starforce

(Kaider) #21

Starforce is pointless, because people always find ways to work around it and render it completely useless. Companies using it are just making themselves sleep better at night, and not accomplishing much else.

(LeVortex) #22

StarForce is a good protection and almost oncrackable for newbies (i know a few ways but i won’t tell them here).
but it is useless for this ET:QW… they should use serial protection or something like that…
Starforce is bad and installs some weird drivers on your pc and then some things like your CD/DVD-rom could stop working or they would just mess up windows and then you need too reinstall windows

(John_Thunder) #23

same here although the 1 second it takes to check the cdkey from the cd isnt all that bad, but if the patch allows for media content to be read from the HD istead of the CD/DVD then w00t w00t :smiley:

(Joe999) #24

1 second? don’t forget the time to search the dvd, pick up the one that’s in your drive, insert the game dvd, wait for spin up … and after you’ve played remove it, insert it back into the cover … and maybe all just for a 15 minute quickie

cd checks for online games suck and are a serious annoyance to the honest customers. no wonder so many people leech the games from the web. the only thing that’s worse is valve’s steam.

(John_Thunder) #25

1 second? don’t forget the time to search the dvd, pick up the one that’s in your drive, insert the game dvd, wait for spin up … and after you’ve played remove it, insert it back into the cover … and maybe all just for a 15 minute quickie

cd checks for online games suck and are a serious annoyance to the honest customers. no wonder so many people leech the games from the web. the only thing that’s worse is valve’s steam.[/quote]

dunno about you but the game will be in the drive 24x7, the games that you leech from the web 99% of the time dont connect to legit servers so you end up on crappy lagged out hacked servers

not my choice, ill do the work and press the eject button and insert CD/DVD in my drive when so needed (man i need a break from all that hard work :cool: )

and if SD/iD bring out a legit no CD/DVD patch then w00t w00t

(Mystiqq) #26

Im still suprised that these CD protection mechanisms actually exists. The protection that they give is limited at best. I hope ID and SD take some ideas from Valve and just forget the CD/DVD protection stuff. Theres really no use for them so why bother?

Do these protection schemes actually do anything, besides piss people off? Its like BF2 which is my game that i play at the moment, until QW comes out ;), for some reason i have to keep the game in drive even though the game is basically online only.

Thought, ive heard people using something called “mini images” of the DVD which works but why **** do i need to manually “circumvent” these basically useless copy protection ****?

???

Anyone wanna bet that these games in the future will be rendered unplayable just because of these protection schemes? Im still able to play DOS games, what happens in the future with these games with Starforce?

(Dazzamac) #27

I don’t think it’ll be a bout much longer if this guy wins his case
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/legal/5m-class-action-lawsuit-against-ubisoft-for-starforce-164303.php
Unfortunatly he’s taking the wrong people to court so he’ll probably lose.

(corvey) #28

I don’t like the stupid CD protection scheme either, and some titles have caused me problems in the past. It can and will be cracked, so why bother trying to prevent it. Since this is an online game, verifying your serial number with the main ET:QW server is fool proof and hack proof way.

NOTE TO DEVS: Don’t forget to make the serial key for the game encrypted this time, plain text ID KEYS are easy prey :lol: :cool:

(Joe999) #29

i don’t think that these are the wrong people. when someone kills a human with a gun, the one who uses the gun gets into prison, not the weapon producer.

(Dazzamac) #30

Your using a poor comparison. You can’t argue that you didn’t know how the gun was going to be used, Ubisoft can argue that they contracted out the copy protection and that the methods used were not controlled by them. The only thing they can really get done for is perhaps misrepresentation at the point of sale. ie they didn’t openly mention that starforce was being used on the outer packaging and also failed to put in the eula that it would not be effectivly removed on its own without other removal software. The security risks, ubisoft can escape with a good lawyer.Unfortunatly thats a technicality that may or may not win the case but its not the problem that that needs to be solved, the case should be brought to starforce themselves on the basis of the security risk itself.

(Joe999) #31

i think the comparison is good. if you buy a game, you buy it from the publisher, not the copy protection creator. you have absolutely no contract with starforce if you buy an ubi soft game. if they put a copy protection into their games, which by the way modifies your computer internally and limits its functions, and please don’t tell me they didn’t know that, they better be aware of what that crap does, especially as they themselves pay money for it.

Ubisoft can argue that they contracted out the copy protection and that the methods used were not controlled by them

we have a saying, i translate: stupidity doesn’t save you from punishment.

:wink:

(Dazzamac) #32

You know that, I know that. A good lawyer can get you off with a lot. Theres always a loophole mate.

(Joe999) #33

i think the main problem is that there would be severe consequences for the whole gaming industry if ubi soft loses, and hence they won’t lose, although they theoretically would have to. the game industry is big and rich … and we made them that way. it’s our own fault.

(Nail) #34

it might make them re-think their connection with starforce though

(SCi-Fi) #35

Just read this morning and there is no way on this earth am i installin that piece of rubbish onto my system, i dont care wot game it is & how much i am lookin forward to it…

So if they want ppl to buy then they better stay away from starforce.

Been there done that, once bitten twice shy.

(bandit5k) #36

D1: Doom
D2: Doom2
D3: Doom3
Q1: Quake
Q2: Quake2
Q3: Quake3
Q4: Quake4
ET/W:ET/WET: Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
ET:QW/ETQW/QW: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
RTCW: Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Wolf3D: Wolfenstein 3D
COD: Call of Duty
COD2: Call of Duty 2
FC: Farcry
TMN: Trackmania Nations
TM: Trackmania
TMS: Trackmania Sunrise
DOTT: Day of the tentacle
BF1942/BF/BF42: Batllefield 1942
BF2: Battlefield 2
BFV/BF:V: Battlefield Vietnam
RA: Red Alert
RA2: Red Alert 2[/quote]
“QW” Usually means “Quake World”. :moo:

Starforce is awful. FACT.

(IncognitoX) #37

http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=3208

Word has gotten out that Ubisoft is being sued for the use of a very contentious anti-piracy program called Starforce. Coming with a long list of games, many of which are unbeknownst to gamers that have these titles installed on their machine, Starforce has been reported to allegedly damage CD and DVD-ROM drives in addition to a number of counts of illicit business practices on behalf of the companies that employ the program.

Christopher Spence, the person who has brought the suit before Ubisoft, has filed for a $5M class action lawsuit for using Starforce DRM in their games. Should Mr. Spence win this case, players who have ever had Starforce on their system are entitled to collect some monetary damages.

The crux of the complaint lies here:

Starforce DRM can compromise Windows operating systems’ security. Any virtus or trojan can control a computer by and through the Stareforce DRM installeed on the computer, despite the security measures taken in newer versions of Windows.

Users receive no notice that removing Starforce DRM is necessary to prevent possible security compromises on their computer systems. Worse, removal of a Starforce Title does not always remove Starforce DRM software.

To get the full text of the complaint, check out this PDF of the document. (direct link)

“…And at that point the users began to fight back”

(Crylar) #38

Yo ParanoiD, that’s a nice list you’ve got there. But you forgot one thing:

CS: pile of crap

(Hakuryu) #39

I wont buy a game that uses Starforce… period.

I am one of those that has had problems with SF. I have a big archive of CD’s with game screenprints, and trying to burn new CD’s with images will not work if SF is installed. If they really expect me to uninstall SF and then burn a CD, and then reinstall a game to play it after = they are crazy. It’s like Big Brother having a hold on your system.

I have seen some of their workers get downright mean on message boards also. Threatening to sue people that complain about SF. I remember an email demanding a guy remove his post from some forum, because the SF guy didnt like it, and threatened to pursue legal action.

Bet on Soldier and Heroes of Might and Magic 5 are two games that I would buy, but havent since SF is included. So I’m being stubborn. If I dont like something, I dont have to put up with it.

I’m curious to see just how much SF actually protects a game. How long before a game is released that it is on warez sites? I bet its only a week or two. The pirates could care less about protection because their fun is in breaking it. The only people that SF hurts are the legal end users.

I just checked GameCopyWorld… Bet on soldier has a no-cd hack. This is not a warez site btw.

(Joe999) #40

Several websites are reporting that Ubisoft employees have confirmed StarForce DRM will not show up in upcoming Ubisoft titles. Galaad from CelestialHeavens.com (a Heroes of Might and Magic Fansite) claims Ubisoft and Nival are dropping StarForce DRM completely.

The original forum thread (English) contains a Ubisoft employee claiming “We have decided that the anti-copy protection used on the future Ubisoft games won’t be the StarForce software” (translated French to English). There was no mention of what DRM would replace StarForce, though comments from other employees among the Ubi forums indicate that no future Ubisoft titles will be DRM-free.

StarForce, the DRM software for several high profile PC games, has been in the news a few times over the last several months. Three months ago, the company drew some attention for a bet made with its users. Comments made by some of the StarForce employees later helped skyrocket the sales of a competing product, and then to round things off Ubisoft sued StarForce a few weeks ago anyway.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1760