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And I know for a fact these internet cafe places buy pirated software to install on their machines.

 

are you sure of that?

 

i used to own a place like that myself (50% partner until i sold my share), and in such cases we did not have retail licenses but special licensing from the developer/publisher.

 

at least in Portugal, the penalties for such public houses using pirated software is EXTREMELY heavy, and even though in the beggining there was some piracy, after the first got busted, all the others got legal.

 

and the license (at least here) has to be different from the retail license that is not going to be used for profitable means unlike domestic use... it´s usually just a matter of paying the state a fee to explore it...

 

if it´s just one computer with LOMAC, i find it very unlikely that the owner is taking such risks against the price of a single license.

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Reposting my oringal question..

what happens for those who reinstall their pc periodically?

 

Does the starforfe software get a profile for that machine and stor

that info off site?. This is why a redo of one's pc would be a bother,

beacause starforce it set to pull the info done first for verifications?

 

someone know something about thie senario?

Thanks,

Brett

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Reposting my oringal question..

what happens for those who reinstall their pc periodically?

 

Does the starforfe software get a profile for that machine and stor

that info off site?. This is why a redo of one's pc would be a bother,

beacause starforce it set to pull the info done first for verifications?

 

someone know something about thie senario?

 

I believe as long as the hardware is the same, Starforce will create the same key from it, so your registation won't change. As Matt said, you can reinstall as many times as you want, it's just when your hardware profile changes, then Starforce will require a new registration.

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5800X3D - 64gb ram - RTX3080 - Windows 11

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are you sure of that?

 

i used to own a place like that myself (50% partner until i sold my share), and in such cases we did not have retail licenses but special licensing from the developer/publisher.

 

at least in Portugal, the penalties for such public houses using pirated software is EXTREMELY heavy, and even though in the beggining there was some piracy, after the first got busted, all the others got legal.

 

and the license (at least here) has to be different from the retail license that is not going to be used for profitable means unlike domestic use... it´s usually just a matter of paying the state a fee to explore it...

 

if it´s just one computer with LOMAC, i find it very unlikely that the owner is taking such risks against the price of a single license.

 

The penalties are stiff here, too! At least on paper.

 

But, this is Thailand. Where just about everything is copied. Not just games. EVERYTHING! They don't even sell LOMAC at legitimate software store. In fact, you'll have a really tough time finding the legit ones.

 

Cops in my country get pirated software, movies etc. Cuz they get them FREE! Once in a while, there will be a major bust here and there, but that's just for T.V. These people will be back in the same store in a few days. We're doing it to keep the U.S. happy that we are dealing with the problem. It's a known fact.

 

The place where I go to, why else would the owner painted all the windows black? U gotta knock on the door sometimes to go in. Do cops know that he's there? That he allows kids to come in during school hours? But nothing happens cuz he pays them good.

 

And don't think for one second that it's only asians and russians that buy these stuff.

 

I see AMERICANS, BRITISH, and other EUROPEANS at this place called 'Fortune' all the time! Especially the Americans, they are sooo excited about how cheap the movies and games are. They thought no one would understand them. LOL We understand English just fine.

ED have been taking my money since 1995. :P

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My understanding is that ED is providing users the ability to install FC as many times as they want provided the hardware profile does not change by more than 40%. If the case where the hardware is changed more than 40% the user will have to use up one of five registration opportunities (actually four since one was used initially). That means you can then reinstall it as many times as you want with your new hardware configuration and still have the opportunity to change your hardware again three more times.

 

Hello Stormin. I know the job you did for Lock On and this community when the software was released first time.

 

However I have to ask you a question. I need an awnser from a community member.

Do you think that in lets say 10 years from now the Lock On will be still installed on our HD ????

 

As for my part I think that this will be a case, just like it's a case for Jane's F/A-18 and Falcon 4.0.

 

Now considering the fact that Microprose and Jane's are out of buisness imagine what would have happened if they have implemeted the kind of protection the ED wants us to accept.

 

Don't get me wrong nor any other member of the Lock On community. I love this game and I say, thank you ED for this game. I also know that ED have to protect its job and that's OK with me.

 

But what I don't understant is why ED is shooting it self in the foot ?

Many ppl here have the issue with the SF being choosen as copyprotection but not with the copyprotection itself.

 

And to matter be worse, we need an activation key which means that we depends on some company that can go off buisness next year.

 

@ED

 

Someone said that downloading part of FC is a bonus for ED. Then why all this ???

Why you don't give us a unique permanent key besed on SSL 3.0 encryption generated from your server when we start the download.

Encrypte the key verification file whitin exe file. It will save us alot of trouble and you won't loose major part of fan base in western countries.

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are you sure of that?

 

i used to own a place like that myself (50% partner until i sold my share), and in such cases we did not have retail licenses but special licensing from the developer/publisher.

 

at least in Portugal, the penalties for such public houses using pirated software is EXTREMELY heavy, and even though in the beggining there was some piracy, after the first got busted, all the others got legal.

 

and the license (at least here) has to be different from the retail license that is not going to be used for profitable means unlike domestic use... it´s usually just a matter of paying the state a fee to explore it...

 

if it´s just one computer with LOMAC, i find it very unlikely that the owner is taking such risks against the price of a single license.

 

The penalties are stiff here, too! At least on paper.

 

But, this is Thailand. Where just about everything is copied. Not just games. EVERYTHING! They don't even sell LOMAC at legitimate software store. In fact, you'll have a really tough time finding the legit ones.

 

Cops in my country get pirated software, movies etc. Cuz they get them FREE! Once in a while, there will be a major bust here and there, but that's just for T.V. These people will be back in the same store in a few days. We're doing it to keep the U.S. happy that we are dealing with the problem. It's a known fact.

 

The place where I go to, why else would the owner painted all the windows black? U gotta knock on the door sometimes to go in. Do cops know that he's there? That he allows kids to come in during school hours? But nothing happens cuz he pays them good.

 

And don't think for one second that it's only asians and russians that buy these stuff.

 

I see AMERICANS, BRITISH, and other EUROPEANS at this place called 'Fortune' all the time! Especially the Americans, they are sooo excited about how cheap the movies and games are. They thought no one would understand them. LOL We understand English just fine.

 

well... i guess things ARE different there... :)

 

don´t get me wrong, i´d say that here virtually no one has an original operating system on their home computer unless it came with it... however, business and companies have long started to have all (or at least, most of) of their software legally.

 

the fines are really, really harsh... so many prefer not to take the risk.

 

as for film and games... they are freely available also... i mean, sometimes it looks like it for pure stupidity... sometimes people download entire games from p2p sites or whatever and take one or 2 days doing it, generating about 1GB of internet traffic when sometimes that game is being sold for less money they are going to spend on internet bandwith with the download... funny... :roll:

 

that said... i though i am against software piracy... i still don´t think that it justifies every mean to reach an end. but i am eagerly waiting for a statement from ED.

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Hello Stormin. I know the job you did for Lock On and this community when the software was released first time.

 

However I have to ask you a question. I need an awnser from a community member.

Do you think that in lets say 10 years from now the Lock On will be still installed on our HD ????

 

.

 

my 2 cent .Do you use win 95 today ? Im not sure you will play at lockon in 10 years for the main reason it will exist better sim from ED or other , and even if ED down they will do the necessary for all people ,who bought it . :roll:

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Hello all,

 

I’m from StarForce technical support department. ED asks us to pay attention to this thread. I’m ready to answer all questions regarding the protection system. Please, if you have any exact questions post them below (since there is lots of information already posted including wrong facts and other unrelated things). I will sometimes visit this forum and answer them.

 

Best regards.

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Do you use win 95 today ? Im not sure you will play at lockon in 10 years for the main reason it will exist better sim from ED or other , and even if ED down they will do the necessary for all people ,who bought it .

 

Just to awnser you. Win 95 is an OS LockOn is a game. When I bought Falcon 4.0 I had Win 95 on my HD. Now I have Win XP and Falcon 4.0 is still on my HD.

 

@ Starforce.

 

Hello.

 

Thank you for passing by.

Questions.

 

What do you guys consider as 40% of hardware ?

Will you have an email service for giving the key activation ? I don't have an iternet connection on my home PC. How I'm supposed to get the key activation ??

 

What happens after we have reached 5 hardware changes limit ? We have to buy the game again or do we have to give some proof that we are original buyers.

 

What will happen if SF goes down (not that I wish such thing to happen) ? Who will support the protection since it's a driver and as every driver it needs continious support ????

 

Thank you for awnsering.

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What do you guys consider as 40% of hardware ?

Sorry, I cannot provide you with such information, since the list of binding objects is confidential.

 

Will you have an email service for giving the key activation ? I don't have an iternet connection on my home PC. How I'm supposed to get the key activation ??

There are two types of activation: automatic and manual. Second type is exactly for such cases. You receive the hardware code then pass it along with your serial number to the publisher's support (you can use e-mail, phone and any other means). They create the personal activation key for you. Alternatively, you can use this website: http://proactive.star-force.com

 

What happens after we have reached 5 hardware changes limit ? We have to buy the game again or do we have to give some proof that we are original buyers.

It's not the question to us. We provide publishers with flexible activation system. It's up to them to set as many activations per serial number as they want to. In addition, it's also their decision what to do with the users which reached the limit.

 

What will happen if SF goes down (not that I wish such thing to happen) ? Who will support the protection since it's a driver and as every driver it needs continious support ????

In this improbable case, I think it would be possible to release the patch with other protection system or unprotected version.

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Guest ruggbutt

Starforce, are we outta luck in the future should your company fail? What I mean is are we stuck w/a piece of software that we can't activate?

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StarForce,

 

Again, about the 40%, is it 40% hardware changes all at once or cumulative?

 

Imagine I bought plenty of new pieces for my computer but I don't install them all at the same time. Let's say one day I add a stick of memory. That alone isn't 40% so I wouldn't need to re-register. But let's say the following day I change CPU, then the other day I change my video card, then my sound card, etc. So during the whole week I would have changed more than 40% of my hardware so would I have to use another of my 5 registrations or would I still be using the same since I didn't change everything at once?

 

Thanks.

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Starforce, are we outta luck in the future should your company fail? What I mean is are we stuck w/a piece of software that we can't activate?

 

 

From StarForce

 

In this improbable case, I think it would be possible to release the patch with other protection system or unprotected version.

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StarForce,

 

Again, about the 40%, is it 40% hardware changes all at once or cumulative?

 

Imagine I bought plenty of new pieces for my computer but I don't install them all at the same time. Let's say one day I add a stick of memory. That alone isn't 40% so I wouldn't need to re-register. But let's say the following day I change CPU, then the other day I change my video card, then my sound card, etc. So during the whole week I would have changed more than 40% of my hardware so would I have to use another of my 5 registrations or would I still be using the same since I didn't change everything at once?

 

Thanks.

Don't worry, it is cumulative for sure.

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@Starforce

 

1. Great to have a spokesmam of your company here !

 

2. I understood that the SF copy protection will generate some sort of key for the Hardware configuration of the system that FC will be installed on.

 

If so, is the key information stored on this PC or is ist sent online to your company / ED ?

 

3. If the SF copy protection is transmitting data at all, what other information will be transmitted (e.g. OS, CPU Type, browser ...) and will these data be stored together with the personal registration data of the customer to create a customer profile ? I'm thinking here about data security and privacy protection.

kind regards,

Raven....

[sigpic]http://www.crc-mindreader.de/CRT/images/Birds2011.gif[/sigpic]

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  • ED Team

Starforce was kind enough to answer the following questions I had:

 

Q1- Can a user install FC on more than one computers with a single purchase? Some users will have multiple computers and will wish to install FC on more than one without having to purchase multiple copies. How does Starforce handle this?

 

A- Yes, in case if he's got several activations per his serial numbers. He can either activate all of them on one PC or on several PCs. It is up to publisher to decide how much activations each serial number allows.

 

 

Q2- What data regarding the user’s computer is sent to Starforce? The privacy advocacy users are up in arms about data regarding their computer being sent to a Starforce.

 

A- The collected hardware info is hashed into the hardware key. It is one-way process and it is impossible to get the hardware info back from this key. Only this key is sent while the activation.

 

 

Q3- Assuming FC uses a minimal binding (40%), will a user need to re-register if they re-format their hardrive? What if they use an imaged drive?

 

A- In case of re-formatting the drive following parameters could be changed: volume label (if the user changes it from the old one), Windows PID, Computer Name (if the user changes it from the old one). The re-activation will be required only in case if user change all three these parameters. Otherwise, it will not be necessary.

 

 

-Matt

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@Starforce

 

1. Great to have a spokesmam of your company here !

 

2. I understood that the SF copy protection will generate some sort of key for the Hardware configuration of the system that FC will be installed on.

 

If so, is the key information stored on this PC or is ist sent online to your company / ED ?

 

3. If the SF copy protection is transmitting data at all, what other information will be transmitted (e.g. OS, CPU Type, browser ...) and will these data be stored together with the personal registration data of the customer to create a customer profile ? I'm thinking here about data security and privacy protection.

 

1. Thanks.

2. The collected hardware info is hashed into the hardware key. It is one-way process and it is impossible to get the hardware info back from this key. Only this key is sent while the activation.

3. As I said, I cannot tell the exact list of binding objects. However, in this list there are no items related to the privacy, such as OS, browser or e-mail address. They are only hardware related items, for example CPU type. Once again, only thing that is sent via internet is the hardware key.

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  • ED Team

As has been stated before, the number of installs is unlimited. The number of registrations is five. As to what happens if an end user has used up all five registrations, THAT is the question. I hope to get an answer soon from Eagle on that.

 

-Matt

 

Thank you Star Force for clarifying things. Now if we could only have an official statement from ED concerning the number installs before key is invallid.
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@starforce and ED

 

Is it possible to get Reactivations-counts back?

Example:

When i buy a new Computer, i have ot reactivate my game. And then after 1 year i get a reactivation back.

 

3 reactivations isnt much in 10 years. Im afraid losing my FC after 5 years or so. And this is the most frightnend thing about this protection, that users care.

A timelimited game?

This message was sponsored by "askingstupidquestions.com" in cooparation with "icantfly.de".

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Hello StarForce, it's good to see experts here.

Welcome aboard. :)

 

I believe you can read Russian. please read this thread http://forum.lockon.ru/viewtopic.php?t=3379

 

it's about presence of open function within SF drivers, with possibility of running any process. Since parent process of this new process is a SF drivers which runs with "SYSTEM" account priviledges, then new process automatically getting same "SYSTEM" account priviledges, which virtually equal to "Administrator".

 

Yes, I undestand that is not a critical issue, since most gamers runs their box from "Administrator"-equal account.

"There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: recklessness, which leads to destruction; cowardice, which leads to capture; a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble." Sun Tzu

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Hello all,

 

I’m from StarForce technical support department. ED asks us to pay attention to this thread. I’m ready to answer all questions regarding the protection system. Please, if you have any exact questions post them below (since there is lots of information already posted including wrong facts and other unrelated things). I will sometimes visit this forum and answer them.

 

Best regards.

 

Welcome. I am sure everyone (that is reasonable) appreciates your being here to clear things up.

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