Starforce : final report


As promised, here is a second report about the protection system we will use with Heroes 5. I got my hand on precise data on the Ubisoft games protected with this very system, and also reports from the betatest. I hope it will appease the remaining fears and prove to be a useful information. However there wont be a third report from me on this subject, I've already spent enough time on this detail.


First off, I wont repeat the basics, refer to this post if you want : http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1851065692/m/7781019843/p/1
I wont also enter the argument on WHY we use this protection system. Simply put, it’s the best available on the market. It takes weeks or even months to get a barely cracked version of a game, and usually it does not get fully cracked. This is a world of difference with having the game you've been working on for more than two years available as warez on the launch day, in terms of sales, but also in terms of team spirit.


So the subject of this post is to detail the problems encountered with the Starforce system.
My study is based on four games published earlier this year by Ubisoft, totalling more than half a million copies over a few months, protected by Starforce. I believe this is a large enough population to derive statistics from.

The number of reported problems totals 0,3% of sold copies. Splinter Cell 3, being a very popular title, generated more reports than usual (see below), and without this title, the level of problems drops to 0,1%. That's one user out of a thousand, and less than 500 reports all in all, worldwide. I'd say this is low enough but I'll get into more details, what matters is the type of problems reported, of course.

Most problems (more than 60%) have to do with the activation key or the disc check. Starforce comes in two versions : downloaded content with activation key, or protected disk. The protection works exactly in the same way, except how it is activated. The reported problems are either that the key was mistyped, or not valid anymore, or that the disc check failed, or not found. When the disc check is failed, it is easy to solve, so the legal user will have opportunity to play anyway.

A large number of problems (20%) are specific to SC3, and linked with users trying to start an ISO image of the game with an emulator. In such a case, the protection prevents the game to be launched, as it is supposed to do.

What can be considered real troubles are system crashes, or driver problems, or hardware problems. This is around 10% of reports. So that's about one player in ten thousands. I think this is a level consistent with ANY windows application

Ok but what happens beyond a problem report ? More than 95% of these problems have been solved with the help of Starforce or Ubisoft support people. Actually the level is usually 100%, except on two problems.
The first is with a system crash, it only gets solved two thirds of the time. This happens in 2% of reported problems, less than one user out of ten thousands. So its unsolved for one user out of thirty thousands. In such case starting in safe mode and removing the protection suppresses the crash cause.
The second is with cd/dvd functions problems (no more read/write) reported with Silent Hunter 3. Out of 11 such problems reported, only 2 cases were solved. The problem could not be reproduced, and the origin could not be found. It is suspected not linked with Starforce. It could be due to a defective manufacturing of the cd in the first place, as this is appearing only with one game title. On a statistics level, it is still very low, around one user out of a fifty thousands (0.002%).

Sure, but these are reported problems only ? What about the real existing problems that do not get reported ? Well that's right, we don’t know about the troubles encountered by users who did not report them. But when you're a legitimate buyer, and you have all the contact info to try to solve an issue, why would you NOT do it ? Not much of a logic there, so hopefully these reports cover most actual problems.


Now, what about live experience of the protection system ? We've been running the betatest for more than two weeks now, with Starforce included. Well I'd say that what we encountered is consistent with the statistics : a bit more than half a dozen reported problems, mostly linked with typing the key, and only one case that took a long time to solve (meaning, for the game to be playable). The furor on Starforce has now died in the betatesters people, and some of them were VERY active in this matter. That's probably even more comforting than statistics.


That's about all. I treated a very detailed list of reports, and I believe this is accurate. I'd like to address another issue bothering some people : the installing and uninstalling of Starforce. Some seem troubled by the fact that it gets installed without consent, and does not uninstall automatically.
Starforce gets installed with the content that it is protecting, no more no less. It is only one library out of dozens that a game uses. When you install a game, you have to install all of its libraries, you don’t get prompted on each of them. Either you agree to install the game, including its protection, or you don’t.
Regarding uninstall, I already said that indeed it is not uninstalling automatically, unless the protected application or game decides so. Heroes 5 will uninstall Starforce when you uninstall the game. In any case you can find the tools on the web to manually uninstall if you want to. But remember that other applications could be protected by Starforce as well, and they WILL require it to be reinstalled to work properly. In such case the protection will be reinstalled automatically, for the application to run properly. It just sounds logical.

As those statistics show, there aren't so much problems with SF that cannot be solved. I think that the complainers are just generally louder than the ones who have no problems with the SF and other protecting systems.

Never had problems with those protecting systems with my machines, neiher with hardware drivers (which many seem to have problems with, meaning for example graphic bugs/problems with certain drivers). Is it just that some can use computers better than others (or for example by choosing very reliable hardware components) or just pure luck?

I hope that people would test first and only afterwards (if needed) use a club to break things . Meaning again that many prejudice things before seeing them in real.

Thanks for the update ... I've been waiting for numbers like this since the beta started.

I'm still going to use a dual boot system ANYWAY for the game but this does make me feel better that it wouldn't have caused too many problems with my hybred SCSI / IDE system.

Good job FC You laid oneself out. You showed us that you take care about us fans

I thank you very much FC....

but i just wondered.... will there be any new info about the academy/ cretueres /heros/spells soon?

No shock there dosen change my mind. I still dont like where the protection softwere is heading and will not supprot it. But enyway nice to have som number. And you know what the say about statistics

Hey, FC, I think this was a pretty good one. And, well, I believe you.
I'm sorry for all that bothering you (not really me, I think, but others) about the SF stuff and seeing you struggle against all those guys.
I wonder what the guys from Tom's hardware would answer, if you sent them your posting?

Intesting question

Now all I want to know is:
Is there a way for me as a swede to get hold of UBI or SF personel outside of work hours? (I go to work at 4 am and come home at 6 pm, I have a long way to travel to my job.)

Do I have to buy 3 copies in order for me and my two sons to be able to play?

Znork: Perhaps a Scooter-fan?

Thank you for getting us some info on Starforce problems it is very much appreciated.

I wonder if these are reported problems to Starforce or were these reported to UBI. As far as causing system crashes I know this is probably not known but it would be interesting to know what type of systems( GHz, Ram,Video card) were most likley affected.

If a game have or dont have starforce isnt a problem for me. I will buy this game because im a fan of HoMM series

quote:

Originally posted by felladin:
Now all I want to know is:
Is there a way for me as a swede to get hold of UBI or SF personel outside of work hours? (I go to work at 4 am and come home at 6 pm, I have a long way to travel to my job.)

The starforce site says that their support is open 24/7, so things should be fine.

I agree with felladin, I want to have that question answered as well:

As a rightfull owner of a Heroes V DVD, will we be able to play it on our Desktop PC as well as our Laptop?

quote:

Originally Posted by MuadDib_FC:

So the subject of this post is to detail the problems encountered with the Starforce system.
My study is based on four games published earlier this year by Ubisoft, totalling more than half a million copies over a few months, protected by Starforce. I believe this is a large enough population to derive statistics from.

The number of reported problems totals 0.3% of sold copies. Splinter Cell 3, being a very popular title, generated more reports than usual (see below), and without this title, the level of problems drops to 0.1%. That's one user out of a thousand, and less than 500 reports all in all, worldwide. I'd say this is low enough but I'll get into more details, what matters is the type of problems reported, of course.

Why would you take Splinter Cell 3 out of the data? It is afterall, a UbiSoft game, so why shouldn't its statistics count?

I would say that 1,500 (500,000 x .3% = 1,500)legal customers out of half a million is too high to be considered acceptable.

How many copies of Heroes V does UbiSoft expect to sell worldwide? 5 million? 10 million? 20 million? That multiplies the number of users who have a problem with StarForce quite substantially! What are we talking about then? 15,000, 30,000, 60,000 or more users who'll have problems with StarForce … and you think that's "low enough" & reasonable?

Don't get me wrong Fabrice, I have been looking forward to buying Heroes V for almost three years now. I have every Heroes Game released and intended to get Heroes V the day it became available. I even have already saved up the money for it. But even with your attempts to reassure everyone, the risk of damaging my computer is still too great and not worth taking.

HodgePodge, let me put it like this... Windows cause approximatly much more than that amount of trouble to its users and ppl dont talk about not getting that. Why is that?

Lets get some comparable statistics from say PC-world on the matter of Service Pack 2....

quote:

Of the survey respondents who did download and install SP2, about three-quarters detected no problems afterward. The remaining respondents experienced some postupgrade fallout, though 10.3 percent described the problems as mild, having little effect on their ability to use the PC. Another 9 percent, however, reported experiencing moderate difficulties, and 4 percent encountered problems that made the PC difficult or impossible to use.

Of those who reported snags, 31 percent experienced malfunctioning software, 14 percent had system slowdowns, and 8 percent reported having trouble connecting to a home or office network. Of the 2106 respondents who installed SP2, 34 (1.6 percent) said they'd run into the worst-case scenario: Their PCs wouldn't boot.

Now apply those figures to the amount of XP-users out there..

quote:

Originally posted by Alderbranchh:

HodgePodge, let me put it like this... Windows cause approximatly much more than that amount of trouble to its users and ppl dont talk about not getting that. Why is that?

Lets get some comparable statistics from say PC-world on the matter of Service Pack 2....

A few things to consider are that Service Pack 2 was free of charge … and it's uninstallable … and not mandatory to run any other programs.

do you have to install starforce?

I think no. As i can see, all games which have starforce only request you to reboot the system to complete the installation of the starforce, which is installed together with the game. All is automatic, dont worry about installations

quote:

Originally posted by pug_1984:
do you have to install starforce?

Yes, you have to have StarForce installed with the game to be able to even launch it. Not only that but if you decide to uninstall the game for any reason, StarForce remains on your system. It is known to open a "back-door" to other viruses from which Windows XP and Service Pack 2 have helped to protect computers. Microsoft/Windows doesn't support the use of StarForce.

quote:

Originally posted by Alderbranchh:
Windows cause approximatly much more than that amount of trouble to its users and ppl dont talk about not getting that. Why is that?

To answer your question:
Becouse some people do not know that there is something beside Windows...

but there are other OS then Windows ...
Personaly I use Linux and I wouldn't pay a cent for windows ... (although I have a legal windows copy from my uniwersity , free for students)...
I also do know some people, who don't use windows at all on their PC ... Some of them are present on this forum (there was a topic about OS some time ago)