Hint how to build new SF3 immune configuration

[streetwolf]

For the newer version of starforce you need to unplug your optical IDE drives physically.

Have to agree on this one. Disabling the device or the IDE channel it is on does absolutely nothing for me. I have to physically unplug my IDE burner. Although someone else on this forum claims that he can get this version of SF to work just by disabling his secondary IDE controller. Another person claims VD 10 Pro works for him.

[lance1962]

Have to agree on this one. Disabling the device or the IDE channel it is on does absolutely nothing for me. I have to physically unplug my IDE burner. Although someone else on this forum claims that he can get this version of SF to work just by disabling his secondary IDE controller. Another person claims VD 10 Pro works for him.

I think this also depends on what motherbaord you have - it seems that some people with nforce 3/4 are able to run it this way without unplugging anything.

Lance

[balance]

i have a nforce 4 mobo

and under ide ata/atapi controllor

i just have "nvidia nforce4 parallel ata controllor"

do i just disable that?

thank you

[ArsinisthePro]

wot uall talking about all u got 2 do is this!!

go buy a external harddrive enclosure and connect up a cd rom drive instead of a harddrive
burn the image of the game to cd using Alcohol at 4x, RAWDAO, with RSPS or wot ever it is turned off
when the select Securom *NEW setting at the bottom not the (4/5) one!
click next select "TOC same as source on CD"

OK!

Put CD in External CD Drive And Disable Enternal CD rom Drives
using a program like SFNightmare or Starf**k

worked every time for every starforce game iv tried good luck

[nunex_prt]

i found a way to play the newer version of starforce (3.6....) without unplug my optical IDE drives physically. i have my ide hdd drives pluged in the primary ide controller and my optical dvd in the secondary ide controller. In my motherboard BIOS i have an option in the "Integrated Pheripherals" section that's "On-Chip IDE" with "both" option selected ... the only thing i must do is set to "primary" instead of "both" ... then just start windows and mount the game in DT4 (i have all options ON in emulation) ... it's the only way i manage to start the games without unplug dvd physically ... To reactivate the cd/dvd just set to "both" again ... :wink:

[Seven]

I can confirm tha this metod works. I have two sata disks and on mb I have tvo optical drives (2xpioneer dvr100d) and all i have to do is go to controll panel and disable controller with optical drives and ALL games work great. Cheers

[Darksoul71]

Hi there,
Iґve been messing around with Starforce quite some time and constantly pulling the IDE cable from my DVD-ROM wasnґt an option for me. I dislike screwing up my hardware this way.
Iґve seen various suggestions on getting around Starforce but none of them was a true option for me. Somehow my NForce2 MoBo seems to dislike either Starforce or Starforce Nightmare. Software disabling was never an option for me.

After some research I found the perfect solution for me (and may be others ?): A USB2IDE converter !

Such thingies normally sell at e-bay for something like 10. May be your local computer / electronic shop sells such a thing. Being the equivalent to that what is in a normal external DVD/CD-ROM enclosure those devices are completely transparent for your PC:
You can boot from them / access your DVD/CD without messing around with any additional drivers. Hiding your CD-ROM from Starforce is (obviously) simple: Pull the plug !
After playing you favourite game via DT4 and a mounted image you just need put the plug back into the USB port and you are ready to go.

Of course such a solution involves moving behind your PC but at least there is no hardware modification involved. For the more skilled person amongst us itґs very easy possible to change this into a internal mod.

Here is how Iґm gonna handle this:
* Cut a cheap USB cable into half
* Solder a standard ribbon cable to the USB cable
* Solder a small switch in between the power wire from the USB port.
* Plug the ribbon cables connector in your MoBoґs internal USB port.

Since you can mount the switch somewhere in the front and USB is perfectly hot-plugable, there are no problems normally known with interrupting the power cable or mechanical stress if you always pull the IDE cable.

BTW: I guess all other options to "hide" the CD-ROM from Starforce, such as using a SATA to IDE adapter or attaching the your CD-ROM to a RAID controller, are only valid for a very limited time frame. Future versions of the Starforce IDE driver might incorporate better support for "non-standard" IDE devices. So IMO the most future-proof approach for fooling Starforce is the USB / Firewire approach where you can physically remove your optical device(s) from the system.

Just my 2 cents,
D$

[streetwolf]

Not quite sure where you solder a 4 wire USB cable to a 40 or 80 wire IDE cable?

I have a USB2IDE adaptor. I do NOT have to unplug it to run any games, SF or otherwise. I leave the USB cable and power cord connected all the time.

You might also consider a USB2 enclosure for your IDE optical drive. Makes things tidy and you have an on/off switch too if you have to power it off.

[Darksoul71]

@streetwolf:
When talking about ribbon cable and pluging into the MoBoґs internal USB port, guess how many wires the ribbon cable I talk about might have ?
Hmmmm....four ?

The hint about the USB2IDE adaptor is interesting nevertheless. Seems Starforce also fails to detect those USB thingies. Yummie..this saves me from using a switch

BTW: External enclosures are not an option for me. Thats why I was choosing the USB2IDE adaptor.

[recall2000]

i have a nforce 4 mobo

and under ide ata/atapi controllor

i just have "nvidia nforce4 parallel ata controllor"

do i just disable that?

thank you

Yep - if thats the one your CD/DVD drive is connected to. So far Ive only got 2 games that didn't work - GT Legends, but I hate driving games anyway (except Burnout) and Bet On Soldier - that one authenticates, then starts the game (I see the window being drawn with the the title), but then it reboots. I read somewhere it'll be fixed in the next ver of DT.

[streetwolf]

@streetwolf:
When talking about ribbon cable and pluging into the MoBoґs internal USB port, guess how many wires the ribbon cable I talk about might have ?
Hmmmm....four ?

The hint about the USB2IDE adaptor is interesting nevertheless. Seems Starforce also fails to detect those USB thingies. Yummie..this saves me from using a switch

BTW: External enclosures are not an option for me. Thats why I was choosing the USB2IDE adaptor.

I see. Ribbon cable does not always mean IDE ribbon cable. My bad.

As far as the USB2IDE adaptor goes my brand (Sabrent) causes my optical DVD burner to run about 25% slower. Others with the same adaptor report a similar loss in speeds.

From what I have read the speed of any USB device (adaptor or enclosure) depends on the chipset used. The Sabrent uses the Cypress chipset.

[Doomer D. Great]

My setup...

This is my setup...


So, disable the second Intel thing right?

[streetwolf]

This is my setup...


So, disable the second Intel thing right?

If your optical drives are on the IDE channel you indicated then yes it looks OK. Just remember that if there is another drive (any kind of drive) on that channel you will lose it too.

[joel]

it works

thats really a nice idea it worked for me in brian lara international cricket


thanks man
'joel'

[mwb1100]

Just a small hint for people trying to disable specific IDE channels that contain only their optical drives in the Device Manager:

If you select the menu option "View\Devices by connection" it will be clear which IDE controller and channel has your optical drives when you expand the IDE nodes.