Any chance of a "SH3 Gold" without Starforce? | Forums

[Antonin1957]

When I bought a new computer last August, I told the sales guy I wanted a machine powerful enough to play SH3.

Unfortunately, I have not bought SH3 yet because I have talked to many SH3 owners on various forums who have had problems with Starforce. Starforce is the sole reason I have not bought this game. I am not a computer expert and I just do not want to risk installing something that might cause problems with my computer.

I don't use pirated software. Never have. I don't even make a spare copy of games I've purchased. But I do compose music on my computer and burn it to CD, and I do not want to lose this capability to some crazy copy-protection software.

Will there be a "gold" edition of SH3 that does not use Starforce? I would buy the game immediately...

[WhiteKnight77]

It is not known at this time whether or not it will be. We can only hope, but do not count on it. Maybe that will be a stipulation of the lawsuit that has been filed.

[Antonin1957]

Could some official Ubi person comment on this please? Thank you!

Everyone I've communicated with says SH3 is a great game, but on other forums I've seen that a number of people have not bought it because of concerns over Starforce.

Half of the people I've communicated with say "SH3 is great and I've had no problems with Starforce!"

The other half say Starforce has caused problems with their computers and they will never buy another game that uses it.

Some people even include 'boycott Starforce' messages in their sigs...

[steve_v]

Originally posted by Antonin1957:
Half of the people I've communicated with say "SH3 is great and I've had no problems with Starforce!"

The other half say Starforce has caused problems with their computers and they will never buy another game that uses it.

I find it hard to believe there is a 50/50 result using StarForce.

[ElAurens]

I suspect that the number of people who have had troubles with Starforce are much less than those that are running OK with it. However, those that have had problems have had serious failures because of it. Some reputable members of my number 1 forum (IL2/Pacific Fighters) have had issues, enough for me to change my stance on it and refuse to run software with it.

A re-release of SHIII without Starforce would be a most welcome thing.

I eagerly await SHIV.

[The_Third_Half]

Actually a couple of weeks ago, UBI did make an announcement they will no longer be using StarForce copyprotection.

I would assume SH4 falls under the, " Not using Starforce anymore."

[Antonin1957]

Well, not having Starforce on SHIV would make it a 'must buy' for me, because I very much enjoyed the original SH. I might even get that dosbox program and install SH on this new computer.

But since I'm mainly interested in German subs I remain very, very interested in SHIII. Because Pacific submarine operations are finally going to get a needed upgrade in SHIV, SHIII is going to be the gaming world's main U-boat sim for the next few years.

I think the bad feelings caused by the SHIII/Starforce issue could be reversed if a 'SHIII Gold' would be released with a different type of copy protection.

[Da_Junka]

Is it okay to say starforce now on this forum?
I got banned last year for saying starforce, so I now refrain from the mention of starforce in any of my post's or reply’s. But if it's now safe to speak of starforce I wonder if someone could confirm this so that I may mention starforce in my future post about starforce, weather it be on the topic of starforce or have nothing at all to do with starforce, I would still feel better if I knew that starforce was not a word I couldn’t use and that it is now fine to mention the word starforce.
Thank you.

[The_Third_Half]

Say it with freedom my friend, and shout it the hillTops !

[tensity]

Hey Antonin 1957,

I'd get SHIII--it currently goes for for $20 online and at big-box retail shops (if you can find a copy). Specifically concerning Starforce, below is a a site on 1UP.com that has some articles on it, including one on what it does, the controversy, and how to get rid of it the software. I haven't had any problems, though I was a bit freaked when after installing and starting SHIII, I see the Starforce screen after just reading about it in the April Computer Gaming World (the 1UP.com site is related to them). I'd say if your system is relatively recent and/or stable, I wouldn't worry about Starforce, but you did mention the uses of your computer, so do check out this site. As another poster mentioned, Ubisoft has dropped Starforce, but more than likely that will just be replaced with something else--hopefully that something else will have a better reputation. I actually feel a bit sorry for Starforce--yeah, they could have made a better program, but a lot of people don't know about their computers, how to maintain and protect them (or buy/build a quality one in the first place). A good bit of problems happen just from that. Anyway, here's the link, and get to simming. HTH.

Starforce articles