Ubisoft violates consumer rights

[Kraiger Drago]

Story is here. (http://www.evilavatar.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2214&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0)(takes forever to load, gwah)

It turns out that Ubisoft implented code into the RVS 1.5 patch which checks PCs for ANY clone or virtual drive programs and then fails to launch the game if such devices or programs are found. What this has in turn done is disabled thousands of consumers who use programs like Daemon Tools, CloneCD or Alcohol 120% from playing their Ubisoft games even if they have their own physical cds in an actual drive.

Yeesh, copy protection run amok.

[Gamer1]

o well, nocd cracks are always there....

[Tori-Yama]

How to lost respect ...and customers.

[Badaro]

Story is here. (http://www.evilavatar.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2214&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0)(takes forever to load, gwah)

Yeesh, copy protection run amok.

It gets worse. Many people who bought one of their recent games (such as XIII) can't get the game to run -at all- because of some issue between the copy-protection implemented and several CDRW/DVD combo drives. Even if they don't have virtual drives installed.

[]s Badaro

[op3n_skill]

Crap...
/me grabs red storm entertainment from them... "stay away from them ya freaks!!!"

[SkyeHack]

It gets worse. Many people who bought one of their recent games (such as XIII) can't get the game to run -at all- because of some issue between the copy-protection implemented and several CDRW/DVD combo drives. Even if they don't have virtual drives installed.

[]s Badaro

XIII copy write protection was cracked 4 days after it got on the internet. Everything can be cracked. No worries. But it sucks for the people who actually bought the game.... :(

[Badaro]

XIII copy write protection was cracked 4 days after it got on the internet. Everything can be cracked. No worries. But it sucks for the people who actually bought the game.... :(

Yeah, like me. :p

I'm pretty pissed off at Ubisoft, they seem to care more about pirates then their own customers. XIII is an amazing game, but I can't recommend you to get it unless you have a shop that accepts refunds. Nobody should have as much trouble as I did to get a game running when you actually bought it. :(

I should also mention that their support is pure crap. Here's a sample for you:
http://forums.ubi.com/messages/message_view-topic.asp?name=techforum&id=zzxna

[]s Badaro

[Player-X]

/me buys ubisoft game and cracks it

[Kidd]

This reminds me of how I bought Diablo 2, upgraded to version 1.10 (which includes "better" copy protection) and I had to crack the crap to get it running. With my BOUGHT cd, mind you... as the copy protections will be cracked in a matter of days after a game's release anyway, the companies should just give up on copy protection imho... if they're making a decent amount of money on it (as in, the game getting any publicity and selling numbers at all) it's bound to be spread around the 'net enough to be cracked within the coming week (sometimes even before the release).

Meh, death to copy protection, already!!

[Kane]

They should have basic copy protection to prevent casual copying, but there is no point in making super advanced copy protections, as has already been stated, they will be defeated in short order and only piss off legit customers who like to use thier legal right to backup their media.
Of late, as I have issues with some of my older CDs being scratched to buggery, I backup any new games I get.

[Kidd]

Yeah, my Diablo 1 cd is scratched so badly I can't even make an image of it :\ so either I grab someone else's cd and copy that one or I'll have to go buy ANOTHER copy of said game, heh heh. Though at least D1's "copy protection" is almost non-existant, heh heh. It's a pain with the newer games, such as this one, of course.

[destructicator]

i hear XIII isn't that good.

[SkyeHack]

The only company I know of that has never ever released a copy protected product is LucasArts, who in their documentation often makes a point of this fact and encourages people to make backups for daily usage so as to protect the original media. Very, VERY nice, LucasArts! Other companies should catch on.

[Kane]

But then again, LucasArts make good games, so if you borrow a LucasArts game from someone like Sam 'n' Max, Jedi Knight 2, or KotOR you want to buy it.

[Noxious Ninja]

The only company I know of that has never ever released a copy protected product is LucasArts, who in their documentation often makes a point of this fact and encourages people to make backups for daily usage so as to protect the original media. Very, VERY nice, LucasArts! Other companies should catch on.

That was true until recently... both Jedi Academy and Knights of the Old Republic have copy protections. :hdbash:

[Kane]

Do they? The images I made work fine without a crack.

[SkyeHack]

That was true until recently... both Jedi Academy and Knights of the Old Republic have copy protections. :hdbash:

Yea true. But not to a certian extent as UbiSoft is doing. They are making it so the game randomly checks for the CD on any level on the game and the cracker had to beat the game and make sure the crack was 100% working and if not modify it. The cracker had to release 3 proper crack fixes before getting it right. But he did overcome UbiSoft's new protection and I was able to play it with Deamon Tools. :)

[total_hatred]

nothing is impossible if you put
your mind on it hehehehehehe

[RF]

Heh, I make images of all my games. I cant stand having to wait for the cd to spin up for movies, audio, or just data. Having the media on the harddrive makes it for a greater playing experience. Before I install any game I make an image of it. (makes for faster installs too :) )

[Samor]

ubi's tech support has been crappy for years; I bought the game F1 racing championship; a game basically lacking AI (unless you call cars smashing into you AI); they promised the patch, cancelled it, and when I asked they said I needed to ask the Dutch department, which more or less didnt exist.

they later made a 'patch' ;that is, another game, racing simulation 2. worth goes its got better AI, but they abandoned the game in the same way as they did with the first.

Most other companies give a normal response when you ask a question. I think thats rather important; as such for example, I like Empire Interactive; even if I had issues with some of their CD's (badly pressed), their consumer support was excellent when I asked something.

[Kraelis]

LucasArts used copy protection before. I remember having had to dig up my manual to play Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Admittedly, they're not the kind people are used to today. :) I haven't bought any of their games in the past 4 years though. Crappy PC.

[Samor]

heh. I'm actually a little proud I still managed to find a package featuring test drive 3 with those "code wheels" copy protections.
They're sort of special now, but at the time they must have been really annoying ;)

[l3illyl3ob]

iirc, jedi academy has it so you cant play multiplayer without a proper loader if you copy it. i dont recall if you needed a crack to play singleplayer though. And besides, those weren't lucasarts developed games, KOTOR is bioware, and the JK games are made by raven software. I'm not sure if it's up to the publisher or not to create the protection though.

Password copy protection and other such features doesn't count though. If you copy it yourself, you should still have the instruction book, right? That's all LucasArts is concerned about. It used to be an effective way to defeat piracy back when access to the internet was far more limited, while keeping games easy to back up.

[Kidd]

It's not like you can pirate an instruction booklet though... shouldn't this type of copy protection return?

[Samor]

well, you can scan the book ;)

anyway, what they always did in those old games was hacking the protection out; so any answer you answered would be valid.
It's probably a better protection than some of the new ones though.

[Kazuya]

Well the pirates did something different in Mexico: they copied the cd and in the label of the cd they would write the code....

[Boltzmann]

It's not like you can pirate an instruction booklet though... shouldn't this type of copy protection return?

I remember that Alone in The Dark I had a protection of this type.
But I had a .txt file with all the info I needed :p

[l3illyl3ob]

that form of protection is obsolete. it used to be practicle when hardly anyone went on the internet, and when you did info was difficult to find. Now it's pointless.

[Player-X]

Even XP's "Product Acitvation" copyprotection could be cracked(Who me? no......I use a real activated copy)

[Boltzmann]

Even XP's "Product Acitvation" copyprotection could be cracked(Who me? no......I use a real activated copy)

My boss has a original Windows XP (he bought it) but still he uses a crack. It was a pain to reactivate the stupid product every time he reinstalled everything. After the second time he just got a crack and got rid of the whole activation crap.

[Player-X]

My boss has a original Windows XP (he bought it) but still he uses a crack. It was a pain to reactivate the stupid product every time he reinstalled everything. After the second time he just got a crack and got rid of the whole activation crap. Why not try moving to Linux

[Samor]

well, figuring its for a company; no suitable software.
for home use; no games :p ...AND no suitable software ;)

[Boltzmann]

Samor said it all ;)

[l3illyl3ob]

switch to linux to solve activation annoyances? Talk about something not being worth it.

[Badaro]

Back to the topic, this copy-protection Ubisoft is using is even worse then I thought. This was posted by one of the mods in their Tech Forum:

I just found this out: If you try to run the game off a virtual drive, but you unmount the image and pop the cd back in, then, it won't work until you reinstall the game.

In other words, it looks like the game installation corrupts itself in some way if it feels "threatened" by some software you have installed. Pretty evil stuff.

[]s Badaro