Fresh Install: "Protection System has detected an unhandled exception"

[Drebbel]

Never had SF on this HD yet. Which is acknowledged by the SF update tool. It states "No installed protection drivers found to update"

Also remember this error takes place before the computer even tries to read the dvd.

[Der Teddy Bar]

The way that the installation of Starforce occurs is that you install the game, at this stage there is no Starforce drivers installed.

The 1st run of SHIII then installs the hidden starforce drivers requiring a reboot. After this Starforce is installed but hidden.

I have seen the exception address mentioned with Stardocks games and that is not a protected game.

[Drebbel]

Ok, interesting. This mean SF not even installed yet. So can not be the cause of the problem. Now what ?

Btw. Did full delete, register cleanup, hd clean up, reboot, re install, same problem :-(

- - - -

Just tested the mission editor. The editor does not start. No errors or freezes. It simply does not start and after a shortwhile of seeing the sandglass the mousepoint changes back to an arrow and the OS moves on. Although there is a process "SH3MissionEditor" loaded in the taskmanager nothing happens and I can continue doing whatever I want to do.

[Gizzmoe]

What you could try is to install another SF-protected game. If that installs the protection correctly SH3 no longer needs to install SF and it should work then. If SH3 is your only game with SF download the King Kong Demo, it´s also SF-protected.

[VipertheSniper]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

What you could try is to install another SF-protected game. If that installs the protection correctly SH3 no longer needs to install SF and it should work then. If SH3 is your only game with SF download the King Kong Demo, it´s also SF-protected.

Why would someone protect a downloadable game demo with SF, and how should this work, without a CD or DVD to look at for the detection system?

Originally Posted by Drebbel

Ok, interesting. This mean SF not even installed yet. So can not be the cause of the problem. Now what ? Btw. Did full delete, register cleanup, hd clean up, reboot, re install, same problem :-(

Re-Install (no patching), REBOOT (so that StarForce can install itself), try running the game. I'm guessing that probably the patch is causing problems here.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by VipertheSniper

Why would someone protect a downloadable game demo with SF

So that no one can reverse-engineer important parts of the game. SF encrypts exe and dll files.

Re-Install (no patching), REBOOT (so that StarForce can install itself), try running the game.

The thing is, the game installer doesn´t install SF, it gets installed when you start SH3.

[VipertheSniper]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

So that no one can reverse-engineer the exe. SF encrypts exe and dll files.


The thing is, the game installer doesn´t install SF, it gets installed when you start SH3.

I can remember that the first time I installed SH3 that the installer asked me to reboot, could well be because I chose to start the game right away tho.Not that we needed anymore proof, but things like this show that StarForce just sucks.