Daemon Tools 4

[Machina]

Originally Posted by crypto6600

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.

[RamsesII]

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

Hello all,
this is how I defeated StarForce.
As you know, the current StarForce releases check you IDE channels for Optical drives and refuse to launch from SCSI/DT4 if one is detected.
However there is an easy and cheap solution to this problem:

- get an extra IDE controller that is compatible with ATAPI drives
- plug all your optical drives in there
- launch the image via daemon tools v4

The best thing is: you don't need to disable anything! You ONLY need daemon tools, that's it. No channel disabling, no cable disconnecting.

I recommend an ATA133 raid controller using SI0680A because it will still have some potential use if there's another method around Starforce. Plus those babys are just roughly 20€ or 20$ shipped.
Here's a list of eBay auctions for those cards:
US http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=8723150538
DE http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...tem=8721713305
UK http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=6822575483

They are cheap everywhere and it really is the best solution I've seen so far. Should work with older controllers as well as long as they support ATAPI aka optical drives.

Tested this myself and it works

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

[prollfin]

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

[RamsesII]

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