StarForce sucks sphincter

Indeed, StarForce and the companies that use it need to die horribly.

Not familiar with this dastardly piece of antipiracy crap?

Let me share.

StarForce is a program developed by a company called Protection Technology. It installs (yes, installs) software onto your computer when you install a video game or other software purchased legitimately. There are two versions: one that verifies the validity of a downloaded file as being from the parent website (which never works) and one that verifies the validity of the CD (Works normally, and if it doesn't work, it just wont run the disc).

Now here's what makes it evil.

Note the italicized "install". Well, this is an evil, evil program. It's existence asserts that the rights of a company to protect its copyrighted material are MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE CONSUMER'S RIGHT TO HAVE A STABLE, SECURE COMPUTER. It replaces drivers that are part of your essential Windows driver set with Starforce's own modified universal drivers for your CD Drives.

What makes this suck is A) There is no indication of Starforce's presence until it's already installed, not even on the product package and B)many drives, specifically DVD and CD RW drives, and some SCSI and E-IDE devices are incompatible or not fully compatible with the drivers. This leads to bad burns, crapped out CD verification, lower system performance in general, random lockups when accessing the CD drive, and in extreme cases, death of SCSI and IDE hard drives.

There's a lawsuit, as well as tons of anti-starforce sites. Star Force protected programs typically work better if illegally cracked to work around the protection than legitimately purchased. Information on this product is availible here:

www.star-force.com
www.glop.org/starforce/ - people who hate it
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce - the Wiki (you know it's a bitch if it has a wiki)

Programs I've encountered using it are:

UFO: Aftershock
Obscure
Space Rangers 2


Please add to the list, people should be aware they're going to be stuck with this product if they play these games. There's no indicator on the package, nor during installation beyond SOMETIMES in the EULA, and once it's on your system, the damage is done. Programs have been developed to remove it, but the computer never seems to act the same (like a rape victim or amputee, you could say) afterward. Nothing short of a full Fdisk/Format gets rid of its effects in most cases. Also, if you do successfully remove it, none of the associated software will work.

is there a starforce remover somewhere?

Flatout 2.

7 Sins Atari
Anstoss 4 (German) Ascaron Entertainment
Area 51 Midway
Bandits: Phoenix Rising Tri Synergy (US) / Pan Vision (EU)
Bet on Soldier Nadeo
Beyond Divinity Hip Games / Larian (dev.)
Black Mirror The Adventure Company
Blitzkrieg: Rolling Thunder CDV
Blitzkrieg 2 CDV
Breed CDV
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon (only US version) The Adventure Company
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood Ubisoft
Cycling Manager 3 GMX Media
Cycling Manager 4 Digital Jesters
Chaos League (demo and release) Strategy First
Chaos League: Sudden Death (demo and release) Strategy First
Codename: Outbreak Virgin Interactive
Codename: Panzers - Phase One CDV
Codename: Panzers - Phase Two CDV
Cold War (demo and release) Dreamcatcher Interactive
Colin McRae Rally 2005 Codemasters
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars CDV / GSC (dev.)
Cross Racing Championship 2005 Graphsim (US) / Project Three (EU)
Curse: The Eye of Isis The Adventure Company
Cycling Manager 3 Digital Jesters (?)
D-Day (release and demo) Monte Cristo
Dead to Rights Hip Games
Demonic Speedway (release and possibly demo) Cenega (forum inactive)
Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps Encore Software
Desert Thunder Groove Games
Domination Dreamcatcher Interactive
Emergency Fire Response Dreamcatcher Interactive
Empire at War
Enigma: Rising Tide Tesseraction Games
Etherlords II Strategy First
Fire Chief Strategy First
Fire Department Monte Cristo
Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich Irrational Games (US) / VU Games (EU)
Gangland Whiptail Interactive
Garfield Hip Games
Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris Cenega (forum inactive)
GT Legends (demo and release) 10tacle
Horse Race Manager Cyanide Studio
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (some releases only) Interplay
Kicker Manager 2004 Deep Silver
Kill Switch Hip Games
Korea: Forgotten Conflict Cenega (forum inactive)
L. A. Rush
LMA Professional Manager 2005 Codemasters
Lock On: Modern Air Combat (Gold version) Ubisoft
Medieval Lords (demo and release) Digital Jesters / Monte Cristo (dev.)
Mockba to Berlin
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Namco
Napoleon Wars
Obscure (both CD and DVD version) Dreamcatcher (US) / Microids (EU)
Pferdehof - Pferd und Pony dtp Entertainment
Pax Romana Dreamcatcher Interactive
Peter Jackson's King Kong (demo and release) Ubisoft
Pariah Groove Games
Pop Star Academy Monte Cristo
Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend Running With Scissors
Prince of Persia Sands of Time Ubisoft
Pro Rugby Manager Digital Jesters
Pure Pinball (German version only) Koch Media
Rainbow Six Lockdown Ubisoft
Rally Championship Xtreme Warthog Entertainment
Restaurant Empire Enlight
Restricted Area Whiptail Interactive
Revolution Activision Value
Runaway A Road Adventure Tri Synergy
Scrapland Enlight
Second Sight (German version) Codemasters
Silent Hunter 3 Ubisoft
Silent Storm Encore Software
Silkolene Honda Motocross GP Midas Interactive
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life Eidos (US) / Deep Silver (EU)
Singles 2: Triple Trouble (EU version at least) Koch Media / Deep Silver
Sniper Elite / Sniper Elite: Berlin 1945 Namco (US) / Wanadoo (EU)
Soldiers Heroes of World War 2 (demo and release) Codemasters
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory Ubisoft
Space Rangers 2 Elemental Games
Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars (EU and demo versions only, US retail version does not use Starforce) Koch Media, JoWood
Sommerspiele 2004 dtp Entertainment
Steel Saviour SR-71
Still Life (demo and release) The Adventure Company
Street Racing Syndicate Namco
SuperPower 2 Dreamcatcher Interactive
Syberia II (only some releases) The Adventure Company
The Fall: Last Days of Gaia (German version) Deep Silver / Koch Media
The Moment of Silence The Adventure Company
The Suffering: Ties That Bind Midway
The Westerner (Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure) The Adventure Company
TOCA 2 (Race Driver 2, DTM Race Driver 2) Codemasters
Trackmania Nadeo
Trackmania Sunrise Nadeo
Traitors Gate 2: Cypher The Adventure Company
UberSoldier CDV
UFO: Aftershock Cenega (forum inactive)
V8 Supercars 2 Codemasters
Virtual Skipper 3 (demo and release) Enlight
Wildlife Park Encore Software
World War II: Frontline Command Strategy First
Worms 4: Mayhem Codemasters
XIII Ubisoft
X2: The Threat (only European versions) Deep Silver
X3: Reunion (only European versions) Deep Silver
Xpand Rally Micro Application
Xuan-Yuan Sword 4 SoftStar Entertainment

Does anyone even play 1/10th of these games? I own NOTHING on this list. Wait, I take it back. I got XIII free with a vid card. That's it. The only thing on the list, and it was a freebie.

http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com/protect.phtml?c=55

This program removes it cuz these guys are the only ones who tongue the arse of P.S.

BUT if you ever run a StarForce program again, it reinstalls the drivers.

There's more than the list. THat's just what I've foudn so far.

Are all games on that list using Starforce 4, though? I found that one too, but it just mentioned Starforce without a version number. Isn't Starforce 4 the evil one?

Whats worse is my little sister can get around it, just plug out your CD drives and install it from ISO or BIN file

Um, Corv? Weren't you posting today about how you've "borrowed" a quarter mil worth of digital files? You know, if people didn't do crap like that, companies might not do crap like this. Just, you know, food for thought.

http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/_~schoen_boondocks-question.png

Nuff said.

Oh i don't mind copy protection as a general practice. I'm actually selective about who I screw, usually directly in proportion to the cost of the software. Sometimes it may be justified, but I like to assert my arrogant opinion that Photoshop should be in every Windows build . If anything, copy protection provides a challenge. It's the phreaking of the modern day. And I NEVER theft software that provides no copy protection whatsoever. My copy of TES: Oblivion is legitimate almost solely because Bethesda announced they would not impliment a protection device. I buy more than I steal. Well, except music. Damn I have a lot of music. But I usually buy the CD after if the band is still around to collect on it.

What bothers me is copy protection that asserts that the publisher has rights so superior to that of the customer that the publisher feels they should be able to entirely control exactly how my computer is functioning (or not functioning) even when their product is not in use. Additionally, they provide no warning except the occasional blurb on the forums for the game itself, particularly because just saying you're using StarForce these days can equate to lost opening day sales.

Heheh true, though 5 and the eventual 6 are supposed to hot-detect for new disc drives every time you run the protected program.

How about Thexder? MicroProse Railroad Tycoon? MicroProse Railroad Tycoon Deluxe? MicroProse F117-A? 3DRealms Terminal Velocity? Was it Apogee that did OMF2097? Didn't they also do Descent?

I suppose those are all bad programs, too, using insdious copy protection.

I know Thexder did. That was marvelous. You should see it. Need to put the disk in the drive to play it.

Copy protection = good.

StarForce-style protection = installs malware on your computer that can damage drives, and does so without warning, and in an invasive manner that may not be fixable without new drives and a fresh Windows install.

In perspective now?

Thanks Corvus, I didn't know about this. I imagine it would would drive people who would otherwise have bought the game to find a hacked illegal version which is not good.

It really should say on the box it uses this program, if they've got to hide it then there's something really wrong and they know it.