willow wrote on 2021-08-16, 12:04:

dr_st wrote on 2021-08-09, 09:32:

mr.cat wrote on 2021-08-08, 22:36:

SF poses a special challenge to Wine too, because there just isn't any way to imitate a ring0 driver in Wine. Iow, these titles won't work at all.

So I guess Safedisc is a problem too?

Safedisc doesn't worked in windows 10 but no cblue screen at win 10 launch like with starforce.

You are correct, but that post was talking about Wine emulator, not Win10.

Procyon wrote on 2021-08-15, 20:14:

Most games I have that have StarForce have been hacked by now or I have digital download versions like GT Legends and GTR-2 on S […]
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Most games I have that have StarForce have been hacked by now or I have digital download versions like GT Legends and GTR-2 on Steam which have it removed.
Only two notable exceptions are Trackmania Original and Trackmania Sunrise Extreme, which happen to be my favorite Trackmania games. ☹️
Until a couple of years ago I ran a Windows XP machine just to run those games, I've yet to rebuild it, I think I needed the harddrive for some console mod project I was doing.

Also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-wyIalhdPU

Trackmania Original's StarForce DRM can be bypassed, however it requires that part of StarForces' DRM to be installed. That means you have to install the game, patch it, let it install the StarForce drivers, remove the BSOD-causing .dll's from C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and System32, and then it runs without triggering StarForce. (Link: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Track ... Windows_XP)

Thankfully with Trackmania Sunrise's StarForce DRM, it has been fully removed, without needing to touch StarForce. Link: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/TrackMania_ … se#Issues_Fixed

Oh and if you want to get Trackmania Nations ESWC running on Windows 10, that's possible too! Someone cracked the game.

SpeedWarrior here once again.
Another game -which i was able and fortunate to source a physical copy, like several others in my growing collection BTW- that was maligned with the #Starfuss "virus" was the original Colin McRae DiRT (Codemasters, 2007). Fortunately enough, I was able to source the required update patches -up to v1.22 AKA "StarForce Removal Pack", that is- so to make such a great rallying simulator more enjoyable on modern versions of Windows

Here's the PCGW entry for that one, complete with some extra tips to make it run on a wide variety of CPU/GPU combinations on Windows XP +:

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Colin_McRae:_DiRT

#RaceOn

mr.cat wrote on 2021-08-08, 22:36:

SF poses a special challenge to Wine too, because there just isn't any way to imitate a ring0 driver in Wine. Iow, these titles won't work at all.

dr_st wrote on 2021-08-09, 09:32:

So I guess Safedisc is a problem too?

Both of those drivers work in wine, which is supposed to handle "ring 0" too.
People mix up the actual limitation of not being able to support device drivers for hardware (which would require access to the real kernel), with purely "software" ones.

p.s. wine is not an emulator

kjliew wrote on 2021-08-09, 20:29:

I believe all forms of sophisticated disc based DRM schemes (SafeDisc/SecureROM/StarForce etc.) will have troubles with Wine. Unless they were replaced with online-based DRM or completely alleviated by later patches/re-releases or cracked non-legitimately by underworld fans/hackers, there is no way to play them otherwise. StarForce claimed to be "un-crack-able" compared to SafeDisc/SecureROM

Securom works too, and it doesn't even employ drivers. In fact plenty of games also use its online-based version.

And I'm not sure why "claims" matter anything. Every DRM provider has that tagline in their brochures.
Just because starforce was famous to last a good deal of time, it doesn't mean it's invulnerable.

willow wrote on 2021-08-16, 12:04:

Safedisc doesn't worked in windows 10 but no cblue screen at win 10 launch like with starforce.

Safedisc doesn't work in the sense that since XP microsoft was shipping the driver with the OS, and with 10 they removed it.
Something missing cannot harm other parts of the system.

Btw the thing can be forced back with some hoops.

mirh, have you actually managed to run any of the SF titles with Wine?
AFAIK the demos have no need to access hardware such as CD-ROM directly, would that be what you meant by "purely software"?
I guess SF was used in demos just to make the comparison with the retail version (and thus cracking) more difficult.

Also, StarForce comes in many different flavors and only some of them require ring0 access (v3 does).
But I don't know the details about what they're actually doing with that access. I only remember that being the major security issue with SF back in the day.

AFAIK all starforce flavours run in ring 0. If any there are different versions that are more or less finicky, and more or less aware of the internals of newer windows.
Then, I haven't tested it myself, but from chaos theory to trackmania nations people looked good to me (even though I wasn't expecting the thing to still have some edges to smooth)

And "purely software" means that that you aren't controlling the hardware (think gpu or network drivers).
Just accessing it is another matter instead (duh, from using a controller to sending SCSI commands to a cd-rom drive). Starforce never replaced cdrom.sys or msahci.sys.

It's your favorite 'Warrior back here......
Yet another game -a relatively known racing simulator. #GoFigure- that's "infatuated" with the infamous #StarCrap thingy is World Racing 2, which prompts you to restart your system after installing it, "update" patch and everything. Just don't risk it and FREAKIN' DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY! (I think I'll go ahead and get the Steam distributed version instead. )

Talk about dodgin' MISSILES right there...... :0

BTW Merry Xmas from the Enchanting Island!

According to PCGamingWiki, the retail release of World Racing 2 uses StarForce 3 (incompatible with Vista or later), but it was removed in patch v1.4.3.

Depending on how the installer works, uninstalling the game may not be enough to remove StarForce. One should really use the StarForce upgrade/removal tools from the manufacturer.

Merry Christmas.

dr_st wrote on 2022-12-24, 08:36:

According to PCGamingWiki, the retail release of World Racing 2 uses StarForce 3 (incompatible with Vista or later), but it was removed in patch v1.4.3.

Depending on how the installer works, uninstalling the game may not be enough to remove StarForce. One should really use the StarForce upgrade/removal tools from the manufacturer.

Merry Christmas.

......or, maybe, a nifty uninstaller like the one from our cool dudes @ Iobit. It even erases them leftovers from every deleted software and/or game in your computer. #500%Recommended

And yeah. It was an older build/version of #StarCrap that shouldn't be included on the retail version. But, unfortunately, it was.

Although not all game releases exist on redump, a lot of them do and you can search to see which regions have starforce:

http://redump.org/discs/quicksearch/starforce … protection/only