Starforce copyright protection

da fish · Unread post by **da fish** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:02 pm

taken from the front page....

Anything else? The patch you say? What patch

Illusion Softworks have said they love their game and want to support it. They want to release a patch for it but at the moment they are having issues. They need to remove the "starforce protection" which Take 2 won't allow. So there is some issues there we will have to wait to be sorted out. I don't think Illusion Softworks will give up easily.

Now I've just read this

Citing "complaints," the publisher ends its relationship with the copyright-protection provider.
Following several days of rumors, Ubisoft has officially confirmed that it will no longer use the controversial digital-rights software from Starforce. "Ubisoft has decided to use an alternative copy protection system to Starforce for upcoming releases," said a rep for the company. The announcement means that Starforce software will not be included in Heroes of Might and Magic V, the publisher's much-anticipated forthcoming PC role-playing game.

Ubisoft's decision caps weeks of controversy surrounding Starforce. In Mid-march, an employee of the Russian-German-Chinese-Cypriot company was accused of posting a link to a site where users could illegally download Stardock's space-sim Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. Shortly, thereafter, Aspyr Media decided to sever its relationship with Starforce and remove its software from its forthcoming game, Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars.

Ubisoft's motivation for ending its agreement with Starforce was more personal. At the end of March, the company was slapped with a $5 million lawsuit by gamers who claimed that Starforce's DRM system compromised the security of their PCs. "We are currently investigating complaints about alleged problems with Starforce?s software," said the Ubisoft rep.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6147655.html.

This is mere speculation and opinion, but if it turns out that Ubisoft, one of the bigger producers and publishers, are leaving starforce by the wayside would this have any effect on Take2 allowing the next patch?

I didnt even know Starforce was used with H&D2.......

Lars · Unread post by **Lars** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:39 pm

Donno if starforce is at the hd2 cd?s ... if so I don?t like these rootkits installed as a copyprotection without that I know that they will install them automaticaly witch they do on the latest starforce files

Unread post by **Jason** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:21 pm

would this have any effect on Take2 allowing the next patch?

Good question to bring up indeed :)

-ViTaMiHnM203- · Unread post by **-ViTaMiHnM203-** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:24 pm

I guess you "figured it out"...

Daniel · Unread post by **Daniel** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:45 pm

er H&D 2 doesn't even have starforce :S I don't understand? Do take2 want to add starforce in a new patch or something but illusion don't so they are arguing about it and so it's not released? :S

geosouv · Unread post by **geosouv** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:02 pm

Starforce copy protection is a game destroyer. I have Paradise (B.Sokal) which came with a magazine and now I can't install any patch because starforce thinks I am a pirate

If you hear about starforce, my suggestion is, don't buy the game, it won't work. I have had long discussions about it in some forums.

Duke0196 · Unread post by **Duke0196** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:28 pm

Try this page. There are utilities to remove the protection so they can be played on Vista & W7 machines. http://www.star-force.com/support/drivers/

Warning: it has mixed results. I did not work for my copy of "Brothers-in-Arms: Earned in Blood." My W7 desktop would throw-up and fix itself removing the game. Luckily I found a work around online.

geosouv · Unread post by **geosouv** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:03 am

Duke, you are a major

I have downloaded the zip file of removal, I hope it works on paradise. Thank you very very much. Ooops! I downloaded the removal and update tools but when I try to tun them it says there is no version of starforce installed. I tried unzipping them to the game's folder but I get the same message. I can't find help on starforce website either. Any suggestions?

Duke0196 · Unread post by **Duke0196** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 2:55 am

geosouv wrote:Duke, you are a major I have downloaded the zip file of removal, I hope it works on paradise. Thank you very very much. Ooops! I downloaded the removal and update tools but when I try to tun them it says there is no version of starforce installed. I tried unzipping them to the game's folder but I get the same message. I can't find help on starforce website either. Any suggestions?

I'm try to give it a look a little later this evening.

Duke0196 · Unread post by **Duke0196** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 6:00 am

Duke0196 wrote:
geosouv wrote:Duke, you are a major I have downloaded the zip file of removal, I hope it works on paradise. Thank you very very much. Ooops! I downloaded the removal and update tools but when I try to tun them it says there is no version of starforce installed. I tried unzipping them to the game's folder but I get the same message. I can't find help on starforce website either. Any suggestions?
I'll try to give it a look a little later this evening.

According to http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_paradise.shtml
Paradise uses StarForce v3 (v3.7.16.xx) so make sure you download the "Versions before 5.5" utility.

You should probably check out a Paradise forum to see what others in your situation have down (if anything) to fix the problem.

geosouv · Unread post by **geosouv** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 6:15 pm

Special thanks to Duke. You were part of the final solution to my starforce problem. I solved this very annoying problem today. I downloaded the No-CD latest version patch from a website and the game now works extremely well on Windows 7 64-bit. Had to disable my antivirus for 10 minutes though and also had to take the downloaded program off the quarantine list and tell the antivirus it is safe to run and not to automatically delete it. It wasn't that easy but my brain seemed to work well today, fortunately

Finally, I can play this wonderful game after an odyssey of nearly a year. The magazine which I bought it from couldn't help me either. I telephoned them about 5 times and sent multiple e-mails but I got no final answer. Does anyone know if Keepsake uses starforce? I am planning on buying it, after I finish Paradise of course. I have read in a forum that it must be using starforce.

Duke0196 · Unread post by **Duke0196** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:59 pm

Glad to hear it George.

I went through the same frustration when many of my DOS games didn't work in Windows.

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