Dreamfall The Longest Journey - UK version has Starforce 3 - Help!

[martianrobot]

Help!

I just bought Dreamfall from UK store for £29.99 after returning another game that had Starforce 3 'protection'. I refuse to install any game that uses this as last time I installed a game (X3 Reunion) with this monstrosity of a protection system it destroyed my DVD-RW drive.

I thought I would be okay as the gamecopyworld website says that English versions of this game are protected by Securom and only the Russian version uses Starfarce.

However, after discovering that the fixed EXE's don't work, I found out that the version of Dreamfall I purchased uses Starforce with the build signature of 3.07.016.004, 02.05.06

I am gutted.

I always buy games and NEVER download pirated software, but I do like to play without the CD so always use no-cd hacks. Can anybody tell me any way around this horrendous protection system so I don't have to either (1) risk destroying another DVD-RW drive or (2) return this great game to the shop?

[cdkiller]

i think there´s a fix around (SecuROM crack + non sf3 crypted gamefiles), check gamecopyworld

[martianrobot]

Originally Posted by cdkiller

i think there´s a fix around (SecuROM crack + non sf3 crypted gamefiles), check gamecopyworld

I tried the various English fixes from there but none work - the runme.bat trys to patch files that don't exist, and the modified dreamfall.exe just crashes.

Contents of runme.bat:

@cd bin\res\
@ren common.pak common.bak
@ren init.pak init.bak
@patchit.exe common.bak common.pak
@patchit.exe init.bak init.pak
@del /q *.bak
@cd ..\..
@del /q runme.bat

common.pak and init.pak don't exist in my install folder

?

[GLH]

Originally Posted by martianrobot

common.pak and init.pak don't exist in my install folder

Not in the install folder. They are in the bin/res subfolder.

[acare84]

Buy the US version

[martianrobot]

Originally Posted by GLH

Not in the install folder. They are in the bin/res subfolder.

Er... yes, I know, I am not entirely stupid

Those files ain't in there. Honest. Must be certain versions in different countries that have those files.

Can't be bothered trying to deal with Starfarce or source the US version.... I'm gonna give up, take it back to the store and buy the legal digital download from www.funcom.com the developers - works out cheaper and the people who actually made it get all my money, instead of a death-dealing software publishing mega-corp

[Joe Forster/STA]

... and you'll have serious problems with playing your "digital download" version when you run out of activations and the publisher/developer is not available anymore (for purchasing further activations from)!

[BloodShed]

I purchased the Limited Edition DVD of Dreamfall when it first came out. Unfortunately, even though I live in the U.S., all copies of the Limited Edition are published by K.E. Media (European publisher) and my copy also includes Starforce (build signature 3.07.016.001, 12.04.06).

I completely agree with you, martianrobot; I refuse to install it. Not only has Starforce been known to ruin hardware, it causes other legitimate applications to fail and the drivers run *all the time* eating up system performance and generally making the system unstable. I think it's f'n bullshit when the paying customers are the only ones that gets screwed with this type of... malware "security".

Anyway, I don't know what is wrong with your installation, because my European copy has both init.pak and common.pak in my bin\res directory. However, the problem that I have is when trying to run the "patchit.exe" utility, I get an error:

"No suitable patches were found"

So it doesn't matter. I still can't seem to find a Starforce crack for this game.

Originally Posted by Joe Forster/STA

... and you'll have serious problems with playing your "digital download" version when you run out of activations and the publisher/developer is not available anymore (for purchasing further activations from)!

THANK YOU! I hate this new download game purchasing system that everyone is trying; especially Steam. I bought a retail copy of Half-Life 2, but because the data on the disc is encrypted, I'm STILL screwed if the service (or my connection) was unavailable. I refuse to support that form of industry.

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by BloodShed

THANK YOU! I hate this new download game purchasing system that everyone is trying; especially Steam. I bought a retail copy of Half-Life 2, but because the data on the disc is encrypted, I'm STILL screwed if the service (or my connection) was unavailable. I refuse to support that form of industry.

If they ever went out of business, they have an obligation to release a patch to make steam games non-steam.

[BloodShed]

Well, I managed to get the crack working it seems. I simply extracted the "init.pak" from the German crack and now the Reloaded, SecuROM crack works without crashing.

Originally Posted by DABhand

If they ever went out of business, they have an obligation to release a patch to make steam games non-steam.

I think you're assuming too much. That would be the right thing to do, but where did you read that Valve, Sierra, or Vivendi Universal made this "obligation"? It isn't mentioned anywhere in the license agreement.

Obligations like the one you mentioned are typical of business software contracts, not end-user software. There is less liability.

[Serendipity]

I also have the Limited edition version (english version, though it has norwegian on it 2 - not sure if that's linked w the nodvd patches).

I replaced the dreamfall.exe(if I just run that it crashes straght away) file, I got the "missing" innit.pak file into bin/res, got the patchit.exe & the runme.bat files too. Still whenever I try runing runme.bat I get "The system does not find the file specified" & then in a window headed VPatch "unable to open source file". I tried running the patchit. exe file & I get the same "unable to open source file" message.

So what's wrong???? It's driving me crazy!

Has anyone been able to run any of the patches on the limited edition?

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by BloodShed

Well, I managed to get the crack working it seems. I simply extracted the "init.pak" from the German crack and now the Reloaded, SecuROM crack works without crashing.



I think you're assuming too much. That would be the right thing to do, but where did you read that Valve, Sierra, or Vivendi Universal made this "obligation"? It isn't mentioned anywhere in the license agreement.

Obligations like the one you mentioned are typical of business software contracts, not end-user software. There is less liability.

Comes under a Software Act that prohibits companies from selling non-working software, and to rectify any non-working problems.

Since HL2 does not require a monthly fee and if Valve went bankrupt, then they are under obligation from that Act to make sure all users can use their HL2 without steam. Or else they would be hit heavily with a fine on top of the bankruptcy. As does if Valve sold their company and the new owners got rid of steam they have to provide a means to play HL2.

[Joe Forster/STA]

In what country is this Software Act a current law? If it isn't present in the country where Valve is situated then we've got a problem.