Starforce got Cracked !?

[uly]

Nobody has a real number on the rampancy of software (especially game) piracy, and every estimates I've seen so far all have very suspect methodologies. It seems common sense to assume that a significnt number, if not the great majority, of pirated game users won't be playing said game if he/she was not able to obtain the pirated copy in the first place. The disproportionately high amount of downloads of obscure games on big torrent sites seem to substantiate this. But however effective or ineffective copy protections are at stopping piracy and increase sales, one thing is indisputable: they ALWAYS hurt the legitimate buyers. It hurts EVERY legitimate buyer by robbing them of the right to make backups, which is fair use, and it hurts a minority even more by causing the game not to work, or worse causing problem on their systems.

 

That still won't be as bad if it wasn't for the fact that the developers almost universally refused to provide support for these innocent buyers. To them, and to their publisher, they've already got these victim's money in their pocket, so there's little cause to fuss about. They're only a minority, and no matter how vocal these minorty may get, they know that the other players who could play the games without problem will happily ignore the cries of the victim. As such they are always more than willing to forsake the victims. Having been both a minority and a majority gamer in the past, I know how frustrating it can get.

 

Well, I personally can't stand MMO games, and I'm not a business analyst to come up with a model that could stop piracy. But then I am absolutely sure that piracy cannot be stopped anyway. Most, if not all of the cracking groups don't make a dime from the pirated warez and crackz they release. They, like most of the hacker communities, do it for the challenge, the pride and the love of the "scene". They also have nothing better to do, but then people wouldn't be sitting in front of their computers for hours on end making computer character shoot other mutant computer characters if they had something better to do. To these cracking groups, a more difficult copy protection simply means a more interesting challenge; it feeds their drive by challenging them to be the first to crack it.

 

So I believe it's safe to say that piracy will aways be around. Then what's the point of copy protections anyway? Surely anyone net savvy enough wouldn't have problem finding the cracks (and porn for that matter) they needed in a matter of minutes. I think the people who pay for their games come in three kinds: the ones who are simply ignorant of the world of piracy, the ones bound by obedience to the law to commit such crimes, and the ones who would pay and support certain games despite the fact that they could get it for free. Copy protections are mainly targetted, and effective, against the first group. Starforce is a good example, they not only make the nastiest copy protection around, they also actively maintain a reputation of being "uncrackable" despite the reality. The hope is that many would-be pirates will simply give up thinking that the only way to get the game is to buy it.

 

But really, that's more of a strategy based on an education/ignorance campaign than anything else. Since anyone determined to find out how to play pirated games will be able to eventually, copy protection will only stop the people who won't make the effort at all. As such, any other token copy protection would do, ones that don't also hurt the legitimate buyers. Personally I don't mind a bit of copy protection here and there, even though I invariably resort to the nocd cracks for games I bought and own. (Let's face it, CDs are just too damn cumbersome, and why should the pirates have all the convenience?) I draw the line at the copy protection that hurt legit buyers, though. Their effectiveness is debatable, but the harm they cause is very, very real.

[SBOY]

Shadowblade

Actually, very few Starforce-protected games have been cracked (that is, just replace the original .EXE with a cracked one). Most of the SF releases in the pirate scene include a bunch of third party programs, which you must use precisely according to the instructions (1200 steps). If you make the tiniest mistake, the whole process won't work and you won't be able to play the game.

 

Err... I dont know where you get your info but it is very wrong.

 

Starforce is not uncrackable though I will never post any cracks or fixes.

 

Bomb Bloke wrote

Many crackers claim to have bought original copies of the games they crack. I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

 

To sit down and crack the protection of a game, simply so that other people can play it for free, sounds to me like a waste of time. That can't be their motive. No one with the brains to manually crack software would be so childish as to promote piracy.

 

 

You are correct most people who crack do buy the original, but why do you think they are promoting piracy?

 

 

Most people just dont want Starforce on their PC's

[almighty1]

I think that the most effect copy protection is additional online content and/or multiplayer. To hell with bloody CD/DVD checks, if more games had additional online content, CD/DVD copy protection would be pointless (although most likely still used).

[kriminal99]

That is also true, most of the games nowadays are badly done, with graphics taking precedence over gameplay. Take, for example, Doom3. Now this game costed me 6 bucks, a copy of it (not downloaded, bought). I was repented of wasting that on this piece of crap, a fine example of how they gave graphics more importance than the game itself.

 

Wooooaaaah there buddy... Now doom 3 single player is one thing. I definitely liked the original doom's fast paced adrenaline pumped combat better than the doom 3 style. I complained that they were going to make this kind of game long before it ever came out on the planet doom forums. The response was generally that doom 1 and 2 already were the fast paced version, and they didn't want to just remake the game with better graphics. Instead they were trying something new. Its basically just a survival horror game with less story involved... the result of an action shooter company trying to make a survival horror game.

 

But the multiplayer (which I have spent many more hours playing than the lame single player) is traditional 200 mph claustraphobic adrenaline pumped carnage. In fact the last time I tried to play single player doom3 I got motion sickness from seeing the doom3 enviornment but not being able to move at my normal speeds...

[Azrael Strife]

Never played the multiplayer.