SH3 still top thanks to Starforce/ All SF post here

[Sonarman]

Read this story at least the dreaded Starforce has one thing going for it, it's tough to crack... story here

Our worst enemy may turn out to be an ally after all if the extra revenue has swung the decision on making SH4!

Don't know about StarForce one way or t'other, but I'm glad to hear everyone's favorite WWII subsim is doing well.

[Fishmachine]

Nah, the game sells better, because now it's price is quite low, comparing to starting point, and also most of the new (cheap) computers will run it smoothly. Not to mention, that it's a piece of a good game

Besides - the game's already cracked.

[CCIP]

I wouldn't trust an article from StarForce to be objective about StarForce, because StarForce is notorious for really bad PR practices. Along with ridiculing customers and outright lying. Not that this makes them different from many other companies, including even UbiSoft themselves.

That said, whatever the reason (and I don't think it's Starforce), it's great that SHIII is selling well. I think it's just because it's an excellent game after all

[Sonarman]

Yeah, you are probably right their marketing machine taking credit for
the game's own popularity.

[Ducimus]

In a word. No, starforce is nothing to be thankful for. nor would i give it credit for boosting SH3 sales. Cracks for Starforce as it pertains to SH3 do exist.

[Crop-Duster]

Now read this about Star Farce:

"Posted Sun January 08 2006 16:23
Let me start by saying I am a developer and a Webmaster of a number of major Game related sites.

I have 25 years experience in the Business thus I make very sure that I have fully researched what I comment about. My credentials precede me, I do not agree with or endorse software piracy. However to play my existing Starforce games I have had to crack them.

Issues concerning Starforce.

1. They are based in Moscow so exempt from a number of the laws that we in the West rely upon. The 3rd Party Companies that use their copy protection are not exempt.

2. In Windows XP Starforce gives Ring 0 (super user level access) to Ring 3 (Standard users). In normal English this basically means that any third party application such as Trojans or Viruses are given the ability to have full access the both software and hardware.

3. As many of you will be aware XP does have DMA/IDE issue that’s dates back to its creation. In which if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk. XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable. In some circumstances certain drives cannot cope with this mode and it results in physical hardware failure (Most commonly in multiformat CD/DVD writer drives). A sure sign of this step down occurring is that the burn speeds will get slower and slower (no matter what speed you select to burn at). Starforce on a regular basis triggers this silent step down. Until it reaches the latter stages most peeps do not even realise it is happening.

Excluding the Hardware failure, the normal way to cure this is to uninstall all the CD/DVD drivers and the Primary/Secondary IDE controllers. (Then reboot). If you did not know about Starforce, you can now be faced with another problem. Normally windows searches and reinstalls the drivers. However with Starforce present this can cause the system to either fail to find the hardware or fail to find the drivers. Creating the illusion that the hardware has failed.

This gets even worse if you have SCSI hardware/virtual drives. SCSI virtual printer driver (basically any SCSI hardware/Virtual drivers present) As these may have to be removed before the other hardware becomes visible.

4. Because Starforce are aware of these issues (Including the Trojan Gateway) this is exempt from the EULA and could be deemed as "Gaining access with malicious intent". Not only would starforce be liable, but also the 3rd party company that endorsed/used that application.

Ubisoft really need to do themselves a favour and dump Starforce. They have earned their quotas on the existing titles. So there is no reason not to make full bypasses available in a legit format.

An example of my system using Starforce from a Ubisoft Game. My Athlon 64Bit 3200+ Clawhammer started running like its components where stuck on treacle, My Burn proof DVD writers created more coasters than they use at a state banquet and overall it was about as stable as a one legged man in a hurricane.

It's not my intention to put the industry out of business (They are achieving that under their own steam), however using so called copy protection that is nothing more than a glorified Trojan Gateway is not the way to stay in business.

Trojan Gateway:
I do not make such a comment lightly and I have proof of this occurring and of exploits already using it. I have openly challenged Starforce to prove otherwise and their response was not to comment or to refer to the EULA (As if the EULA exempted them from installing malicious software). Although to be fair technically Starforce is not malicious, it just leaves the door wide open for software that is.

In my professional capacity I am aware that a number of corporations that had been previously flexible about staff playing games during normal breaks. Now ban the usage of any 3rd party Games in the work place (Because of the Starforce security issues). Also a number of us who review games are now refusing to touch any games protected by Starforce as we are not prepared to compromise our system stability and security anymore.

So basically if us reviewers will not handle them and the customers are now boycotting them. How exactly do Ubisoft intend to continue to sell games? "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also see here:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/

[U-4053]

I recently had a Moderator jump on me about posting where to go to get a No DVD fix for The Starforce reading issue at game start up, so you may want to be carful what you post about it as some take it seriously about pirating, although it is not piracy to fix a game that you already own, AND PAID FOR!

II too echo your sentiments about the Piracy Issues, but this Starforce is something , never before have I seen so many problems with a game purchased off the shelf in the time I have been doing online SIMs.

Sounds Like A revolution needs to come about again to boycot this Star Force issue.
I wish I had the Links to the Articls but I didnt feel the need to save them, there was a great write up on the UBI forums about the same issues you are echoing here.
It is allowing your Computer to be accesed by who ever?
In America we are suspicious of Uncle Sam, in Europe who knows what gives you folks the willies ?
But it sure sounds like someone wants a back door to check to see what you are up to and whats going on where they don't belong.

Don't get me started on Piracy issues, with ove 20 years in Law enforcement I have never seen one of these case go to court.
There seems to be a lack of interest in them amongst the legal community.
All you hear is Hype About the 80 year old grandma in Michigan who is under investigation for music piracy , what they don't tell you is when grandma gets her attorney involved it becomes a pool of Sludge and the Music companies are sent away empty handed .

But again another time another horror story .
I agree with most of what you are saying. And something should be done, but what ?
Do we stop purchasing anything that has Starforce in it?
If we do that we could potentially be missing alot of nice Games which are comming, but we could also be opening ourselves up to who knows what ?.

Beware of Greeks Bearing gifts.

[rogerbo]

Just to informe you, the SH3 was online with crack about 2 weeks after being released to the Stores, the latest crack for patch 1.4 is already long time available to. So cool down Stareforce is no wonder tool anymore as they claime. So the success of SH3 is in my opinion based on the quality of the game and as above stated because of the lower price now and i dear to say because of this wonder ful Mod comunity which makes this game what it is, one of the best Sims ever which is worth every cent we've payd for it.

[U-4053]

HERE HERE !

<golf clap>

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Sonarman

Read this story at least the dreaded Starforce has one thing going for it, it's tough to crack... story here

Our worst enemy may turn out to be an ally after all if the extra revenue has swung the decision on making SH4!

I´ve seen new games with starforce protection, being available on download in few days after the release. Starforce is like trying to cure a minor flesh wound on your leg by amputating the whole thing, nothing good to say about it.

[Sonarman]

"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interréd with their bones"

Note that I did use the word "dreaded" in my original post I hate it as much as you guys. Installing SH3 caused my new PC to go to a "blue screen of death" each reboot which can only be cleared by going to safe-mode and back out again.

Although... I had no problems whatsoever with the similarly Starforce enabled Enigma Rising Tide and Virtual Skipper III which were installed months prior to SH3. Maybe there is something wrong with the implementation of SF in SH3 or the version used is unstable?

I agree that something needs to be done about piracy and perhaps the best solution is to cut the high street shops out of the loop and sell direct to the public. That way prices could be reduced: (shops and distribution take about 70% of a games retail value), the games could be constantly updated and grow, licenses could be monitored and illegal usage stopped at source.

But... I'm not sure we are ready for that yet, we still like our printed manuals, box and cd to much to let go of them and are still a bit paranoid about companies going belly up (see all the worries about Distant Guns). Then there is the issue of all those people working in all those stores, do we really just can them like that?

There are two sides to every story... our lives are full of dilemma!

[Farside]

Originally Posted by Fishmachine

Nah, the game sells better, because now it's price is quite low, comparing to starting point, and also most of the new (cheap) computers will run it smoothly. Not to mention, that it's a piece of a good game

Besides - the game's already cracked.

starting point? i got it for £20 when it first came out. not THAT expensive, well, i mean i've seen games more pricey

[Sonarman]

Farside wrote:

starting point? i got it for £20 when it first came out. not THAT expensive, well, i mean i've seen games more pricey

Yes I paid about £20 as well, much cheaper than the £45 I paid for the original Silent Hunter on it's release. Software prices in the UK were driven down thanks firstly to the mail order companies in the gaming mags then of course by internet retailers.

[Mowgli]

Originally Posted by Sonarman

Read this story at least the dreaded Starforce has one thing going for it, it's tough to crack... story here

Our worst enemy may turn out to be an ally after all if the extra revenue has swung the decision on making SH4!

I think it is more a case of Silent Hunter III being a success DESPITE Starforce.

I bought SH3 and the problems I had when I purchased the game have been resolved. Should another game come out that I really want, and should the publishers be stupid enough to include Starforce in its release, then I shall just look for another game or wait until the Starforce problem is "fixed". I shall then buy a copy and tailor the game to suit.