Disc Copy Protection For Games

[Sanada]

Does anyone else have problems installing games that contain copy protection such as SecureROM? Almost every new game released on disc seems to contain some form of copy protection and it always causes problems for me.

Right now I'm installing Dead Space but because it has shitty ass copy protection my disc drive can't read it properly making an install that would take about 10-15 minutes take 3-4 times longer. The last game I installed, GTA4, took almost 2 hours. I know it's not the drive because it can read any normal disc fine and the last disc drive I had also had the same problem with copy protected discs.

It's kind of no wonder why people pirate games and this only reinforces. Honest people get screwed over with this shit that doesn't even stop piracy while pirates get a game that sometimes runs better than the retail version.

 

[Emporius]

He says while he torrents several albums.

 

[giant384]

securerom has nothing to do with the disc drive...nothing to do with how long it will install

you just fail at pirating sir

 

[Sanada]

So because I'm having problems installing a game I bought I must have Pirated it?

 

[Higlac]

Yeah, I got this game called "Half-Life 2" and I keep getting this AI disabled thing whenever I try to play.

There's nothing eating up your ram is there? That could keep it from transferring to your HD at a decent rate.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

So because I'm having problems installing a game I bought I must have Pirated it?

The thing is mate that Securom installs itself when you run the game. When you are installing it just copies 1 or 2 Securom files that's all, so Securom is not at fault for your slow installations. And even if you do pirate you'll still copy those files over during installation the only difference is the crack doesn't install Securom when it runs.

Almost every new game released on disc seems to contain some form of copy protection.

That's nothing new. We've had disc based protection ever since games were released on disc. Yes, it's a pain, especially the whole limited installation bullshit. I got Mass Effect and can't play it due to the EA rep saying i've used up 8 installs even though it only allows 3, and i know i used 2. I questioned him about it and the wanker hung up.

 

[Laivasse]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if SecuROM was at fault for Sanada's slow installs. I haven't heard specifically of 'slow installs' being attributable to SecuROM before, but considering that it's been known to cause install and hardware failures based on the type/brand/age of your optical drive, I wouldn't say it's beyond the bounds of probability in the slightest.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if SecuROM was at fault for Sanada's slow installs. I haven't heard specifically of 'slow installs' being attributable to SecuROM before, but considering that it's been known to cause install and hardware failures based on the type/brand/age of your optical drive, I wouldn't say it's beyond the bounds of probability in the slightest.

I hate SecuROM as much as the next guy, but SecuROM is not at fault here. If his drive can't handle 2 extra DLL's being copied to his install dir then there IS something up with his drive.

Again SecuROM installs when you RUN the game not install it. During the installation SecuROM does nothing and it is the game developers who create the installers so it's them and them alone who are at fault.

 

[Laivasse]

At best you're generalising. Older versions of SecuROM definitely used to involve changes to the way the discs themselves were printed, not just extra install files, in order to cause burnt copies of the disc to fail. I'm not sure if SecuROM 7.x onwards dropped this technology (in favour of exclusively software-based protection), or if it went out with DVDs, but I somehow doubt it. Certainly I still see people occasionally post comments about their drives making weird noises with SecuROM-enabled games, and of having disc read errors.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

At best you're generalising. Older versions of SecuROM definitely used to involve changes to the way the discs themselves were printed, not just extra install files, in order to cause burnt copies of the disc to fail. I'm not sure if SecuROM 7.x onwards dropped this technology (in favour of exclusively software-based protection), but I somehow doubt it. Certainly I still see people post comments about their drives making weird noises with SecuROM-enabled games, and of having disc read errors.

I was referring to V7 upwards. And yes it does favour exclusive software-based protection.
For example Dead Space one of the games he mentioned uses online activation' once activated the disc itself is no longer required. So there is no need for the discs to be printed differently as the disc itself is not the protection unlike the older versions. The disc read errors and strange noises are symptoms of the older versions. SecuROM adds a unique digital signature to the optical media at the time of replication, the authenticator performs various security checks and verifies the SecuROM signature on the optical media. The authentication process takes a few seconds and it requires your drive to be fast and accurate. That was the reason some failed as they either couldn't read the signature or they could not authenticate quick enough (there is a strict time limit) and the drives would strain and make noises.

SecuROM does a lot of nasty shit, but only after you run the game in the case of newer versions. Personally i class it as malware. When i updated Mass Effect it updated SecuROM as well causeing Windows Explorer to crash whenever i right clicked an exe or a shortcut to an exe. That's pissed me off as it had damaged my PC

 

[Sanada]

Certainly I still see people occasionally post comments about their drives making weird noises with SecuROM-enabled games, and of having disc read errors.

The disc read errors and strange noises are symptoms of the older versions.

I forgot to mention this but the drive does make strange noises while the game is installing and spins at a slow speed. Maybe it is my drive that's at fault (Sony DRU-190S). It's possible it has a problem reading DL 8.5GB discs but I don't have any discs on-hand to test with other than ones that contain DRM protected games.

 

[Barney Fife]

Do we, or don't we know, not know what it is we, or we're not talking about.

Carry On!