7 replies to this topic

[Wheels2050]

Firstly, thanks very much for the Alcohol software - it's fantastic.

I would appreciate some help to create a working image of the Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich CD (The UK edition). It is protected by Starforce 3.4.76.0 I believe (from looking at the version of the protect.dll file). I've tried several images using different settings, e.g.:

- Using the Starforce 1/2/3/4 profile in Alcohol with DPM precision being normal (I'm unable to select high for the Starforce profile, is that meant to be the case?)
- Using a custom profile with DPM precision high, DPM read speed 1x and disc read speed being several different settings (e.g. 1x, 2x, Max).

The image works fine during installation. However, after either using Starforce Nightmare to disable, or physically disconnecting, my optical drive I try to run the game - at this point the Starforce protection says that my CD-key does not match the disc. If I insert the original disc though (obviously with the optical drive enabled) it works fine. All of the images I have made give the same problem.

I should mention that I've made working images of two other Starforce protected games - Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (DVD), which works without any problems, and Trackmania, the which works when I disable my optical drive.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Edited by Charalambos, 23 September 2011 - 09:20 PM.
Removing System Report

[Charalambos]

Try temporarily disabling your IDE controlers in the Device Manager.

[Wheels2050]

Thanks for the reply, Charalambos. I've tried disabling the IDE controllers, but there are two that Windows won't let me disable.

I have tried physically disconnecting my optical drive though, and that looked like it was forcing Starforce to read the image instead of trying to access the physical drive. However, the error I mentioned before (where Starforce tells me the CD-key doesn't match the disk) leads me to believe that my image hasn't been created properly.

[Charalambos]

Try making it again with the StarForce Alcohol's datatype using different DPM speeds (that makes the difference here and not the disc read speed).

[Wheels2050]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. If I have the Starforce type selected, I am not given a choice about the DPM precision and can only use Normal. Is that supposed to be the case?

[Charalambos]

Yes but you can try with high DPM if you want (use the "custom" datatype and the settings for StarForce with DPM precision set to "high"). However normal DPM precision usually works better in the case of Starforce.

[Wheels2050]

Thanks again for your reply, but unfortunately I'm still unsuccessful. I made images of the disc, using the Starforce profile, at all possible DPM speeds, disconnected my optical drive and tried each image. None of them worked, all coming back with the error message I mentioned earlier:

"The Disk Key you entered does not correspond to the disc in the drive. Make sure you use the correct Disk Key."

Can you suggest any other options, or might it just be that my drive can't get a working backup of this disc?

[Charalambos]

Thanks for the reply, Charalambos. I've tried disabling the IDE controllers, but there are two that Windows won't let me disable.

This may be a problem. Some versions of StarForce need the IDE controlers disabled in order for the image to work, of course if you have your hard drive connected to one of them then you can't disable it. The use of an external USB drive may be the only solution in this case - if you have the courage and the money to try it of course. On the other hand if you have a way to connect your hard drive(s) as SCSI devices it could be helpfull. You see StarForce is a bit "dirty" copy protection...