Beware starf**k (Possible dodgy software installed with your game)

hal9000

GRRRR!! this makes me really angry :mad: god damn X2 and i thought germans had more class than to put this on it

Syth

That's atrocious. I'm sure there is some legal definition of virus out there. Everyone affected should send an offical letter to them demanding compensation. If they get enough complaints they might stop. Or go into the shop you baught it from and say it has a virus and you want compensation from them. That might encourage shops not to stock those games, they'd listen to that.

neXus9

Originally posted by Syth
Or go into the shop you baught it from and say it has a virus and you want compensation from them. That might encourage shops not to stock those games, they'd listen to that.

Yeah, good idea.

neXus9

You want a removal tool???

Here ya go!!!

Yay for codemasters!!

Hobbes

Originally posted by neXus9
You want a removal tool???

Here ya go!!!

Yay for codemasters!!

I don't know what the fuss is about.

If you email the Starforce company they will supply you with a removal tool you can use.

Not all the games require starforce to be there to play the game.

Töpher

It's too late for some people though, because of the nature of this program, alot of people are having to format drives etc. Removal tools a bit late then. It should have been properly tested before being unleashed upon the public. It clearly can't have been, because something with this many issues would not have been allowed out! It's disgraceful, botching cd drives and everything, jesus. Even IF it had been tested properly, I still disagree with installing hardware level drivers, thats asking for trouble tbh.

Ciaran500

There are alot of rumours that Doom 3 is going to be protected by Starforce in the US. Just a warning to anyone thinking of importing. :dunno:

Mad Mike

Another victim of Starforce here - suspect it was X2 did it.

Nice interview on Firing Squad gives a fairly balanced view
http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starforce_interview/

Lets not fool ourselves here - copy protection is a nessecary evil and those thoughtless f*ckwits who download cracked versions of Doom3 are doing more harm to genuine gamers than any of this.

That said Starforce and those publishers who suscribe to it have gone about this the wrong way. This cloak and dagger business of installing hidden drivers which are hard to get rid of is very seedy and extremely unsettling.

If they must install intrusive security measures then
i) Tell us they are doing it
ii) don't hide the bloody things
iii) Give us an option to opt out (and I don't mean a twenty page EULA that no-one ever reads)
iv) Tell use eactly what they are doing.
iii) Point us to a FAQ allaying our fears
iv) Allow us to uninstall them when we uninstall the game.
v) Open a real dialog with end users (forum /faq & so on for reporting and fixing problems).

Microsoft may be everybodys favorite enemy but they certainly handled their intrusive copy protection a lot better than this. You may not like having to register Msoft software but at least Microsoft tell you what they are doing and what the implications are.

neXus9

Mad Mike wrote:

Microsoft may be everybodys favorite enemy but they certainly handled their intrusive copy protection a lot better than this. You may not like having to register Msoft software but at least Microsoft tell you what they are doing and what the implications are.

Well, there was a time where they were checking our PCs for legitimate copies without telling us. They first denied it, then said they don't do it anymore, now they say they only check the code.

Also if you have illegal code they totally f*ck up your hard disk. My dad's friend forgot to get his copy registered so they nuked his PC. AFAIK, all his data was fecked.

jimoc

I've installed about 15 games on my systems, both cracked and uncracked that use starforce.
So far I haven't even had a crash on my systems and they've been running for over 6 months, which in and of itself is a miracle where windows is concerned!!!
Is it possible that its only certain hardware configurations that starforce are causing issues with.
Maybe we could start a new thread and people could post in what games they've installed, what componenents they have and what has happened to them.
I'm against Starforce myself and believe its the unholy spawn of Bill Gates and the devil but its the way publishers are going and there is little enough we can do about it.
I think the number of people who buy and install the games and know nothing about drivers etc, far outweigh the number of us who know what is going on and refuse to buy the game. Therefore complaining or boycotting will get no action.
However if we can give the developers a list of hardware configurations that it craps out on then maybe we can get something fixed.

amp

Unstickied.