Starforce 3. Is it THAT bad??

[ITSE]

Oh no,
its possible to create an 1:1 Copy of StarForce 3 protectet CD's.
But its very hard.

I try to discribe how it will function.
What you need:
Blinwrite and the BWA (Best is BW Version 5)
So next to do is read the CD wich is protected and Save it as Image.
Than extract the BWA form the CD. (save it in another directory than the image)
Next to do is to burn image on a CD-R with lowest speed and without any RMPS or BWA infos!!!!
Now you have to extract the BWA from the new burned CD again.
And save it in another directory as the first original. Ok?

So, now it cames the really hard job.

You have a code wich you enter at Install the CD,
wich indentifies that the CD is original.
(StarForce is AngleBased Copy Protection, the Code there to get the Messuring Points)

Look at the original BWA and the BWA from the Copied CD-R.
You have to create a new code for the Copied CD-R.
Use HexEditor, but i tell you, its not easye to make new Code.
(looking in EXE/DLL for infos how it will check code)
If you have generated a new Code wich is function after Install the copied CD , than you have a 1:1 or better sayed a new Original Protected CD.

[DevX]

You are very naive if you think you can calculate CD-KEY for StarForce based on image info.;-) Most likely you will spend at least 6 months to reverse-engineer their code to understand how the key is built.

[ITSE]

I sayed its possible and thats true
I dont sayed that i will do that job :mrgreen:

[DevX]

Surprisingly, it may even not work, because the range of possible angles may be hardcoded inside exe (depends on version) and CD-R can be easily identified by absolutely different curve if protection authors are not idiots, and believe me they aren't
But your method may work with some more simple protection like eg. CD-COPs if you know the CD-KEY building algo. Unfortunately it depends on each title as well. And you never should use BWA for this purpose, just make proper MDS with Alcohol and make its analysis.

[Andareed]

There was an article at cdfreaks forum about this. If cd check failed, sf3 gave an error code/id. Based on this and how long it took to verify, they were able to get a valid id.

[DevX]

Hmm. I never saw any StarForce game that displays some id on failure - it just asks to reenter CD-KEY, nothing more.

[Karson]

Idea

Andareed
I think You're right! If we could generate new key for cloned CD - it's a way to work with it :-)
Certainly, it's a violation of licence, but...

[mf666]

STARFORCE 3 crisis is increasing again

Hi,

X2 (german) and DESERT RATS also have Starforce3.


@DAEMON-DEVELOPER-TEAM

I just want to know if there are some projects in your team to solve the problem. Would it be in idea to adress the IDE-Drives as Fake-SCSI-drives or something ?

Is there an idea You follow OR is it all to frustrating? thanks for honest answer.

[,jACkdA\W]

well, i'm not from DAEMON-DEVELOPER TEAM...

but i can tell you that you can not code a fake IDE controller...
and that's all about that.
BTW, SF3 drivers (prosync1.sys) have been causing serious issues on quite some machines now, including mine.
probably my stuff (one game again) uses an outdated driver, but guessing from other people's posts, this seems sort of an unresolved issue from StarForce side. So you'd be better off in just waiting and seeing... probably using errrrm-exes if you insist on going virtual with this.
(if you really have to... it's not just about being not exactly elegant, you know :? )

[mf666]

well, i'm not from DAEMON-DEVELOPER TEAM...

but i can tell you that you can not code a fake IDE controller...
and that's all about that.
BTW, SF3 drivers (prosync1.sys) have been causing serious issues on quite some machines now, including mine.
probably my stuff (one game again) uses an outdated driver, but guessing from other people's posts, this seems sort of an unresolved issue from StarForce side. So you'd be better off in just waiting and seeing... probably using errrrm-exes if you insist on going virtual with this.
(if you really have to... it's not just about being not exactly elegant, you know :? )

Hi, i dont wanna use such EXEs!

Lots of games are being patched again and again. So searching for a new EXE again and again ?? No and thats not legal.

I would like to know a developers statement about this STARFORCE 3 subject.

Sorry and thanks

[LocutusofBorg]

we ARE working on a solution for StarForce3. HOW this solution works, will
be posted here as soon as we are ready to go. In the meantime, only
solution to work from virtual drives is to "shutdown" the IDE-Drives. F.e.
shut them down in bios or pull the ide-plug. But believe me, we don't
forget about StarForce

[mf666]

thanks for the answer.

Whit a solution on this point You will be beamed to highest admiration (if not yet happened) 8)

[professorx]

you probably know this already but Starforce will need to be presented the original CD-Key (and not just to keep on the legal side of things).
X2 Threat has a facility to display the calculated CD-Key and report the problem. The key is stored in the registry once successfully entered but Starforce objects to the newly calculated one (unless it displays an obfuscated version maybe??)

[Azmodan]

Another game with StarForce in Beyond Divinity (RPG).
But, from what Alcohol suport said, it uses StarForce 3.33 which blacklists known CD emulators. So, the workaround with unpluging the IDE drives, doesn't work at all.

Please use Beyond Divinity to check if the next Deamon Tools is working with StarForce 3.

10x

[Azmodan]

new trick with StarForce 3.3

same procedure as for Starforce 3 (disconect IDE drive), but u must mount the image from a network drive mapped locally with DTools