Possible workaround for Cycling Manager 3 and other Starforce 3 games
 

Cycling Manager 3 (StarForce3) images are succesfully emulated without any CD device in system except alcohol virtual cd

you must unplug power supply from your cd, disabling secondary controlller in bios don't help

You need to un-plug all the IDE devices because starforce 3 will ask you to put the cd in a IDE device, if there is any IDE dev., nad the virtual drive is an SCSI device.


the way to outwit StarForce 3 :D :D :D :D

And it works fine, and now... say God to me =D

Well I'm not going to call you God, since obviously around here I am God :D Still, if it works, it IS a solution for all those desperate souls hanging around here begging for a cycling manager 3 crack :D So congratulations on finding a workaround. Now let me think to see if there's a less radical solution.... I wish I had one of those starforce games here so I could test some tricks of my own... I'll think about it and see if I can suggest anything else regarding IDE drives... But still, congratulations for finding something that works :D

Edit : I'm going to change the subject a bit to make it more clear and make this thread into a sticky for a while, anyone wanting to try this, post your results in this thread... Bugger, having a problem changing the thread subject, well let's keep it this way for a while

thx =) Only what you need too, is the Serial from your ORGINAL CD

I changed the thread header, pretty easy :D

Anyways, that 'fix' for starforce3 games seems a little extreme...I personally wouldnt even bother doing it, just to get one game to work..You didnt come up with that by yourself did you?

Well, like I said it's a workaround, and it's pretty radical, but the important fact is that there IS a way to play without the original in the drive. If you're obsessed enough with CM3 not to need the cdrom drive for anything else for a long time, then it's handy. But I'm sure there must be some better way to get past it, some setting or such to change in windows so that it doesn't find a cdrom or to reenable it when you do need the cdrom drive...

Hello, today i have test it with Fire Chief and World War(StarForce 3 too), and it works fine. I know that this way is more complex, but its at moment the only way to play StarForce backups. We only can hope, that Alcohol emulated StarForce 3 anytime :(

Disabling the IDE-Controller with the CD-Rom connected in Windows' device manager should work as well....then you get away with just a reboot.



_______________________
- Cosmic

Thanx for the help but it's not working for me and Cycling Manager 3. I have unplugged all my IDE devices and I'm mounting the original CD from the Alcohol120% Virtual Drive. However after I click on "Play" StarForce says that my CD-Key is invalid, but I'm sure I entered the original key. Can u help me again and suggest any solutions or could you plz :rolleyes: make a crack for this game. If yes for version 1.11r as well because there are many important bugfixes and improvements in the game.


PLZZZ!!! :)

u sure thats it the orginal key? lol...
When you have the ORGINAL KEY for THIS CD, and EVERY cd has a own Key, Than it works 100% !!!!

Only what i can say, buy the orginal =)

eheh????this a Crazy metod:confused:

Lame...
 

Unpluggin all ide devices is just toooo lame for one game to work. The only thing that will make this game playable is a new crack and nothing else. This fix will only work for those who have an original key. And:If you got the key this fix is just a waste, because it`s easier to use the game-cd when you play, than disabling the drives all the time.

Anyway: I know most of you that only "own the original, but can`t find the key or something," will not be able to run the game before such a fix is made. You need the CRACK and I`m really surprised that there is not one out with all this people beggin for it.

Maybe all the gurus are on vacation or something.. Watching Tour de France maybe? ;)

Yes I'm absolutely positive about my CD and my CD- Key

Thanks

god? lamer.
 

Misses_X didn't discover anything, this is a well known work-around for star-force game (which I thought was fixed in the most recent versions) and has been known for 3+ months... and is posted on most forums on the net.

Star-force simply won't even try to authentificate the CDS with scsi cdroms (virtual cd-roms use these interfaces) when there are IDE ones present.. This work-around disables the IDE devices, therefore s-f sees that the only attached devices are scsi, and tries to verify the disc on that interface.

another point i forgot to mention about star-force cd-keys..

they are unique per replicated batch. (which can be every cd on earth if they didn't have to do localised version / need more cds due to demand). In all games that I have seen so far, this cdkey was only required for star-force and not used by the game at all (since they are all the same).

Interesting that a generic solution can do all the games. Seems that someone could come up with a generic loader/crack that hides the IDE devices.

Cannot understand
 

I don't understand why, but I did exactly the way you suggested, and everything worked perfectly well the 2 or 3 first times I launch the game but then, it's been impossible to load the game. Instead of the yellow bars to lighten very quickly, the disc verification became slow and it aks me now for the cd-key again but I think it must be the good one. And so, it doesn't work anymore neither with alcohol nor with daemon. Very strange that it went well a few times and then nothing.

this fix has been mentioned on numerous forums before and its not a very successful method I have never got it to work with a starforce 3 title yet! a fixed exe is the only way i have ever got a copied title to run despite having the original cd with a valid keycode
i have asked alcohol to look at this problem on numerous occaisions but i suppose the releases with starforce 3 on them are few and far between compared to safedisc and securom so this protection for the moment is seen to them as a lower priority for now. perhaps in time????

how can i unplug that?

Open up your computer, and look at the back of the cd drives, unplug the power cables (it's got coloured wires)

"crackermen´s" Put a ****ing crack for cycling manager 1.1

Hi...

where is new crack 1.1?

Thanks!!!!

are you stupid... there has been posted 20 threads about where it is... nobody has made it... im sure someone will write it when it comes... until then think and read before you write

Well at least he didn't make a new thread about it. Those tend to disappear without a trace... :D

:rolleyes: Let's just say that unplugging all the IDE-drivers work, if you are one of the lucky ones with the right CD-Key to break the StarForce3 protection...

star force
 

with a fixed exe the problem is not solved.. the trick on star force is that the verification of the cd may be hidden where ever the manufacurer want it to.
so e.g. the verification could be in some library where u never expect it. to remove it, u have to scan all files on that cd and remove it from everyone, as there is not only 1 verification.. the may be infinite.. but removing the verification is not all.. s-f is also checking the physical attributes of the original cd and if that does not match, it won't work..
before spending too much resources on cracking that protection, u rather should buy the game, or u will spand much more than the game cost.
so long!

Re: star force
 

How to know what starforce version was used to protect a disk?
 

Hi
How to know what starforce version was used to protect a disk?

Re: How to know what starforce version was used to protect a disk?
 

I try this one successfully, use a emulator,
that convert the present CD-rom into harddisk,
it mean d: is the actual cd rom, convert it into a harddisk.

use the alcohol120 emulator, e: ,

when you start the game , star force will find the
real cd-rom first then emulated cd rom,

when the real cd rom convert and convert to harddisk,
starforce will stop to test this drive, then go to next drive.

It is so easy to do. You need harddisk faker, that all.

Which program did you use to fake cd-rom's to harddisk?

I'd like to know, too. Come on!

EDIT: After my search for such a tool was in vain AND since you don't answer anymore I guess it was a fake.

And buying the original was outta the question? Checked the rules lately? Something about warez and this board? :mad:

Great news ! SF3 has been broken !!!

Hello I'm new to this forums.

I'm now trying all day to make a working backup of soldiers: heroes of world war 2. I think it uses starforce 3. I made a image with alcohol with my plextor 48/24/48a, and I unplugged the power supply cables. I mounted the image in alchol virtual drive but I still get that damn error that the cd-key doesnt match. And don't tell me 'buy the game' because won't be posting this if I didnt even have a matching key and cd because I know it's impossible to get it to work without a good key. Would be cool if u guys can help me out :D

@Antenna: Are you sure? Where can I find more on it?

contact their support, does the key work with the original?

I just bought this game (Cycling Manager 4) which has StarForce 3 protection, and I coudn't even install this POS, my CDROM drive started making ticking noices, so I removed the CD, and cracked it in pieces, thus StarForce 3 is now officially broken :)

o.O u dumb or something? u just waisted good money... u coulve taken it bk to the shop.

Yes the game works fine when I use the original CD but it seems really impossible to get a backup working. Is there anyone here who managed to backup it succesfully? I think the game is using an even improved version of Starforce or something. Anyway, it seems there is a crack for Panzers on gamecopyworld, so maybe soldiers will follow very soon :D

/edit sorry the Panzers crack seems to be the same as you guys mentioned above about the demo .exe :(

Hey I also have the same problem. When it checks my backupped cd it says "wrong key", but it work with the original cd. Thats kinda weird, but I think there is something missed on the backup cd what the burning program doesnt copy. So btw there are only 2 CD-Keys for Soldiers: Heroes of WWII. One for USA and one for Europe. I tried both. No success ... damn im still waiting :(

At least I try to disconnect my cd drives and try it with the image i made.

Bye Mainstriker

Has anyone tried 'Fake CD' yet?