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Yet another reason Starforce sucks.

Golgatha

Golgatha

Lifer
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1968997,00.asp

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
The latest stealth action thriller from Ubisoft doesn't work in Vista, but it's probably not any fault of the application itself ? it's the StarForce copy protection. StarForce installs a low-level (ring 0) driver to access your optical drive, and this driver has not been Vista certified. So Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory asks you to reboot after installing, which you do, and then upon reboot Vista informs you that it won't load the driver due to "compatibility problems." The 32-bit version of Vista will allow unsigned kernel-level drivers if installed from an account with admin privileges -- as ours was. We were unable to find any sort of workaround or Vista-ready driver on the StarForce site.

What's worse, the StarForce driver will try (and fail) to load every time you reboot, even if you uninstall the game, and the removal tool doesn't work properly by default. It doesn't give you any indication that it didn't work, however. You have to run it as an administrator by accessing the Compatibility tab in the removal tool's Properties menu. Visually, it looks like it's doing the same thing as when you don't run it as an admin, but it will at least get StarForce off your system.
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What I read here is that if you buy a game and upgrade your OS, you're going to be dependant on Starforce's good grace to update their copy protection scheme for free to get your old games running under the new OS. Also, what happens when the company who made your game decides to discontinue support, but the OS gets a service pack that breaks the copy protection scheme? I'd be pretty miffed if my $50 game turned into a worthless coaster, wouldn't you?

No other copy protection schemes install drivers onto your OS, so the worst case scenario for a game is that it won't run. However, with Starforce the worst case scenario is a hosed or insecure system, which is why I choose to boycott any games using this copy protection scheme.
 
great. i'm losing interest in games in general. stuff like this pushes me further away. say bye bye to my money
 
They do need to get copy protection that works well, its unfortunate that the only unbreakable one has to be so freaken invasive. Its hard times for PC only devs these days - piracy is not healthy for the industry.
 
What I fail to understand is why starforce thinks they are so great. Anyone can copy protect with enough instrusive software... It isn't like starforce is really revolutionary. It is basically just tieing the software down so far and tight that you can barely, if at all, get the application installed on a legimate computer.

Starforce is an example of an evil company that the government should tax 100%, put the out of business and help pay off that darn national debt that every president raises another few trillion. Geez, how long America? How long before we are 20 trillion in debt, collapse and sit like Russia in partial poverty for the next 100 years making love to terrorists. Starforce and Government spending have one thing in common -- They both piss me off.
 
Originally posted by: shamgar03
They do need to get copy protection that works well, its unfortunate that the only unbreakable one has to be so freaken invasive.
Click to expand...

It is not 'unbreakable' - most SF games have now been cracked (including SC: Chaos Theory).

 
unfortunately i really wanted to play chaos theory because my 6600GT came with the game...the only thing that is stopping me from even putting the disc in the drive is the goddamn starforce protection.

ive "heard" that it got cracked since ubi dropped starforce from its upcoming games...and apparently dropped starforce from the internet download (gamefly, those sites) version of it. thats how the hackers cracked the game easily.
 
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