ALERT:Ã‚Â© Protection Invades PC's: Game List Here

Post by **skipclarke** » 05 Mar 2006, 00:44

This from Monitor magazine

A fantastic game called (but don't dare buy it!)
Heroes of the Pacific (HOTP) by Developer: IR Gurus (Melbourne, Australia) http://www.irgurus.com/
http://www.heroesofthepacific.com/gameinfo.php

Current Starforce Infected Games List Here

http://www.star-force.com (by a Russian game company) Installs an active & very invasive form of copyright (SecuROM) that hooks to the net when playing the game or not & even after game is un-installed. :shock:

The hard to find removal tool on their site - does not appear to remove it :shock: http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com/protect.phtml?=55

Released Starforced Games - Check updated site list !!

7 Sins
Air Conflicts
American Conquest: Divided Nation
Ankh
Anstoss 4
Bandits: Phoenix Rising
Bet on Soldier
Beyond Divinity
Black Mirror
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Blitzkrieg 2
Blitzkrieg: Rolling Thunder
Breed
Brian Lara International Cricket 2005
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Castle Strike
Chaos League
Chaos League: Sudden Death
City Life
Codename: Outbreak
Codename: Panzers - Phase One
Codename: Panzers - Phase Two
Cold War
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
Crazy Frog Racer
Cross Racing Championship 2005
Curse: The Eye of Isis
Cycling Manager 3
Cycling Manager 4
D-Day
Dead to Rights
Demonic Speedway
Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps
Domination
Dreamfall
Emergency Fire Response
Enigma: Rising Tide
Etherlords II
Fire Chief
Fire Department
FlatOut 2
Freedom Force vs The Third Reich
Gangland
Garfield
Gene Troopers
Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris
GT Legends
GTR: FIA GT Racing Game
Hammer & Sickle
Happiness
Horse Race Manager
I-Ninja
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Keepsake
Kicker Manager 2004
Kill Switch
King Kong
Knights of the Temple 2
Korea: Forgotten Conflict
Kuro No Uta Hime
L.A. Rush
LMA Professional Manager 2005
Lock On: Flaming Cliffs
Mad Tracks
Medieval Lords
Micro Machines V4
Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition
Miko X Mono
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
Neuro Hunter
Nibiru
Night Watch
Obscure
Pac Man World 2
Pac Man World 3
Pacific Storm
Paradise
Pariah
Pax Romana
Perimeter
Perimeter: Emperor's Testament
Pferdehof - Pferd und Pony
Pop Star Academy
Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Pro Cycling Manager Saison 2006
Pro Rugby Manager
Psi-Ops
Pure Pinball
Rally Championship Xtreme
Restricted Area
Revolution
RHEM 2 : La CitÃƒÂ© Interdite
Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2005
Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War (NDA Beta Version)
Runaway: A Road Adventure
Rush For Berlin
Scrapland
Second Sight
Silent Hunter 3
Silent Storm
Silkolene Honda Motocross GP
Singles 2 : Triple Trouble
Singles : Flirt Up Your Life
Sniper Elite
Soldiers Heroes of World War 2
Sommerspiele 2004
Space Rangers 2
SpellForce 2
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory
Star Wolves
Steel Saviour
Still Life
Street Racing Syndicate
Sudeki
SuperPower 2
Syberia II
The Fall : Last Days of Gaia
The Moment of Silence
The Stalin Subway
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
The Westerner
TOCA Race Driver 2 : The Ultimate Racing Simulator
TOCA Race Driver 3
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six : Lockdown
Torrente 3
TrackMania
TrackMania : Power Up !
TrackMania Nations
TrackMania Original
TrackMania Sunrise
TrackMania Sunrise eXtreme
Traitors Gate 2: Cypher
Ubersoldier
UFO: Aftershock
Universal Combat: A World Apart
Universal Combat Gold
V8 Supercars 2
V8 Supercars 3
Virtual Skipper 3
Virtual Skipper 4
Vivisector
War on Terror
Wildlife Park
Wildlife Park 2
Wintersport Pro 2006
World Racing 2
World War II: Frontline Command
Worms 4: Mayhem
X3: Reunion
XIII
Xpand Rally
Xuan-Yuan Sword 4

Aimes · Post by **Aimes** » 05 Mar 2006, 01:27

Jeez, thanks for the heads up

LuckMC11 · Post by **LuckMC11** » 05 Mar 2006, 04:49

woah...guess i shall stay clear of that :D :D :wink:

neoWidescreen · Post by **neoWidescreen** » 05 Mar 2006, 12:53

Too bad, because it receives an average of a 7 or 8 out of 10 by most reviewers, and it's meant to be a lot of fun.

But Starforce & other copy-protection schemes are pure evil... so i will avoid.

slick0 · Post by **slick0** » 05 Mar 2006, 15:03

Some reading for those interested:

Games that use Starforce: http://www.glop.org/starforce/#games
boingboing article on Starforce: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/30/anticopying_malware_.html
TomsHardware article: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/02/11/starforce_revisited_uk/

Post by **skipclarke** » 05 Mar 2006, 15:36

HMMMM - AREA 51 had it - then the makers removed it in a patch !!!

Check your game drivers for "infection"
Removal tool at http://www.glop.org/starforce/#games or
http://www.glop.org/files/sfdrvrem.zip

I wonder if it caused some of the slow downs & issues ??

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 05 Mar 2006, 18:28

Sounds really nasty... but I have several of those games and never noticed a problem ... :?
So ... is this only a problem if you use your drives for copying or writing or will you end up with problems regardless ?

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 05 Mar 2006, 18:33

Y'know, I'm sure Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter was out before StarForce started being used... and I'm not sure Broken Sword 3 had it, either... :?

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 05 Mar 2006, 18:36

Sounds really nasty... but I have several of those games and never noticed a problem ... :?
So ... is this only a problem if you use your drives for copying or writing or will you end up with problems regardless ?

Depends, from what I can tell.

Some systems get really unstable, others don't seem to even blink. Even so, why risk it?

I've got Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory installed on one box, and ever since I did it's had stability issues... caused by StarForce, I guess. Got no way to verify that, though...

...

Am I the only person here who doesn't quite trust a removal tool made by the company that makes such a 'backdoor' anti-copy program?

Post by **skipclarke** » 05 Mar 2006, 18:43

Help is now here :lol:

Tutorial: Star Force Copyright Malware Removal Tool

As far as I can tell the infection is removed - however if it converted files to **SIS or similar we would need a root forensic analysis done to prove that either way. :wink:

EDIT: FEAR does NOT have it

Post by **skipclarke** » 05 Mar 2006, 19:21

Paddy,

They could have been early testers for the program ??

LostHere · Post by **LostHere** » 11 Jun 2006, 05:41

Ok, I know this is an old post, so sorry for bringing it up. Just want to say that Heroes of the Pacific actually uses SecuRom v7 instead of starforce. I have the game and there's none of those lengthy starforce disc check at startup.

There are even no-dvd cracks for this game, and GameCopyWorld list it as SecuRom v7 also. So don't get deterred, it is a great game.

The only sad thing is that widescreen mode is stretched (and that's how I found this post, hoping to find a solution for the fov).

Post by **skipclarke** » 11 Jun 2006, 15:17

1st of all :welcome

I just hope SecuRom v7 isn't rooting or putting *sys files in your OS.

Deltree · Post by **Deltree** » 12 Jun 2006, 00:47

You can add SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars to the list of starforce infected games.

A friend of mine bought it (against my advise) Installed the game and played it for 5 hours...then his burner was all messed up and will only run in pio mode.....boycot that sh!t...

EDIT
Apperently only the EU version is infected, the US version uses securom afaik

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 12 Jun 2006, 09:58

You're joking? Why does the EU version get the dubious pleasure of StarForce? :evil:

Post by **skipclarke** » 12 Jun 2006, 23:53

Closer to Russia??

elsydeon · Post by **elsydeon** » 13 Jun 2006, 17:00

not geography, just star-farce preyed on smaller devs; the big name american devs used safedisc and securom

of course the $5 million class action suit against ubi may have had some effect as to the removal of star-farce

now if someone were to sue on the grounds of star-farce being a trojan, that might get some news coverage

Post by **skipclarke** » 14 Aug 2006, 03:13

Thank you for that heads up Doug - I was going through a list of possible games, and I don't want anything near Starforce lurking in the depths of my hard drive.

Post by **skipclarke** » 14 Aug 2006, 21:44

You are welcome my friend :D

I edited the first post with some new info & a link to the constantly updated site's Games List

Post by **skipclarke** » 14 Aug 2006, 22:30

Also - at first I assumed that the answer to this was a simple, "No." but i've been hearing some talk of starforce on game demos as well. Is there any substance to this?

Widescreen Gaming Forum