?????? securom & virtual memory ????????????

[LooDos]

i know! but as it worked for the unpatched version of darkstar1 i thought it would also work for v1.1. anyway it doesn't. so i thought sYk0 would know why it doesnt work anymore and eventually he could fix it.

[AnalCobra]

i know! but as it worked for the unpatched version of darkstar1 i thought it would also work for v1.1. anyway it doesn't. so i thought sYk0 would know why it doesnt work anymore and eventually he could fix it.

Well, i don't know if sYk0 will waste his time on this, because its made for SD 4 and SR 7, we'll see.:wink:

[sYk0]

Version 1.0 of Darkstar One was protected with Protect Disc v6.x...
The 1.1 update, changes the protection to Protect Disc 7.x...

[LooDos]

ok nevertheless thx sYk0 for the usefull tool even if it does not work with protect disc v7
so protect disc v6 works similar to sd4 / sr7 and in the new version they implemented some blacklisting stuff...

[ß]

they are:

[15:27:53 PM] SecuROM 7.00.00.0008 detected -> E:\Program Files\THQ\Disney-Pixar\Cars\Cars.exe
[15:29:48 PM] SecuROM 7.00.00.0063 detected -> E:\Program Files\THQ\Titan Quest\Titan Quest.exe
[15:29:48 PM] --- File(s) Scan Finished [73.92s] ---

edit:

using the new protection id we may finally have "proper" securom version identification. so here is what IT reports.

Scanning -> E:\Program Files\THQ\Titan Quest\Titan Quest.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 4308992 (041C000h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuROM Detected - Version 7.21
[!] Possible CD/DVD-Key or Serial Check -> CDKey
- Scan Took : 0.781 Seconds


Scanning -> E:\Program Files\THQ\Disney-Pixar\Cars\Cars.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 7257088 (06EBC00h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuROM Detected - Version 7.24 or newer
- Scan Took : 0.594 Seconds

[LooDos]

i only used the original disc and later a mini image to play.

[sYk0]

Darkstar One 1.1 uses Protect Disc 7.x, this newer version of protect disk is similar to that of StraForce, ProtectDisc 7.x now installs its own system driver(s), check the file properties for "*:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\ACEDRV07.sys".

File version: 6.8.0.60428
Description: Helper Driver - Access Level 1a
Copyright: (C) Copyright 2004-2006 Protect Software GmbH

I'm not if this file was present in the older versions of ProtectDisc...

[ß]

edit:

using the new protection id.

Scanning -> E:\Program Files\THQ\Titan Quest\Titan Quest.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 4308992 (041C000h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuROM Detected - Version 7.21
[!] Possible CD/DVD-Key or Serial Check -> CDKey
- Scan Took : 0.781 Seconds


Scanning -> E:\Program Files\THQ\Disney-Pixar\Cars\Cars.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 7257088 (06EBC00h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuROM Detected - Version 7.24 or newer
- Scan Took : 0.594 Seconds

[LooDos]

@sYk0: thx for the info!
@ß: with the new version of protection id u mean v5.1d, dont u?!

[ß]

Titan Quest by Iron Lore Entertainment - retail v1.11 -> v1.15 patch

Patch Notes v1.15

GENERAL:

- Fixed crash issues involving teleporting
- Fixed pathing crashes involved with entering and leaving underground areas
- Fixed crashes involving the Alt-Tab function
- Fixed crash issue which could occur when standing at the same coordinates as an item and attempting to pick it up
- Fixed a bug where items would occasionally fall through the world when they are dropped or unsuccessfully picked up
- Fixed a bug where storing manual character back-ups in the SaveData folder would cause those characters to not be visible on the character select screen
- Improved character auto back-up system
- Implemented texture reduction matrix which allows the low graphics settings to use more compressed textures and improves performance on low end systems
- Implemented the ability to turn shadows on and off. Shadows are currently on by default.
-To turn shadows off, go to the My Games\Titan Quest\Settings directory and open the options.txt file after changing any option in game. Find the setting called "Shadows" and change its value to false. If the setting does not exist, add the line "shadows=false" to the end of the options.txt file.
- Fixed the 'Fatal Error' message appearing when trying to boot up Titan Quest(tm) with Virtual Memory turned off
- Implemented a minidump file into the crash logging system


the bold emphasis is mine. i am not playing this game now (i'll wait for more patches) but i will reinstall it to test with this new patch and see if it now works without vm.

i still don't know if it's a securom requirement or just the way they (the developers) developed that requires vm prior to the patch. but then of course there are more games from thq that do the same. in fact even the demo for broken sword the angel of death requires vm to run. and it's also from thq. so rico do you have any more news ? is it really securom ? (the demo i just mentioned does not contain securom at all. and yes some demos do have cp but not this one.)

[evlncrn8]

think the latest protection id is 5.1e

[LooDos]

@evlncrn8: might be. but the time i wrote my post it was 5.1d.

@ß: gonna try that patch out soon. i'm curious to know which version of securom it has...

[bisi]

Most likely allocating virtual memory in certain amounts and places is a futile attempt by the Securom developers to keep the 'bad guys' from properly reconstructing the unprotected binary.
Probably that gives a short explanation and doesn't violate the forum rules...

[ß]

============= email reply from sony ================================start======

Hello.

Thank you for your email. SecuROM does not require the virtual memory to be enabled. This issue might be game related.
Is there a message box that advise you to enable your virtual ram?

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,

SecuROM Support Team
SecuROM on the web: http://www.securom.com
or via e-mail: support@securom.com

============= email reply from sony ================================end========


this was a reply from securom support. yes of course they could be lying but i doubt it. why would they ? thet could just say yes, sorry we need people to use virtual memory from now on when they run games protected by the latest securom. after some time we would know for sure anyway.

also of great importance, since even a demo needs virtual memory, i now think THQ is somehow involved rather then sony. as i said earlier i know very well that starforce also protects most demos, but the new broken sword demo does not have securom and it comes up with the same error/request.

i would so much rather deal with facts then speculation.

[evlncrn8]

well some games can request memory sizes larger than your physical memory, so they need to use the swap file... and if windows doesn't need the swap file, simply it wont use it.. its there for a reason and probably best left enabled (as it is when you install it)... as for securom needing virtual memory, any program (even one that isn't protected, or one protected with another protection) that uses virtualalloc or helpalloc etc will end up getting virtual memory, the system decides if it needs to use the swap file or not, if the swap file is not in use and the program requests more memory than the system can give it, the allocation will fail and you'll probably get a nice messagebox (that is.. if the program handles the memory fault... some dont)