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Thread: Is EA's SecuRom/DRM really that bad?

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  1. #1
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    Is EA's SecuRom/DRM really that bad?

    Far Cry 2 and Dead Space are now out and I want to get them for the PC, but I'm reading about SecuROM/DRM that installs with the games and it's turning me off. I'd buy them on X360 but I can't play FPSes on X360, so Far Cry 2 is out. Is EA's SecuRom/DRM really that bad?


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  2. #2
    Depends. It's kinda gay. You can install the game 5 times. You can get the install back if you properly uninstall the game. You also get malware, but it's possible to remove it.

    I usually get all my games through Steam, it's hassle free. Only negative is that you need to download the game, but only necessary the first time. You can burn a backup of the game files.

  3. #3
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    With Far Cry 2, STEAM delivers secuROM with the game, so you can't avoid it. As far as hassle free, that's only if you have a high speed connection, which I don't.


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  4. #4
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    Wow, reading up on SecuROM, it seems BioShock for the PC installs it, which means I have SecuROM running on my PC right now! Well, first thing I'm going to do is reinstall my OS and make an image, then from now on when I install games with SecuROM, I'll finish the game and re-image my PC to the pre-SecuROM state. Otherwise I will find a pirated copy of the game and just play that.


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  5. #5
    Banned darkshadow's Avatar
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    the bioshock, crysis securom's aren't that bad, pretty low level stuff, its pretty much every title since Mass Effect which got the utterly shite SecuRom.
    Also as far as protections go, they don't install/activate themselfs until the initial run of the software, so if you really want to, just buy far cry 2 and dead space and crack them before running.
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  6. #6
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    When you say "crack" them, do you mean look for cracked executables online?


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  7. #7
    Banned darkshadow's Avatar
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    ...yes...
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  8. #8
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    And if those aren't available...?


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  9. #9
    Banned darkshadow's Avatar
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    They are always available, otherwise just wait a bit, the newer securom was cracked a few days after the release of mass effect, and it has been the same version ever since.
    Far cry 2 was cracked right away btw ( yesterday).
    The only protection that remained uncracked for like a year, was StarForce 3, but that protection was so aggressive, publishers stopped using it after a few titles.
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  10. #10
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    When you say that SecuROM is cracked for FarCry2, what exactly is circumvented with the crack? You still have to activate with a serial number. So how does that defeat the DRM?

    No-CD cracking is cool, but I'm mostly concerned with rootkit type applets that alter your OS, hide themselves, or upload info to servers, especially when you can't remove them without reinstalling the OS.


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  11. #11
    Banned darkshadow's Avatar
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    the protection is inside the exe, a crack rips it out, thus the protection can't activate/install itself.
    The serial number is nothing more then a check, its not the protection itself, also far cry 2 doesn't use a serial upon install.
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  12. #12
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    Without the protection, can you still activate the game? The cracks I found (on gcw) say that activation is still required to play the game. Isn't SecuROM the activation tool?


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  13. #13
    Banned darkshadow's Avatar
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    yes, thus those cracks don't really crack the game then, try Razor1911's crack, its a full one.

    edit:
    just checked the sites, and they dont seem to have the crack listed yet, so i upped it for you:
    http://www.mediafire.com/?iozztytti1m
    Last edited by darkshadow; Thu, 10-23-2008 at 03:44 PM.
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  14. #14
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Hearing about this is really putting me off too. So it's on all FarCry 2 installs? It seems Ubisoft is distributing it, so EA just sells its DRM to people?

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  15. #15
    Banned darkshadow's Avatar
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    No, the protection is called SecuRom and its owned by sony.
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  16. #16
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by darkshadow
    No, the protection is called SecuRom and its owned by sony.
    *sigh*. Them again....

    I was hoping to play Bioshock too

    I remember that I had older problems burning older games too, and those didn't have this DRM thing. And my COD4 backup can't be recognised as a legit copy anyway. Why the move?

    Edit: is there a list (official or unofficial?) list of past and upcoming games that'll use SecuRom? I'm dearly hoping Fallout 3 isn't on that list.
    Last edited by Buffalobiian; Sat, 10-25-2008 at 10:37 AM.

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  17. #17
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian
    *sigh*. Them again....

    I was hoping to play Bioshock too

    I remember that I had older problems burning older games too, and those didn't have this DRM thing. And my COD4 backup can't be recognised as a legit copy anyway. Why the move?

    Edit: is there a list (official or unofficial?) list of past and upcoming games that'll use SecuRom? I'm dearly hoping Fallout 3 isn't on that list.
    As ds stated, Bioshock has an older, less intrusive version of SecuROM, so it's worth installing and playing. Older, even less intrusive versions of SecuROM only prevented copying, but there were easy workarounds for it.

    I need to check out what games will come with the new SecuROM, as the list seems to be growing. I'm not sure about Fallout 3.


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

  18. #18
    Meanwhile: Heaven Weeps. Y's Avatar
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    No, it isn't. Not even the most ridiculous and draconian DRM methods are in any way intrusive enough to justify avoiding purchases because of their inclusion.

  19. #19
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Y
    No, it isn't. Not even the most ridiculous and draconian DRM methods are in any way intrusive enough to justify avoiding purchases because of their inclusion.
    Quote Originally Posted by Koyuki
    You also get malware, but it's possible to remove it
    So does it screw around with your security or not? I'm not so caring about the activating 5 times thing or whatever. Just as long as it doesn't screw me over.

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  20. #20
    What's up, doc? Animeniax's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Y
    No, it isn't. Not even the most ridiculous and draconian DRM methods are in any way intrusive enough to justify avoiding purchases because of their inclusion.
    I disagree, especially when it comes to the new version of SecuROM. From what I'm reading, it includes rootkit-type backdoor access for programmers to run verification code that can morph to prevent detection, reverse engineering, and removal. The game manufacturer can add whatever code they want in a trojan-horse fashion, allowing them to upload usage data or other data to their servers. Hackers can target this code to gain access to your system. You can't remove the DRM software even if you remove the game. If you don't have internet access, you don't get to play.

    I do agree that some games are too amazing to pass up, so one option is to buy the console version instead. The other option is what I plan on trying, buying the game, then running a cracked version of the exe so that the DRM never runs. As I learn more about SecuROM, if it makes me more paranoid, I plan to do a fresh install of Windows with patches, then image my PC, then install a SecuROM'd game, then re-image my PC after I finish the game.


    For God will not permit that we shall know what is to come... those who by some sorcery or by some dream might come to pierce the veil that lies so darkly over all that is before them may serve by just that vision to cause that God should wrench the world from its heading and set it upon another course altogether and then where stands the sorcerer? Where the dreamer and his dream?

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