toto952

Reply to Throw GOO at that DRM! in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Ok, indeed, Brad did not say it wasn't DRM. My mistake. I just still don't see how this is different as all those lenient policies are implemented server-side. It really needs an excellent license agreement or terms of service to shield the user from future misbehaviors or service closing (protection from changes of term, unDRM patch in escrow, etc.). Now for the dangerous sides of watermarking, bursuk got it right. A stolen computer, an indelicate repairman and the game with your nam

Reply to Stardock throws GOO on DRM in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

If I copy an activated game to a different computer with no internet connection, what happen? - If I need to be online so it is activated again (or ask the DRM vendor to generate an authorisation code from a machine hash), it's DRM as usual being rebranded. Nothing new to see here, move along. - If the game works, it's a watermark, and I don't really see how efficient it is against piracy, while exposing me to serious legal threats if my copy get stolen for whatever reason.</p

Reply to Throw GOO at that DRM! in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

I cringe when someone tries to say their DRM isn’t DRM and this a remarkable example of it. 2 hypothesis: - either there is indeed no hardware tying and this goo is just a watermark which is almost useless for IP Protection and extremely dangerous for users from a legal point of view - or it's just the same old activation DRM scheme as usual with a few more "we-are-nice,-trust-us" promises. This still need a 3rd party controlled server. It is irrelevant

Reply to How the DRM works? in Technical Sins Forums

@Hollow Man Yep, that was clear to me. The version on the DVD is clean. And apparently, the first patches only need a serial registration to be downloaded, but no activation on the target machine of the patched executable afterwards. @Netriak Thanks for the link. However there are some contradictory info: - post #2 and #15 suggests it is in some way hardware-linked. - post #35 says otherwise, but the example given only show that there might be some tolerance

Reply to How the DRM works? in Technical Sins Forums

Thanks for the answer. Regarding what is taken into account during the machine hash, I still doubt it is solely based on the windows install. Moreover, what is a "windows install"? How can I access this information? Maybe this "windows install" code already take into account some hardware parts info. Based on this [link="https://www.stardock.com/StardockActivationInfo.asp"]source[/link], there are some "non-personally identifiable machine information", which are said to be logged. My ide

How the DRM works? in Technical Sins Forums

Hi there, As a potential consumer very concerned about intrusive copy protections, I'm desesperatly trying to have a definite summary of how the protection used by Stardock games works. By digging from various sources, here what I have understood : - The game on the DVD has no DRM at all. Period. - Stardock does no use disk-based protection techniques. The disk is not used as a dongle and didn't need to be in the drive. - However