activations

[Macca]

Hello,

 

I'm thinking about buying the English version from the e-shop and later getting boxed one too. I just wanted to ask about the activation thing. Does the number of activations mean that I will only be limited to this number of possible instalations of the game? and if my disk crashes 12 times will I have to get new game? Or are these activations and deactivations "spare" ones in case player forgets to deactivate his game before formatting the disk?

 

Will the english boxed version also be limited in such a way?

 

best regards

 

Mac

[deviletk]

The search function is your friend. I searched "activations" and voila. Please use it next time as this forum gets so many threads now that BS is released. ;)

 

Quoted from EvilBivol-1

"Say you are on activation 1 (original activation). You deactivate. You upgrade/re-install OS. You activate #1 again. You can do this up to 10 times. You should only need to use activation #2 if you performed the upgrade without having deactivated #1 prior. In that case, you will be using up a second activation. In effect, the tree activations allow you to install Black Shark on three different computers. Those three computers can then keep their activations by using deactivations whenever they are upgraded."

[EvilBivol-1]

Note, however, that the above quote is in reference to the Russian release, which included 3 activations and 10 de-activations. The English release currently on sale includes 8 activations and 10 de-activations.

 

The biggest myth is that activations limit your installs. This is not the case. There is no limitation on installs to the same machine. You will be asked for an activation if StarForce detects hardware/OS parameters have changed. Even then, if you had de-activated the product prior to the upgrade, you will not lose an activation, but merely re-activate your previous activation.

[adislash]

So if i buy the sim i can download and install it on 2 computers?

[Macca]

What if someone runs out of activations and/or deactivations?

[Tez]

To my mind, the main idea of the modern StarForce ProActive is a deactivation feature. It allows to save the activation. If one is going to upgrade his hardware he should first deactivate the product, then install new hardware and as the last step re-activate the product. So there is 8 installations and 10 re-installations total! I think that should be more than enough for any computer enthusiast for a couple of years or even more.

 

Here are the instructions (from EvilBivol's FAQ): http://www.star-force.com/support/users/group4.php#6

Notice the special reactivation procedure. It differs from regular activation.

[Macca]

I'm in...just have to wait till the salary is on my account...

[-Nighthawk-]

With the DVD version, does it require a DVD to play if its already activated?

[baksie]

I had to re-install BS-EN two days ago. I de-activated it. During reinstallation it did not even ask for serial number. So I do not have an issue with the activations.

[Acedy]

Normally when you just uninstall and then reinstall BS without changing hardware/reinstalling the OS you do not need to use a deactivation.

[rviii]

More:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=568704&postcount=3

 

Q: What form of copy protection does the product utilize?

 

A: The English release of DCS: Black Shark utilizes StarForce copy protection technology. The product requires online or phone activation. If StarForce detects changes to your computer hardware/software as described below, an activation will be required. The English version includes 8 (eight) activations and 10 (ten) deactivations. It's important to note that deactivations are utilized to save your activations when altering your PC hardware/software. Before conducting a PC upgrade/OS re-install, you can deactivate the product and when complete, reactivate without a loss of activations.

 

An activation will be required if the hardware/software changes exceed 12 points as rated below:

 

CPU ID: 13

Windows PID: 3

Computer Name: 3

Hard drive volume serial number: 3

MAC address: 6

RAM amount: 6

 

If you just uninstall Black Shark and then reinstall it again on the same PC without reinstalling your operating system or changing hardware, you do not need to use a deactivation.

 

For further details on the copy protection system, please see the StarForce FAQ:

http://www.star-force.com/support/users/group2.php

 

In addition, a step-by-step (de)activation guide is available below and will also be included in the product documentation:

http://www.star-force.com/support/users/group4.php#6

 

StarForce provides an option for manual online activation. For those using the Russian version of the release, a quick guide for manual activation can be found here:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?...8&postcount=14

 

We are evaluating the possibility of providing an additional version of the western release, utilizing Steam technologies.

 

 

posted by the Guru EvilBivol-1

[Shaman]

With the DVD version, does it require a DVD to play if its already activated?

 

Yes, does the english DVD version require DVD inside to be played?

[EvilBivol-1]

Yes, does the english DVD version require DVD inside to be played?

We don't know for sure at the moment, as these plans may have changed. Will try to find out ASAP.

[Brute]

What if I used a simple disk check to play and never activated i.e. entered serial number key (at least I think I didn't, unless it activates itself upon install) for my russian DVD version? Will I need to deactivate when uninstalling? Or am I good to go? :confused:

[EvilBivol-1]

For the Russian DVD version, you can simply use the disc-check and no activation is required.

[Brute]

For the Russian DVD version, you can simply use the disc-check and no activation is required.

 

Gotcha! Thanks! :thumbup:

[r-unit]

More:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=568704&postcount=3

 

 

 

posted by the Guru EvilBivol-1

 

 

 

I have a problem hosting with my router, so i switch to direct connection. then when i'm done hosting , i switch back to my router......

 

Would this mess up my activations ?

[Marder]

Hello. I'm new to the forum.

I bought the english dsc:bs download version.

Maybe i buy the boxed-version, too. Do i understand it right? - If i "waste" the starforce-activations (e.g. everytime i do not deactivate the product before i change my hardware and activate it again) i must have a fone or internetaccess to activate the product again?

[ScruffyIMS]

[...]

An activation will be required if the hardware/software changes exceed 12 points as rated below:

 

CPU ID: 13

Windows PID: 3

Computer Name: 3

Hard drive volume serial number: 3

MAC address: 6

RAM amount: 6

[...]

How does this work, is a new activation needed if for example the name changes 4 times?

How about a mac address when I got 2 cards and use the other one? Maybe WLAN on the Laptop instead of cable?

ArmA still got a problem with more than 4GB on Vista64 with ATI cards, what if I start with the RAM limited to 3GB?

I guess the second OS is another activation as is the Laptop for sure and I will definately run out of the 10 deactivations easily (if I even remember them). After that it's a new activation every time so 8/10 actually equals 18 activations if I remember to deactivate or do I get this wrong?

[Fakum]

Man,,, this topic probably should not have been so hard to understand, apparently its not so clear to some,,,like myself. I came in here because I currently have BS installed on a dual boot (XP Pro & Vista) and I just added a 3rd hard drive to create a triple boot to experiment with Windows 7. I figured id deactivate the XP Pro version (since I dont use it any way because Vista doubled my frame rate with thre affinity script) since I only run on Vista now any way, and activate another on Win7. I read the instructions based on the link provided,,,, seems like a real pain to me? If I have 8 activations, guess i will just activate the 3rd on Win7 to save myself the headache. I do system backups on my drives often, if I ever have to reformat or what ever, I just load up a previouse image file and off i go,,,,

[Porphyr]

No need to use deactivation or activation if you already have BS on one OS and want to dual boot with Win 7. I got this tip from Wombat.

 

"You may be able to do it without using any activation or deactivation (e.g. totally free). Try using regedit in your XP install to export the key HKCU\Software\Eagle Dynamics\Black Shark to a .reg file. Then, load that file in Windows 7 before you run Black Shark. There is a reasonable chance that it will work.

 

I have not tried with Windows 7, but I have done this between Vista 32 and XP 32, and it works fine. Also, as a suggestion, to increase the chances that that Starforce will not see this as a "new" PC and require reactivation, I suggest making your machine name is the same in both XP and Windows 7."

 

I tried it and it works just fine. Make a reg file and put somewhere where you can access it after booting into win 7. Name the computer the same as in your XP/Vista OS when you install Win 7. Then Install BS as adminstrator, then run the reg key. Start BS and voila, no SF activation. You can still run BS on both the old and the new OS. For me BS runs really good with windows 7

[Distiler]

An activation will be required if the hardware/software changes exceed 12 points as rated below:

 

CPU ID: 13

Windows PID: 3

Computer Name: 3

Hard drive volume serial number: 3

MAC address: 6

RAM amount: 6

 

Wait a minute, does this means I don't need to use activate if I just change the OS? (Windows PID is just 3 points) Does it apply also to deactivations?

 

Man I can handle Ka-50 systems fine but this thing is confusing!!! XD

[Raz_Specter]

Thats strange, i just rebuilt my machine the other day from Vista 64 to Windows 7 x 64, i was not aware of the deactivation process.

 

I started with 7 left now i only have 6 after installing the game on Windows 7.

 

How does one go about de-activating?

 

thanks Mithandra

[Fakum]

Hahaha,,, thats helpful info,,, if I digest it properly anyway. All my seperate OS's are on dedicated hard drives, and they all are labled with the same name. Once I get Win 7 loaded and debugged, I will install BS and try that registry string insertion,,,thanks

[lawndartleo]

Anyone who has been playing flight sims for any amount of time is FULLY aware of how often games and OS's get reinstalled (Falcon dance, anyone?). Heck, LOMAC has been on and off my PC more times than I can remember. No malicious intent, no carelessnes, just my desire to rebuild my PC from time to time. Every two or three months I just nuke my drive and start from scratch. Too many experiments with drivers and other apps starts to plug up my disk and the process count starts climbing toward 50 because everyone thinks I want their crap and installed it without asking. It's time for an hour of effort to just install XP clean and fresh.

 

I might chew up my activations in a year or so. Then what? Don't dictate to me how I should operate my PC either. I've been accused in the past by other software publishers of being up to no good... but when you beta test MS flight sim software, it's not uncommon to scrap an entire install to resolve a problem.