Anyone tried Space Rangers 2?

[Mochan]

Or even heard of it? This little game got on my radar and it has me very curious.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61014

[E.T.]

Very intriguing. No, I never heard of it, or the prequel either.

Being a lover of strategy games I'm curious enough to investigate further, especially after searching/reading numerous reviews giving this RPG/TBS/FPS/RTS combo such high marks.
Not too happy to learn Space Rangers 2 was built w/StarForce though [consumers rumble].

I'll bookmark SR2 & see how it does w/strategy gamers....not yet ready to plunk down $40.

[Mochan]

Yeah, my interest in the game went down severely after learning it's Starforce disabled. I'm glad some of the reviews stated it, I'm gonna have to avoid this like the plague, same as X3. Sucks.

[moya]

Ditto here. I was really interested in Space Rangers until I heard about the Starforce protection. On a similar note, I almost picked up Freedom Force 2 going cheap the other day, then I learned that that, too, had Starforce. :(

By all accounts these were great games ruined by the inclusion of an invasive copy protection system. I miss the days of code wheels and "type the first word in the fifth sentence on p54 of the manual"...

Starforce is a plague.

[Mochan]

Freedom Force 2 has Starforce? FF2 = Freedom Force vs. Third Reicht, right? That game had Starforce? It works perfectly fine "acquired" on my brother's PC. I didn't even realize it was Starforced. Or is Freedom Force 2 a different game?

Maybe these new versions of Star Force are more benign.

[Mochan]

Regarding Starforce: I went through the list of games that are supposed to have Starforce:

http://www.glop.org/starforce/

Among those games, I have "acquired" these games:

Freedom Force vs The Third Reich
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Silent Storm
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life
Sniper Elite
UFO: Aftershock
X2: The Threat

- and they work perfectly fine in "acquired" form. Some of them I can even play online without any repercussions (like Sniper Elite). Some of these didn't even have NoCD cracks, they just work automatically as is after install. Hmm guess Starforce ain't so hard to crack after all.

The game that I did buy from that list, Beyond Divinity, though, I recall I had some PC performance issues after installing that one.

Seems that getting the "acquired" version is better than buying in this case, as I never had issues with these games unlike with Beyond Divnity. Now how's that for copy protection efficacy? That's just bonkers.

[E.T.]

I heard that Oblivion & BioShock are considering StarForce.....hopefully just rumors.

Anybody ever hear of the possibility that software [like SF] being able to trash an optical drive? :
from 13thHour "Some newer drives cannot cope with PIO mode, basically they read this as an overburned disk and slam the laser housing into the case (stripping the worm gear).".

[Mochan]

The link I gave details some of these Starforce problems regarding optical drives. This is scary since I rely on my DVD burner a lot.

[E.T.]

You would think the use of StarForce would have a negative impact on game sales, at least enough for the industry to reconsider, but apparently we are in the minority. PC game offerings are slim as it is imo, having to fore-go a possible purchase due to SF is maddening!

[In fairness to SF, most gamer complaints seem to be due to lack of keeping SF drivers updated.]

Have you heard anything about Oblivion using SF?

[Mochan]

There's been much discussion on this topic and let me tell you the Bethesda board denizens are universally against the idea of Starforce being used on Oblivion. Using Starforce is the choice of the publisher, though, not the developer. Fortunately, Take Two is not known to make use of Starforce so I think there is very little chance of Oblivion having Starforce.

Stalker, however, is an entirely different matter. I think there is a 99% chance that Stalker will have Starforce. Gothic 3 is also highly in doubt.

[DBS]

I have no trouble with copy protection but Starforce has to go. I do own one game with it and have yet to install it. It is my machine and I want no drivers on my machine that I don't install. I got a thing about this......find a different means of protection.

[moya]

Yeah Mochan, I did mean Freedom Force vs. Third Reich. As you've now found out, that game is indeed protected (=crippled) by Starforce.

One thing I will say about Starforce (that I maybe should've mentioned in the other thread) is that it IS effective. Typically it takes crackers a good while longer to crack a Starforce-enabled game than a normal one. And I'm talking weeks-months extra for certain games, not just hours. But, then again, I guess mercilessly machine-gunning anyone who tries to enter your country is an effective way of preventing terrorism. Not exactly the most ethical way though, is it?

[Mochan]

Well, what can I say? My copy of Freedom Force 2 has no Starforce. :P I just did a doublecheck of the system devices to make sure I have no Starforce installed. Since Nero and DVD drive are still working, I hope I'm clear!

I do think Starforce is effective, too. I mean, it took several months for me to see pirated copies of Beyond Divinity to come out. Not sure how long it took Freedom Force 2, though. I only got it for my brother so I wasn't exactly following the game. Same with pretty much all the games I listed; these werent' games I was following so I have no idea how effective Starforce managed to delay them.

I also heard that there are schmucks who have to play PoP 2 Thrones by unplugging their IDE drives. I mean, good grief! Just buy the game if you want to play it that badly!

That machine-gunning comment kinda went over my head, though!

[moya]

I was making an analogy (though not a particularly good one it seems)!

Sure, Starforce is effective, just like killing anyone who comes into your country is an effective means of preventing terrorism. But there are ways of preventing terrorism that do not involve indiscriminately killing all foreigners. Just as there are ways of preventing piracy without installing drivers that can disable certain hardware/prevent other programs from running. The point is they're both disproportionate responses to the problem.

[DBS]

I see I probably got Starforce from Toca 2. Damn and I like the game well I did uninstall the drivers. I guess I do not have much of an issue with them as long as I can rid my machine of them. I do own a dvd burner though and will be pissed if it quits working because of this issue with Starforce. They are pushing us to buy consoles !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!