Avoiding SecuROM

[TippeX]

no rootkit.. never had an issue with burning disks either..

a mask, yes actually i do know what a mask is, oddly its name is also used in coding...
don't try and be smart... sometimes it ends up working in the opposite way...

1. you were misinformed and didn't know what you were talking about
2. in an attempt to educate you, you try and turn the table.. do you really think no programmers haven't played with graphics at all or coded graphical applications ?

and now, you talk about rootkits.. sigh..

seriously, plenty of people here (including myself) have securom games, most have had no problems with them... with any software there is a minority of people who do have problems, but minority is the keyword here...

and yeh im human, but i also spend a hell of a lot of time researching things before i start making wild (and inaccurate) statements...

the rootkit thing is probably the sony bmg thing.. 3 or so years ago, which isn't securom... next time before jumping on the anti* bandwagon or talking crap try researching first..

a wrapper is quite simple to picture, imagine a letter and an envelope.. the letter is the game code, the envelope is the protection... which (yep you guessed it) wraps around it..

heh arrogance.. what about ignorance then?

judging someone doesnt define who they are, it defines who you are...
sims medieval is an ea title, relatively new, so it should have 2 options on install... one being to use the disk to authenticate (pass protection check) or online activation (one shot, activate, license file written to disk.. no need for the disk again)... i'd recommend option 2 as you have obviously got an internet connection, and are worried (albeit unreasonably) about the disk.. i've activated 3 games on 4 pc's at home, no problems at all, no problems

so how about actually researching, reading what i say without trying to be ****y and actually exercising that little designer brain of yours... you might actually get some surprising results

[Joe Forster/STA]

Do SecuROM games work inside a virtual machine, using the original, physical DVD in the physical machine's driver? (From a sandbox, I guess, not.) Probably not but, perhaps, you could make a full image of the original DVD in Alcohol 120% and mount it inside the virtual machine in a double-virtual drive, emulated by Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools. (VMware Player recommended but Virtual PC 2007 might be fine, too.) If you switch changes on the (virtual) disk to temporal rather than persistent then all changes will be undone when you reset the virtual machine.

This way, you can prevent any "infection" of your (virtual) machine by any software, e.g. SecuROM. I wouldn't bother to go this far, though: it is not SecuROM that has really bad rumors, it's rather Starforce as the latter has its damn driver installed and running all the time, interfering with low-level communication of IDE drives, while the former stops its driver as soon as you exit the protected software. So put your fear aside and try the game first with the copy protection still in place: I promise it won't hurt.

And, guys, stop the fighting, it won't get us anywhere...

[Damiana]

I didn't think we were fighting.. more like jousting or sparring. I was having fun. Thanks for the great info everyone!

@TippeX.. of course I know that some computer programmers work with graphics. I was just making the point that there is more than one type of intelligence. As to ignorance.. of course I'm ignorant in regards to some subjects. It would be pretty much impossible for me, or any person, to be knowledgeable about everything there is to know in the universe.

oh yeah, another type of masking.. ****y lol.