So are no-cd cracks 😠

calvin wrote:

Patch release notes, including a workaround if you must use the DRM and don't have a no-CD or whatever. Keep in mind it's disabled for a reason - it's a common malware vector.

It's one thing to introduce a new OS without support, it's another to break support that already exists that people have paid for and are actively using.

Were there games specifically made for Windows 7, 8, and/or 8.1 that still have DRM and now those games are unplayable?

I smell a lawsuit.

I understand that it refers to a specific third-party driver, which handled some types of DRM?

In any case, good riddance. The less DRM - the better.

It handles Safedisc, that affects thousands of games.

Good riddance going forward maybe, but really, it's been in Windows 7 since the beginning, number of viruses that have managed to infect my system since Windows 7 came out.. 0. I don't see why I should sacrifice my old games on the off-chance that changes, besides it's not like there aren't thousands of other attack vectors.

Basically your comment amounts to raising your finger and going "HA HA" at anyone who bought a Safedisc protected game.

BuckoA51 wrote:

Basically your comment amounts to raising your finger and going "HA HA" at anyone who bought a Safedisc protected game.

Precisely.

I like this. DRM bringing negative effects to consumers is important to get more people invested into stopping that shit in the first place.

dr_st wrote:

[Precisely.

Now now, don't be a douche. Safedisc protected thousands of games including a lot of really classic titles. It's not like you can even check on the box to see if Safedisc/SecuROM etc are included or not. Look where you are, this forum is for people interested in running their classic PC games, not for you to mock them. If you've never owned a Safedisc game then why are you even here?

ZellSF wrote:

I like this. DRM bringing negative effects to consumers is important to get more people invested into stopping that shit in the first place.

I see where you're coming from but honestly I doubt it will have any such effect. How many PC users are knowledgeable enough to even think, "oh hey maybe it's the DRM on the disc that doesn't work with a MS security update?" Very, very few I suspect. Most people will just shrug their shoulders and move on. That reminds me when Codemasters (I think) said "oh we had very little complaints about Starforce, it's all just pirates making crap up!" I believe that they would have had very few complaints because again, how many people would even realise their DVD drive was malfunctioning due to some anti-copying malware they loaded on their machines possibly months ago?

The era of DVD games is pretty much over anyway, there's only the nostalgics like me still buy new DVD games for PC (and yes, I realise I'm basically getting a download key in a box, but I'm weird). As for more modern DRM, well, rather than create a backlash, Steam has been embraced by PC gamers as the saviour of PC gaming and the best thing that ever happened, should you so much speak out against Valve the gods of PC gaming you will be flamed into the pits of hell on most forums.

BuckoA51 wrote:

Now now, don't be a douche. Safedisc protected thousands of games including a lot of really classic titles. It's not like you can even check on the box to see if Safedisc/SecuROM etc are included or not. Look where you are, this forum is for people interested in running their classic PC games, not for you to mock them. If you've never owned a Safedisc game then why are you even here?

You're making too much out of it. There are plenty of workarounds, as you know. You can just skip the update and hide it so that it never installs. You can follow the steps detailed in the article to manually enable it if you have a specific games that needs it. You can get a no-CD crack. Frankly, with how annoying the idea of having to insert the disk every time I want to play a game is, I am surprised that a no-CD crack isn't the first thing one gets when installing a game.

BuckoA51 wrote:

I see where you're coming from but honestly I doubt it will have any such effect. How many PC users are knowledgeable enough to even think, "oh hey maybe it's the DRM on the disc that doesn't work with a MS security update?" Very, very few I suspect. Most people will just shrug their shoulders and move on.

Good. The bottom line is that DRM is bad. It's bad for the fair users, it's bad for the pirates (although ultimately they are the least affected), and bad for the companies (because it costs them money, yet doesn't prevent piracy of their games, although it sometimes delays it a bit). The only people that it's good for are the people who get paid money to develop it. And as much as I think it's good that these people have a paycheck, I think that ultimately it will be better if something else could be found for them to do and get paid for, and we lived in a DRM-free world.

dr_st wrote:

Frankly, with how annoying the idea of having to insert the disk every time I want to play a game is, I am surprised that a no-CD crack isn't the first thing one gets when installing a game.

Well there's no workaround for Windows 10 and no CD cracks aren't always available, when they are they require you to trawl the shadier parts of the internet and risk malware. When you do find working cracks, sometimes they only work with the initial release and not the latest, patched version. For SecuROM at least Daemon Tools used to be a viable alternative to shady no-CD cracks.

Frankly I think there's more hope of solving climate change and world hunger than us ever living in a DRM free world.

GameCopyWorld is an extensive and respectable source of No-CD cracks. No need to trawl the shadier paths of the internet. 😀

As you said - the era of games an optical media is pretty much over. By now, even the latest titles utilizing this form of protection are probably long out of development, which means that no-cd cracks for the latest versions should be readily available.

For Windows 10 this feature is a long-long legacy. It's been around since XP and earlier. Legacy features sometimes do get removed.

GameCopyWorld is an extensive and respectable source of No-CD cracks. No need to trawl the shadier paths of the internet. 😀

Extensive it may be, but respectable... yeah right, there's never been a virus in a GameCopyWorld file has there? 🤣 and the half dozen pop ups for porn, get rich schemes and whatnot that you get every time you click a download on there are done by the most reputable advertisers and can't possibly have drive-by malware or anything else in them.

which means that no-cd cracks for the latest versions should be readily available.

Certainly not in my experience, pirates usually only play their games for a little while, then go onto the next free booty they downloaded. Cracking groups often lose interest by about the second patch, and later versions are never cracked at all.

Not to mention the recent changes of download links to referrals for profiting.

I used to use GCW in 1999 and frankly that's the last time one could use 'respectable' to describe it.

Try megagames.com. Never had a problem with them and they've always seemed more respectable to me. I always use adblock though.

I've mixed feelings on this issue. While it's regrettable that a lot of games will cease to work, Microsoft can't really leave a known, common, gaping security hole. Perhaps our ire should be aimed instead at Adobe, who are the ones who should provide a fixed driver (like they did for another flaw back in 2007).

BuckoA51 wrote:

Extensive it may be, but respectable... yeah right, there's never been a virus in a GameCopyWorld file has there?

I never had one. That is not to say that they don't exist, but have you encountered actual malware there (and not just an AV false-positive?) or are you just assuming that cracks always have to go hand-to-hand with malware?

BuckoA51 wrote:

and the half dozen pop ups for porn, get rich schemes and whatnot that you get every time you click a download on there are done by the most reputable advertisers and can't possibly have drive-by malware or anything else in them.

Ads are ads. I browse the web with an Ad blocker, so I never see most of them. One can also use their "family-safe" GameCopyWorld.eu mirror, the ads there are of less "adult" nature.

BuckoA51 wrote:

Certainly not in my experience, pirates usually only play their games for a little while, then go onto the next free booty they downloaded. Cracking groups often lose interest by about the second patch, and later versions are never cracked at all.

Your presumption as to what pirates usually do as insulting as it is untrue. 😀 And remember that no-CD cracks serve the interest of not only pirates, but also legitimate users who want convenience and not hassle. I've certainly applied noCD cracks to my legitimately purchased games.

In any case, my experience has been quite opposite, at least when it comes to Windows-era games, which are the only games for which SafeDisc may be relevant.

Plus, going back on topic: like I said, noCD cracks are really not the only workaround, and if you fear them so, you can simply avoid the update or activate the driver manually. And as for Win10 - well, again like I said, no software developer is legally required to maintain compatibility with all legacy features and all legacy software. Especially when you are not forced to upgrade.

Silanda wrote:

Perhaps our ire should be aimed instead at Adobe, who are the ones who should provide a fixed driver (like they did for another flaw back in 2007).

While Adobe's software in general is mostly security holes and some features on top of them, I think that Macrovision, who is responsible for SafeDisc, is not Macromedia, and has no ties to Adobe. 😀

Only today I tested Rise of Legends (2006), looked for a no CD for patch 7, none to be found at least not on GameCopyWorld. Luckily in this instance it appears not to be needed.

While obviously as a writer I'm not going to condone adblocking any more than piracy, but I'd suggest using something a bit more potent e.g NoScript for sites like that.

GTA IV steam copy doesn't work on Windows 10, uses SECUROM. Works fine with the crack which is the way I've always played it.

It actually seems to be more recent versions of SecuROM that have the issues, that sort of makes sense, since SecuROM just got worse and worse over time. The two older SecuROM games I've tried on Windows 10 so far (Outrun 2006, Test Drive Unlimited) have both worked fine.

dr_st wrote:

While Adobe's software in general is mostly security holes and some features on top of them, I think that Macrovision, who is responsible for SafeDisc, is not Macromedia, and has no ties to Adobe. 😀

My mistake, you are quite correct. Too many Macros and security holes 😀

BuckoA51 wrote:

Only today I tested Rise of Legends (2006), looked for a no CD for patch 7, none to be found at least not on GameCopyWorld. Luckily in this instance it appears not to be needed.

While obviously as a writer I'm not going to condone adblocking any more than piracy, but I'd suggest using something a bit more potent e.g NoScript for sites like that.

Rise.of.Nations.Rise.of.Legends.v704.1001.0000.13.0.Update-SKIDROW

Sounds to me like there is a crack available for v7.
Pirates are better at updates than you give them credit for.