:lol: Obviously they are not aware that Starforce has nothing to do with it :lol: Maybe they should:
- update their SF drivers,
- or use newer hardware components,
- or use older hardware components,
- or buy a completely new system,
- or they should stop using pirated software for their tests.
:lol: :-j

If a starforce free version of SHIII came out i would buy it tomorrow. I did buy it, it made my system crash when playing games and ultimately ended up with me having to format my hard drive due to the fact i could never play anything without my lappy crashing.

Now i've formatted the HDD and started again its running like a dream again and SHIII went straight back on ebay without an install when i heard about SF

Is this really true? Did we have knowledge? Did we consent? I'm sitting here looking at my SH3 box and it says on the back:

And "Getting Started" in the User Manual reads:

I know it doesn't explicitely say "Starforce," but it appears we all did have notice that if we installed the game, something was being installed that might compromise our systems. And we installed it anyway. :doh:

@Brentano
I believe that was a more recent addition to the packaging after the initial 'concerns' about SF were aired.
I'm fairly sure my copy of SHIII (preordered so I got it the day before/on the day of the release date) has no mention of 'protection technologies which may be incompatible with your system'. It certainly makes no remarks about virtual drive or CD/DVD-ROM conflicts either on the box or in the game manual and I know for a fact that there was FA about it in the EULA I read whilst instaling SHIII.
I could be wrong, but I'm at work so I'll have to check and post back when I get home.

Your SHIII Box says that? I'll have to look at mine.

-S

Yes, it really says that. On the box, it's on the back in bright yellow under "System Requirements." It's also in the manual.

I can't remember exactly when I purchased SH3. My first post here was April 12, 2005, and I registered on the Subsim forums after I purchased SH3. So I guess I bought SH3 around the first week of April, 2005.

When was it released? ... March 15, 2005?

I bought SHIII from GameStop. I think I got it around the end of March 2005 or the beginning of April 2005. I tried to get the exact date, but GameStop seems to have erased my info. I can't login. :damn: :damn: :x :x Anyway, on the back of my SHIII box, there is a warning at the bottom in a little yellow box. It says:

Notice: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some CD-RW, DVD-RW, and virtual drives.

The same warning is also on the bottom of my Rome: Total War box. RTW, however, uses SafeDisc.

It may be convenient to you, but its the fact that SF does fit into those categories, is the alarming thing as they are not nice things to be occurring on your system.

It was important that we had a definition that hits home what this type of software represents. Mark devised the Rootkit term. We devised the broader reach TrojanKits. As in apps that can be used as or converted into Trojan Gateways.

It is purposely named to sound like a hackers tools because in the wrong hands that is exactly what TrojanKits can be, a nasty set of tools already on your system to open access to persons with malicious intentions.

In this way it is clear concise and we do not have ridiculous legal threats being made against bloggers who may have used one or two words out of place.

Cool. I'm graduating from law school this May. This whole starforce thing is very interesting from a legal standpoint. It almost has the scent of a class-action.

It's especially interesting if the developer and publisher, Ubisoft, knew about the problem before they released the game. They did include a lame "disclaimer" on the box and in the manual.

Sadly its just a generic warning. It really does not give the end user any information that they need. Exactly same sticker/label applies to several formats of copyprotection.

:o oh :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yep but that is only a recent additionand its a generic warning, it was not on older games and they where fully aware of the issues back then as well.

What I find really amazing in all of this is that the 'disclaimer/warning' is tantamount to saying:

"We're sorry, but we've included software in this product which might screw your drive. We'd tell you more but (a) we can't really be sure just which drives it effects, and how badly, and (b) we deny anything any time a customer encounters a problem and contacts us, so we can hardly admit to these problems in a warning or our position of denial would appear even more ridiculous than it already does"

I really wonder if any of these people actually contemplate life as a customer. Seems perverse to me to produce a game like SHIII with its dedicated audience (i.e. all of us...) not likely to be into piracy etc. It's rather like saying "let's protect our product so thoroughly that we can't sell it because our method of said protection is so punitive to our customers".

Despite being a dedicated wargamer for over 25 years, I have not purchased SHIII - even though I know it is by far the best sim for WWII subs ever released (and I've played pretty much every other one, as have many here).

Dan and others: I'm totally in agreement with your efforts to make it clear to publishers that while responsible gamers want to support future game releases through purchasing games to allow reasonable profits etc, they WON'T compromise their systems or be treated like fools whenever they try to resolve an issue apparently caused by some 'protection' measure.

Cheers

:rock:

I bought SHIII the day it hit the shelves here in the States.

The Generic Warning on the back of the SHIII box was there from day one.

If SF was in SHI and II, I do not think the warning was on those boxes. I don't either one but if someone that does could look and confirm if it is there or not, please do. I did not buy either one because of the bad reviews they were getting.

I have hashed this over long ago on the Ubi forums and with Ubisoft tech too. But there is nothing stating this in the EULA of the game when you install it. Believe me I know I have read it 3 times. Ubisoft long ago when the game first was released addmitted problems with Starforce and some devices. They (Ubisoft) had no clue what the problems were and how they happened. They still don't have a handle on it. Actually, Starforce themselves addmitted in emails that they as well did not test SF on every device and thus they knew there were problems too when the game was released. Thus the warning on the box.

I myself have never used a virtual drive and my cdrw was affected.
And all my software, again for the record, is bought and paid for. And I never use cracks or hacks on anything.