Spore Copy Protection Q&A

[Kreion]

gota ask ive been readin the forums bout this lalalala and isnt there any human rights against taking away something you have bought because you installed it 3 times

[Watashiii]

Originally Posted by tangfastic91

Has it been released in Australia?

It has been released on the internet

[Lethn]

lol you lose EA I can confirm they have in fact already got the pirated version, I couldn't even care if I get banned for saying this but... YOU LOOOOSE! I think you should take the protection and activations off before you lose even more customers.

[Watashiii]

funny in a sad way

[Naenia]

ahh right...other topic..damn it

>_<

[Watashiii]

Here's people discussing some legal issues:

If you need to have your game refunded, here's how. - 2K Forums

[akridine]

I wonder if EA know that if they refuse UK customer new activations they'd be breaking UK trading standerd laws?

[Gorai]

Well I posted this in another thread but that one will soon be heading to the graveyard of dead threads and so I'll just post here too

It seems securom sure did work. There's already a cracked version and key gen out on the web.

Good job really. You put a load of useless copy protection lalalalalalalala that does nothing but punish genuine customers.

[flatfroggerx]

Originally Posted by Peteuplink2

Personally I think that's just lala... This threads been going since 15th May 2008 and the first concerns about the copy protection were raised pretty much as soon as the thread was created. That's roughly about 15 weeks.

I don't think anyone is passing any of our concerns onto the "powers that be".

No. Why no? why do I believe the mods?

I've been looking at the other game boards hosted on this forum, i.e mass effect, mercs 2, deadspace etc. Games which i'm interested in but have no official confirmation of activations on them or in mass effects case EA staff responses from people like Aurora.

Now i'm not asking anyone to go post/comment in these threads (I know I did like 40 pages back but i'm not now) infact i'm asking the opposite that they are left alone unless you are SERIOUSLY considering the game in question but I would like people to read this one specific thread:

DRM Issue - Response and FAQ

Right, now read through it carefully, yes it looks the same as how this one started out but pay attention to EAUK_Phenom and the responses he/she gets when they ask why does it stop people buying the game and then future replies to the thread.

People may think EAUK staff are just robots/don't care/not passing stuff on but quite frankly I think there is enough in that thread to demonstrate that they do care, and that they are passing info on as well as understanding how the community stands on the issue. They CAN'T actually comment out right about their personal stance on the issue, that kinda thing lands them in hot water and under grounds for dismissal.


Whether you ARE or AREN'T buying spore I think we can ALL agree that the activation part of this new protection doesn't work against pirates. Right now as I speak there is a pirated version of spore which is working, I know about 4-5 people who downloaded it and are playing it now. Its clear the protection is more of an issue to the consumer causing wasted time contacting EA to request more activations and ambiguity about the future availability of the games we buy.

Sure some people reading this might not care about it personally due to the level of hype around spore and their personal PC habbits (i.e formatting/upgrading/etc) but surely you could at least see the points at which I am trying to get at here and agree in some small sense that it is an issue that needs to be addressed either by removing the limit altogether or allowing users to manage their own activations through their main EA accounts page or something or even better finding a newer, better, more workable and friendly solution.

[Sithjedimatt]

Hey Spore Fans -

We wanted to let you know that we've been hearing your concerns about the online authentication mentioned earlier this week. I didn't want to
head into the weekend without getting back to you with some information about how Spore is planning on using this new system.

A few things we wanted you to know:

We authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first time.

We'll re-authenticate when a player uses online features, downloads new content or a patch for their game.

The new system means you don't have to play with the disc in your computer. And if you are like me, always losing discs, this will be a huge benefit.

You'll still be able to install and play on multiple computers.

You can play offline.

We do hope that players will play online - sharing creatures, buildings and vehicles with other players is something that is unique to Spore and one of the coolest features of the game. Every day, when I play the Creature Stage, I get to see wacky and awesome new creatures from my Buddies on the team coming over the hill at me and I can't wait to see what happens when our creative, passionate community starts sharing
their creations.

I'd love to write more - but I need to get back to work. We've got a game to finish. :-)

-caryl

===============================
(aka MaxisLucky)
online producer
spore

Something I found on another website - funny how it says basically the same as the beginning of this thread.

[Braidedheadman]

Caryl's remarks mean all of **** all. Thanks for posting.

[Sithjedimatt]

I get the feeling that everyone's who get to write anything about the authentication and limited numbers etc. Has been told to write the exact same thing. or something along the lines of it.

[randommonicl]

Just something i would like to know. I dont know a massive amount about the deatils of this sytem, but i was wondering if it had any of the same problems as starforce (think thats what it was called)? (eg leading to lockups, crashes, bluescreens etc etc) And since i doubt anyone from EA is going to reply, does anyone in the community know anything about that?
Cheers guys.

[Watashiii]

Originally Posted by randommonicl

Just something i would like to know. I dont know a massive amount about the deatils of this sytem, but i was wondering if it had any of the same problems as starforce (think thats what it was called)? (eg leading to lockups, crashes, bluescreens etc etc) And since i doubt anyone from EA is going to reply, does anyone in the community know anything about that?
Cheers guys.

No. But the game is not out yet, except in Australia and the cracked vesion

[Mokkun]

Originally Posted by randommonicl

Just something i would like to know. I dont know a massive amount about the deatils of this sytem, but i was wondering if it had any of the same problems as starforce (think thats what it was called)? (eg leading to lockups, crashes, bluescreens etc etc) And since i doubt anyone from EA is going to reply, does anyone in the community know anything about that?
Cheers guys.

Crashes definetly, bluescreens probable.
you also forgot it refuses to start if you have anny usefull systemtools running. (usefull as moore features than common PC users use, like process explorer.)
(to the pro secu people, YES i have the last VERSION stop telling me to upgrade it, it wont help)

also my oppinion is, if you have to use moore unfunctional copy protection above the fully functional CD-Key, keep it on the bloody disk and of the harddrive (and now to give them a bad idea for future abuse of us, OUT OF the RAM, keep it on the disk and not on our machines)

DRM becomes closer and closer to Rootkits/Viruses these days..

Stealth install, grabbing admin privileges, no uninstaller, requiring special tools and/or Special knowledge of computers to remove, makes systems unstable, prevents usage of certain programs.. and moore...

[Mokkun]

Originally Posted by Watashiii

No. But the game is not out yet, except in Australia and the cracked vesion

well, i have not et had a crash in Spore yet.. but I do have older securom games that have been crashing on me, before i changed to a cracked exe, to have no crashes afterwards. making me think its Securom thats the cause.

[randommonicl]

So if i ever did want to remove this from my system totally, without specialist knowlage(which i dont have), i wont be able to?

[Watashiii]

Originally Posted by randommonicl

So if i ever did want to remove this from my system totally, without specialist knowlage(which i dont have), i wont be able to?

There are step-by-step instructions for removing DRM. Not too easy, but you don't need any special skills

[Mokkun]

Originally Posted by Watashiii

There are step-by-step instructions for removing DRM. Not too easy, but you don't need any special skills

well, following a good guide that dont mess around to much in the registry, then yes, a average computer user should be able, but i prefear to not point annyone at the existance of regedit, to manny emergency repairs and backups done after people found out about it... it was a real mess..

[tangfastic91]

Does anyone know where these instructions on removing securom are, and we will we be able to play Spore online if we remove it?

[Remora Wraith]

There will be no official method BUT if you go to gamecopyworld or your preferred bit torrent tracker and look for spore you'll probably find cracks and securom remove kits I recomend YASU (yet another securom utility).

[Mokkun]

Originally Posted by tangfastic91

Does anyone know where these instructions on removing securom are, and we will we be able to play Spore online if we remove it?

Yust like a virus/rootkit, if you remove it, then start spore, it will reinstall itself, whitout your knowledge.

and no, i have not seen anny instructions yet.. Im waiting for a modified .exe before im purging Securom from my system. as the modified .exe's don need securom so it wont reinstall itself then.

[Squall-Loire]

I wouldnt worry about SecuROM. I give it a week before functional cracks are everywhere, just like with every other SecuROM 'protected' game.

[YuMiCymru]

How many times are we able to install Spore with this new system?

[Malgor]

Originally Posted by Squall-Loire

I wouldnt worry about SecuROM. I give it a week before functional cracks are everywhere, just like with every other SecuROM 'protected' game.

'Functional' (but, apparently, not yet optimised) cracks are already available - and have been for a couple of days, when the game wasn't even out yet.

Woohoo, another great victory against the pirates for SecuROM... oh... wait... that's right, it is just the paying customer who has a problem now.

So, pretty much everything we have all been saying for weeks has been proven correct: SecuROM did not prevent piracy, and was cracked before the game even hit the shelves (in fact, I have heard that you can even download the complete game already); despite this, the paying customer is still going to have to deal with limited activations, and invasive software; and we (as predicted) still have not recieved so much as a "we will take another look at it" from EA.

Way to go EA. I bet you guys are super-glad that you gave Sony a large up-front fee, and a royalty on every sale for their "best ever" protection!

Oh, and I thought it might be worth mentioning that posts are already starting to pop up around the net from people who are having problems with Spore (which may or may not be SecuROM related), and cannot get help from EA support. I'm sure that fills all the "I'll just get support if I have a problem" people with *loads* of confidence