Alcohol is installed on this machine, & X3 runs fine.

-Leezer-

OK, I have 2 questions.

1. Where is that adware/spyware thingy? I do not see it anywhere, and I am not getting any ads in my Daemon Tools. Spybot and Ad-aware are not detecting anything either.

2. How did you get X3 to work? I have the US 6 CD version. It works with the GAME CD just fine, but if I make an image with Alcohol 120% (with RMPS enabled, max precision) and try to use that image instead of the CD then CD detection FREEZES on me, and X3 never launches...
Is it because I install the game from the real drive and not virtual???

I know I properly uninstalled D-Tool 3.47 and everything is working fine.

You are correct. However, the contract may be void if its against the law. Lets say you sign a legal contract that your left nut is to be cut off if Yankees win next year, and they do. It would still be ILLEGAL for them to cut off your left nut!

at Machina

1. the release i've got " http://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=73548&page=2 " does NOT I confirm , DOES NOT have any spyware/adware not even OPTIONAL , I don't know about the one posted on the gamecopyworld , altho The author is saying that it has optional adware .

2. I have the UK DVD version , But my problem was that I ordered the DVD version while i DONT EVEN OWN a DVD drive , so I gave it to a friend who has one on his labtop and he made me a CLONECD image ( arround 4gb ) I took that on my hd and installed using the old daemon tools 3 , then of course It wouldn't launch , I didn't try any sfcure / nightmare stuff .. I just tried unplugging my CDRs and it didn't work

Until I got DT4 (http://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=73548&page=2) and installed , ran the game ,, it went fine like the screenshots I provided .
then I even replugged both of my CDs , and it still plays fine with DT4 .

Does not work when I use SF Nightmare to disable IDE nodes and completely hide the drives. I checked MY COMPUTER and my real optical drive was not there, just the Daemon Tools drive.
The game would still not launch. I tried all emulations, and none. I tried installing from the virtual image - no go.

I tried on a different computer (friend's) and its the same issue...I guess the CD version has newer StarForce and D-Tools 4 does not emulate it properly at all...

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory works though.

A new protection workaround/bypass without disconnecting drives or using hide/disable ide tools has been presented on the DT forums.

Tested this myself and it works :D

edit: side note.. tested this with some promise chipset controllers (fasttrack 4000/378/376 compatible) and my optical drive cant be detected.. not sure if other promise controllers work.. sofar cards with the silicon chip (SI0680A) seem to work correctly..so you really need a ATAPI compatible controller

This won't solve my problem running SF games, as DT doesn't work for me even with optical drives unplugged...

Well.. the logic behind this method is very simple actually.

SF by design accepts only drives connected to the IDE controller on your motherboard and blacklists all other optical SCSI/USB devices.. as a last resort it only allows SCSI/USB when no IDE connected drives are detected.

DT4 installs a virtual SCSI controller, hence also a virtual SCSI CD/DVD drive

An optional ATA133/RAID controller is also installed as SCSI controller and all connected drives are detected as SCSI, so SF has no idea if any ATAPI devices are connected to it.

In my case: I have 2 SATA harddisks (so no IDE required), 1 DVD drive and 1 ATAPI floppy drive, which were connected to my 2nd IDE connector on my MB.. I also had to unplug the power from my DVD to get DT4 to work correctly (i don't use hide tools), but now i use an extra controller all the IDE controllers are free.

Strangely, other copy protecions seem to accept this trick also. I also made a image of NFSMW (safedisk 4.6) and it runs with DT4

I could be lucky though, but this worked for me

Starforce crack
 

Take this as granted as it definitely works and takes 10 minutes of time...
Put your images (has to be mdf to work!) on Hdisk!
Now...
Get Starfu** 0.83 or whaterver latest version
Get Starforce Nightmare 1.12
Get Daemon Tools 4.00

1.Before doing anything else. Disconnect any IDE controlled CD/DVD drives. Otherwise it does NOT work! Restart--

2.Set STarfu** to SUPER AGGRESIVE, define links for game exe, image and
Daemon Tools.Create link
3. Start SFNightmare only pressing "Disable NODE"

---> Both programs need to be running in the background constantly!SFNightmare is for the CD test, Starfu** for the Starforce serial request...so you need both!Don´t bother about the chunk about serial editing,blah blah, doens´t work if you´re not a super pro hacker anyway...and takes too long
Now run the game via the starf** link(takes a while to load)! Works fine (Chrome Specfore, SC3 etc. maybe newer ones (like King Kong)as well, not tested yet. All Starforce 3,x games I tried worked that way...!

If it still doesn´t check instructions...I tried 2 PC`s with that...no riot if yours doesn´t...

Actually, people only have any 'rights' if the government grants them. You have a right to a fair trial because the government says you do. Over in the US you have the right to shoot a burgler because the government says you do. In the UK you goto prison for shooting a burglar (protecting your property?)

Copyright only exists because the governent grants it. It is subject to the conditions the government imposes upon it. I cant see a software company ever leaving out the US's (or anyone elses) 300 million population because 'they might copy it' especially when the US people could buy it overseas and copy it. They gamble that enough people will buy it that it will make money.

Copyright is regulated by the government, and if they say you have the right to a backup copy, the publisher saying 'um yeah we have made up a super duper copyright where you cant back it up and can only run it if you stand on one leg and recite the alphabet backwards' has no legal basis.

However, its arguable that the DCMA prevents you making a backup, as it prohibits you from 'circumventing' a copy protection. Although its arguable that a 1:1 copy leaves the copy protection intact and hasnt circumvented it....

The publishers on the otherhand are under no obligation to ASSIST you in making your legal backup, and are even able to do their best to PREVENT you making such a backup.

@Darkstar
hmm, this is an interesting point?
If someone in the US was to buy drugs from another country, where that drug is legal, would that also make it legal for that person to use that drug in the US, where that drug is illegal? See where I am going with that! ;)
Another example:
Guns are illegal for the average person to own in Australia. If I buy a gun from the US it is still illegal for me to have it in Australia!
The law, doesnt matter what it is for, really depends on what you are doing in the country where you live, not the country where you purchase something.
I would like to add, I am not a lawyer so what I say is just.......well basic common sense. ;)

But legally buying a game in country (a) where backups are illegal, but the purchase of the game is not, and then taking it to your home country, (b) where they are not, and hence the game is not sold, and backing it up, would not be illegal, from a copying point of view.

If you ORDERED it from country (a) the seller may well be breaching his distribution rights, but if you went to country (a), bought it, and took it home, its ok.

Your analogy would work better if you bought the drugs in a country where it was not illegal to sell or possess them, only to smoke/eat/process them, (as magic mushrooms are in the UK) then took them home where it was legal to eat them and eat them.

What I ment, and perhaps was unclear about, was that if 'EA Games' decided copyright rules were too lax in the US and they were only going to sell their games in other countries, then although they would loose a ton of legitimate US users, the US citizens could just purchase them overseas (as EA couldnt make it illegal to own them in the US).

As such, even if the US tomorrow decided to drop all its copyright laws, there would be little point in the games companies completely boycotting the market, they would just need even nastier Copy Protection to try and make it simpler to just buy them :)