Kaylen
02-16-2005, 08:04 AM
Everyone seems to have complaints about this, and various other methods of copy protection. I decided I'd relay my story.
I recently finished building a new machine (http://forums.gucomics.com/viewtopic.php?t=6020), and was wanting to try out Thief: Deadly Shadows (http://www.eidosinteractive.com/games/info.html?gmid=141). It was the only thing that could really tax my system. Warcraft requires way less than what I have (all settings maxed, runs like a dream) and probably doesn't take advantage of my surround sound speakers as well as Thief would. I finish the install, and encounter a problem.
"Please insert the actual disc instead of a backup."
Great, it's that damn securom everyone complains about. Finally giving me problems.
After trying out daemon tools and other less than legal utilities with no success, I decide to contact tech support. Here's a record, starting with the first support request I sent:
Me:
After I finish installing and try to load up the game, I get a message telling me to insert the original disc and not a backup. Only, it IS the original disc.
Eidos:
Thank you for your message. It’s possible this could be a SecuRom issue. The piracy protection on the disk may be causing the problem, because it thinks you have a pirated copy. If you have multiple CD/DVD-Rom drives on your system, uninstall the game, and reinstall from another drive. Also try updating the firmware for your CD/DVD-Rom drive(s). If you have any CD/DVD write/copy programs on your system, make sure they are completely shut down, as they are known to cause these problems.
Me:
I tried installing it using another drive. My firmware is updated. I have absolutely no CD/DVD write/copy programs (note: this is actually true. I had one program bundled with WinDVD, and uninstalled it). I still can't play.
Eidos:
Thank you for your message. The most efficient way for us to further assist you, is to have you produce an
analysis file. In order to generate the analysis file of an attempted software
launch for us to evaluate, please do the following:
1) Place the Thief: Deadly Shadows disk 1 in your CD-Rom.
2) Re-boot the computer.
3) Open My Computer, and right-click your CD-Rom drive, left-click Open. Then
find the T3.exe file, and right click on it.
4) Choose "Launch Analysis" from the choices and left-click.
5) A disclaimer window will appear.
6) To proceed, please click on the "Yes" button.
7) The application will now generate an "AnalysisLog.sr0" file within the root
of your hard drive.
8) Please "zip" the file (to avoid email corruption) and e-mail it to (Support@SecuRom.com), with the subject line "Analysis file for evaluation." You can use WinZip to zip the file, available at www.WinZip.com. Simply download the Evaluation Version.
SecuRom will check Analysis File and notify you of the results. They should be able to determine why the copy protection is not allowing you to play the game.
So, I did as they asked. I got a response very quickly (sent it in the early a.m., got the response at 4:44 a.m. central time):
Dear Customer,
thank you for your email. Please download a new <t3.exe> from the link below. I would
highly appreciate if you could rename your current one to <t3.old>, extract the
downloaded file into the game folder and start your game.
The link for the new file is:
http://www.securom.com/support/customers/eidos/thief_ds_t034/t3.zip
If you have any further questions feel free to ask.
Thank you for your cooperation and your patience.
best regards,
SecuROM Technical Support Team
It worked perfectly.
Now, I don't think any of this is necessary. It caused an uneeded hassle for me, and anyone who is seriously going to pirate the game can get around it. MMORPGs and Steam (possibly; I'm not too familiar with it) seem to have the right thing going when it comes to securing almost anyone who plays is a paying customer. I have no problem with that. I have a problem with it being an inconvenience to the customer, which only something like my issue with Thief seems to be. The only problem with Steam that I heard about was launch day for HL2.
However, I am very pleased the way this turned out. When I had a serious frame rate problem with Neverwinter Nights a year or so back (something my system could more than handle), a problem shared by a minority of customers, Bioware ignored it completely. Every now and then an actual response would be given - that being, "the game will get bad frame rate when things spawn." No matter how much we tried to explain that it had nothing to do with anything spawning, that's the only answer they ever gave.
With SecuRom, I got a response in two or three hours in the middle of the damn night.
Purpose of this thread? To relate my experience, and see if anyone else has had issues with SecuRom (or other methods of copy protection) and see how it went.
I recently finished building a new machine (http://forums.gucomics.com/viewtopic.php?t=6020), and was wanting to try out Thief: Deadly Shadows (http://www.eidosinteractive.com/games/info.html?gmid=141). It was the only thing that could really tax my system. Warcraft requires way less than what I have (all settings maxed, runs like a dream) and probably doesn't take advantage of my surround sound speakers as well as Thief would. I finish the install, and encounter a problem.
"Please insert the actual disc instead of a backup."
Great, it's that damn securom everyone complains about. Finally giving me problems.
After trying out daemon tools and other less than legal utilities with no success, I decide to contact tech support. Here's a record, starting with the first support request I sent:
Me:
After I finish installing and try to load up the game, I get a message telling me to insert the original disc and not a backup. Only, it IS the original disc.
Eidos:
Thank you for your message. It’s possible this could be a SecuRom issue. The piracy protection on the disk may be causing the problem, because it thinks you have a pirated copy. If you have multiple CD/DVD-Rom drives on your system, uninstall the game, and reinstall from another drive. Also try updating the firmware for your CD/DVD-Rom drive(s). If you have any CD/DVD write/copy programs on your system, make sure they are completely shut down, as they are known to cause these problems.
Me:
I tried installing it using another drive. My firmware is updated. I have absolutely no CD/DVD write/copy programs (note: this is actually true. I had one program bundled with WinDVD, and uninstalled it). I still can't play.
Eidos:
Thank you for your message. The most efficient way for us to further assist you, is to have you produce an
analysis file. In order to generate the analysis file of an attempted software
launch for us to evaluate, please do the following:
1) Place the Thief: Deadly Shadows disk 1 in your CD-Rom.
2) Re-boot the computer.
3) Open My Computer, and right-click your CD-Rom drive, left-click Open. Then
find the T3.exe file, and right click on it.
4) Choose "Launch Analysis" from the choices and left-click.
5) A disclaimer window will appear.
6) To proceed, please click on the "Yes" button.
7) The application will now generate an "AnalysisLog.sr0" file within the root
of your hard drive.
8) Please "zip" the file (to avoid email corruption) and e-mail it to (Support@SecuRom.com), with the subject line "Analysis file for evaluation." You can use WinZip to zip the file, available at www.WinZip.com. Simply download the Evaluation Version.
SecuRom will check Analysis File and notify you of the results. They should be able to determine why the copy protection is not allowing you to play the game.
So, I did as they asked. I got a response very quickly (sent it in the early a.m., got the response at 4:44 a.m. central time):
Dear Customer,
thank you for your email. Please download a new <t3.exe> from the link below. I would
highly appreciate if you could rename your current one to <t3.old>, extract the
downloaded file into the game folder and start your game.
The link for the new file is:
http://www.securom.com/support/customers/eidos/thief_ds_t034/t3.zip
If you have any further questions feel free to ask.
Thank you for your cooperation and your patience.
best regards,
SecuROM Technical Support Team
It worked perfectly.
Now, I don't think any of this is necessary. It caused an uneeded hassle for me, and anyone who is seriously going to pirate the game can get around it. MMORPGs and Steam (possibly; I'm not too familiar with it) seem to have the right thing going when it comes to securing almost anyone who plays is a paying customer. I have no problem with that. I have a problem with it being an inconvenience to the customer, which only something like my issue with Thief seems to be. The only problem with Steam that I heard about was launch day for HL2.
However, I am very pleased the way this turned out. When I had a serious frame rate problem with Neverwinter Nights a year or so back (something my system could more than handle), a problem shared by a minority of customers, Bioware ignored it completely. Every now and then an actual response would be given - that being, "the game will get bad frame rate when things spawn." No matter how much we tried to explain that it had nothing to do with anything spawning, that's the only answer they ever gave.
With SecuRom, I got a response in two or three hours in the middle of the damn night.
Purpose of this thread? To relate my experience, and see if anyone else has had issues with SecuRom (or other methods of copy protection) and see how it went.