its really not worth the hassle.(and i aint just talking backing up hassle..im talking starforce in general)
yep but their will still be those who state SF is not responsible :eek: ( I am begining to wonder if they are in fact SF employees) :rolleyes:
thing is unless people read statements in forums,nobody is to know any better.
good job that the only 3 half decent star force games so far have been colin mcrae,splinter cell 3 and toca 2...the rest aint worth wasting 40 quid on anyway lol :P
HodgePodge
07-10-2005, 16:06
Everyone needs to know what is going on with this copy-protection program and how it can hinder, even damage your computer. I will not be buying any game which requires StarForce to be installed too.
Thanks again for the list.
i actually emailed codemasters (months ago),and they told me it should not do any damage unless you try to either mod the installation or try to run a back up.
now im not sure if it was before or after i tried cracking toca 2..but im sure it was before.
but even so they are basically saying 'fcuk with us and we will fcuk with you!' in other words,try to mess with there protection and they will destroy a expensive part oif your pc.
dsl_zood_dsl
09-10-2005, 04:43
i got my " iso copy " of Worms 4 Mayhem :rolleyes: but now i can not play it because of sf3 :eek: .
....................to hell sf3 :mad: .
i got my " iso copy " of Worms 4 Mayhem :rolleyes: but now i can not play it because of sf3 :eek: .
....................to hell sf3 :mad: .
Bye, bye!
Enjoy the ban!!
-Leezer-
@dsl_zood_dsl: You got a permanent ban !!!
coffin filler
09-10-2005, 07:37
i got my " iso copy " of Worms 4 Mayhem :rolleyes: but now i can not play it because of sf3 :eek: .
....................to hell sf3 :mad: .
So many people make the same mistake. (we/I dont care if you own iso coppies of games ect, we/I are not the damm Internet police but all thats asked is a little commen sence. Ie dont go sharing that info here and dont expect any help unless original game disk/DVD is owned by yourself). No-one seems to read the rules any more these days and whilest i must also confess that i dont read the rules for every site i visit i try to use commen sence and also if i register or post in a forum I at least scan through the rules).
I know its been said before but upon registration here at GCW i think it would be a good idea that its compulsery to have to go through the rules + regs stuff. (mabey a time limit where the user whos registering cant close the rules page down or compleat the registration process until the limit is reached ect). (how that would be implemented is another question though :D And at least that way people cant say " I diddnt know" or "errrm what i meant was ermm :o " Resulting in the chance the mods might be able to get rid of some of the more annoying warez kiddies with a perm ban more often as second chances wouldnt be so easy to come across.
(A little off topic i know) :p
I've been boycotting SF3 games for a while now. I have a number of computers and also two places of residence. Usually I make copies of games so that I can play any game I own regardless of where I am. SF3 doesn't allow me to do that so I don't buy their games. Never looked at it like a boycott untill now though.
the law is one game per house hold and one game per pc mate
coffin filler
10-10-2005, 08:46
the law is one game per house hold and one game per pc mate
Actualy thats not compleatly correct. Some games (note the some) allow in the EULA a game to be installed on more than one PC (in the same house hold) Then of course theres the issue of prot on exe ect but i have know of some devs/pubs that arnt to hung up on the "Only to be installed on one PC per game disk).
well its border line as the law states 1 game per pc for network/multiplayer reasons.
russellrv
10-10-2005, 21:14
I dont think any of this is going to do anything unfortunately, mainly because you are not hurting any particular gaming company.
No one is going to listen to anyone who is part of a website which supports a community which tries to work around their software protection.
Even though starforce is very intrusive of you computer system, m$ has been doing it for years.
HunterZ0
17-10-2005, 17:48
Last I checked, the U.S. law was that you could have it installed on as many computers as you want as long as you only run it on one at a time. Having to insert the original CD to play is a way to enforce this, but that also steps on our fair use rights that entitle us to a backup copy so that we can keep the original safe in the box. That's why no-CD patches are a legal gray area and why sites like gamecopyworld still exist.
Also, russellrv is correct. The only way to send a message to publishers to stop using Starforce or any other protection is to BUY UNPROTECTED GAMES instead of protected ones. If you don't buy ANY games, they'll increase the copy-protection to discourage pirating. If you buy protected games, they'll keep the amount the same. However, if they see unprotected game sales are higher than protected ones, they'll see it as an important factor.
Unfortunately most people are either ignorant, lazy, indifferent, or pirates and don't bother to do research and then go out and buy only unprotected games. This is also probably why fewer and fewer PC games are being published.
Another good approach is to buy a game and then return it if the protection gives you problems. Exchange it for the same game until they get tired and give you your money back. If they have to send 5+ copies of the game back to the publisher for everyone who buys the game, the publishers and retailers will get the message that copy protection is bad for business. I know this happened to my brother recently with Call of Duty, which he bought and couldn't play because the only CD drive in his system was a burner (which the copy protection was biased against).
Godsredeemed
27-10-2005, 13:25
I too will not willingly install or play dl'd SF games.
However, what I do not understand is that somebody has beaten some of these protected games.
I have
Area 51
D Day
Codename Panzer Phase one
ColinMcRaae Rally 2005
Sudeki
and others that play without any of these complcate CD and DVd disabling routines.
Will simply removing the IDE cable from the CD or DVD burner suffice to overcome this protection once the mdf is mounted?
Was planning on buying Area 51, guess I'll just buy it for XBOX then... ;)
bigdyl69
29-10-2005, 01:16
Starforce sucks and it shouldn't be allowed. I only install drivers in my computer that I need for my installed hardware, not crappy trojan-like back door access drivers like starforce protection uses.
DOWN WITH SF
Zaganoth
29-10-2005, 13:28
I [my legal name] , will not buy starforce protected games.
mrnobodywtb
29-10-2005, 18:45
*boycotts all starforce games*
felipe_c
29-10-2005, 21:27
well, Starforce is a protection very strong, but the driers(software) that it install on the computers y very fu*k and I think that it´s illegal. For that reason I don´t buy the games that contains inside this protection.
I love mi Pc and I don´t want that this protection fu*k my DVD or in the worse case my PC...
I think that nobody should buy these games.. If we don´t buy these games the enginners that create these games don´t be agree to mount this protection on their games. DON´T BUY GAMES WITH THIS PROTECTION until they see the true problem that Starforce cause to us, the final users...
thanx
felipe_c
CMDR Sweeper
01-11-2005, 02:50
I am a StarForce boycotter, any games with just the hint of StarForce on it is shyed like plague!
I have allready teased the developers of StarForce into a little "no win" situation on their forums...
EDIT: I can now conclude that StarForce has other drastic devastating effects on users of external HD's as well.
I have felt it as now, windows will NOT boot with the HD switched on, I have to switch it on once it is in windows, if I do it earlier it will only give me a black screen.
How long will it be until Symantec stamps StarForce as a virus?
thebatch88
02-11-2005, 00:59
I recently acquired Worms 4 Mayhem, and it has Starforce 3, but no system crashes yet? Should I be worried? o.0
Godsredeemed
02-11-2005, 05:58
CMDR Sweeper.
Your remarks relative to devastating effects is really interesting .
I run, inaddition to my main machine, with up to 4 external HDs for various reasons.
Being a bit of a collector all of my latest software was stored on one of the external HDs.
I installed my one and only purchased SF protected game and something happened to completely destroy the file structrue of the HD storing all my software.
Needsless to say I had to reformat and start all over again.
For other reasons I too boycott SF, but I wonder if the one and only intall caused the external HD destruction?
I remain a StarForce boycotter. Hurry up DT "all is forgiven"!
Collector? You mean downloaded images yes?
Joe Forster/STA
02-11-2005, 06:18
Hi guys, just a recent story for you...
Last Friday an old schoolmate of mine gave me a phone call, saying his PC stopped booting, saying there was no OS installed. He has Windows 98 as well as Windows XP, with quite a lot of applications installed, but the most important part was the music and samples for his own pop band and some other bands he lends a helping hand to. (Yeah, yeah, as usual, no backups at all!)
The problem turned out to be in the boot area and the beginning of FAT1 on the first, FAT32-formatted partition. Many sectors were simply overwritten by some system-related data (chunks from extended CMOS, registry or Windows system memory?). With careful inspection and manual/semi-automatic repair, everything came back, none of the partitions reported any file system problems in Checkdisk/Scandisk afterwards. (Ridiculously enough, the software that repaired the overwritten areas properly was fsck.vfat from my old Red Hat Linux installation!)
In the meantime, my friend told me that the moment when the PC stopped booting was when he installed GT Legends, a Starforce-protected game, and allowed it to reboot the PC. Guess what, now he wants to get rid of the game completely and never try to install a Starforce-protected game on his PC again!
kenmaher
02-11-2005, 09:11
tried to make back up and mount image so i could use lma 2005 whitout disc (star force 3) computer chrashed original stoped working downloaded starforce nightmare and something else just to get game to work again . wont be buying star force games again:mad:
Vicente123
04-11-2005, 00:22
**** Starforce!!!!
thebluegr
06-11-2005, 12:12
Updated Starforce game list: I've found several different lists with Starforce games and added them to the existing list. All the games have been cross-referenced with GameCopyWorld. All the verified games are linked to the corresponding GCW page to obtain their no-cd crack :) . The non-verified games (games I couldn't find on GCW or that were listed in GCW with a non-starforce protection) have been placed in another list that follows.
List of verified Starforce games
7 Sins [3.4.71.19] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_7_sins.shtml)
Anito: Defend A Land Enraged [1.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_anito.shtml)
Afrika Korps VS Desert Rats [v3.3.31.21] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_afrika_korps_vs_desert_rats.shtml)
Bet on Soldier (no page exists on GCW)
Beyond Divinity [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_beyond_divinity.shtml)
Blitzkrieg Rolling Thunder [v3.4.50.1] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_blitzkrieg_rolling_thunder.shtml)
Breed [3.3.33.06/3.3.33.08] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_breed.shtml)
Chaos League [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_chaos_league.shtml)
Codename: Outbreak (Russian) [1.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_codename_outbreak.shtml)
Codename: Panzers Phase One [v3.3.37.2] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_codename_panzers.shtml)
Codename: Panzers Phase Two [v3.4.77.000] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_codename_panzers_2.shtml)
Colin McRae Rally 2005 [v3.4.49.1] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_colin_mcrae_rally_2005.shtml)
Cossacks II Napoleonic Wars [v3.4.65.11] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_cossacks_2.shtml)
Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_creature_conflict.shtml)
Curse: The Eye of Isis [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_curse.shtml)
D Day [v3.4.41.1] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_d-day.shtml)
Domination (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_domination.shtml)
Etherlords 2 [v3.3.31.21] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_etherlords_2.shtml)
Fire Chief: Fire Department [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_fire_chief.shtml)
Gangland [v3.3.36.1] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_gangland.shtml)
Garfield (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_garfield.shtml)
Gooka 2: The Mystery of Janatris (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_gooka.shtml)
GTR: FIA GT Racing [v3.4.70.2] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_gtr_fia_gt_racing.shtml)
I-Ninja (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_i-ninja.shtml)
Kicker Manager 2004 [v3.03.036.001] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_kicker_manager_2004.shtml)
Kill.Switch [v3.3.33.8] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_kill_switch.shtml)
Korea: Forgotten Conflict [v3.3.27.36] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_korea.shtml)
Maximus XV: Abraham Strong Space Mercenary [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_maximus_xv.shtml)
Medievil Lords [v3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_medievil_lords.shtml)
Obscure [v3.3.36.1] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_obscure.shtml)
Pac Man World 2 [v3.3.30.11] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_pacman_world_2.shtml)
Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_postal_2.shtml)
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy [3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_psi-ops.shtml)
Psychotoxic (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_psychotoxic.shtml)
Restaurant Empire (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_restaurant_empire.shtml)
Restricted Area (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_restricted_area.shtml)
Runaway: A Road Adventure [3.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_runaway_a_road_adventure.shtml)
Shade: Wrath of Angels [v3.4.53.0] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_shade.shtml)
Silent Hunter III [v3.4.71.19] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_silent_hunter_3.shtml)
Singles: Flirt up your life [v3.3.33.6] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_singles.shtml)
Singles 2: Triple trouble (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_singles_2.shtml)
Soldiers: Heroes of World War II [v3.3.36.1] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_soldiers.shtml)
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory [v3.4.71.19] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_splinter_cell_3.shtml)
Still Life (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_still_life.shtml)
Street Racing Syndicate (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_street_racing_syndicate.shtml)
Sudeki [v3.4.71.19] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_sudeki.shtml)
SuperPower 2 (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_superpower_2.shtml)
The Black Mirror [v3.3.27.36] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_black_mirror.shtml)
The Fall: Last days of Gaia [v3.4.63.3] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_fall.shtml)
The Moment of Silence (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_moment_of_silence.shtml)
The Suffering [v3.3.37.2] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_suffering.shtml)
The Suffering 2: Ties that bind (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_suffering_2.shtml)
TOCA Race Driver 2 / DTM Race Driver 2 [v3.3.35.2] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_toca_race_driver_2.shtml)
Track Mania [v3.03.035.004] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_moment_of_silence.shtml)
UFO: Aftershock [v3.5] (no page exists on GCW)
War and Peace (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_war_and_peace.shtml)
Will of Steel (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_will_of_steel.shtml)
Worms 4 Mayhem [v3.5.05.03] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_worms_mayhem.shtml)
WWII: Frontline Command [v3.3.0.26] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_ww2_frontline_command.shtml)
X3: Reunion [v3.5] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_x3.shtml) (no page exists on GCW)
XIII (Russian) (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_xiii.shtml)
Xpand Rally [v3.3.x.x] (http://m0003.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_xpand_rally.shtml)
List of non-verified Starforce games
(No URLS on GameCopyWorld / No info / Erroneous info / Not protected by Starforce. Note: This list contains a lot of non-english games, as they can't be found on GCW. Some games have different protections for each language they have been released in. E.g. Army Men English seems to be unprotected, whereas Army Men Russian seems to be protected with Starforce)
1944 Battle of the Bulge [N/A]
AceSaga [N/A]
American Conquest (Russian) [v3.x]
Anstoss 4 [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Area 51
Army Men (Russian) (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Asterix & Obelix XXL (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Bandits: Phoenix Rising [3.03.036.001]
Bet on Soldier
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Chaos League: Sudden Death (and Demo)
Club Football 2005
Chrome (Russian) [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Cossacks: Back To War [1.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Cossacks: European War [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Counter Terrorist SF Fire for Effect (DVD) [v3.4.71.19]
Cross Racing Championship
Cycling Manager 3 [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Cycling Manager 4 [v3.3.36.1]
Demonic Speedway [v3.x]
Desert Rats vs. Afrika Corps [3.3.31.19]
Dead to Rights (3 CDs) [v3.3.37.26] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Emergency Fire Response [v3.x]
Enigma: Rising Tide [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Etherlords [1.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Fair Strike (2 CDs) [v3.3.33.3]
Fire Department 2
Gadget and the Gadgetinis
GT Legends (and Demo)
Heroes of Might & Magic IV: The Gathering Storm (Russian)
Horse Racing Manager[v3.x]
Icewind Dale 2: Heart of Winter [v3.x]
IL-2 Sturmovik [1.x]
League Manager 2005[v3.4.50.1] (Spanish)
Magna Carte/Carta (Korean) [1.x]
Magnamedia (Russian) [v3.x]
Mercedes-Benz World Racing (Spain) [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Might & Magic IX: Writ of Fate (Russia) (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Narsillion (Russia) [1.x]
Pax Romana [v3.3.30.11] (no information available)
Post Mortem (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Russia) [3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Pro Rugby Manager [v3.3.33.08]
Pro Rugby Manager 2
Rally Championship Xtreme (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Real Madrid Club Soccer (DVD) [v3.4.50.1] (Spanish)
Rendezvous 3 (Russian)
Revolution (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Scrapland [v3.4.50.1]
Second Sight
Seventh Seal (Asian)
Seventh Seal: The Resurrection of the Dark Lord (Asia) [2.x]
Shtyrlits 3: USSR Agent (Russian) [1.x]
Siege of Avalon (Russian) [1.x]
Silent Storm [3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Silkolene Honda Motocross [3.x]
Sniper (Poland) [3.x]
Tennis Masters Series: Battleground of Champions (Asian)
The Heroes of Three Kingdoms (Asian)
The I Of The Dragon (Russian) [v3.x]
The Kreed [v3.3.27.36]
The Westerner (French) [3.3.31.21] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Traitor's Gate 2
UFO: Aftermath [v3.3.27.31] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
V8 Supercars 2 [v3.3.35.02]
Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun [v3.3.30.5] (no information available)
Virtual Skipper 3 (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
Wildlife Park [v3.x] (GCW reports it is NOT protected by Starforce)
X2: The Threat [v3.3.30.5]
Xuan-Yuan Sword 4 (Asia) [v2.x]
Feel free to add any missing games to this list, or edit any mistakes found in it
Edit: Typos, a couple of games I forgot
Edit2: Added a couple of games from DABhand, thanks!
Edit3: Added some more links to GCW
Dipangshu
09-11-2005, 05:34
We in india never buy any games original. all the big games are available in tons in certain locations in just 1 dollar each. I have bought one black mirror and played full until the suicide of the hero ( last scene) without a glimpse of starforce.I have seen the list on the top of the forum and i don't know which version of black mirror is star force protected? However if u can get a brand new oracle 11 i in 3 dollar and if the official price of a good game like cossacks 2 is 40 dollars, which covers food supply of a bachelor like me for half a month in india, will u buy any original?
But i am now working in Bahrain for last 1 year and missing indian pirates. too unlucky with cossacks 2. In my lifetime i have played many good games but never paid more than 2 dollar for a game. So long live hackers and crackers.
I do believe they will **** starforce in due course.
Oh dear :\ your stay didnt last long Dipang
@thebluegr
UFO: Aftershock = SF3.5
X3: Reunion = SF3.5
thebluegr
09-11-2005, 12:08
Thanks, added them to the list! :)
tchiu001
09-11-2005, 18:49
The new PC release of Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Collection also has Starforce and will not install properly. Sadly, this is how Namco ends up sharing the old classics with its customers.
Thanks to everyone here for the opportunity to keep up to date and express our views.
Joe Forster/STA
10-11-2005, 02:52
@Dipangshu: I agree with you but, unfortunately, this is NOT the right forum to discuss this. Actually, the discussion of warez is prohibited here so you might get banned for it...
Dipangshu
10-11-2005, 04:39
ok good friend Joe, some people love to call the spade a spade.
want to know about starforce 3.4.65. how it works.
:confused: Can any body highlight it?
jholybigjesus
11-11-2005, 11:51
Add bet on soldier to the list.
ive got an ORIGINAL The Suffering:Ties That Bind game and this crap tells me i dont have cd in drive :mad: ,cause they dont tested this **** on my LG cd-rw :eek: boycott this f****** **** :mad:
Crayzee_Ivan
12-11-2005, 08:33
@Grumpy: Your petition convinced me to register at fileforums, add that to your "Good deed for the day" list :)
Petition signed.
BTW, why is this still not a sticky?
wildwing
12-11-2005, 09:16
games with sf..
ehh
starforce is crackable whene its witout VM
if this one is with VM .. isnt crackable.. ( crackable but VERY HARD)
:(
heh sorry for my eng.. :)
Nicodemus_27
19-11-2005, 00:28
Hi guyz and galz.
Just adding my tuppence.
I work in support IT for many homes and companies. Just recently however, I have found a distubingly large number of people who cannot get their games to work. Apart from Xmas being round the corner :D, I simply do not and cannot afford the resources to advise everyone who has brought one of the games with SF on it to take it back. several companies have refused to do this for some people.
http://new.petitiononline.com/starfarc/petition.html.
This is an online petition that I will present to the company on 25th December. A nice Xmas Present.
Of course, it will ask for your email but Hotmail is quite kewl nowadays! And besides, we're legal and just hacked orf with this incompetence :mad:
Out of interest I have now had 23 calls regarding this so, called software! I rue the day PC world set up nearby.
http://www.star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=83&id=657
PC Magazine Russian edition?? :eek:
Friends, gamers, countrymen, lend me your emails.
Dulce et decorum est.....................:D
this link of petition doesn't work!!
Nicodemus_27
19-11-2005, 02:11
sorry, the previous link is an activation one!
Here is the proper one:
http://www.petitiononline.com/starfarc/
Thanks. Let's make it huge.
wildwing
19-11-2005, 02:23
damn same :)
bismarck
22-11-2005, 14:10
I also signed here just becouse of this thread & here are my thoughts :)
I bought Codename Panzers: Phase 2 as I own the Phase 1 and when install it on my pc, start it, then STARFORCE install it self and want to reboot. So I did that. Then wanting a dvd to play. And no matter what I did I couldnt get the game work (reinstall win, it works at my neighbour) so after 4 days I returned it to the store. :( Than I look at some forums and there is a lot of compatibility problems with starforce and a lot of complains. PETITION SIGNED!
And there is this thing with original games that you must have a cd/dvd in your cd/dvd rom to play the game. What a stupidity. Anyone have a software like Office, Acdsee, Nero etc... that would requaire a cd/dvd to use program. What would be like if Nero would give u a pop-up "Please insert Nero 7 Install CD in your burner to start the program" LOL following by "If you don't have another burner in your PC please go and buy your second burner and THANK YOU for buying this software"
BTW:Bill Gates please if you read this make windows need to use a cd in order to run! :)))
Andrewoz
23-11-2005, 00:35
Abbie's idea that a 1-click EULA gives legal protection is flawed. There are several ways you could successfully argue that away in court. Wat protects publishers isd the vast disparity in resources between themselves and end-users.
Lack of informed consent kills the EULA, unless it specifically lists what it is doing wrt to planting drivers and lists all known/reportewd issues with them.
As far as the EULA principle itself, if you can demonstrate that the "average" person scrolls down and agrees without reading, to the satisfaction of the court, the the EULA concept is out the window, even if the info is in there.
Of course, this is all moot until someone challenges it in court. Any idle rich want a hobby-cause?
midfingr
23-11-2005, 14:39
Wow. Great to see this. I purchased SCCT Collector's Edition and installed the game, this is when it came out. At the time I wasn't aware of Starforce, but thanks to forms and sites like these, I am now.
While looking on the ubi forms, I came across a sticky called 'Starforce and Solutions'. In this there is some admission to SF causing problems with certain applications and hardware. But there were three things that irritated me.
1) Problems with old drivers; update your firmware. Yeah and what if there isn't an update? Buy a new CD/DVD? Not likely, unless it was rendered useless, which was in my case, my LITE-ON DVD/RW (can't remember the rest) was /w with the latest and last firmware available :\
2) ..."Alc0hol 120%
DAEMON Tools
Clone CD
Nero (Disabled by Default)
If you experience issues with running the game disabling these applications can help."
The key words. -CAN HELP
3) The thread is closed. So they are right and you are wrong. Upon looking a little further in to the forms. They basically don't want to hear anything negative about their beloved SF virus/trojan.. what have you.
The topic can be found here: http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/954105331/m/6811067603
So. What else can we do? Yes, for one, stop buying SF games. Make more people aware. Get the attention of someone with $$$ that cares enough to support our cause. From the ubi form, it appears obvious that they don't care if your system gets trashed and only supply very lame solutions.
blackjjjack
23-11-2005, 16:19
But I hope that wont be needed much longer. Sony will be punished for what they did by installing background software on our systems and I hope the same will happen to those starforce devellopers. I mean: some stupid EULA does NOT give the right to grap control over our computers.
There IS a reason why the big publicers like EA, Rockstar and do NOT use starforce. And I just hope that other companies will follow those good examples.
Joe Forster/STA
24-11-2005, 04:40
The article at http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/954105331/m/6811067603 fails to mention the following:
- How to "disable" virtual CD/DVD emulators? Uninstalling them to be able to play a game is not an acceptable solution; it's too much of a hassle, especially, that the settings, making their usage more comfortable, are also lost.
- Unlike the Starforce drive, the SecuROM 7 driver doesn't run all the time, therefore, it can't mess with your system when not playing games.
i played games when i was younger , now i dont have much time for it but when i find some useless free time i always like to spend it playing some game...there games starts...friend brought me around 10 DVDs with games and he left...the problem was that it was the first time after 2-3 years that i actually started to install some new games on my pc ( only game i play is q3 cuz i am pro-gamer :F ) and when i saw one file around 2.5 gb for quake4 and some strange files i was like WTF !?!?11 i called him immediatly and he tells me : "just dl daemon tools or alcohol , latest versions" i said ok and i did that...i instaled COD2 , installed q4..everything worked, everything was just fine...i told him also to get me some game for my 10 year old lil sister and it was I-NINJA, i tried to install it..i did...but no-cd error occured, first i thought there is some crack or something but no...then i phoned him and he tells me he dunno he was just dling =)) then i started google search for some solutions and i ended up here...now my lil sis is whining and my hands are tied up...i am saying guys that you have my full support just dunno where to sign that petition =)
@asdfas
he tells me he dunno he was just dling
So I presume you are talking about games your friend has downloaded and not talking about the original discs? Do you have the original discs?
quake4 and cod2 ye...q4 org i need cuz i play online ...same story with CoD2...i dont like playing single player :F
i have read from post 1 to the last post about starforce and i dont want to buy I-NINJA ..i am scared it could ruin my system...and no1 so far explained that to me what it is... =o
Yes, I am boycotting Starforce games
For what little bit it is worth, I am regularly complaining to Micros*** about why they are allowing Starforce protection to infest their operating systems and **** up peoples programs and apps.
I know it wont do any good but at least it makes me feel better. :o
Hurry up and die Starforce.............
cptpooface
28-11-2005, 00:11
I just read a bunch of pages on this topic but didn't finish all of them so I'm sorry if I repeat something that has already been said. It seems this topic is based on the legality of the protection. The companies could easily bypass this by adding a warning, I don't know who said it, but someone said Starforce should just have a pop-up that warns of its "side effects," along with this they should have to put something on the outside of the box, like system requirements they could state that your computer could not have certain programs, etc... By including all the information they could avoid any hassle. They would have to include all of the facts about Starforce. They would have to list every conceivable possibility, just like the pharmaceutical companies (this medication could cause heart explosion or brain aneuryism). The pharmaceutical companies have to do this because after many class action law suits they are legally liable. Until Starforce is beaten in court, and are forced to comply, they will never warn anyone of there program's shortcomings. Game companies also need to realize that if a game is good people will buy it. How many people bought GTA: San Andreas? And how many people could have pirated it? I'm not saying that a good game will never be pirated, but the majority of people who want it will buy it. If it's a quality product it will sell. In my opinion you are all justified in boycotting Starforce. Even if all they did was keep secret all the "extras" in their program, they should be liable. Unfortunately I don't think this petition will help much, like I said, if it's a popular game people will buy it. It seems you can't convince the masses.
ARG! i hate SF, finally people have theior say about it!
i will NEVER BUY any SF games in my lafe, screw SF! hope the SF developers can read it and now know that they cause only harm to the games they protect! because now they are boycot:mad: :mad: :mad: death to SF!:mad:
Would be interesting to know how many who signed the petition are warez users who couldnt figure out how to play their ill gotten gains :P
I bet its a high number lol
DUKE_NUKEM
05-12-2005, 08:50
Besides there's probably a high number of users who are tired of:
1.waiting minutes for a disc validation
2.booting and rebooting everytime they install a sf-protected game
3.loosing the complete control of their pc\os
4.having their hardware damaged by starforce virus (oooops, driver.)
Defeating piracy is not really a good excuse to not guarantee to legit users QUALITY and SAFETY anymore. A good protection shouldn't have hard&soft compatibility issues; if piracy "harms consumers as well as legitimate developers", Starforce harms "warez users as well as legitimate players".
And remember, even if in most cases to play backups it's needed to unplug ide drives, in some cases people who have original copies are obliged to buy new drives cause starforce broke theirs (The same thing happened to me with Still Life).
Go checking Ubisoft Official Forum: you'll read a lot of comments of people disappointed by the choice of SF3 for POP - The Two Trones: maybe they're all game downloaders, but does it really matter for an honest gamer who would like to play peacefully, already having to struggle with graphucz\control\etc. settings? I guess not, and that's why I'll go for the Xbox version of the game. But this is a compromise, not a solution. :mad:
Joe Forster/STA
05-12-2005, 08:59
Would be interesting to know how many who signed the petition are warez users who couldnt figure out how to play their ill gotten gains :P
I bet its a high number lol
As long as people don't discuss warez on this forum, noone has the right to - directly or indirectly - question the legality of their games. That's the reversal of forum rule #1 so, please, refrain from such comments.
revolver
05-12-2005, 10:24
I have boycotted starforce for years and will continue to do so as for wheather someone owns an orginal or warez. it anit anyones business but that person if they wanna uses warez gd luck to them:)
but i cant blame them when it comes to starforces:)
Someone talked about pirate games...
if the games were cheaper, it would force the pirate users to buy the original. Because a game is not only consist of a simple disc. it has manuals, support centers... some of them got maps, poster and so on. comparing these with a cd-r (with considering the cheap prices also), pirate user would think and buy the original. so game companies would sell the games to everyone. only change was pirates would **** themselves :D
Joe Forster/STA
05-12-2005, 10:54
Fact #1. Most people crack copy protections just for fun and pride, not to make money. (I do. ;) ) Whatever paysite owners, Chinese fake CD/DVD manufacturers or everyday warez users do with cracks is another story...
Fact #2. Today, it is very difficult to publish (even finish!) a game without a publisher. Developing a game costs a lot of time and money, and the publisher loans to the developer during this time period. In change, the developer gets like 2-5% percent of the profit (yeah, you read that right; I read this on this forum and got confirmed by a friend of mine, too!), the rest goes to the publisher and the vendor. A few developers do get their stuff publisher in online downloadable form (Live for Speed; games released via Steam), though, to get rid of the money-hungry publishers and vendors...!
As for fact #2, if you look closely, this is the same with music, as well: it is music publishers that get irrationally rich, not the actual artists that make the music. It is not only game business but the whole economy that is majorly f*cked up, because of only a few greedy millionaires and billionaires...
(Do I sound apocalyptic in such posts of mine?! :D)
This is fantastic. The starf**k boycott has really taken off. Every where I serf someones talking about boycotting SF, even on the SF forum itself. The publishers must be feeling the pinch by now, I know game developers are sick to the back teeth with it. Long live the death of StarForce. :D
(Do I sound apocalyptic in such posts of mine?! :D)
i don't know, but i liked it :D
revolver
05-12-2005, 13:04
yep but it's gooooood :)
die starforce you f***ker may you rot in hell
Typhoon1000
05-12-2005, 13:27
I own X2, but swear I will never ever buy another SF protected Game.
RazzZoom
05-12-2005, 19:29
X3 is the same its stuffed with errors because of starforce crap!!
I myself am sick of these companys!
They've all entered themselves into shamefull Useless Mechanics Guild
A further bla bla bla!
What really happens when you go to buy a game today!
A person enters a store to buy a game!
there's a smile on his face!
he gets pushed to the wall! frisked! from top to bottom!
he's told to strip down!
they empty all his pockets!
they search his house and go through his accounts!
salesmen says! SIR! WE DONT TRUST YOU!
he snatch's his card or takes all his Cash ..
Salesmen:thankyou! have a nice day!
he finally gets home
installs the game!
the load screen Appears SIR! WE DONT TRUST YOU!
he gets stripped searched over and over, raped and pilaged! as he trys to play!
he spends hours and hours updating and patching!
constanly he is hit and bashed! and raped even more!
4 hrs have past! hes exhausted, tired and distressed!
the game was never going to work!
he goes back to the shop! hit! smacked and punched!
he enters the shop brused and battered!
he gets frisked! from top to bottom!
he's told to strip down!
they empty all his pockets!
they search his house!
salesmen says! SIR! WE DONT TRUST YOU!
salesmen with a smile: i'm sorry sir but there's no refund at all!
he leaves the shop!
he gets followed along the way, pushed and kicked!
he takes the disc and throws it in the street!
deadly silence! he walks in peace!
lol bla bla bitch lol :))
X3 is the same its stuffed with errors because of starforce crap!!
I myself am sick of these companys!
They've all entered themselves into shamefull Useless Mechanics Guild
A further bla bla bla!
What really happens when you go to buy a game today!
A person enters a store to buy a game!
there's a smile on his face!
he gets pushed to the wall! frisked! from top to bottom!
he's told to strip down!
they empty all his pockets!
they search his house and go through his accounts!
salesmen says! SIR! WE DONT TRUST YOU!
he snatch's his card or takes all his Cash ..
Salesmen:thankyou! have a nice day!
he finally gets home
installs the game!
the load screen Appears SIR! WE DONT TRUST YOU!
he gets stripped searched over and over, raped and pilaged! as he trys to play!
he spends hours and hours updating and patching!
constanly he is hit and bashed! and raped even more!
4 hrs have past! hes exhausted, tired and distressed!
the game was never going to work!
he goes back to the shop! hit! smacked and punched!
he enters the shop brused and battered!
he gets frisked! from top to bottom!
he's told to strip down!
they empty all his pockets!
they search his house!
salesmen says! SIR! WE DONT TRUST YOU!
salesmen with a smile: i'm sorry sir but there's no refund at all!
he leaves the shop!
he gets followed along the way, pushed and kicked!
he takes the disc and throws it in the street!
deadly silence! he walks in peace!
lol bla bla bitch lol :))
Permission to quote you? With better grammar and spelling ofc. :D
As long as people don't discuss warez on this forum, noone has the right to - directly or indirectly - question the legality of their games. That's the reversal of forum rule #1 so, please, refrain from such comments.
Not Really Joe, it is a genuine question.
Trying to figure out who has the most problems, legitimate users or warez kiddies.
That would kinda show how bad SF is or isnt.
DUKE_NUKEM
06-12-2005, 03:11
Dabhand I guess you don't really get it. The point is Starforce should cause NO problems to legitimate users, as this comes BEFORE causing problems to warez kiddies. I don't think people who are used to d'load gamez would buy SF-protected games as they can't play with warez versions; on the other hand, a lot of honest players just stopped buying them. You can verify it by yourself, the solution is worse then the problem itself.
Why they additionaly don't search our chatlogs, mails, posts of our forum accounts, even our google search strings with the application of SF?!?!?
I want it! Scan me you bas**rds!
revolver
06-12-2005, 07:28
IT shouldnt be a problem to anyone be it they own an original or warez
the simple fact is starforce is f**ked it's is an intrusion of your pc as it doesnt ask permission to install it just does it and also only people who
wish to play without dvd or cd will have problems
so it not whether its a warez or orginal thats the problem its those of us who want to play without a dvd or cd that have problems which is nearly everone on this forum:)
This is the problem you are all mostly going on with what someone else said.
Also what most people dont realise is not all PC's are the same. SF could have errors due to certain motherboards, drivers, hardware and other software.
Doesnt matter what game or protection is out there, people will always and I mean always have problems.
DUKE_NUKEM: No you dont get it, like I just said, no protection will work 100% on everyones machine, what im trying to acertain is what is the main problem to people with SF.
Im assuming that SF has a built in preservation API, that when detected that an original disc is not in use, it starts problems.
What I have said before also is, why dont people contact SF support for help with some games they cant seem to run, I did it for one SF protected game and they were glad to give me another executable which worked perfect. But they do need legitimate game details, which is why I think the vast majority of people who moan about SF is because they cant play their downloaded game and cant contact support for help cause they dont have legitimate details.
IT shouldnt be a problem to anyone be it they own an original or warez
the simple fact is starforce is f**ked it's is an intrusion of your pc as it doesnt ask permission to install it just does it and also only people who
wish to play without dvd or cd will have problems
so it not whether its a warez or orginal thats the problem its those of us who want to play without a dvd or cd that have problems which is nearly everone on this forum:)
No protection asks, as ive also said before the protection comes with the game, and you agreed to game being installed.
You show me a game where it asked you if you wished to install the protection?
DUKE_NUKEM
06-12-2005, 10:01
Dabhand I've never heard of protections compromising the stablity of the OS or even destroying hardware components; the assumption that no protection works with every pc configuration is simply ridiculous, if starforce programmers knew what they are doing they would have imposed to put warnings on packages about compatibility issues.
Remember, I spend money buying games, so I have the right to just put the disc in and play, without the risk of damaging my hardware. Publishers who use SF are losing (mind?) customers after customers and the result is that NOBODY, neither legit nor warez users, will buy their games anymore. Sorry, man, but I don't have time to waste after games, just a little time to play; as a consequence I don't want to spend my days formatting and reinstalling every time I change game.
Just the last thing: SF support is not GLAD to help you, it is OBLIGED to help you cause you are just one of them who have the patience (time to waste?) to try all possibilities to make a game work; I just don't have it: shame on me.
But SF programmers are just bastards, like warez kiddies they claim to fight again.
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