Lucky: sf3.6 working whithout disabling anything!

[lolo75]

hello
my first post to announce that since i've installed dt4 i can play sf3.6 games like x3 reunion without disabling anything!
i think i'm lucky, or it is a lucky bug in my config!!
my config if it can help :
msi mobo neo platinium (nforce 3 250)
amd 64 3000+ (754)
windows xp pro (oem) sp2 (i actively use the overflow protection provided with the cpu located in system/advanced/perf )

my drives :
plextor 716a as master on the first ide channel
plextor cd writer 522452 as slave on the first ide channel
second ide channel et fourth sata/ide channel are disabled via bios (to save irq's)
my sata hdd is connected on the third sata/ide channel
i have dt4 and alcohol installed with their virtual drives
x3 reunion was installed using a simple mounting image (made with alcohol) via dt4
i do not use any protection emulation with dt4, it's only mounted
and the game ran directly!!
i can provide further hardware or software details if you ask
now i will return playing x3 reunion...

[Dark Arbitor]

It seems a few people are getting lucky in that regard. I still have to pull the secondary IDE cable if I want to play X3, though

Arb

[MindFever]

Hmmm...could it be just as simple as how your IDE drives are connected? OR could it be the MOTHERBOARD's fault (the config and stuff...maybe how the IDEs are integrated there) ??

I got NFS:Most Wanted to work with nothing else but alcohol images mounted Oh man,i will try again with SC:CT and will try with X3 (never tried with this one)

[MindFever]

LOL ... installed X3 (upluged power cables from ide optical drives),then launched the game and presto,it worked! It didnt even ask me for a SERIAL NUMBER!! I didnt even use the SFcure or SFblocker ... how cool is that,huh?!

[Da_Junka]

Like Lolo75 I can play X3 without unplugging or disabling anything.
The only like things in my specs are....

MSI neo platinum nforce 3 mobo
AMD 64 3200+ (969)
Win XP SP2

Looks to me like it could have something to do with the Motherboard.

[Da_Junka]

LOL ... installed X3 (upluged power cables from ide optical drives),then launched the game and presto,it worked! It didnt even ask me for a SERIAL NUMBER!! I didnt even use the SFcure or SFblocker ... how cool is that,huh?!

What are you specs? It would be more than coincidence if your motherboard was a MSI neo platinum nforce 3 mobo

[NetSoerfer]

As a matter of fact, MindFever is using an nForce motherboard, nForce 3 I believe, too.

[Da_Junka]

As a matter of fact, MindFever is using an nForce motherboard, nForce 3 I believe, too.

So do you think the answer to cracking starforce lies in the nforce3 motherboard and/or ide drivers?
It would be good if all nforce3 MB owners could report if X3 is working on there machine without disabling drives and without using tools, just good-old Deamon Tools4.
Maybe some nforce3 owners havent tried it yet with IDE drives left plugged.
Im finding all this very interesting.

[NetSoerfer]

So do you think the answer to cracking starforce lies in the nforce3 motherboard and/or ide drivers?

I don't know, this is a very wild guess. However, MindFever, lolo75 and you can all play SF games without disabling their drives, and all of you have an nForce 3 based motherboard.

We'll look into this.

[nabelo]

me too !!

Hi,

i also have an Nforce3 Motherboard.
And i also dont need to disable my IDE Drives to play Starforce games. Works like a charm.

Greetz
nabelo

[Elandril]

A question for those nforce 3 users who don't have to disable anything: Do you use the standard Microsoft IDE driver or the NVIDIA nForce3 IDE driver?

I've read reports that the NVIDIA driver seems to present itself as some kind of stange/fancy SCSI/IDE driver. I'd guess the protections don't recognize the IDE drives as real IDE drives!
On the other hand this IDE driver (back when nForce2 was up-to-date) also used to be the cause of some unexplainable crashes and bluescreens. I don't know however how far the development of this driver has come, and if this issues are still present.

[Da_Junka]

Getting less like coincidence every day.

(Every rushes out and buys nforce 3 motherboards, industry can't keep up with demand. Report of Nforce 3 motherboards being sold on the black market for up to Ј10,000.)

[ManMountain]

Also using nForce 3 chipset and I can run every SecuROM 7x, SafeDisc 4x and StarForce 3x game as well.

Using Windows x64 with Nvidia's 6.25 x64 chipset drivers.

[Methadon]

Also using nForce 3 chipset and I can run every SecuROM 7x, SafeDisc 4x and StarForce 3x game as well.

Using Windows x64 with Nvidia's 6.25 x64 chipset drivers.

nForce 3 is the shit!

[ManMountain]

Indeed it is

However, I also know of nForce 4 users who are also in Daemon Tools 4 x64 heaven and also require to do nothing except change an applications compatibility type or a quick right click and disable DVD/CD-ROM in device manager.

The plot thickens...