A real solution to the StarF**k virus for everyone.

[Joe Forster/STA]

Hi dajunka,

Well, if is true what you're saying, I'm very happy to have been wrong...!

Joe

[dajunka]

Hey Joe,
yep it's true, Ive spent hours, days, weeks even; serfing stuff on SF, and you wont beleive some of it. While there are a great number of people say they have no problems with SF, this is only what they assume. The truth is, it most likely is causing them problems it's just that they dont notice the problems.

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/48427

I have read some real horror story’s especially the ones where some poor guy/gal loses their entire raid array, photos, docs, personal stuff all lost because of SF attaching itself to their media drivers and wuks up big style.

I have games here that have SF, but cant play them and the shop wont refund or exchange except for one of the same. my problem with SF is lockups on start-up and shutdown but alls fine after I clean all the SF zhit of my machine.

[Eagle]

I agree, boycott Starforce.
It sucks. It messed up my Alcohol 120%, it confused my old Plextor CD-R and classified all my (physical) SCSI drives as virtual ones.
SF is just a pain in the *ss. SF has gone way too far intruding users' computers and software.

Also all the efforts getting a SF protected game running from an image are just plain unnecessary and useless. NO ONE owning the original game would disconnect all his IDE stuff, attach a USB-IDE converter or use some other complicated and fancy methods just to play from an image.

I am sick of these SF discussions.

[dajunka]

And so say all of us.

Tis true, this is the only real and lasting cure against this ever increasing problem.
We do have hope in the likes of Dreamcatcher with Dungeon Lords, who’s giving the no protection policy a try in America, I suppose if the sales are okay there, then they will adopt the same policy when released in Europe, come on you yanks buy this game. How great to be shut of all this poo intrusion protection software and get back to some sort of sensible protection or even better none at all we could all exercise our right to make backups.
The way things are going buying a game will be a nightmare.

1 Buy the game Pacman 2030 at mind boggling price in crappy case with no manual.
2 Shove CD in and Start Install.
3 Enter CD key.
4 Wait.
5 Activate game by on line registration.
6 Wait for game files to be decrypted.
7 Enter account details, user name and password.
8 Wait for email to arrive with activation code.
9 Enter code.
10 Wait while code checked against online database.
11 Start again as web site crashed.
12 Get to game start-up screen, told there is an error, "please wait for patch to resolve this issue."
13 Wait 4 weeks
14 install patch.
15 Get to start-up screen, told "error please insert correct CD."
16 Get in touch with support. Get told to knob off.
17 Buy new CD rom, insert game cd.
18 Get to start-up, get told "hardware change detected please reinstall."
19 Reinstall game and go to site for new activation code.
20 Get told "error Cd key and user details already in use."
21 Kill yourself.

or

21 Get game to finally work only to find out is a Atari 1200 port-over from 1963

[DABhand]

The thing is you have to think why this horrible protection is out on the market?

Its the fault of the general public who didnt buy games, that forces these horrible protections out.

Ive been lucky with SF and not been badly affected. But with others they have.

This is the norm, even older protections cause problems with certain systems, at the end of the day, not all PC systems are the same so you will never write a protection that will work on everyones PC's 100%.

But like I said, blame the people who steal rather than the developers/publishers/coders.

[dajunka]

Originally Posted by DABhand

But like I said, blame the people who steal rather than the developers/publishers/coders.

I can't do that.. That’s like saying Some dude on the other side of the world goes and wastes some other dude on the other side of the world, then the fuzz coming round my house and arresting me for it. You can't pass the buck over to the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, that just isn’t right, the publishers, in this case are at fault, theres always been pirates but there's never been aggressive protection on this scale before.

[Luci]

if the gameswere a little more cheap i would buy a game every week.they are expensive but those guyz work 1 year minimum.they deserve the money but you don't want either to give a fortune right.

[Eagle]

One question that bugs me for ages: Why do pure multiplayer games have to have a copyprotection? A serial/cd key that is checked on every connect to a game server is IMHO fully sufficient.

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by dajunka

I can't do that.. That’s like saying Some dude on the other side of the world goes and wastes some other dude on the other side of the world, then the fuzz coming round my house and arresting me for it. You can't pass the buck over to the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, that just isn’t right, the publishers, in this case are at fault, theres always been pirates but there's never been aggressive protection on this scale before.

Murder and Piracy are 2 different things, you cant compare the 2.

But in a business, as it always has been for decades, if one company has losses they make up for the losses by increasing prices.

As does software publishers.

As I said before the reason protections are so much in a huge scale is because the countless people downloading illegally. Once apon a time the net was full of free webspace providers, like xoom etc, they all closed that services because of warez sites. Now they are doing the same with games, introducing a protection that may well affect 3-5% of the population (but SF has been kind to make fixes for people which many of you have forgotten). PC's arent all the same, my systems is different from your own, but SF has caused me no problems whatsoever.