As you know, back towards the end of May, I solicited your questions to be forwarded directly to StarForce in regards to their anti-piracy software. I'm pleased to report we have received their answers and we have posted the link on the front page. You may also access it here, which points to the Article Feedback Forum:

http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=89;t=000319

We encourage your thoughts on this interview. Please though, no personal attacks, no bashing, insults, etc., whether directed at other members or at StarForce.

You may have seen a thread in this forum, or elsewhere, wherein I asked for a cessation of StarForce posts, except if there was a specific issue or problem. That request is hereby lifted.

Just keep it civil. Thanks.

Ok, I read the reply; sorry, I'm not buying it, any of it. I ran SHIII for a couple of weeks, and had stability problems with FB from the very first day of having SHIII on the system. I got tired of it, and removed SHIII and StarForce, and whadaya know? FB returned to running just fine again.

I hope this isn't uncivil, but the bs level of that PR is mind boggling, on a level with Microsoft claiming they don't have a monopoly on the planet.

Confidence scams are at least as old as this country, you give us money and give up your personal freedoms and we give you protection in exchange type of thing.

Couldn't one extract an image of the CD with some custom written, undetectable debugger and hack all games that use Starforce? Once those games are hacked, they are hacked.

And there is the question, are the game publishers losing more money from hackers or from people who don't want this "protection" on their machine?

How would this question be answered? Maybe from studying threads like this one to get a consensus. From what I've read so far, I won't be getting any games that use this, Maddox BoB included.

I won't buy BoB if Starforce comes with it. Period.

I will not buy any game that includes Starforce, ever.

Personally, I have never had any issues with games using Starforce. My system stability has never been compromised, and I have never experienced poor performance that wasn't down to another reason.

Now...there are some aspects of SF that I definitely DO NOT approve of. Like it;s unclusion on Demo's....

Then ther eis this line....
"I disagree that it is impossible to return software after purchase"

This may be true in the US, but it is DEFINITELY not true in the UK. If you buy a game that your PC won't run, you are stuck with it. The only option you have is to return a FAULTY CD to get a replacement. There is no right to return software once you have opened the package and installed it. They really should look a bit further afield.

I also do not understand the Starforce explanation of how we should make LEGAL backups of LEGALLY BOUGHT software. We can copy the discs but not use them...and contact their customer services for an unlock? anyone actually tried this?

Then there is uninstalling....From what I understand, Starforce DOESN'T uninstall itself when a game is uninstalled...

And finally...it seems we can install this copy protection software without knowing it ( I did ) and then find it incompatable with our OS ... and have to download NEW drivers for teh copy protection..what??? How would anyone know this was teh reason their game stopped working. There should be a MANDATORY requirement for any company licensing Starforce for their product to declare it on the packaging. The reply to why they did not implies they know full well that sales would suffer as a direct result.

Well...I sympathise with what they are trying to do, but think they are destined to fail. The hackers will STILL crack their games, and honest users will suffer problems. They list 3 titles that remained 'uncracked' .... out of how many?

Besides...Of the 3, 1 was just an add-on, one was of little interest to me, and codename Panzers was in the bargain bin pretty sharpish. Oh well.

I have`nt found a place in my area that will take back a game after it has been opened period, no matter what the reason for it`s return, they will replace a faulty disc. Starforce isn`t removed when you uninstall the game, you have to use the Starforce removal utility,and that does`nt remove it all you have to search your registry, and manually remove what the utility did not, a real pain for some people. SHIII was cracked the first day it was out, later patches made this impossible, even the patches gave you problems if you had added skins, missions, utilities, and such, you have to use a mod installation utility, and remove all your mods before using a new patch, or the patch will not install, then reinstall the mods.
I reommended SHIII to my group, that was a sorry day , everyone of them had problems with their dvd`s and burners trying to copy legal unrelated SHIII files because of Starforce. These guys systems were`nt old, worn out covered with dust, and all the other dumb excuses given. Now imagine someone buying a game like that, and not having an internet connection, lot of people don`t, you could`nt imagine what just happened to your computer hardware when it stopped burning anything, nor would you be able to get the Starforce removal utility,or even know of it`s existance for that matter, and that still does`nt remove all of it. Talk about the number of people that did just that, bought the game for themselves, or their kids. Everyone to their own, but I`ll not buy another product that has Starforce on it, I`ll keep my hard earned money in my wallet, and the companies that use it can keep their discs on their shelves, sounds fair enough to me.

Any product with Starforce on it will NOT go on my PC. Fact.

I must admit....I would love to know why the standard uninstaller supplied with the game can't include the necessary routines to remove the copy protection that was installed with the game. That would be the very least they could do.

Shame really.

If the software was more open, it would probably help to deter casual pirates AND help concerned users. Then if they include a decent uninstaller so you could remove the stuff if it screwed your system, that would bolster confidence too.

Instead, they pretend you can return the game ( yeah right....and why won't stores take games back...because of Pirates... )

I wonder how the equation stacks up....

On the plus side... fewer pirated copies due to 'unbreakable' copy protection

On the downside ... some very annoyed customers giving the whole thing bad publicity, spreading tales of woe, and generally rubbishing both the software and the publishers who choose it.

So...on the commercial side of things, how many people actually pirate games they intend to buy anyway....and would pay money if the game couldn't be cracked

How many refuse to buy the product becuase it is 'infested' with Starforce.

I will never buy a game with Starforce on it.

I bought a DVD Writer just to play SHIII. I had no problems with Nero, I even burned some DVD movies I made while at Bike week, then SHIII came out, I installed it with no problems.

A few weeks later,no change to my system like driver updates ect., I tried to make another DVD and Nero kept giving me errors when trying to cache data. Done the dance,deleted everything Starforce and SHIII, now Nero burns fine. I may be a minority,but no Starforce will be on my system ever again. I'll just keep my money in my wallet.

Clown