DRM is just killing PC gaming as much as piracy is...only the consumer loses.

[Golgatha]

Updated 9/14/2009 - Ok, well my install was thankfully quite uneventful. I tried out something out of the ordinary and it worked well. Being well educated in how Starforce works didn't hurt either.


1) Install the game and it will ask you to reboot. DO NOT REBOOT!!

2) Click on reboot later and directly apply the 1.21 and 1.22 patches.

3) You can now play the game without rebooting because the 1.22 patch removes Starforce.


I can confirm Starforce is not present after rebooting and never even gets a chance to run its installer if you use the above described installation method.

If you have previously installed this game, you may want to run the Starforce removal tool.

Here's a handy tip for debugging if you're fortunate enough to have 8 cores on your CPU. The game will crash on Core i7 systems basically. Here's the fix.

1) Go to your Colin Mcrae DiRT install folder.
2) Go to the system folder.
3) Delete or rename workerMap8Core file and rename workerMap4Core to (workerMap8Core)
Found the fix here...



It is absolutely no secret here if you've read anything I've written on these forums, that I am very, very anti-DRM for games or really digital goods in general. I'll just get that out in the open up front before I continue. A recent purchase of DiRT really made even me, an avid supporter of PC gaming for around 12-13 years now, want to give them up for good.

I feel I should explain what I mean by avid supporter of PC gaming. I purchase my games, I still semi-regularly attend a LAN party with old friends in my hometown (which is about a 2.5hour drive for me one way), I regularly buy new hardware to be on the bleeding edge, I used to be in a CS clan that played regularly, I have nearly a hundred PC games installed on my machine, and I even packed up my stuff to attend QuakeCon in 2007 (drove from KC, MO to Dallas, TX...very long drive). I'd safely say I could be considered a hardcore enthusiast when it comes to PC gaming.

The sad state is that almost all my game purchases this year have been admittedly for consoles. The main reasons for me are because console games are easily available used, and some PC games have DRM schemes which I just refuse to support. The other inescapable reason is that consoles are finally starting to keep their exclusives actually exclusive (e.g. No GoW2 or Halo 3 for the PC yet).

All these things I've mentioned recently got brought to the forefront of my thoughts due to a recent purchase of DiRT. I played the DiRT 2 demo on XBox 360, wanted to try out the original because it got good reviews also, and it was much cheaper than pre-ordering DiRT 2. Lo and behold, someone here posted that Gamestop has DiRT for $7.99 on the PC. Great I thought!!

I visited my local Gamestop yesterday to try and find this cheap little gem. There was one approximately 4 foot by 3 foot wire rack of PC games and DiRT wasn't there even though the Online thingy said it was so. I asked the clerk about it and they had boxed up what looked like half their PC games to send them away to another store because they weren't selling like hotcakes at the one I was at. She dug through the shipping box and found me a copy. Yea for me!!

I got it home and began looking for an installation code after putting it in my DVD drive. There wasn't one?! This prompted a search for DiRT DRM and the wonderful protection named Starforce came up (I recalled wanting to buy this a long time ago at this point, and Codemasters could've made $50 from me instead of $8 if they hadn't gone with Starforce...are you listening Codemasters?). Luckily for me, the latest patch, v1.22, removes the Starforce protection and CD check (if this was a console game, I wouldn't need to worry about DRM messing up my machine and there is a 30 day purchase warranty on the console version of DiRT whereas the PC game is non-returnable except for exchange). However, the game still has to install the Starforce drivers, be ran once, patched, then a Starforce removal tool has to be ran to completely expunge Starforce (searched through forums to get this info). To be safe, I created an Acronis disc image of my OS and games installation drives, in case the Starforce provided removal tool didn't work as well as advertised.

This brings us to today. I still haven't actually installed the game yet because my games partition is quite large and I started the process of backing it up before I left for work this morning (backed up the OS partition before I went to bed last night). So basically, to save around $10 over just buying the Xbox 360 version of DiRT, here's what I have to put up with.


1) Can't return my game because I'm dissatisfied with it, just because it is a PC game. Obviously if I opened it and then returned it the next day, I must have pirated it as soon as I left the store.:roll:

2) Had to waste time searching for information on the DRM employed with DiRT, so my PC won't get hosed due to a freaking $8 game I installed.

3) Wasted time searching to see if the version of Starforce (ironically I obtained the version information about DiRT's Starforce implementation from GameCopyWorld) supported 64bit Vista (found this info on Wikipedia).

4) Downloaded the required patches and searched through forums to make sure the latest patch did indeed remove Starforce.

5) Made a backup of my OS and games installation partitions...ok, I do this periodically anyway, but it takes a long time to complete all this, and I could've just been playing a damn game during all this extra time!!:disgust:

6) I get to install the game, apply the patches, and check for Starforce registry entries.

7) Potentially I also get to troubleshoot drivers, etc. if the game has any issues once I finally get it up and running. Thankfully I should get better FPS and graphics if it all works without a hitch and I won't need to put the disc in the drive ever again.


If I sound jaded, it's because I am. On my XBox 360, for around a $10 premium on the game, I could've just popped the game in, probably downloaded an automatic update to bring it to the current version of the game, and started playing. Funny thing is, I intended to play this game with my wired XBox 360 controller anyway. The only detriments to getting the XBox version of this game is that I have to pay an extra $10 (although I could freely resell this game if I wished and would make most of that $10 premium back I imagine), I have to put a disc in a drive when I want to play the game, and sub-par graphics as compared to the PC version (you get what you pay for though, as I have around $250-$300 invested in my Crossfired 4870 1GB cards).

It's hard to still want to be a PC gamer anymore, as this type of scenario seems to becoming more and more regular for me year after year. If the industry wants to push away one of their best PC gaming customers, they're sure doing a great job of it.

 

[BassBomb]

alot of your steps could have been done prior to the purchase

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
alot of your steps could have been done prior to the purchase

You are absolutely right. I was looking through the forums over lunch and it was somewhat of an impulse buy since there is a Gamestop close to my job. I also have Grid on PC, which is a Codemasters game, and it uses Securom; it didn't even occur to me to check about Starforce at the time.

I wish I could just return the game, but that's not an option at this point. It's either resell it or make it work at this point. I suppose I could just download the extract and play .torrent version as well. At this point I feel pretty entitled to that version. Definitely don't have to worry about Starforce if I go that route.

 

[tvih]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
alot of your steps could have been done prior to the purchase

The time would still be "wasted" though, by even researching the whole thing. Granted, at least might've avoided the not-so-optimal purchase, but hell, why should one have to research beforehand about games having effectively malicious crapware in them?

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: tvih

Originally posted by: BassBomb
alot of your steps could have been done prior to the purchase

The time would still be "wasted" though, by even researching the whole thing. Granted, at least might've avoided the not-so-optimal purchase, but hell, why should one have to research beforehand about games having effectively malicious crapware in them?

I was just about to come back and mention this. Back in the day, I would go and purchase a PC game, expect to enter a CD key, and be able to play without worry of the game mucking up my PC. I also expected there to be no barriers to me reselling my purchase if I wished to. I can't remember even once in my college days having to research anything other than synthesis schemes (I'm a chemist) on the Internet. Shame on me for not doing my research, but shame on the industry for creating such a toxic environment that I need to thoroughly research the technical details of every damn game I decide looks like it's worth a purchase.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: tvih

Originally posted by: BassBomb
alot of your steps could have been done prior to the purchase

The time would still be "wasted" though, by even researching the whole thing. Granted, at least might've avoided the not-so-optimal purchase, but hell, why should one have to research beforehand about games having effectively malicious crapware in them?

I never said he has to. I do not support DRM

 

[jdjbuffalo]

I don't like DRM either but the have been positive movements away from restrictive and damaging DRM like Starforce in the last few years. In fact, I'm almost positive that there hasn't been any Starforce restricted games in the last 2 years. Everyone realized how bad it was when it was killing DVD drives.

 

[Modelworks]

DRM and piracy both are killing the pc platform. If those two issues were resolved you would still have compatibility problems but we lived through those in the past and pc gaming did okay.

I had some friends who were working on a product that would have handled both issues well, but they quit after seeing the market for pc games as a whole drop. The product was games that run from the DVD like the consoles. You turn on your pc and boot from the DVD. It only uses the hard drive for game saves and caching data. It ran its own OS with its own drivers so it was just like a console. They got Quake 3 working that way and it looked good, but then they just lost hope when they talked to publishers and the publishers were not interested. People could have still copied the disc but they would have had to buy specific models of burners to make it work with custom firmware. Still doable but would have been more like the way people have to modify consoles for it to work and not nearly as easy as downloading and playing.

The project has since gone open source , see here:
http://live.linux-gamers.net/

 

[acheron]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
DRM and piracy both are killing the pc platform. If those two issues were resolved you would still have compatibility problems but we lived through those in the past and pc gaming did okay.

I had some friends who were working on a product that would have handled both issues well, but they quit after seeing the market for pc games as a whole drop. The product was games that run from the DVD like the consoles. You turn on your pc and boot from the DVD. It only uses the hard drive for game saves and caching data. It ran its own OS with its own drivers so it was just like a console. They got Quake 3 working that way and it looked good, but then they just lost hope when they talked to publishers and the publishers were not interested. People could have still copied the disc but they would have had to buy specific models of burners to make it work with custom firmware. Still doable but would have been more like the way people have to modify consoles for it to work and not nearly as easy as downloading and playing.

The project has since gone open source , see here:
http://live.linux-gamers.net/

So they reinvented the PC Booter? Used to have a few games that ran that way.

Interesting idea actually, though I wouldn't be excited about rebooting my computer every time I play a game.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

PC games, not withstanding piracy or DRM, have never been the big sellers console games have. A million seller on consoles over time is pretty commonplace for a Triple A title, while a million seller on a high budget PC game is and has always been a very rare situation.

I don't think piracy on the PC has increased over time, I just think publishers have seen numbers so much higher come out of the console gaming sector that they've decided that's where they need to be, and in the they blame piracy on sales numbers that have always been pretty consistent for PC games.

I know, for myself personally, when I was younger, like in high school and college, I generally pirated everything, whether I played it or not, I had huge collections of PC games, and never bought anything. Now that I'm older, I buy the games I want that give me what I expect out of a PC game. I've also made it a point to buy older games that I did pirate and enjoy back in the day on gog.com or Steam whenever the opportunity arises.

Red Faction Guerrilla, for example. I was totally down to buy it, and then I learned that the PC version will not offer a dedicated server app. So basically the multiplayer aspect of the game will be totally dependent on people running servers that they themselves are playing on. I can tell you from my experience with FEAR 2 on the PC, this is a huge mistake on their part, and that pretty much killed my desire to own that game, not because the single player doesn't interest me, but because if Volition, as a company, is going to offer a PC game with a substantial multiplayer component, I expect a dedicated server app for it or that others can run online to give people a centralized location to game. PC gaming is not console gaming, and if you want me to pay for your game, I expect certain basic things from that product.

 

[nitromullet]

I'm with Golgatha on this. Due to a few things I've dealt with because of DRM schemes and what appears to be an industry wide shift towards console prioritization, I also have been buying way more console games than PC games lately. Believe me it's not because I prefer the actual console games over their PC counterparts, but taking all the DRM/licensing/resale/used market factors into account buying the console version starts to look a lot more attractive.

 

[lxskllr]

I won't own a console. If PC games stop being made, or if they're too much a PITA to deal with, then I'll stop gaming.

 

[shortylickens]

Yup, pretty much the exact same argument we've had a hundred times before.

We really need to see some changes and have some new conversations. If StarCraft 2 sells good, despite the DRM, then I suspect that will usher in a new era of how PC games are made & sold. I wont like it, but it will at least be a change in the industry and something new we can talk about.

 

[NaOH]

I would definitely steer clear of any game using StarForce. It's ridiculous that you have to research this crap before buying a game.

 

[Koudelka]

Bummer.

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I won't own a console. If PC games stop being made, or if they're too much a PITA to deal with, then I'll stop gaming.

Those are pretty much my thoughts.

But I've never really had a problem with DRM or my games running with it. If I happened to buy a game that didn't work because of it and the store refused to take it back I'd just call up the credit card company and complain for a refund.

There's no way I'd put that much time into research before I bought something.

And the point about Gamestop, I don't even visit that store anymore as Walmart usually has the same stuff and cheaper. If you look at music it's the same thing, go into Bestbuy and they hardly have any music to pick from. Same thing with most stores. Why? Because like PC games they have fallen to digital distribution.

Anyway, no matter we you look as a consumer you're screwed. So what you don't have to deal with DRM on a console, you're paying more for the same games; you don't always get free downloadable content; you miss out on mods galore; you're only cutting edge for a year; and there's some other instances where the PC beats out the console despite DRM.

 

[Jack Flash]

What's the perfect form of DRM? An 'unbreakable' disc check?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Yup, pretty much the exact same argument we've had a hundred times before.

Yea do we really need a new thread about it once a month?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I kinda got turned off when things went to Steam.

I bought DOW II, and now I'm stuck with it. It's "tied" to a Steam account and I can't untie it or sell it.

No interest in a console, I'll just go outside.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash
What's the perfect form of DRM? An 'unbreakable' disc check?

There is no such thing as perfect DRM. And the idea of good DRM is highly debatable. You need to consider the fact that all computers do is process data according to set rules.
They dont "know" that purchased a game. All they know is to check the drive (which you could lie and tell it that its a disc drive even though it may be virtual) and check to see if it finds certain data in a certain place. If you make a bit-for-bit copy of a disc and tell the computer your virtual drive is a physical drive, it wont know the difference.
Thats why they added checks to the program to see if you have drive emulation software, or more specifically, certain known types of drive emulation software. If it finds those it refuses to run. But that check can also be spoofed and you could just as easily hack the program to skip those steps entirely. Thats what the hardcore pirates do when they distribute an ISO. They rip it, hack the install and probably the run program too, then make a new ISO and share that.
In the end its actually easier to use then the official version of the game.

All data in your system can be manipulated according to your wishes, depending on how knowledgeable you are and how much time you want to put into it. There is no such thing as 100% effective DRM. Even the online "call home" checks could be spoofed if someone wanted to put in the effort. Playing online would be a seperate issue. But as has already been stated in the MANY Starcraft 2 threads, lots of people will be happy with the campaign and single player skirmish. And hardcore pirates will figure out a way to make private servers and just play against each other.

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash
What's the perfect form of DRM? An 'unbreakable' disc check?

Ad supported games that you don't have to pay for because nothing is unbreakable

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Yup, pretty much the exact same argument we've had a hundred times before.

Yea do we really need a new thread about it once a month?

I just think it's sad that it comes up about that often because of the current state of the PC gaming industry. I'd rather there were not conversations about this topic. Not because I've come to accept the status quo though, but because it has finally become a non-issue and the industry and consumers have found a happy medium.

I will agree with jdjbuffalo though that there's a little bit of hope on the horizon. DRM schemes are overall better today than the implementations the industry tried to impose around 2007 IMO. The only reason those restrictions became better though is because people cried foul, voiced their opinions, and voted with their wallets. This is a subject worth talking about and a conversation we should keep having as long as things continue to improve. Once I'm willing to accept the status quo, I'll be happy to shut my mouth.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I won't own a console. If PC games stop being made, or if they're too much a PITA to deal with, then I'll stop gaming.

To each his own of course, but at the end of day I enjoy gaming and I probably always will. The platform is not going to dictate whether I do something I enjoy or not.

Granted, I also enjoy the hardware side of PCs, and this I would miss somewhat if PC gaming truly disappeared. My wife would probably wonder why I keep rebuilding and upgrading our file/print/media server PC.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I won't own a console. If PC games stop being made, or if they're too much a PITA to deal with, then I'll stop gaming.

To each his own of course, but at the end of day I enjoy gaming and I probably always will. The platform is not going to dictate whether I do something I enjoy or not.

Granted, I also enjoy the hardware side of PCs, and this I would miss somewhat if PC gaming truly disappeared. My wife would probably wonder why I keep rebuilding and upgrading our file/print/media server PC.

I like the PC platform, and the fact that it's mine. I can change the hardware/firmware/software as I see fit. The console's too closed a system for me. I'm 40yrs old, and I could spend the rest of my life playing through games I missed, replaying my collection, and playing open source games. Sure I'd miss some good new(console only) games, but to me it's not worth owning a console to play them.

Edit:
grammar

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Yup, pretty much the exact same argument we've had a hundred times before.

Yea do we really need a new thread about it once a month?

I think it is because for the member posting about it, it is a case of "and this time it's personal!".