Spellforce 2 without StarForce.

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by Weissvulf

To avoid getting Starforce on my PC (and any other nasty copy protection rubbish that might be on a game CD) I install the game on an emulated hard-drive/operating-system using Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. Then copy the installed files to my main PC and use a NoCD crack.

Some games won't run this way because they require registry entries etc., but it works most of the time.

I used to have to re-write my hard drive every 6 months or so, but since I started using the above procedure, I haven't had any problems or noticeable slowdown for over a year and a half. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.

I wish everyone was honest so we wouldn't have to fool with such crazy wastes of time as copy protection. Think how many man-hours are wasted trying to develop copy protections, and then trying to avoid the trouble they cause

You do realise all PC's no matter whats installed onto them will naturally slow down anyway. So A year and a half sounds like fantasy to me :P

But anyway, even if installed onto Virtual PC it still installs the protection, perhaps on the Virtual Drive yes but its still there.

[nando2002]

Originally Posted by DABhand

...even if installed onto Virtual PC it still installs the protection, perhaps on the Virtual Drive yes but its still there.

Maybe you don't get his point DABhand: he doesn't want the Starforce drivers installed on his "real" computer.
To avoid formatting the HDD every 6 months he installs the game on a Virtual HDD and then just copy the files from the vHDD into his real HDD. This way, the SF drivers are not installed on his real windows and doesn't slow down his real PC performance.
While with the Virtual PC he can just delete the disk and it's over.