StarForce > Starforce Nightmare

[vharshyde]

Originally Posted by kosmiq

They just wants to feel l33t so that all beginners (aka n00bs) can think that those guys are sooo cool so they can be someones hero.

...I want to be able to backup it.

Forgive my laughter.

Now, as for the CD copy protection types, well, they arent really winning. The whole bit about warez is that they pften provide a 95% gameplay ability, meaning that some bug prevents a certain level of the game from working properly in the no-cd/dvd patch. This does not go for all games, naturally, but it does go for a goodly portion of them. Game manufacturers NEED people to pirate games, as few are going to spend 50 bucks cash on something they havent even seen a commercial for.

Besides, give it a week or so. Someone will make a patch, or another program to knock out the protection system. You forget. There might be a few different protection systems, but there's millions, dare I say a couple billion people on the net who're more than happy to put something together. Just like they always have. Some of these guys have been around for around 20 years on the net, providing cracked copy protection, CD recognition, and otherwise. Even back when games required you to look on page x, line x of your manual and type in word x, these guys would go into the game code, and knock that out.

Never underestimate the power of the internet. What a company spends a few years developing, the bio-cybermass that is the net can destroy in a matter of days.

[caki]

True, but Starforce has changed all that. Its takwn months, maybe even years to learn how to generically crack.

Sure, there will always be people around to hack all this new ****... For now. If the FBI actually had a strong motive to catch warez useres, well... I doubt this board would be here, and the scene as active as it is.

Sure some of the guys have been around for 20 years on the net cracking their asses off, but they gotta retire some time, dont they? And what happens then?

Also, protections are getting better and better. Hell, the starforce people are lazy, but I bet they could easily add a couple of new features to their protection to make it hell to RE... as if it already isnt.

So many uknowns... I wouldnt even start these types of discussions. We cant predict anything. Whats there is there, use it. Learn. Dont rely on other people to do everything for you. Do it on your own.

For example: look at the D-tools people. I wouldnt be surprised if a millions people used their soft. What happens if they get sued? Oh no we're ****ed? Some other guys will come along, true, but how long will it take for them to get to the same level as D-tools? Or, will they be busted and hounded from Day 1??

We have no way to know. My philosophy is to appreciate things while you have them. I appreciate D-tools, I appreciate Softice, and all the other nice little things people have cooked up for us. If I want something, I make it instead of waiting for it. Sometimes I dont have the skills to make it. I then acquire them... and so on forever. People in my opinion should do that instead of whining for the next D-tools release of Reloadeds next Starforce crack, or when Fairlight is gonna retun to the scene... If you don't have time to learn... well thats too bad. But I've never not had time for anything. And, god willing, it shall stay this way.

I'm saying this vharshyde because I totally disagree with your viewpoint. One day, the flow will stop. Then its up to you if you want to continue an upstream battle or bail out.

Enough bull****. I have math homework to finish.

-rendari

[hyakkii]

Originally Posted by rendari

True, but Starforce has changed all that. Its takwn months, maybe even years to learn how to generically crack.

Sure, there will always be people around to hack all this new ****... For now. If the FBI actually had a strong motive to catch warez useres, well... I doubt this board would be here, and the scene as active as it is.

Sure some of the guys have been around for 20 years on the net cracking their asses off, but they gotta retire some time, dont they? And what happens then?

Also, protections are getting better and better. Hell, the starforce people are lazy, but I bet they could easily add a couple of new features to their protection to make it hell to RE... as if it already isnt.

So many uknowns... I wouldnt even start these types of discussions. We cant predict anything. Whats there is there, use it. Learn. Dont rely on other people to do everything for you. Do it on your own.

For example: look at the D-tools people. I wouldnt be surprised if a millions people used their soft. What happens if they get sued? Oh no we're ****ed? Some other guys will come along, true, but how long will it take for them to get to the same level as D-tools? Or, will they be busted and hounded from Day 1??

We have no way to know. My philosophy is to appreciate things while you have them. I appreciate D-tools, I appreciate Softice, and all the other nice little things people have cooked up for us. If I want something, I make it instead of waiting for it. Sometimes I dont have the skills to make it. I then acquire them... and so on forever. People in my opinion should do that instead of whining for the next D-tools release of Reloadeds next Starforce crack, or when Fairlight is gonna retun to the scene... If you don't have time to learn... well thats too bad. But I've never not had time for anything. And, god willing, it shall stay this way.

I'm saying this vharshyde because I totally disagree with your viewpoint. One day, the flow will stop. Then its up to you if you want to continue an upstream battle or bail out.

Enough bull****. I have math homework to finish.

-rendari

I wasn't going to reply to this BUT i am bored, Daemon tools can't be sued since they aren't based in the usa ( I think germany if i recall right ) and they are doing nothing wrong to be sued for d-tools has MANY legit uses.
Thats like saying rarlabs can be sued since most illegal softs are distributed in that format, OR gamecopyworld/cdmediaworld/fileforums/megagames could be sued for hosting cracked / disasembled / rev engineered exe's ..etc as long as there serves a legal and legit use there shouldn't be any sue'ing going on .


On to the starforce protection
I don't like it but i do support it in a way since it does its job really good looking at the numbers (don't ask where) it severly cut back on pirate copys sure some people can get them to work still using really inconvenient methods but the average pc user this can turn into a catastorphy and they end up buying the game! (woohoo)..

The downside is as some people said making personal backups and drivers that get installed / compatability

so i am for it since it boosts their sales and now maybe they can start making quality games again while saving the pc gaming industry (consoles are about to completely take over pc gaming) i think the pirate scene has gotten waaaay out of hand and i think even the pirate groups realize it

people complain about the protections but in reality if people didn't steal games it wouldnt have gone this far

who knows maybe next will be something like the riaa called the spaa ( i wouldnt support anything like that since most of the time the information they collect is inaccurate and sue the wrong person)& all internet privacy gone policed and moderated, Im sure it will happen sooner or later but for now I personally would rather have starforce

[Joe Forster/STA]

Internet is free speech. Warezers use it, pedophiles use it, terrorists use it. So what?

Five hundred years ago, a guy named Gutenberg came up with a printer machine; monks, who had the monopoly of knowledge and copying books, were f*cked but pretty much the whole mankind profited from it. So what?

A few decades ago, computers penetrated the average households. People started using game and productivity software for their own purposes and fun. Then some companies came up with devices that allow you to make your own copies of software. Now software publishers are f*cked but pretty much the whole mankind profits from it. So what?

A few centuries later, someone will come up with what we call a "replicator" in Star Trek: a device that can duplicate any physical object, given an original object (or its digitized pattern) and enough energy/matter. Then originals will have no value as everyone will be able to have a perfect duplication of them. Collectors will be f*cked but pretty much the whole mankind will profit from it. So what?

[caki]

Originally Posted by hyakkii

I wasn't going to reply to this BUT i am bored, Daemon tools can't be sued since they aren't based in the usa ( I think germany if i recall right )

I'm not sure, but in Germany if you do ANYTHING to bypass copy proctections they can sue you. Its much stricter that in the US. CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. I AM NOT SURE.

[hyakkii]

Originally Posted by rendari

I'm not sure, but in Germany if you do ANYTHING to bypass copy proctections they can sue you. Its much stricter that in the US. CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. I AM NOT SURE.

I am unsure if they are from germany or canada or someother place in an very old email of mine SwENSkE (i think he was the original maker of d-tools) said something about germany so i wasnt 100% sure if he was talking about where he was or another company .. and im not even sure if he is the current developer or associated with the project anymore.

[caki]

Svenske means Swedish in Swedish I think.

[DABhand]

Locutus is the original maker of Dtools

[HBush]

Starforce is crackable till version 3.4.71 with my games. that would be Splinter Cell 3 e.g. Kig Kong is still to be tested. As to the discussion I´d say try this!---:


Allright , here is an easy (easier) way to get Splinter Cell 3 and other games running up till Version 3.4.71 something (Splinter Cell 3): You must have Daemon Tools 4 installed! I couldn´t get it to run with Alc120% (probably my own fault Daemon´s the one I know and its free so why bother...


1. Create an MDF image with ALcohol 120 (DPM high)from original disk. Only one working so far...
Install game, from image

2. Get Sfnightmare 1.12 http://starf.bestmedia.kiev.ua

You might want to add http://rapidshare.de/files/5750600/sfcure01c.zip.html to the registry. I don´t know if you really need it. I was on my PC already .Couldn´t get rid of it to test without so it could be neccessary!? If you decide to take it,edit the reg as described in readme.txt (!) FIRST then setup.

3.Now simply mount image in Daemon tools.

4. Start SFnightmare now. Set Disable CDs+Disable Node, that´s all.

5. Start game with regular desktop icon, exe, whatever,it works...

You do not need to unplug the CD Drives as I thought before. It works with "disable Cds" as well.
If it doesn´t in your case which I think is unlikely you need to unplug the Drives manually of course.then it definetily works. I must put emphazis again on creating Alc120& images ONLY. Use sfcure01 for "safety reasons". Maybe you try without it first so we can see if it´s neccessary to do so!

Next one is King Kong, actually the only Starforce game left right now. This is no fraud it works! What you need is an MDF image, that´s basically it.I use the patched SPlinter Cell 3 version (1.05 now). Works (with any update,. any game up till now...)!
PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES!!! (here)

[Muji-FightR]

have you already tried this w/ GT Legends ? Would be great to hear it works
it has SF 3.6.10, dunno if its possible to get it run without unplugging drives, i just use the original as unplugging drives is no real option for me.

[NITROUS SYSTEM]

Starforce protection was always the best around....

[hyakkii]

Originally Posted by NITROUS SYSTEM

Starforce protection was always the best around....

Actully its pretty horrible people think it does its job good but in reality all you have to do is unplug your cdroms cause of its blacklist of scsi devices (emulators). and it will work (with dt4 or/ sfcure and a 1:1 image) ..and if it doesn't then its most likely the original wont work either or some kind of conflict happening maybe even being online.

The only thing stoping it from being cracked is its encryption and files that are encrypted (it can be every file on the game or just one) and to break the encryption depending on luck (and level) can take 1 day to 4 years of trying to brute forcing and even if they somehow crack the encryption they would have to play the game a million times to find trigger points. plus starforce has many other headaches its really not worth anyones time. also if they did manage to make a crack the file would be "very" large perhaps the size if the game

The worst thing about starforce is future compatibility, its intrusiveness and stealth installing drivers :\

[abcdefgqwerty]

Is there a way to stop a driver from being installed? Could you create your own driver and have it scan or blacklist the starforce driver? The whole reason starforce works is because of the privileges it gets from having low level drivers installed. There must be a way to stop drivers from installing. The driver mess is exactly why windows sucks and malware can have its way with our computers. Rootkits and underhanded crap run rampant on windows machines. If my program could be installed with driver access I could have my way with anyones computer 2.

[Joe Forster/STA]

NEVER LAUNCH the Starforce-protected game (you can find out the protection with latest version of ProtectionID and/or A-Ray Scanner), and then the damn drivers won't get installed. But you won't be able to play the game either, unless you have a no-CD/DVD patch (not a mini/maxi/full image!).

Some people on this forum already stated that they buy a game only when a confirmedly working no-CD/DVD patch is available.

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by vharshyde

Forgive my laughter.

Now, as for the CD copy protection types, well, they arent really winning. The whole bit about warez is that they pften provide a 95% gameplay ability, meaning that some bug prevents a certain level of the game from working properly in the no-cd/dvd patch. This does not go for all games, naturally, but it does go for a goodly portion of them. Game manufacturers NEED people to pirate games, as few are going to spend 50 bucks cash on something they havent even seen a commercial for.

Besides, give it a week or so. Someone will make a patch, or another program to knock out the protection system. You forget. There might be a few different protection systems, but there's millions, dare I say a couple billion people on the net who're more than happy to put something together. Just like they always have. Some of these guys have been around for around 20 years on the net, providing cracked copy protection, CD recognition, and otherwise. Even back when games required you to look on page x, line x of your manual and type in word x, these guys would go into the game code, and knock that out.

Never underestimate the power of the internet. What a company spends a few years developing, the bio-cybermass that is the net can destroy in a matter of days.

What you forget is, it was easier way back then, but now its more sophisticated, hell some "crackers" are getting younger each year and they dont have the experience like the old time ones once had. So protections will eventually win.