Starforce

[Samwise]

I maintain that the most effective outlet for rage against StarForce is returning StarForced titles.  Returns are much more tangible and noticeable than lost sales.

You will be hard pressed to return any computer game title to any store if you open it, not even if it "destoyed your PC and ate your soul" clusterfuck and they know it.

So don't open it.  You bought the game, got it home, then heard from a friend it was StarForced and realized you'd made a terrible mistake.  This does happen.  Except that not all game companies are even decent enough to warn you on the box.

[schild]

I since found out that's a generic warning. It has nothing to do with Starforce. That makes it even more fucking annoying.

[Trippy]

StarForce is not just a copy protection scheme it also can hinder attempts to "peak inside" an application to figure out how it works.

There are other applications which can do that (like Thinstall for example) and you don't have to sell your soul to do it.

That looks like an enterprise software deployment solution, not something you would typically use with consumer software and especially not for video games (virtualization layer? okay...). The two case studies they had for consumer software were for a digital photo package to solve Microsoft's screwed up .NET deployment strategy and the other was for a German tax software package to solve Microsoft's screwed up VB deployment strategy and the rest of their major references where all for enterprise/intranet applications. If the first two companies had used C or C++ they wouldn't have had those .NET and VB installation issues.

[Stormwaltz]

You will be hard pressed to return any computer game title to any store if you open it, not even if it "destoyed your PC and ate your soul" clusterfuck and they know it.

Future Shop (Canada) was kind enough to give me store credit for my copy of Battlefield 2 after it corrupted my Windows install. I've found that stores here are good about giving you store credit if what you buy just doesn't fucking work.

[NiX]

Future Shop (Canada) was kind enough to give me store credit for my copy of Battlefield 2 after it corrupted my Windows install. I've found that stores here are good about giving you store credit if what you buy just doesn't fucking work.

I was in line at a FutureShop returning something and watched a guy return a video card box... with a rock inside. He got credit.

[Fabricated]

PCGamer did an article on Starforce and other piracy prevention software in their most recent issue. Softball bullshit.

[Strazos]

I was in line at a FutureShop returning something and watched a guy return a video card box... with a rock inside. He got credit.

Did they look inside and see the rock (inside job, scam), or put it aside for later scrutiny (idiots got pwnt)?

[Stormwaltz]

Starforce now reboots your machine if you do something it finds "suspicious."

[Krakrok]

That looks like an enterprise software deployment solution, not something you would typically use with consumer software and especially not for video games (virtualization layer? okay...).

Yeah, it does look like that (now). I own a licence though and I paid less than 10% of what they are charging for it now (and no client per seat costs either). For the most part it works as an EXE packer where you can pack up all your data, dll, and executable files into one 'secure' executable. It can 'securely' cache those files to disk (or just memory) and then catchs all API calls and re-routes them to it's own virtual file system. The packer software itself connects to their server and does whatever calculations server side to pack up your file. It works better than nothing (for me anyway) and it isn't system intrusive like the Sony rootkit or Starforce.

[Trippy]

Starforce now reboots your machine if you do something it finds "suspicious."

I saw that on digg yesterday and tried to find the original source but could not. I searched through the Futuremark site and the big Starforce thread on the forums and could find no mention of this rebooting behavior. There is talk about the fact that the drivers install themselves in "ring 0" so the drivers, assuming that's true, could force a "hard" reboot if they wanted to.

Here's a reply from a Futuremark developer on the forums:

Futuremark as a company (or anyone working for Futuremark for that matter) has not done any investigations, research or uncovered anything in regards to Starforce. Anything posted on our discussion boards related to the news about Starforce, is by our users and not by Futuremark employees.

I just wanted to clear this up since it seems that many websites claim that we (Futuremark) have uncovered or investigated Starforce. That is simply not the case.

Cheers,

Nick
___________________________________
.: Nicklas "worm" Renqvist / Futuremark
.: Benchmark Development Architect
.: Audio Producer

[Soln]

Do publishers list DRM/Starforce stuff on their boxes?

[schild]

No, they put something like this on the box:

[Soln]

Funny, 'cause I bought Medieval Lords on the cheap, interested in having a new RTS awhile back.  Never ever worked properly.  Bug ridden.  Whatever.  But, saw this morning it was on the Starforce list.  I check my hw properties, and lo and behold there sits 4 versions of Starforce.  Checked the box up and down, and nooooo label.  Nice.  Honestly --- there's nothing on the box at all saying it's copy protected.  Just min sys requirements, and the great feature you can play in English and Spanish.  That must be code for something.

[Azazel]

In other news, the DEMO of Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (PC) also has Starforce on it.

A shame, that game looked like one I might have bought.

[Azazel]

Class action against Starforce:

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=66009

[eldaec]

To my untrained eye the case looks weak.

It seems to alledge that the ubisoft knowingly sold products that make PCs insecure without informing customers.

To get anywhere it has to prove ubi knows that Starforce makes your PC insecure.

[schild]

It installs without you asking. That's a pretty goddamn strong security breach.

[Trippy]

In other StarForce news, StarForce points people to an "unbiased" site about StarForce on their forums which turns out to be a site run by StarForce itself (it shares the same IP address).

[Ironwood]

Totally unbiased then.

[eldaec]

It installs without you asking. That's a pretty goddamn strong security breach.

No, it's a component of the product, you elect to install the product, and as per our highly visible labelling, parts of this software help protect you from those dirty pirate scum.

[schild]

They don't have highly visible labeling. That's the point. What they're doing is basically what Microsoft did with Internet Explorer that got them in such deep shit. Everyone knows games have anti-piracy measures and OS' come with web browsers. But when they start fucking around with your other shit, it becomes a problem. The real problem is Russia couldn't give a fuck less about these quackjobs. In America they'd have the BBB riding up their ass with a microscope due to the number of complaints out there about their product. UBISoft deserves this lawsuit and this lawsuit deserves better, stronger, faster lawyers that can get all this shit sorted out before Splinter Cell 4 comes out. Just sayin.'

[schild]

I want a job where I can write like this:

Im visiting all sites you'v mentioned. Yes you r right that users post thier SF expirience there. But the statement like:
"Yesterday, i saw how starforce killed the rig of my friend" - is not a proof.
But some times it apeares really interesting investigations over the internet and it become food for thought for our developers and testers.
We'v already start to working with users closer via our forum and e-mail.

I think I'm going to have super fucking strong words with UBISoft at E3. So strong in fact there might be blood and broken booths. Or at least a lot of liquor in a lot of eyes.

Wait...E3 is one month away. Maybe I should start a blog about mailing broken CDRoms and Harddrives to LA for me to pick up when I get there and drop them all off at the UBISoft booth.

[Strazos]

That would be a Classic Moment.

[Azazel]

Make sure you tell them that "they've diminished" in your eyes... 

[sinij]

I maintain that the most effective outlet for rage against StarForce is returning StarForced titles.  Returns are much more tangible and noticeable than lost sales.

You will be hard pressed to return any computer game title to any store if you open it, not even if it "destoyed your PC and ate your soul" clusterfuck and they know it.

So don't open it.  You bought the game, got it home, then heard from a friend it was StarForced and realized you'd made a terrible mistake.  This does happen.  Except that not all game companies are even decent enough to warn you on the box.

In that case publisher doesn't lose a thing - box goes right back to the shelf and you only wasted your time with that filth.

[sinij]

It installs without you asking. That's a pretty goddamn strong security breach.

I'm 99% sure that I never installed anything with Starforce, still how do I check for it?

[schild]

I found out after I installed a game and it said "Thank you for installing Starforce" or something ludicrous.

Speaking of ludicrous, check out the press releases at star-force.com. I'm fairly sure the company is run by two year olds.

[Trippy]

I'm 99% sure that I never installed anything with Starforce, still how do I check for it?

http://www.glop.org/starforce/detect.php

[sinij]

I'm clean!! I'm clean!!! Now I can go have more unprotected se^h^H games!

[Azazel]

Quick question for clarification on the whole "Starforce doesn't work" thing for you guys - If I install a game that uses Starforce then install a no-cd .exe/other cracks as appropriate, while I don't need the original disc in the drive, etc, my machine still had fucking Starforce on it, right?

As in even with a no-cd patch, the game won't run if I manually uninstall SF?


Not that I'd want to even install that poison on one of my machines and risk it fucking over my drives. I just found UFO:Aftershock cheap at a local store, and I'd like to buy and play it, but I don't want to hose my machine.

 

[Big Gulp]

As in even with a no-cd patch, the game won't run if I manually uninstall SF?

Not true.  The game will work.

Case in point, Silent Hunter 3 wouldn't work after I upgraded my processor to a 64 bit AMD and bought a copy of XP64 because the version of Starforce packaged with the game only has 32 bit drivers.  I installed the game, but Starforce couldn't be installed on my computer, and therefore wouldn't launch the game.  I download the crack and voila, the game now runs without Starforce being present.

[schild]

Neg. The new versions of Starforce fix that workaround.

The end result is: Don't fucking buy Starforce Games!

[Big Gulp]

Neg. The new versions of Starforce fix that workaround.

Yeah, that's absolutely true.  Should have noted it.

The end result is: Don't fucking buy Starforce Games!

Yep.  Bought SH3 before I knew it was Starforced.  That was before I really became aware of even what the hell Starforce was.

[Azazel]

Those fuckers are making me not buy PC games anymore! Bunch of fucking cunts.

Shame that list isn't accurate.

[Mortriden]

It's accurate enough.  The wife bought Syberia 2 and installed it. 

My rig now has digital herpes.  Woot. 

I guess I can play Chaos Theory now.