Can anybody state for sure if SH4 Gold is entirely free of SecuROM? Can the only way not to be punished be to steal a pirated copy of the game? That is one thing I will not do, even if that were the only way I could play SH4. And of course I have reduced the effect of SecuROM to amusing nuisance, so I really don't need to do anything.

I broke down and bought a copy of SH4 Gold Edition DVD a year ago, just to shelve my original DVD SH4 version 1.0 because I was tired of fooling around with the Direct2Drive "upgrade" of the U-Boat Missions that brought the game up to version 1.5.

What's the best way of checking if SecuROM is running on your system? Would it show up in the registey?

I'm like aanker, I never use the gu.exe "shortcut" to start my game. I always go directly to my Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific folder and use the sh4.exe icon file to start the game. There are two .exe files for starting the game, I only use the sh4.exe file.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps793f28c9.jpg

hehehehehe! Sure fire way. Load up a program by Mark Russinovich! Go to Microsoft's http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx and download and install Process Explorer. (Look it over closely--there's a lot of stuff built into it that you'll like a lot if you enjoy figuring out why things don't work right on your system, and I'll bet you do).

Now start Process Explorer (red meat for SecuROM--may Mark Russinovich burn in Hades says Sony!) then start SH4. If you don't see.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...UBMmessage.jpg

And you can do this
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...eenshot176.jpg

Running Process Explorer and SH4 concurrently would definitely show that SecuROM is not working at all.

Ok, I'll check Process Explorer.

I followed the registry folder hierarchy of "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\" and "HKEY_USERS\<Computer specific key>\Software\" and found no SecuROM listed on my Win XP game machine. Guess the little bugger hasn’t gotten onto my machine!?

So, I'd say that a DVD SH4 Gold Edition like mine, and using the proper .exe file, will keep the bogeyman away.

I do read on the back cover of the DVD box, UbiSoft states:

Notice: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.

I don't know exactly what this statement means, but apparently just installing the game, and playing using the sh4.exe doesn't rear an ugly head.

I also checked my laptop too, and I did find it there.....but I've never installed SH4 on it. Must have come from some other software. I may try to use the advice of merc4ulfate and see if I can remove it. I've never been afraid to do a complete reformat of my computer's, building them back up from scratch (goes back to my DOS days with a computer....when they needed an "attitude adjustment" about every 6 months!).

I will use Process Explorer and see what it says.

Ran Process Explorer, then started the game. No problems!!

Although I don't run the game in a "Window" mode, I used Alt-Tab (which I never do anyway) to return to the desktop to see what Process Explorer was doing.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...psc5c90646.jpg


The game and Process Explorer were getting along just fine. So there is some hope of finding a SH4 Gold Edition DVD that won't have SecuROM crap on it. Just lucky, but I bought my DVD for less than $8.00 bucks last year at iNetVideo. From what I've seen lately, the game isn't offered on their website now. :wah:

As you said Double R, Process Explorer seems to have a lot of good features in it. I'll be figuring out it better as I go along.

And there is the answer to the OP's OP, just after he announced his withdrawal from the thread. Have you ever noticed how many times we succeed immediately after we give up? It's a recurring story that's never been told!