Singles 1.4 crack/nocd ?

[TippeX]

[QUOTE=Morglum007]

"and an image of starforce CAN be made" ---> not always possible (latest sf versions will refuse to play if some emulation tools are running: even with the unplugged IDE)

>> which is handled/detected by the driver.. think about it the old drivers
>> worked on images with the ide unplugged or whatever, and then the new >> drivers came along which stopped that

"its the driver thats detecting the image is 'virtual'" ---> not 100% correct, the drivers just locks devices and block some cracking tricks, the 24 character key provides the info about the CD estructure, mounted or not.

>> true, theres also timers involved, but if the image is made with alcohol
>> using the drms setting (cant remember spelling heh) then the image should
>> be fine, and its the sf driver thats messing with you...

[E_J]

Originally Posted by TippeX

give me one good reason why i should give u the benefit from my research

You chose to post in this thread. My point is that your posting in it to say a working copy can be made while providing absolutely no details on how to do it is worthless.

vague assertions they are not

You need to consult a dictionary for a definition of the word "vague." The fact that you provided no details to backup your assertions makes them so.

[QUOTE=TippeX]

Originally Posted by Morglum007

"its the driver thats detecting the image is 'virtual'"

You are talking about running the image virtually, and I am talking about a copy burned onto CD writeable media. Technically a working copy of a game on CD writeable media should play in a read-only media drive in the same way that the original CD-ROM would. The only way that the Starforce driver could tell the difference is if the encryption key or other information it needs from the game media is simply not present on the copy.

With Safedisc, SecuROM, and even Tages, such a working copy can be made on CD writeable media. My experience and understanding with StarForce 3 is that a working copy on CD writeable media cannot be made. You quote seems to imply that hacking the Starforce driver would make a copy of the game functional, but that is still a hack/process which requires something more than duplicating the original media onto CD writeable media.

So, technically I suppose that someone wanting to make a crack for a StarForce game could use a clone image of the CD-ROM IF he knew how to properly modify the StarForce driver too. It would be easier to simply use the original CD-ROM to launch the game though to eliminate this extra work in creating the crack.

[krondike]

You can emulate and you can make 1:1 copy of Starforce. have been done with Gangland.

To emulate, unplugg ide cabel or any cables to the an driver or burner of cd or dvd.

To burn, well you might have a very good burner and reader. and lots of times......

[Acimus]

In case u haven't noticed, Singles Demo is actually a full version having 4 hours of playing time as only limitation. Only thing needed to unlock the demo is a license key file. No one has got one, really?? Can't believe this.

Or if someone smarter than me has discovered where the demo version stores that information showing how much playing time is left, a hint would be nice... I already tried to trace registry changes etc. but didn't get any wiser.

[E_J]

Originally Posted by Acimus

In case u haven't noticed, Singles Demo is actually a full version having 4 hours of playing time as only limitation. Only thing needed to unlock the demo is a license key file.

The Singles Demo is protected with Trymedia's ActiveMARK copy-protection system. This copy-protection is particularly draconian because it is tied to the hardware of the PC on which it is activated/registered (Think Windows XP retail activation only worse.). So, if you upgrade your PC/replace components or replace your entire PC, you must request a new activation from Trymedia. If Trymedia goes out of business or refuses to give you a new activation, then you are sh*t out of luck if you want to play the full game for which you paid.

I strongly recommend that people avoid buying games from Trygames.com because of this and also because games from Trygames.com are NOT the same as the retail CD-ROM versions in content either. They have more in common with "ripped" versions of games in many cases, and given that ActiveMARK encrypts many of the game files, creating mods with these games is not possible even if mods can be made with the retail version.

[Acimus]

But there must be some registry values etc. from where Singles demo sees how long it's been played and removing all traces of the demo would allow another 4 hours of playtime? I can't think of any more complicated method how that could have been done, my PC isn't even connected to web all the time so it can't store that data into some server either.

[krondike]

@Acimus
Buy the game from the Store or from Trygames.com.

[E_J]

Originally Posted by Acimus

But there must be some registry values etc. from where Singles demo sees how long it's been played and removing all traces of the demo would allow another 4 hours of playtime?

Either the registry or a hidden file or the MBR of the hard drive or some mechanism is no doubt used to track the time. Of course, I bet if you run the ActiveMARK version of the game for four hours straight it will also shutdown so even if you could reset the time period you would have to shut the game down every four hours.

In any case, I would stay away from Trygames.com games if I were you. The only way to make that crappy hardware-specific ActiveMARK copy-protection go away is simply to avoid the games which use it altogether.