Starforce discussion

[Lee]

I just got to the point where I didn't care anymore. I don't like Starforce, and I can understand people avoiding it, but it didn't hurt my systems and I thought claims were a bit exaggerated.

Lee, I would urge you to be cautious. I used to say that exact same thing - on this exact same board, no less - until one of the SF-infected games I bought finally started screwing with my system.

Even though you haven't had any problems yet, I would still advise you not to buy any new SF-infected games unless you absolutely just have to have them.

Starforce has been on my system for about 1.5 years now, and I haven't noticed anything. I never burn CDs though. I will be installing a NEC DVD burner this week though, we will see.

[Lee]

I am curious to see if Starforce is causing problems with Sacred, which isn't running as good as it should. [url=www.star-force.com[/url] seems to be down. I want to either update the drivers, or get rid of them. But I can not seem to find a link to actually download sfclean.exe anywhere. Lots of mentions to use it, but the links that say they have it are all broken.

Can anyone help me out here please?

[dbt1949]

I just Googled it when I wanted it.

[Jeff V]

It's kind of an interesting point really. What if every publisher switched to SF, but SF managed to beat pirates once and for all? Would it be worth it? It's more difficult to say yes to that than it really ought to be, isn't it?

That would the equivalent of PC gaming vanishing once and for all. A game I can't play might as well not exist for all intents and purposes.

[tals]

I just got to the point where I didn't care anymore. I don't like Starforce, and I can understand people avoiding it, but it didn't hurt my systems and I thought claims were a bit exaggerated.

Lee, I would urge you to be cautious. I used to say that exact same thing - on this exact same board, no less - until one of the SF-infected games I bought finally started screwing with my system.

Even though you haven't had any problems yet, I would still advise you not to buy any new SF-infected games unless you absolutely just have to have them.

Hw your logic is flawed in you are imaging that everytime you buy another SF game you are increasing the risk to your syste, If you have a SF game on your PC with no issues then any further games make no difference they all use the same driver. Hence if you unistall SF all SF games on your PC will stop working.

Contrary to belief i'm not pro SF i'm just pro games that happen to have SF in them. I do think as a copy protection system it appears to work better than any other (at this point in time) and so the logic wil obviously follow that more publishers will start adopting it.

The games I play Soldiers and now SF2 and to a lesser extent Trackmania truly for me are better than any other game out there at the moment. As its my PC and its just used for my enjoyment i'm not going to let an issue with a driver spoil that - creative labs stuff has caused me way more pain than SF with its various hidden programs stealing resources etc- guys wake up and smell the coffeee

Right click your my computer icon->properties->Hardware->Device Manager->View->Show Hidden devices

Non Plug and play drivers-> how much of the rubbish in there do you understand?

Tals

[Huw the Poo]

Hw your logic is flawed in you are imaging that everytime you buy another SF game you are increasing the risk to your syste, If you have a SF game on your PC with no issues then any further games make no difference they all use the same driver. Hence if you unistall SF all SF games on your PC will stop working.

Nope. I had Chaos League on my PC for ages with no issues, then the drive was buggered as soon as I started playing Silent Hunter 3. Besides, you yourself have already stated that there are different versions of SF out there.

[tals]

Absolutely - although not quite as cut and dried as you make out

The latest version of SF is no doubt much better than earlier versions - this discussion 6 months ago would have been 7 to 3 with a significant number of people having issues with the software. It is now pretty much the other way round. I'd also question the version - when you install a game with SF I suspect it installs all of the different incantations of SF - look at my screenshot. When you install a later version you then get an update on the relevant one. Its all hyposesis I haven't any idea how it would work but how i'd expect it to work

Although SH3 caused your issues I don't think you are totally sure its SF - have you unistalled it (SF) and do the issues go away? That said

http://www.cdv-board.de/english/archive ... 48726.html

Appears to be similar to issues you are experiencing and also a solution - although the starforce web site appears to be down at the moment.

Tals

[Huw the Poo]

The issue I have is that my PC won't detect the actual drive half the time, regardless of what disc is in it. I bring up My Computer and it lists all my drives except the DVD ROM drive, it's as if it doesn't exist. That's why I sometimes need to restart before I can play SH3/watch DVDs.

But yeah, I'll try updating SF at some point, see if it helps. Cheers for the tips and the stimulating discussion, Tals.

[Lee]

Well I found a sfclean.exe that was dated something like 16Jul04. Ran it, it rebooted, so I would try a Starforce game. Chaos league would still run, so I am guessing it didn't work. I wish the damn official site was up.

I did realize I have had this computer 2.5 years and never reformatted. I think I am going to do that today just to clean it up.

[Freezer-TPF-]

Starforce adds another layer of failure into games, products that often have more than enough bugs to contend with on their own. But the problems that Starforce can cause are system level and go beyond just not being able to run the game. From the screenshot tals posted, it looks like the updated versions of Starforce just add more and more crap into your system without even removing the old stuff.

Pass. I have plenty of great games to play without it. I hope the publishers who use it are at least being more honest about it so people who have problems with it can get proper tech support, instead of just shutting down their forums (The Adventure Company) when too many people complain.

Do the current Starforced games inform you -- do they tell you that they are installing the Starforce system drivers, and do you have a chance to say no?

[Jeff V]

Pass. I have plenty of great games to play without it. I hope the publishers who use it are at least being more honest about it so people who have problems with it can get proper tech support, instead of just shutting down their forums (The Adventure Company) when too many people complain.

My experience has been that publisher go out their way to avoid ever blaming copy protection for technical problems. I've not seen one cop to it yet, whether the problem was caused by Starforce or some other scheme. Even when I was trying to do marketing related work for them, they would just as soon I do something drastic like reformat my hard drive before admitting it was their copy protection that caused the problem (I explained on such instance above, another had to be solved with a No-CD crack).

[tals]

Do the current Starforced games inform you -- do they tell you that they are installing the Starforce system drivers, and do you have a chance to say no?

Space Rangers 2 and Soldiers (if memory serves me) is crystal clear that it is starforce protection - but unfortunately (for those that have an issue) after the event.

Tals

[Crux]

I grudgingly have it installed now. I originally encountered Starforce in a game demo and it completely screwed with my cd burner. So I removed it, and things went back to normal.

Then Soldiers: Heroes of World War II was acquired

So, I installed Soldiers (a starforce game), and then grabbed an update on starforce. Have not had a single problem since. My cd burner works, no sweat.

[Kobra]

I am curious to see if Starforce is causing problems with Sacred, which isn't running as good as it should. [url=www.star-force.com[/url] seems to be down. I want to either update the drivers, or get rid of them. But I can not seem to find a link to actually download sfclean.exe anywhere. Lots of mentions to use it, but the links that say they have it are all broken.

Can anyone help me out here please?

Sacred doesn't use Starforce.

[Jeff V]

I am curious to see if Starforce is causing problems with Sacred, which isn't running as good as it should. [url=www.star-force.com[/url] seems to be down. I want to either update the drivers, or get rid of them. But I can not seem to find a link to actually download sfclean.exe anywhere. Lots of mentions to use it, but the links that say they have it are all broken.

Can anyone help me out here please?

Sacred doesn't use Starforce.

Starforce could be causing general hardware problems though that are reflected in crappy performance in other games. One of the biggest complaints about Starforce is that it doesn't keep to itself - it causes system-wide problems and fucks with other software.

[Lee]

I know Sacred doesn't use Starforce, but it's there even when the game isn't running. Which is my biggest complaint about it.

It wouldn't be a big deal if I could actually update my Starforce drivers, but either the site isn't working or my 3 computers are having some sort of weird problem going to it.

[tals]

I know Sacred doesn't use Starforce, but it's there even when the game isn't running. Which is my biggest complaint about it.

It wouldn't be a big deal if I could actually update my Starforce drivers, but either the site isn't working or my 3 computers are having some sort of weird problem going to it.

What other stuff have you got running at the same time - seriously Starforce is just one aspect. I'd be checking in task manager and also using start->run msconfig first off. I'd also be seeing if others in the sacred forums (if such a beast exists) are experiencing the issue you are. More than likely it will be screen or sound driver.

What was the problem - apologies if you posted already - just can't see it.

Tals

[Lee]

I know Sacred doesn't use Starforce, but it's there even when the game isn't running. Which is my biggest complaint about it.

It wouldn't be a big deal if I could actually update my Starforce drivers, but either the site isn't working or my 3 computers are having some sort of weird problem going to it.

What other stuff have you got running at the same time - seriously Starforce is just one aspect. I'd be checking in task manager and also using start->run msconfig first off. I'd also be seeing if others in the sacred forums (if such a beast exists) are experiencing the issue you are. More than likely it will be screen or sound driver.

What was the problem - apologies if you posted already - just can't see it.

Tals

Thanks Tals, but I just decided to reformat C: (it's something I kept meaning to do). I did have the newest drivers for everything, and was shutting down background apps. Both my desktop and laptop have the same problems with Sacred though.

I had just wanted to update/remove the current Starforce drivers on my system but that was turning out to be impossible.