PMBD

Just got done reading some of the MATY thread regarding Maxis "official" stance on BV and bugs, Securom, etc...........
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9814.0.html

and saw this on page 5 after Maxiod Sam comes in to post -



  :shock: EAxis wants Pes? Noooooooooo..............we won't let it happen.

I can't see how them being beta-testers could possibly be a bad thing?

Pes said he was up for it if they did decide to go that route. I think it  would be a good thing, too bad they waited until the dance was almost over to make the offer.

I don't see it as a bad thing either. Pes and TJ have great rep for fixing the fuck-ups EAxis' team makes when creating the game. Better to have folks who know than folks who can't tell which end is up.

No. *shaking head* I refuse to share Pescado. I want those hacks/fixes before EAxis even knows they exist.
Helps with the "I'm superior" thing I got going on. (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/Requip/Emotes/zrobbed.png)

Ummm.....sarcasm?  :roll:
Actually a great read, I LOVE Lorelei's post on page 5.

That whole "beta tester" thing was only a bone thrown out to the masses to get them to shut up and forget the issues at hand. It worked, too.

So...what have they been using all this time for beta testers?

Yeah, it's nice they're asking people with knowledge like Pes and TJ to be beta testers, but that means they haven't been testing efficiently.  That's been proven by the extremely bugged releases of Pets and now Bon Voyage (which I will not install until everything is straightened out).

What do they do when they test their games?  There is an excellent post on the MATY link where someone says most of the bugs/issues/whatever are found by average players within hours/few days of playing.  So seriously, what is EAxis doing over there?

They should pay everyone who buys their games before patches are releases, since it seems they are the real "beta-testers"..

Looking at pr0n.

Meh. I won't even buy Bon Voyage until they hammer out the bugs and get the hamsters running properly again. And I've urged my Sims2-playing friends to hold off on buying that EP for at least 3 or 4 months - when EA finally comes up with a patch.

And don't get me wrong. I want Bon Voyage. It's just that I learned way back, when I got University, that buying any Sims2 expansions before the patch comes out is a bad idea.

The other day, I pointed out to my husband how funny it is that it takes months for Maxis to make a patch, and it only takes a couple of days for CC creators to do the same thing - for free. He said, "At least they don't force bugged updates on you and make you pay twelve bucks a month to play" (he plays World of Warcraft), which kind of put things into perspective. We can actually wait to install EPs. People who play MMOs can't. Aren't we lucky? :P

Oh, Lorelei FTW - GREENPLUS GREENPLUS!  :lol: I about piddled (her other post was also great, but made me more mad at EA than, y'know, giggly).

What's freaking me (and everyone) out is that some people are losing the functionality of their drives/burners.  W  T  F   :evil:   And I've had my eyes pasted to MATY for several days and this stuff, removal methods and whatall, is flying over my head.  I'm feeling very out of my depth, which wasn't deep to begin with.  I'm scared to even try my burner - I don't want that stress right now.  

Ironically, my game's running quite nicely - I bypass the launcher, cut off internet access while I play, I have an ATI card, it's not snowing, and I trimmed CC.  Oh, and all the MATY fixes installed, natch...and I'm STILL somehow screwed somewhere down the road.

People were screaming for EA to consult Pescado, et al, back when Uni was pooping all over people's games.  EA is the leading expert in kicking their own asses, time and again.  EA IS NOT CAPABLE OF LEARNING.  This is my conclusion.  We wouldn't be having this conversation right now if they were.

As someone who plays MMOs, I can say that yes, Sims players are very lucky. lol

Actually, what I'm wondering is:  Should the employee of a company that is pretty much based on customer satisfaction be talking to their customers like this?





Why do we bother?  Okay, we won't, then you'll be out of a job.  Sound good?  Because with those two statements, you should be in deep shit with your boss.

What MaxoidSam said is downright insulting to customers of this game - people who help pay HIS salary.

I seriously think this should be emailed/phoned in/complained in some manner to EA Games'  Human Resources or Public Relations Department, whichever one handles dumb employees running their mouths off at customers and pretty much telling them "fine, don't buy the games, then you won't have to worry about bugs and patches!!"

LoreleiSim: I GREET YOU, JFEDERATED! GREEN PLUS! GREEN PLUS! PINK HEARTS OF FRIENDSHIP!

:)

Glad you liked it.

And SecuROM? RED MINUS!

EA? RED MINUS, RED MINUS! DAGGER THROUGH HEART!

I can't believe he actually said that given his position. Not only is it somewhat condescending, but it sounds like he's talking down to everyone. Their PR department should definitely know, that's not cool. I took some PR classes in college, and that's definitely something we would have been told NOT to do.

So instead of getting their shit together and figuring out what it is they're doing wrong that's making their customers "so angry", the maxoids instead assume that it's all our problem. That's just stupid beyond words.

MaxoidSam didn't seem to grasp the fact that people are screaming because they love the game. Since when has anybody cared how a game they don't like runs?

I can't believe the sheer stupidity of that man. He has no people skills, obviously a fed-up techie who is short of being a complete moron.
Look, about BV, I am going to touch this like it's an infected toxic waste soaked rag. I am not going to build my entourage of characters (I have a cast of a dozen that I have played since Sims 1) I am just testing objects till the patch comes out. So my game loads fine and very fast. But I had to block  it using my Kerio Firewall. I blocked it because I am so damn sick of software believing that by spying on what I do with it is a GOOD MARKETING STRATEGY. It's not. It's violating my civil right of privacy, so suck it up.

I just feel angry for the people that were smart, did the right thing, backed up their beloved game, only to play the expansion and find a trillion things wrong with it.
EA wants money because it's a company, and it loves cutting corners, upping the profit. I assure you they had a board who calculated the best time to release this EP and that time was now. Fuck what the bug testers, the developers or the content creators thought. And who suffers? The people who pay to suffer. US.  :evil:

Oh god, here's my rantage;

BV was playable, fun until I found out about the freakin' bugs. Now my sims' shuttle doesn't arrive, my sims' extra rewarded want slot from the vacation is gone and the whole NPC thing. GAH!! I'm playing with AnyGameStarter right now since I want to play but just not with BV until the patch comes out. And the patch usually screws some more things up, so yeah.

Okay, I have to throw my two cents into the fire here. I have BV rinning on a above par gaming computer that has no internet connection. There are no lags, yes I have a bunch of character files, but I also have community modders fix for that. My game is fine. Pets, on the other hand, still has problems. Anytime a pet comes home from work, I get a lag from hell. I have just quit having pets, fixes that, and I am free from pee spots and broken furniture. I did have problems with the nvidia card,thought so anyway. For me it was compatibility issues with Vista (another company that would benefit from testing their products longer).


ps I have no problems with securecrapamundo

On page 8 in response to Lorelei's post.  :shock: Moar bullshit.......... :roll:
They already have this information. *grumbing* "post the names of the sites".............. :evil:

(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/Requip/fthis.jpg)

From my experience as a customer service representative, I can say that the right response to the situation (with dignity and respect for the customers feelings) would be:
"I apologize for the inconvenience you are suffering through. I understand that there are a lot of problems/bugs going on with the game. We are currently trying to work through these problems to better serve our customers. I would like to thank you for pointing this out to us, we'll be on it as soon as possible."

At my job we have a 4 step program called L.A.S.T.
Listen
Apologize
Satisfy
Thank

Every time someone calls on the phone with a complaint we have to use this.Haha. Sorry I talk on the phone to people for a job right now, and I finally got used to being screamed at and treated like crap. This is usually the best way to calm a customer down, I find, but you have to watch your tone, because even if you don't mean for it to sound rude or pretentious, it can.

I'm still not 100% convinced that is actually maxoidsam. If it is, even signing up at a forum other than the BBS is way out of character.

This is a wonderful strategy for any CSR. I work in customer support also, and they drill into everyone's head to be NICE, and always remember the problem the customer is having may not seem like a big deal to you, but to them it is a HUGE deal.

I could not imagine acting the way this guy does, and still be working here. It's the tester's job to produce a program that is as workable, and bug free as possible. It seems like they are creating the program, then just shipping it out, and skipping any sort of testing. Outrageous.

This is the ultimate of what makes me angry, since I work in a field like this I can understand getting frustrated with everyone complaining about the program you produce, but if your program has SERIOUS PROBLEMS you fix them, you don't just brush them off and try to turn away customers.

Ugh. I should probably stop now. But he comes off SO arrogant and rude. Then again, it may not even be him, like seapup said.

It was only a temporary patch, because pretty much everyone realized it was empty air. I mean, sorry. Someone with MaxoidSam's attitude, and they expect him to actually say something real? Pfft.

And Poopdeckwabber, just wait. I was one of those people who was saying that she had no problems, until last night. The night before I had visited an "old" 'hood (pre-BV) and it was lagging on the 'hood view. But no bother, it was very street-heavy, and I figured it was just too many cars or somesuch..nevermind that it had never lagged pre-BV. Last night, my smaller, newer post-BV 'hood was lagging in neighborhood view. Then, on lots, speed 1 and speed 2 are both speed 1 as far as time-passing goes. It's annoying, and made me stop playing out of frustration.

I completely cleaned and defragged (not that it needed it, I just cleaned/defragged two weeks ago) and still am having the same issues.

Yea, I saw that when I went back to read the latest posts to the thread.

I'm considering looking for the reciept, uninstalling BV (and H&M) and taking BV back(if it's still possible) or maybe trading them both in somewhere.
Great game, but the whole Sucku Rom spyware thing and all the glitches pisses me off. Just got rid of a serious spyware issue on my computer, then this happens :evil:
Also, why do they have the Maxoids handling this, don't they have a PR department?
It seems like that would be a more professional method.

Meh, I haven't bought the game in a long time, but it says a lot when the ARR version works better than the published one.

My guess is that at EA, the maxoids have their own method for handling problems;

L.I.D.

Laugh it off: Because it's kind of funny some of the shit we get away with!
Ignore it: They'll go away eventually
Deny it exists: After all if we broke it, odds are we can't fix it

Does the ARR version come with SuckuRom?  I haven't even bothered with the ARR version cuz I figured it would come with the same shitty bugs.  If I can get one without that, then I want it NOW NOW NOW!

As I said in another post at MATY, I really don't see the logic of MaxoidSam responding to "your crap is broken AGAIN!" posts with a question designed to get responding people to think of praise for EA.

Simmers: Your crap is broken AGAIN!
MaxoidSam: Why do you keep buying out broken crap if it pisses you off so much?
Simmers: Why should we waste our time telling you what you do right? Fix your broken crap! Do you REALLY want us to stop buying your crap? Because we can do that, too. ARRRRRR!

And, in another MATY thread, a poll about BV and SecuROM is proving that, indeed, some folks are no longer comfortable paying EA money for borked shite. If you get it for free by YO HO HOing it, and it doesn't install SecuROM malware on your system when you YO HO HO it, and even works BETTER than the legal copy, what motivates people to buy the legal copy? I did, and I'm annoyed I did. It's still in shrinkwrap. I knew better than to install it right away.

Next time, it is ARRRRR! for me, legal or not, and dial-up or no dial-up. That is, if I bother to install the next crappy EP anyway. Teen crap SP? Hobbies EP? Is that really what they are going with? Not Superstar or Making Magic, like a buttload of simmers begged them to do? How stupid ARE they?

*claps* Well said Lorelei! I wouldn't even YO HO HO BV because everybody is having so many problems. :lol: And I love how it's our fault that we buy broken stuff. Because we ABSOLUTELY know it's broken before we buy it. So we just shouldn't buy it, says an employee of EA.

So does the ARR version definitely not come with SuckuRom, and won't bork my pc?  Cuz if so, point me in the right direction plzthx.  It doesn't specify whether or not it comes with it, hence my asking, I certainly know where to find ARR versions ;)

I had a different problem with BV then everyone else. My hair, make-up and clothes cc icon disappeared. All my furniture, build, etc...was there. I did everything. The BS trick, deleting cache and thumbnails and allowing them to rebuild. Even uninstalling and reinstalling still wasn't there. I even went so far as to add one hair at a time and remove it add a different one, nope never showed up. Tried doing a basic recolor of a Maxis outfit in BS...I just do not get a CC on hair make-up or clothes. In fact when there is no CC you still should get the little star, it's just see through when it's not recognizing CC. I get nothing in those three things, not even the little star to recognize CC. Wrote to Tech support they never answered me back. So now BV has gone from my PC.

Skimmed through the first few pages of the linked thread and... wow. MaxoidSam would have a heck of a lot of explaining to do to his bosses, if he didn't get fired on the spot - unless he's a lot higher up the food chain than i assume he really is. He sounded incredibly unprofessional. Even if he was on the forum on his own time, he ought to have displayed far greater sensitivity to the situation than he did.

i wanted to buy BV, but reading about all the issues people have been having with it, and how the ahem, alternate version seems to be better, i might just get that instead.

Oh, I see.



I saw a thread on BBS that said so, so bury me in shit and paysite shit. (Fine line between them, shit has more class)

Well, I have Suckurom on my laptop, but I'm pretty sure that came with H&M - the ARR version that I got from Torrentspy has never given me any problems. I would get it from Piratebay though, cus then you can see feedback from other downloaders.

:lol:

New threads on the BBS regarding class action stuff. I wonder how long the threads will last?

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=5a628097f9acb90e4b61532fa11ac8c1&directoryID=21&startRow=1&openItemID=item.21,root.1,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23

Yes the ARR! version does come complete with secuROM. The only way that I've seen to avoid secuROM is to install, legal or ARR doesn't matter, and never use the launcher or the supplied Sims2EP6.exe. Instead get the Fairlight nocd crack from Game Burn World and only use that.

They've gone yarking mad over there.  Haven't seen so many repetitive posts since boolprop testingcheats was exposed to the masses.

Gah.  I was really hoping I wouldn't have to get schooled in 'crack'.

I'm lovin it. *sitting back with popcorn* I re-stored my computer to before H&M was installed and now CD burning program is working again. But yea, you're right.  I can't believe I'm actually resorting to DL'ing a crack.  :shock: I wonder how many "legitimate" consumers have been turned into pirates as a result of this.  :wink:

I also just had a thought........wonder if TSR is allowing any posts about Securom on their forums? Or are they planning to take a stand IN FAVOR OF EAxis in order to further their own interests?  :roll:  :?

OK, I not that tech savvy, so I didn't know about Securom. Can it actually break your computer? And how can I get rid of it if it is so bad?
 :shock:

Is there any more info about this somewhere? For dummies? Maty? Link, plz!

*Raises hand* I just learned to work torrents a few weeks ago, so I could get some anime I like, but now with all this going on I have to admit that I am really thinking about going the ARR rout.

As for TSR, i doubt they would allow it, they try to keep their forums so clean and free from any sort of debate. So I doubt they would want their sheep to know, esp. since they themselves are guilty of the whole ad ware/spy ware thing. Although if it borkes enough of the sheep's computers, as in they are unable to download or something, then maybe.

ETA: Alia, I don't know much about it either, but from what I gather, it is not so much the SecuROM itself that causes the problem with the computers. The   problems seem to come from rootkits that can be installed by the SecuROM, which seems to basically give viruses and nasty things a nice place to hide in your computer. Oh and the big thing for me is that there is no mention of any of that stuff being installed, when you put the EP or stuff pack on your computer. So even if it was completely harmless they still install it with out your permission, or even knowledge.

Okay, I was cursed with lags from hell today. There is nothing but "normal-1" time anymore. My printer is no longer recognized, no cpu game but BV works (read errors), and Mcafee says that it isn't registered all of a sudden. What the hell is this? Anyone wanna share how to fix this shit before I blow my top with the computer? I'd hate to take out the aggression on my beloved computer.

There seems to be two different fixes over at the bbs, but I think they both involve removing BV and H&M, So you wont be able to use either of those.

Fix one (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?&threadID=9edc58e0dafffa143cc77fa9775f70c9&directoryID=189#4c3c8221ad0f4a742cefba487ebe5887)
fix two (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=fcd7f991e1659fab6dd92fe746f85b0a&directoryID=21&startRow=1&openItemID=item.21,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23)

Thanks for the info, Lily! :)

Poopdeckswabber, we're not really a tech help forum. Maybe you could ask about it at MATY?

Actually, we're not at ALL a tech help forum. Our answer to any tech question is "go to MATY."

It's okay. I have removed the game and am now reformatting. Guess I am on the laptop for a bit.

Edited: My printer works now and I still had to reregister my McAfee, but it is better.

*raises hand too* It's not that I'm cheap or flat broke (okay, yes, I am cheap and flat broke, but still...) it's that I don't want to shell out money that could be better used on groceries for a product that's going to possibly (1) screw up my computer, (2) leave it open for Internet invasion, or (3) crap out within a week of installing it. I don't even know if I want to find an ARR version, if the chances are good that it's going to do that stuff for free.

And given that TPTB over at ExtraArse don't seem to care one way or another if I buy it or not, I've been checking out some dodgy copies online already. I haven't downloaded any yet, because I'm skeptical of the trustworthiness of such stuff, but I'm equally skeptical of the trustworthiness of a company that would open its customers up to spyware and viruses.

I am in the exact same boat Dasha. I started to download and ARR version the other day, but I canceled it half way through. At the time, I did not even know about all the malware and things that could come with it, I just felt that if I went and did something against EA's wishes than i would be no better than the paysite people. And now knowing that it can possibly break your computer, possibly permanently I am glad I didn't, because anyone that gets their computer fried by that stuff has no leg to stand on. At least if you bought a legit copy of the game and it borkes things you might get a refund and possibly some compensation for repairs. I don't think that is very likely to happen, but you would have a hell of a lot better chance than if you had gotten it the Arr way.

Wait a second.

I started having issues with McAfee saying I had no subscription around the time I "acquired" H&M, which we now know had SecuRom. Didn't even make the connection. I've had several phone calls between Comcast (McAfee suite is a benefit of Comcast cable internet) & myself and McAfee & myself, each blaming the other. Now I wonder if it's SecuRom. Guess I'll quit being a pussy and take it out tonight...I actually got an external backup device.

ROFL! They all do that, don't they.........now EAxis is telling people to contact Securom or Sony.  :roll:

kariminger, I also had that problem.  It forced me to re-install my anti-virus and then re-activate it.  I think it secretes itself so deep into the guts of your computer nothing will dig it out.

Yes it came with H&M but by the BBS you'd think that H&M is safe.  It isn't.  Thanks to that I now have a dvd drive that only works when secuROM allows it too and this time bomb ticking away in my registry.

And to top it off it will only play the sims occasionally after about ten minutes of trying to get it too start by then I'm too tired of the fight to care. :evil:

It's freaking insane over there. They're acting like the sky is falling.
Seriously though, all the paranoia is making me confused as hell to the point where I'm getting pissed off. ie: Every thread I find goes like this:
 "SecuROM is bad, it isn't bad, your computer will implode!, your hard drive will collapse, no it won't", etc. :evil:
Is this worth uninstalling the game/getting rid of it before my laptop blows up into little pieces, or are people just being fanatically paranoid?

Well I don't know what to do right now. It's certainly sucked the fun out of the game for me. Damn EA! Why did they have to do something so effing stupid as this?

I'm not going to panic just yet. I'm not having any real problems. I'd probably make more trouble for myself than I'd get back if I try to remove the damn SecuRom.

If there is a class action lawsuit, I bet it will be the death of the Sims. Leave it to EA to manage to take the best selling computer game ever and destroy it.

I think if they could pull their heads out of their asses long enough they could do the following:

Supply a tool to remove the SecuRom

Give new SecuRom-free discs to customers who bought the original. It's already been cracked, not like they'd be losing anything

The BBS is rampant w/paranoia - it's how they roll.  :)

I don't know what to make of anything.  I'm not having any issues yet or that I know of.  I found the Securom stuff on my harddrive - in the registry and I forget where else, App something, those saying they don't have it aren't looking for it correctly - if you bought and installed BV you have it.

Someone I trust not to go nuclear over things technical has had her CD burning capabilities wiped out, but I don't know the details, what she has on her comp, what drivers or drive manufacturers or programs or whateverall, except that it's a 6-month old Alienware.  That's the stuff that worries me, however, not the shrieking on the BBS, which I'm only looking at as one might a bloody stampede for some high-demand item at the holidays.

I'll likely be following Kari's lead and get my butt to Staples for an external HD...finally.  Something I should do anyway for backup purposes in general, but nothing like an EA/Sony effigy burning to get the motivational juices flowing.   :wink:

That's what I'd like to know.  I have McAfee, Registry Mechanic, and Spybot, and I'm checking for suspiciousness, but I don't want to act all, "ZOMG!!  Y2K!!!!!!101banana" like the BBS is.

Actually, I like that they are going nuclear over at the BBS.   First it is kind of fun to watch.  Second,  it might actually get EA to do something.  They obviously cannot just sweep this much panic under the rug this time.  It is going all over the Sims 2 community and they cannot shut that up.  Once a fix from a community modder was actually suggested, they lost a lot of control as people went to MATY and started to see what else was out there-beside the BBS.  

I am just glad I arr'd H&M and used the CD crack so I am not infected with Securom. Then I decided it wasn't worth the money and got rid of it.  I usually test out an EP first, then go and buy it if I like it.  If I don't,  I delete it. Hpw is that for dishonest honesty?

Me too, that's what I posted earlier about sitting back & watching *with popcorn* I love it.

I DID have some problems reading back-up discs I made for other things and my autorun didn't work for awhile there but I've done a re-store to before I added H&M and BV and things are fine now. The Securom files that were in the registry are gone. *whew* If I decided to re-install any games, it won't be the legitimate copy I purchased.  :wink:

My laptop was going on the fritz before I installed H&M, so I can't say whether SecuROM had anything to do with it.  I haven't stopped having problems since I've gotten my new computer, but I figured it was Vista giving me the problems.  So I still have no idea one way or the other.

'Course, Bill Gates makes a better scapegoat than EA Games anyday.

Tim

I'm can't play SimCity 4 - which I bought recently and played once. So finally, someone who does the right thing all the time will be forced to do the wrong thing - I'm going to have to remove SecuRom, and use a nocd crack. I thought about pirating future eps, but I don't think I can bring myself to do it.  I feel bad enough about the nocd crack.  :D

Ooh, I haven't tried loading SC4 since BV...
Seems to work, I didn't enter a city but it loads the world screen ok.

My biggest problem when I first installed BV was that I couldn't play it for longer than 5 or 10 minutes before it would just shut down with no warning, no nothing.  I uninstalled, reinstalled and still the same.  I got pissed off and ripped the BG and all the EPs off (I don't have any of the Stuffs) and reinstalled them all.  Pain in the ass, but in the end, I can play BV (and I can watch DVDs and play SimCity 4 with no problems).  Last thing to test is if I can burn a CD again once I get some more blank discs.

Yeah, I've been meaning to get something for a good year. I just got an 8GB memory stick. More than enough for all my MP3s, pics, and Sims folders. The rest I have on CDs (programs) or I have it all written down where I got bits and pieces from. Learned that the hard way after my second true virus wiped my old laptop.

So guess what? I got rid of Securom. I reinstalled my antivirus (which I had tried before) and it works. Awfully big coincidence. My game also ran really smoothly when I played tonight, but I wasn't on the level 10 biz public beach lot which was the one where lag was getting very noticeable. I was on another beach lot, but it's fairly quiet (just mom, dad, teen girl, toddler boy, and now two cats).
I know. This is my biggest fear, really. Dumbasses.
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z301/kariminger/cry.jpg)

The reasons to buy legitimate software are getting fewer.

Soon you will hear Sony squealing that they didn't know it was a rootkit, that they buy SecuROM from someone else. It sort of worked for them last time.

You must be psychic, because I hear they have already done that.

Dude, if they get away with it again, then I say the sheep that corporate scum patronizingly calls 'consumers' totally deserve what those shitpieces allow to do to them.

I am actually very glad that Sims were bundled with Securom - until it was just 'Bioshock' and such problem, it was invisible, for Bioshock is a game for gamers. But when mainstream gets involved, it becomes real to hope for some damage done.  :twisted:

(http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa94/cptsmurphy/avatar_8265.png)

Damn double post

Hehe nicely done, armywife 8)

Right - so if one uses a no-cd crack, secuRom is gone/can't work? I yo ho ho'd my copy and so I'm using a crack. The thing is, my azureus hasn't been working properly for a while now. I open it and it just closes. Maybe this is why?
Why didn't I back up my game?!  :roll:

Oh yeah, and great customer service MaxoidSam. "You should just accept our buggy product or quit playing!"

So SecuRom's a program that they install without your consent and/or knowledge? We can actually sue, since they did not state that in the installation.

For me so far I haven't got any major problems, only glitches in the game.

ETA: I had one MORE glitch, nothing major again but I always get the 'Please insert the Bon Voyage CD-Rom' notice. It's already in the CD drive, and it's not scratched or dirty.

That's happening to alot of folks and Maxoid Sam's response was to just keep rebooting.  :shock: Ummmm.......I don't wanna have to reboot everysingle time I play.  :roll: I wonder if he got fired? He's been MIA for a couple days now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but by DL'ing and using the no-cd crack, that's not really illegal is it? IF you have the purchased copy of the software? I spent the money, I just wanna "save" my CD's from wear & tear.  :wink:

All this piracy talk and I saw this article this morning.  :?

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/riaa-jury-finds.html

I'm looking for some sane and rational information. I'm not a techie really, so I'm hesitant to try and remove SecuRom on my own.

One of our computers (desktop, XP-Pro) that had BV installed on it probably needs a whole reformat. There was a lot of questionable stuff on it, so I can't say it was the SecuRom infected BV that did it in, but I wonder.

I also installed it on my new VISTA Laptop. I haven't observed any problems. I disabled the Launcher but have until a few days ago played it with my internet connection on, now I disconnect it. It is becoming less and less appealing though. I wonder if this damn SecuRom is going to bite me in the ass later, makes it hard to enjoy the game. I could uninstall BV and HM, but that wouldn't get the SecuRom out. Gah!! Why is EA so effing stupid!!!??? For years I've played Maxis games and loved them, now I'm thinking I may be putting my computer at risk.

I've never used any kind of cracked software and I'm a little concerned about the idea. Not that I don't think it's justified in this case, but I worry about effing up my computer.

I am going to march out and buy a better back-up system and wait for a solution I'm comfortable with. I honestly don't know what else to do.

That's exactly how I feel, Redisenchanted.  I'm...waiting.  Much like Securom is waiting.  Oddly enough I'm not even feeling angry...yet!  Sympathetic and angry on others' behalf, and not at all pleased on my own behalf, but the temper's in check thus far - need more info.  On tenterhooks, waiting to see what happens next and how they think they'll scrape out of this.

I also don't want to get into crack usage - I'm very capable of buggering that up without external help.

*waits*

I don't know if the nocd crack is illegal - I haven't done it yet.  I don't like to do illegal thing though, so I'll have to research it - and see where my limits are.  

All the 12 year olds at the BBS are jacking me right off - "just reformat" - "not a big deal".  Yeah - maybe if all you have to protect are your pictures of Britney Spears.  I've got all the documents for my Ph.D. on there, my students' marks, or arrange for my rent to be taken out of my bank account.  I make burnt copies, but everyday I do some research or something else important online, and I shouldn't have to back up thousands of files just for the sake of some stupid program that doesn't protect them anyway.

Well, frankly I am just livid/terrified about this.
I was going to go buy BV today, but decided to hold off until after I am done my work for the day. Than I came here and read this, not to mention the link to the BBS and the horror stories over there. So many people over there are saying Securom has borked their whole pc!
I work from home, and my work and sims is on the same pc, including my un-backed up Quickbooks, all my thousands of spread sheets and other documents...GAH!!!(whines) I really wanted BV too. Now I for sure will not buy it, probably not ever, since EA will certainly never fix it by removing the Securom.
Probably hobbies and other eps and sps, if there are any more, will carry this nasty little surprise too.
I really hope people who've had to incurr expenses from this do file complaints and pursue a lawsuit. I don't know if they have a case, really, but maybe then EA will look at changing it's business practices, just a little, to accomodate it's customers. They've lost money from me and others, too.

I've always used No-CD cracked .exes for The Sims, ever since the first expansion from Sims 1 busted up in my brand new DVD player, ruining it as well.  A very costly lesson, replacing the EP and my DVD player.  Never had a problem with using No-CDs, and won't play an expansion without it.

See, I don't think it is if you have the purchased box & Cd's? Every site I looked thru plus all the info I could find yesterday showed "DO NOT DOWNLOAD NO-CD CRACK FOR SOFTWARE YOU DON'T OWN" so I'm thinking, yea........it's illegal if you don't purchase the software/game first. I was online searching for info to make sure it was legal all day yesterday. :lol:

Then you can legally use the no-cd thing to "save wear & tear" on the CD's.    :P

I wasn't having any major problems with SecuROM, but I did find it on my computer and I flipped shit. I don't have the money to be wasting on fucked up Sims games-- we don't have just any 40$ to spend. So, I wiped my computer. I like to wipe my compy once a year or so because of all the crap I torrent, but I didn't see the need to lately. Once this SecuROM paranoia started up, it hit me full force and I wiped right away.
Pissed me off even more now because it's in H&M? I really, really liked H&M. It would uninstall by itself, so I had to reinstall it about 5 times. I'm wondering if that is because of the SecuROM on it.

I'm Arring it, but I'm going to use my own key codes for the games I have. I pirate stuff all the time, but the Sims is just so important I never even thought about doing it before. And looky here, I'm getting all the missing expansions and stuff packs I didn't have before...  :twisted:

Ha, I saw that on G4 last night before bed. What a load of shit. 200, ooo bucks for 24 songs, that may or may not have been downloaded by her.
I was just speechless that she got slammed with ten thousand dollars per song! Over at G4 people were talking about raising money for the poor woman. I mean yeah I don't have sympathy for people who download thousands of songs, and leave them in their shared folder, but come on just 24 songs? That is just pathetic. Things like that also make me worry, becuase I have hundreds of songs, very few of which I downloaded. Most of the ones I have downloaded are Japanese songs, That I either can't find here in the US or would cost me about 40 dollars a cd. The rest are burned from cds I have had over the years. Since I back up my music folder when I get a new computer, or have to reformat, I have a lot of songs left when the cds they came from have long ago bit the dust. I just wonder if I could get sued for having them, I don't share them though and it seems that they usually just go after people who share.


Anyways, back on topic. I think I will hold off on BV or and other Eps or SPs, because even a small risk is more than I want to take. I thought about getting the ARR version, but if somehow something happens I would be on my own, with no chance of getting anything from EA. Like I said before I doubt anyone will ever get anything from them anyways, but you certainly won't with the ARR version.

ETA: As for no cd cracks, I think they are fine, I used one back in the day before there were any expansions for TS2, because my CD drive had bit the dust. I may go ahead and ARR the stuff I don't have sometime down the road, but I will make sure my Pc is fully backed up and ready to be reformatted/ or restored.

I was reading that too. Twits act like they haven't a clue. I was also reading on another forum when I was researching this rootkit thing, and they were saying even the cracked versions of several games have this thing on them, and Sims was in the list. They do have a program that will force it to reveal itself on your HD, but it doesn't remove it. Then on another site they were talking about the reason Sony is loosing their butts over this, is that the removal progam they came up with just exacerbates the problems. Look below, I found a rootkit removal from AVG.

All their free software to protect our PC's, AVG has come up with nothing but a rootkit removal proggie free for our pc's. :)
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-rootkit/us/crp/0
Wonder if we use this if we can still run H&M, BV, or Sims Deluxe?


More interesting reading.
http://tinyurl.com/y6txfd
Here you can read how the removal kit from Sony just opens up your PC even more causing more problems.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-6361348-1.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony-anticustomer-te.html
Rootkits are black-hat hacker tools used to disguise the workings of their malicious software. Removing Sony's rootkit nukes your Windows installation.

I used the rootkit revealer program and just found the fucker on my PC. It installed itself the same day I installed bon voyage.

So let's see how that AVG thing works...

It'll be interesting to see what out-illegals what - putting invasive and harmful programs on people comps without their knowledge or downloading an illegal crack that keeps people's comps safe.



I hear that, Cala.  They are confusing system restore with reformatting in a lot of cases over there, but yeah!  Reformatting as the "only way" to ditch SecuRom is hellaciously bad advice, imo; it's panicky and from what I've been reading, likely unnecessary...at the moment, anyway.

I just remembered that my Comcast internet software disappeared on me a couple weeks ago - after installing BV.  I have it all up and running again, but it was odd (and could've been due to a Windows update that night that I wasn't quick enough to stop).  I think that's the reason I'm waiting and oddly calm:  I don't know what's doing what or not.

HG - thanks for that info.  I'm not about to trust EA or Sony to actually fix this properly, the way WE want them too.

Thanks for that info Hawk Girl, I think I will just manage without BV or any thing else EA puts out. I also wont be allowing my husband to get Bioshock, or anything else unless we know what kind of protection the disks come with.

Thanks Hawkgirl, the AVG kit looks promising. I bet if it works to remove SecuRom, we will no longer be able to play the games that shipped with it.

You know what I don't have rootkit on my PC. I used that reveal thingy and it's not there. I just came back to give the results of my AVG scan and it didn't find it there either. Now I'm wondering if that's why I had so many problems with BV and had to remove it right away. I have AVG internet Security package. If this rootkit thingy is already incorporated in their software it may not have allowed it to install? Which caused me to have to uninstall and reinstall BV but it still wouldn't work right.

I tried the AVG anti-root kit thingy but it didn't find anything on my Vista computer even though I know Securom is there. It is possible that it just doesn't recognize Securom as a root kit - or doesn't notice it at all - or it's Vista's fault. Either way, I know it's there, but this anti-root kit didn't find it.

The Avg thing found one on my computer, no idea what it came from, so I am going to set up a system restore the nuke the thing.


ETA: It may not show the secuROM, since it is not technically a root kit, at least according to Sony, but it acts like one. So basically a piece of shit by any other name is still am piece of shit(IMO)

That AVG root finder didn't find them on mine. But I know exactly where they are and they're still there.  :evil:

Under regedit, under HKEY_USERS, under S-1-5-21-49....blah, blah, under Software and scroll down to Securom. Ta-da  :?

I'm so pissed off because I'm afraid of what will happen if I remove them via any other method.

Thanks for link HawkGirl. I  just tried the AVG root set-up, and it found nothing. I know I have securom, as I found it in my registry. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, and I'll see what happens. My computer freezes up constantly now, and during game play. I will no longer purchase any EA games.

there's a good thread concerning this topic at maty


http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9559.0.html

Thank you. I was wondering if I missed it somehow, but I just ran a search for Userivce7.exe and it's not on my PC, so I also ran a search for all the .dll files that can be associated with it. I don't have any of those either. So how hidden is this thing?

This is who a class action lawsuit needs to go against, along with EA. They think their crap doesn't stink and they have every right to compromise your PC, just read some of their press releases. http://securerom.com/
Just so everyone is aware. I was reading on the tech forum this thing apparently checks all your software and phones home with a list, or blocks any it suspects...not knows, but suspects may be illegally installed.

This was interesting
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?threadid=203200
remove the bloody SECUROM forever! Then get an NOCD crack to get your games working again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM

http://tinyurl.com/y3hgq9
Is this what everyone is using to find it? I searched out the .dll's the .exe files, etc I'm coming up not found. If so this is also what I used and apparently it didn't install.

Oh, I was looking at some of the other EA game forums, seems this thing is coming with all the new games. I saw several petitions online for other game companies. Maybe we should all join together against secure rom, and all game companies in a class action lawsuit that they have give each person up too 2,000 for the replacement of their PC. Depending on the damage done. No needs to be more, mine just cost me at Christmas 2,800. It's the only way they're going to stop and think about what they're doing to people. People are sick of having adware/malware/spyware put on their PC's, from a bunch of paranoid schizophrenics. If they're that damn paranoid about loosing 20 bucks so much so they're willing to risk loosing millions from their paying customers....they need to get out of the business. They had BV cracked in one day which means this is worthless software anyway.

ETA:


I'm sorry this is happening to you. EA should be ashamed of themselves. This is my biggest peeve with paysites. 2.50/5.00 may not be much to some of us, but to far too many other's it's all they have. They can't afford to be buying a new PC, because of the love of a game and EA's stupidity.

It seems EA games has set up a SecurROM forum under Help.  They want us to post information so that they can get SecurRom to work with our computers.  Lots of posters are not happy about that "solution".

ETA: They also send you to Maxoid (how many do they have anyway?)Violet's blog.  In there is an interesting entry that states if you have almost any CD imaging or burning software SecurROM disables it.  

   
   
  MaxoidViolet
 
   
  Friday, 05 October 2007
Copy Protection and SecuRom! *Part 1*
---------------------

I know there has been a lot of confusion about copy protection and SecuRom. In particular, there are a lot of questions about what, exactly, can trigger a SecuRom error. I know you've probably seen MaxoidVanquish's posts about SecuRom (I've added a link to it below...beware it's hugeness!) but I wanted to address the specific programs that you may have that can cause a conflict.

link1 (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=f4f3ae5709a6c367ce3b7dc30d00396a&directoryID=189&startRow=1&openItemID=item.189,root.1,item.43,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23)

The copy protection, SecuRom, on the disk knows that there are certain people out there who make copies of the game to distribute illegally, so the copy protection looks for programs that might be used for that end whenever you try to install or start the game.

That isn't to say that all burning software is bad, only that some burning software has a setting or function that triggers this alert. Sometimes you can make a quick adjustment to turn off that feature (even if it's only temporarily) to prevent the alert from stopping your game. Be warned that some computers come with a version of this software already installed, so double-check in case you have it!

Here is a list of programs that include CD Emulation Software which may cause an alert:

--Fantom CD Emulator
--Alcohol 120%
--Nero Image Drive
--Phantom CD
--Clone CD
--Ark Virtual Drive
--Veritas DLA
--Daemon Tools

Check the program documentation or talk to the program manufacturer for information on how to disable 'emulator' functions as this is what the copy protection looks for.

Sometimes doing something as simple as turning off background processes can help prevent conflicts. For more information on how to do that, check out the link below:

link2 (http://easims.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/easims.cfg/php/enduser/olh_adp.php?p_faqid=10700&p_created=1124383132)



We also have suggested steps to help with some programs. So if you have Alcohol 120%, Clone CD, or Daemon Tools you can click on the link below for help on how to disable emulator functions:

link3 (http://easims.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/easims.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14673&p_created=1179157886&p_accessibility=0&p_topview=1#cddvdemu)



If you have already disabled emulation software or don't have any and you are still recieving SecuRom errors, you can send our Support team a SecuRom analysis file. We can rule the file through a SecuRom tool that tells us where the error is coming from so we can help you get it setup. That way you can play the game without worrying. :)

For information and steps about how to send an analysis file, check out part two of the Copy Protection Blog below!

~Violet
 

- - -

That didn't work for me. This did: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/98241-13-remove-securom-malware-uninstalling-bioshock-demo

I still have the folder under Application Data (can't delete it due to some unintelligible string of chinese character-file not being there, which cracks me up), but I've played and the keys aren't back and the folder isn't populated anymore. And yay! My antivirus doesn't think my subscription ran out anymore.

Now, I do play with a no-CD crack and have since Seasons. I use EALink, and the extra program loading up to verify I bought the game that it wouldn't even know about if I hadn't bought it from them pisses me off.

Thank you for the link, much appreciated. I'll follow their instructions and see if that sucker is hidden on here somewhere.

How dare they? Those dirty rotten bastards put something onto my computer that I did not and would not authorize had I known about it. Talk about buyer beware, but in my case, it was given as a gift by a very close friend. I don't take my game computer on the net, never. Now I know why my nero burning program died the same night... I tried to burn some pictures onto a disk so I could share them with family so they know what my child looks like these days, and I got this big long string of errors. I'm pissed and I want that securom off. How do I go about slashing it out of my system, EA?? Answer me that! I get legal copies of everything and for them to do this is beyond reproach... it borders on illegal, does it not? Talk about Big Brotherism at it's finest... or worst, take your choice. Bastards...

Me too. I'm so friggin PISSED OFF. I have CD's I burned with downloads that suddenly I couldn't access. I thought it was a problem with Vista.  :shock:  :evil:

*to angry to even form words anymore*

Ok. That is a load of bull shit!!! it looks for a software that can be used to copy disks, my ass. It looks for anything that can play the cracked/burned/etc. games. And as a side effect disables a ton of other perfectly safe applications. You know I am gonna put the tin foil hat on here and say, I bet that it takes nice little logs of everything on your pc or something so that it can report illegal things on a persons computer, or something like that.

The whole thing is ironic though, they put hidden software our computers illegally, which is designed to keep you from using illegal tools to copy the software, which has only led to innocent users being harmed. And from the looks of things the people who got the game illegally are have not problems at all. Which is only leading more people to think of getting a pirated version.

I got rid of SecuROM and now my azureus and my alcohol 120% are working again. When I turned on Azureus it would just shut itself down. Thanks to that piece of crap I missed weeks of anime episodes! It's not quite the same as being unable to share pictures with family, but it's an inconvenience.

I am just wondering who at EA thinks that making this Sucurom compatible with our programs is going to satisfy us. That is only a minor part of the complaint (inconvenient and horrifying), but that they did it without our knowledge is the bigger issue (and the harder to correct). Surely they wouldn't like it if we snuck something onto their computers.

There was a successful boycott done against Starforce, another DRM, which resulted in "Ubisoft decided that the anti-copy software used with any future Ubisoft games won't be Starforce, starting with Heroes of Might and Magic V."  I think the sims community should look at what these people did and emulate (if you can get your emulator software to work-ha) what they did.  

http://www.glop.org/starforce/

Let me get this straight... if I installed H&M on my system I also have this SecurRom crap?  :?:

 :shock:  I'm feeling a bit retarded today (pregnancy brain) so please don't sick the kitteh's on me.

I found a thread that may be helpful to ya'll.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/138777-45-remove-left-over-securrom-files-hard-drive

I love this post on the BBS:




 :lol:

EDIT: why is the forum stretching out?  :roll:

It's stretched because of the long link that tomato copied and pasted from someone's post.

Yes, because it's back to normal on this page - was having a few issues reading this thread on the laptop :)

Gah I can't seem to get that program to work, anyone else have that issue?

Oh man, I apologize for the stretching.  I hate that! I will fix it pronto.

I just noticed the Wikipedia entry for Bon Voyage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_2:_Bon_Voyage

Love the part "Game criticism and SecuROM controversy"  :wink:

Lily,

It worked great for me (Vista) Did you unzip to your C:\ drive?

Yeah. lots of times..... When I went to run it the first time everything loaded fine, but when I went to scan the ap just crashed. It wont even open anymore, well it flashes the command line long enough for me to just see it then poof it closes.

Hah. I remember StarForce farking things up, and the controversy around that. Broke my daemontools and some other stuff, if I remember correctly... I wasn't happy then.

As for BV, I got the Eyepatch-'n-Keelhaulin'-version, no problems as of yet. I was planning to do what I usually do, buy it if I find it's a good game, but with all this crap going on... No way. Good going, EA.

The "GREEN PLUS" post at MATY made me giggle, Lorelei. Priceless, you're my hero. :lol:

Okay..........Lily, it did that to me too a few times. Go ahead and follow the next instructions:

Run the following two commands from a Windows command prompt (type "cmd" in run: (a DOS window opens)
Type cd\ to get to the C: drive
Then type "C:\regdelnull HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM -s"
It should ask you if you want to delete y/n - type y

Then type "C:\regdelnull HKEY_USERS\<Computer specific key>\Software\SecuROM -s" where "<Computer specific key>" can be determined by searching the registry for the "Securom" directory key.
(This "<Computer specific key>" typically has a form like "S-1-5-21-2052111302-1757341266-724545543-500" so yes, you have to type out the numbers) Again, it will ask if you want to delete y/n

 Once these two RegDelNull commands have been successfully issued the registry should be checked to confirm that these two keys have been deleted. If they are still present they will now be removeable due to the action of the RegDelNull utility.

Then I just rebooted and double checked a couple times to make sure it was gone from the registry. Also did an advanced search to make sure nothing showed up.

knightguy at MATY just posted this -


FOUND ON BBS - Legality Issues

The link below contains a tool which removes SecuROM except it's digital rights management data:

http://www.securom.com/support/SecuROM_Uninstaller.zip

Please download it, extract the application file and follow the instructions below:

- The easiest way of using this tool is to copy the SecuROM_Uninstaller.exe file into your C:\ directory.

- Open the Windows command box by pressing and selecting the option. Now type 'cmd' (without 's) and press on the keyboard.

- Type: 'cd\' (without 's) and press on the keyboard.

- Please type now: SecuROM_Uninstaller.exe /uninstal

- A dialog box will appear. To start the SecuROM uninstallation, press the button.

Please understand that any application that uses SecuROM will rebuild these files and folders with future launches.


Best regards,

SecuROM Support Team
SecuROM on the web: http://www.securom.com
or via e-mail: support@securom.com

I saw that too but the poster said it didn't work at all. In was in response to this:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070130-8738.html



I looked online and found contact info for FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majors (202) 326-2100. Couldn't find a email addy for her office. But wouldn't she be interested to know that they DIDN'T "clearly label"??? That article was posted Jan 2007.

C & P again :P for those who have Vista -

Follow these instructions to remove from Vista:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/98241-13-remove-securom-malware-uninstalling-bioshock-demo

This is the only one that worked for me, the others didn't work for Vista.

"Please work with the companies of your burning software to turn off your emulating software, then you won't have problems"?  "If after doing all this with your OTHER programs, you're still having problems with SecuRom, then post on our Help forum".....


NO.  That post on the BBS summed it all up.  It doesn't matter what's on your computer, and you should not have to change things on your personal PC to make it work with a 3rd Party Software that was illegally installed on your computer.

It most certainly IS against the law, whether or not the program borked your PC or not.  That's irrelevant.  The fact of the matter was that users did not have a choice to install this program; they were not told what it was or how it would affect their PCs or other software on their PCs; everything about the installation of SecuRom was illegal.

It pisses me off that this was in H&M, too.  That was without consent either.  You can't write software that is designed to conflict with the functioning of other software, and install it without knowledge of the user.

Sony made this shit?  They should know better, cuz from what I understand, they've tried crap like this before with their Music CDs and got sued.  Are they dumb?  Did they think, "Oh, well the settlement (or whatever) only said we weren't allowed to do this with MUSIC CDds...we can probably do this with games, though!"  Yeah, until they tell you that it's illegal and you lose money anyway.  What morons.

I'd like to know if we can be part of a class action lawsuit simply because now our computers, if we have H&M or Bon Voyage installed, have this 3rd Party Software installed without our permission or knowledge.  For those who haven't experienced things breaking (yet), I'd think that's irrelevant if the installation of SecuROM is illegal in the first place.  In fact, I'm 99.9% positive you'd still have a case because of how illegal the installation was, and because of what this illegally installed software does on your computer.

Decided I'm going to get rid of the SuckuROM games(BV, H&M). No way am I doing the patch thing, Torrenting non-music items usually screws my comp up. Plus I'm currently on dial up.
I'm going to avoid purchasing any more Sims product until this is fixed. EA is on my shitlist.
SuckuROM or not this EP seems to have more issues than Britney Spears. :evil:

Thanks for the help Requip, I did not have the securom, I was needing the tools for some other nulls that showed up, turned out they were legit. Well one was a product of Daemon tools, so semi legit anyways.

I'll contact a lawyer here tomorrow, they're right here in CA so they know full good and well it is illegal to install any software without my consent or knowledge. I'll also point them to Sony/Securom's lawsuits and the terms of their settlement. I'll let you know what they say.

I was planning to buy Bon Voyage. Not anymore. Even if this issue is resolved, I don't think I'll be buying any more expansions. I'm saving my money for better things.

I'm very interested to hear what they have to say.  I know it's illegal in Canada, but I doubt if a class action lawsuit would be a joint international thing.  It would probably be on a country-by-country basis.  I also think a lawsuit might be more likely in the US than in Canada, which is unfortunate, because I far from appreciate the illegal activities of EA.  I don't like having shit on my computer, even less so from things that are installed without knowledge and consent.  In essence, that is what a Virus is - well, virus types and spyware.

Edit: I must point out that Sony's settlement was for their BMG division - their music label or whatever.  Their settlement terms were that in the future they cannot put any of that crap on their music CDs.  I am not aware of any lawsuits/settlements regarding the SecuRom being illegally installed with games.  They should have used their heads, though.  If it didn't fly with the music CDs, it sure as hell ain't gonna fly with game software.

Daemon qualifies as legit: After all, YOU installed it there.

I agree with RenegadeSims that unfortunately a lawsuit doesn't seem as likely here in Canada as it is in the States.
Still, any company stupid enough to use copyright protection provided by Sony deserves what's coming to them.
Because I'm more familiar with music than gaming, I know some labels will list what type of copy protection is being used, or at least have a logo on the jewel case. That's what EAxis should have done. It wouldn't have taken a lot of effort, and it would have saved myself and everyone else the grief.

Oh, I know it is legit. It was was supposed to come off sarcastic, since EA was trying to block it. I just can't ever seem to type what I am thinking.

Same here Feverish. I usually buy the EP and wait a couple months to install. This time around I didn't buy it and more than likely won't. And if this what EA plans on doing for all future releases, I won't be buying EA merchandise anymore.

About a couple years ago my old computer starting acting very strange after playing a Sony DVD. Was it a root kit? I don't know. But regardless, I now avoid Sony products. The way I look at it my machine is an investment that runs in the thousands of dollars. I will NOT risk that investment for a fifty dollar game.

I always wait for a long time before installing any x-pack because of the massive number of bugs that invariably materialize.  This time I'm really, really glad I've waited. (Didn't buy BV or HM, never will).

I'm furious at EA for letting this happen.  Way beyond their usual fucked up shoddy testing.  This is evil. :evil:

I don't think that matters? If you look at the wording of that comment by the FTC:

In the future, Sony BMG is required to clearly label DRM-protected discs and is prohibited from installing any software without notifying and gaining consent from the user. and the other one:

"Consumers' computers belong to them," said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, "and companies must adequately disclose unexpected limitations on the customary use of their products so consumers can make informed decisions regarding whether to purchase and install that content."

States COMPUTERS and says nothing about "music" cd's? I think a precedent is a precedent. I love how now they're threatening members at the BBS from giving out info on this.


[/i] :roll:

What a HUGE load of crap. It doesn't matter!!! It was placed on our computers WITHOUT our knowledge!!!!  :evil:

Since I won't be buying BV, I can't have beaches. That sucks. I could care less about missing future expansions because I don't want the teen packs or the hobbies pack.
What about Spore? Is it possible that they could be planning to include SecuRom with that game as well?

Since I won't be buying BV, I can't have beaches. That sucks. I could care less about missing future expansions because I don't want the teen packs or the hobbies pack.
What about Spore? Is it possible that they could be planning to include SecuRom with that game as well?

I found this in the SecuRom updte post  made by MaxoidVanquish. He made a FAQ post.

After reading all this, I feel very fortunate that I wasn't interested in any expansions after Pets.  Stuff like this makes me so angry I want to pirate their stuff on purpose just to get back at them.  (not that I will, but still - I have a hard time being upset with people who do).

I have a lot more respect for companies who earn their customers by putting forth a quality product.  Yes, I download things from torrent sites to check them out - looked at Neverwinter Nights 2 out of curiosity. I like it a lot - and I plan to go buy it and the upcoming expansion next week because I like it and it is not overpriced.  My husband tried Farcry, and did the same.  I've done the same with music - I love almost everything Lacuna Coil and Evanescence make, so I buy their disks.  When the product is worth it, I am happy to buy it, but forcing things onto your computer that messes with your hardware is just wrong. On the other hand, I tried Doom 3 - hated it and deleted it. I was glad I didn't waste $50 on it.

ETA:
And before someone goes "there's always demos you could try" the demo doesn't give you the storyline, which for me makes or breaks the game most of the time.

I don't know if you know this but Never Winter Nights 2 comes with SecuRom too. I don't know if it was ever fixed with a patch or if it will be with another expansion. I just though you may want to know, if you didn't already.

Really? Thanks, I'll have to look into it.

ETA: On a quick search it appears that the SecuRom was added after the game gets patched to version 1.02.  I guess since I never bothered to patch it I didn't have the problem.

Darnit - I really wanted to buy that game too.

ETA: More thorough search - I checked my device manager (start+pause break/hardware/device manager->view/show hidden devices) and don't have SecRom, but I do have StarForce.  Doesn't seem to be causing any problems, however.  Of course it's been awhile since I've reformatted so I don't know which games installed it.

I saw that not long after you posted the link, and then last night, I was talking about all this BS in IM with a friend, and went to Wikipedia to show him (so that I wouldn't have to, and someone had edited to take out any hint of conspiracy/cover up.

Of course, it still lives on in the edit history, but it's been edited since last night to take the link to MATY and the fix off of the page, too.

Probably somebody from EA did that. :)

What does the wikipedia IP tracker say?

All the major changes were done by named contributors, as far as I can see. Some of the lesser changes seem to be done by unnamed IP-only folks (some of whom, it appears, only edit Sims 2 articles. Interesting).

"sorry, random forum postings by random users are not usable as citation)"

That's the reason for why the "Game Criticism" part was taken out.

Does anyone have a screenshot or two regarding the MAXOID post that "Yes, all games have this issue of multiple character files spawning" (paraphrased), then directing BBS users to go to MATY for the patch?

Because I damn well know I saw that there, and unfortuntaely I don't think I have that page in my Cache anymore.

If someone's still got it in their cache, or a screenshot of that post confirming the issue and telling them to go to MATY, please post it.  I don't know how changing Wikipedia entries work, but I find it bullshit that EAxis are editing this and threatening bans to users.



Doesn't matter.  The main point is - no matter what software, no matter what lawsuit how many years ago, SecuRom was packaged with two recent Sims 2 expansions, and installed on computers without knowledge or consent of the user.  Regardless of what software this is, what it does, blah blah, it was definitely installed illegally.

ETA: There's been a new edit to the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_2:_Bon_Voyage#SecuROM_controversy

In case it's been removed or anything, I got a screencap: http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u140/RenegadeSims/wikientry_oct62007.jpg

Also, does the FTC handle issues like this?  If so, I found a complaint form you can fill out http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or "To file a complaint in English or Spanish or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357)"

Stupid double post

Well apparently "SimMasterBurpie" has exploded I'd link it, but I don't know how to make a tiny url and it will be huge. It's called "The Facts about SecuRom" Here's an especially lovely quote:



So EA has decided that we just should take it and they don't care a bit if we don't buy any more games.

Damn them!

Well, gee, their software caused my computer's burning program to die, reducing the functionality of a machine I had built to play games on, make picture albums for my family, and burn off custom content as soon as I had it sorted and classified the way I want it to be. It has caused me to lose the joy of sharing with my friends and family the pictures I myself had created on said piece of machinery. I have the right to say what goes upon my hard drive and they took that right away from me by saying that I had a choice. You do not yank away freedom of choice from a customer. That machine never goes upon the internet, so how am I going to download illegal warez? Why would I want to get an illegal copy of software when I know that when I get it legally, I have the right to bitch if something goes wrong? Duh! And while we're at it, they may as well buy me the full version of what came with my burning hardware because the trial version that I was evaluating to see if it would be a good investment got zorched and it will now no longer let me use the old version of what I had. Bastards, self-righteous, sanctimonious bastards... I want in on any class-action suit, that's for damn sure!

Stupid SimMaster, it's not the fact that it's antipiracy sotfware that's the problem it's the fact that it's hidden in the registry plays hell with the rest of your system and doesn't unistall when the game is taken out. And then you discover that the programme has been flagged by other gamers as having problems and wonder why EA used it in the first place cos BV was pirated anyway  :roll:  so the SecuRom is a useless and dangerous waste of space.

Edit: The BBS is full of refernces to various state and federal laws which is all well and good for the people based in the US. But does anyone know what UK or European law has to say about installing unremovable things without informing the user? I had a look but my google-fu seems to be weak at the moment.

Yup, read the "Facts About Securom" post in the Technical Help section of the BBS.  It's totally condescending and skirts around the fact that the "facts" don't actually matter for shit when the software was illegally installed on your computer in the first place.  It's not that they aren't allowed to do that: it's not legal, and it's extremely unethical.  Anyone who's studied computers would probably have taken an ethics course..

Anyway, there's a good post at the BBS titled: "What's Missing in Maxoid SecuROM Posts", where SimMasterBurpie is maintaining her condescending tone and lashing out at all the "armchair lawyers and techies".. That's disgusting.  Would it shock her, a supposed paralegal of 18 years, that real lawyers and actual computer professionals would play The Sims?

Here's a link to the BBS thread I just mentioned above.  I shrunk it via "Tiny URL" but it definitely links to the BBS :)
http://tinyurl.com/2mjyto

EA can take SecuROM and shove it up their SuckuASSES.
All I could find was the SecuROM folder with the empty hidden files, nothing else(I had the directions from InSim on me too). I deleted it, and plan on maybe getting a tech person to look at my computer and make sure everything is good.
This is definitely the death of the Sims unless EA make the assoids can it and get a real PR department to save them.
My dad says it's a good thing EA aren't in the food industry. :lol:

Aren't you going to have to pay a tech person to look at your computer?

You shouldn't have to do all this.  This is total bullshit and pisses me off.  I'm sorry you have to do that, but if you do, definitely claim from EA.  They keep trying to "calm" people down by saying "it doesn't harm anyone!", "it doesn't spy on you," and "Just disable certain features in your burning programs to get them to work."  None of it is relevant.  Anyone who had this shit illegally installed on their computer (which is everyone who has installed a recent Sims 2 game) does have footing in a class action lawsuit, whether or not you had issues.  That program doesn't go away for good, and apparently Sony has said you can't completely uninstall it.  It shouldn't have been installed in the first place.

EA can use copy-protection for their software, that's fine.  But when it needs to install something on a user's computer, without informing them first or getting their consent, that is crossing the line by a lightyear.

I hope something gets done soon, because the condescending attitudes are pushing me over the edge.  There are a lot of educated people, and they're all being talked down to by Sim"Masters" and Maxoids, who are apparently all Gods and know everything about everything.

Hopefully, non-Americans who are affected (since this is an internationally distributed game) can get some kind of compensation.  This is ridiculous.

Edit: Sorry if I have any typos.  I have a headache and I'm pissed off.

EAxis has so many jackasses working for them it's ridiculous.

I'll get you some Panadol, Renegadesims! 'Cause I need it too. My computer was attacked by a trojan thrice. Doesn't that say something?

SMBurpie sounds more like SMBitchy. Prior to this I didn't think they were bad at all. Doubt they will have any credibility left after this, considering they will all have Benjamin Long noses from lying to everybody.

Sounds like things are getting really out of hand and EA is now attempting to bully the sheeple into behaving again. If they're not in out and out panic mode yet, they probably will be shortly.

Okay, I have deleted Securom and following the tom's hardware method. Now I am just hoping it won't pop up again after I play BV. It is possible though that I have to either a. uninstall entire sims2 game or b. reinstall without BV. But I liked BV.  :(  And I hope deleting securom will stop my game from crashing so I don't have to uninstall anything...  :evil:

If you don't have a crack you can't play BV, H&M, or Sims Deluxe if you remove Securom. The problem with Sony/Securom's removal proggie is the files regenerate themselves next time you play the game. So that method is worthless too.

I pacakged all my Sims that weren't made with H&M or Bon Voyage to a folder on my desktop and just reinstalled everything. The ones I was attached to got different outfits/hair. Still have to do OFB and Seasons sometime today.
I actually don't mind reinstalling the base game though. That 'Grow Your Sims' game is kind of fun.

Ok, I'm officially pissed now.  Bought some blank disks yesterday and now I can't burn anything (I have Nero Suite).  I back up all my music and pictures by burning CDs and fucking EA has taken that away from me?  Everytime I've tried, I've gotten a "Communication Failure" about 30% into the burning process.

I vow to never give EA anymore of my money, for ANY of their games, until they get this shit fixed.

Man, I can't play Bon Voyage (or Seasons or Pets) on my laptop, and I was actually thinking about buying a new computer just for the sims. Not anymore. For the first time ever I'm glad I have a sub-par machine. (Although, it really is a very good laptop in all other respects... just not built for gaming.)

Hmm, I do have a crack, but I am not sure if it's the right one. How do you know it's going to work, do you need a certain kind of crack? Also, do I still need to reinstall the game with all the ep's (including h&m and BV)?

Well apparently, EA is keeping it's head firmly up its ass. SimMasterBurpie is their chosen PR representative.

Guess, I'll get the SecuRom shit off my computer and decide what to next. Truthfully, I don't much feel like playing anyway. I think I'll just go back to Seasons.

I'm.. exasperated.  I don't have HM or BV.  I have the sims 2 holiday edition, uni and NL... and yet today, suddenly, every time I try to run the sims the splash comes up, sims2ep2.exe is added to running processes, and then a few seconds later poof.  Splash is gone, back to desktop, sims2ep2.exe is no longer running.

What the hell.  I've tried several uninstall/reinstalls etc etc, and currently have nero uninstalled since it was on the "list" of programs securom doesn't like.

Fucking stardock murdered my system's standard CDROM/CDRW already, I'm really tired of these damn piracy protection programs BREAKING legit shit.

So.. where can I get this no-CD crack or whatnot, and actually run the game?  I've been cooking all damn day in prep for thanksgiving tomorrow, I really didn't need this annoyance.

Ren

SecuRom is also in Sims2Deluxe and Pet Stories, do you have either of these?

Is this the stuff you're looking for, Ren?

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9559.0.html

I haven't tried any of this and don't know if I can ever get my head around any of it, but seems the trick to keeping Securom off is to not run/launch BV from the original .exe at all.

I'm sure there are others who can speak to it more intelligently than me, but have a linky anyway.   :D

Well.. after watching desperate housewives, I've breathed a little ::smirk::

I'm thinking that my error can't be related to this secuROM stuff... because I don't have sims2deluxe or pet stories, nor BV or H&M, or OFB, heh.  Just the 2006 version of TS2 holiday edition (core game + holiday fun stuff), university, and nightlife.. all of which apparently come with the safedisk copy protection.

Looking through regcleaner, I *do* have secuROM installed, but it has a mod date of 2005, and I installed TS2 in 2006.

I.. dunno.  Maybe it was the yesterday's java update, but I don't see how that would effect ts2.  :(

Thanks all for the help/links.. I'll search for a nightlight no-cd crack and see what happens I guess.

Ren

Edit: doing this rather than another post-reply... partially to spare myself some minor embarassment due to the likelihood it won't be seen, and also because I hate to cause a necro back-pedal.

One of my thumbnail files, or groups.cache, were corrupted.

It may have come with some other game/program, Ren, and must be an older version, which, from the overwhelming blather/info/word walls I've been reading, isn't likely to be as invasive and overtaking as BV's v7 Securom.

My internet software...(oh god, i think i'm repeating myself, sorry)...I woke to find it gone a couple weeks ago, but it could've been a Windows or Java or QuickTime or iTunes update and not BV/Securom.

Heh, I tried to print something today and got a 'communication error' and flipped out...only to remember I unplugged the damn thing the other day.   :oops:

ETA:  Kari (Zazazu = Kari?) has posted at MATY her 'process' (benes!):

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9929.0.html

Si, Zazazu=Kari. And keep your benes. I don't think I can ever look at the official site again.

The navigation alone is the reason I don't like the official site. It's hell.

Not even refried benes?   :wink:  I much appreciate you prying that process out for everyone.

I've looked at the official site so much today I've actually made myself sick to me tum-tum...also dizzy and stoopid and reduced to words like 'tum-tum'.

*head falls off*

Y'know what's good?  Books!  Had them lying all over the house, picked one up...alternative entertainment!  I watched TV too.   :lol:

I finally caught a new episode of Dexter tonight. One of my fav shows.

I can't believe that they still haven't provided a way for people to uninstall that crap. Instead of just saying "we don't recommend it". Honestly, at this point who gives a flying fuck what they recommend regarding what should be on someone else's computer. With Eaxis treating customers this way, who needs paysite owners.

Ohhhhhhhh boy...

That sounds fun. Where's this? I think it's time for MOAR FIGHT.

In the SecuROM forum under Help at the BBS.  If you really want to brave that.

Meh, now I am just pissed at the entire sims 2 game. It keeps crashing now. All the time. So I am getting close to abandon it completely... *tskkpftghgragghrwrrr...stupid game...arggh...bloody ea...ugh...* I feel like ripping someone's head off. *statement*

After reading numerous forum posts here and at MATY, as well as researching information regarding SecuRom, I asked my bf to check my computer out (he's the computer expert) for SecuRom and remove it. However, much to my surprise, it was no where to be found, nothing, nadda, clean registry.

I bought and installed BV a couple of months ago (pre-finding out about SecuRom) so I am wondering why or how it didn't get installed on my computer. I'm not complaining, mind you, just curious.

If you installed BV, SecuROM is in your computer. Your bf probably just don't know how to look for it.

*chuckles* yeah ...

Anyways, I'll be sure to pass that information along to him.

Actually, it should be on your computer since it ships with all official games.

So it's either one of two things: your game is some kind of bootleg altered copy.  Or, your system filtered it out, but that would mean you can't play BonVoyage properly unless you're using a crack.

I can't think of any other reason why your system wouldn't have it if you installed the official copy and didn't already remove SuckuRom unknowingly or ...something. lol

If your copy is fully official, working properly without a crack, and there's no trace of SuckuRom on your computer (hidden or not) then I'd say you're extremely lucky and should maybe buy a lottery ticket.

If my post sounds sarcastic or anything, I'm really not trying to be.  I'm just surprised.  Because all latest Sims2 products come with it  :shock:

Not sarcastic at all and thank you!

I'm truly stumped also. I'm not running a bootlegged copy (bought it at BestBuy) nor did I remove SuckuRom after installation. I was planning on doing just that after reading all the stuff people are reporting. Hence, my research into how to remove it. So, I looked in all the places on my comp the "remove SuckuRom" threads suggested and then put the bf to task to find it also, using the information provided and there was no SecuRom to be found. I've been playing BV since I bought it and it runs great (ie no lagging as others report).

Just curiousor and curiousor  :?

Run regedit and search your registry to be sure - I couldn't find it like a civilised program under a logical subheading - I had to search the registry for "securom" - and there it was.  My securom folders were hard to find too until I searched for hidden folders. :)

I had to go into Windows Explorer>Tools>Folder Options>View tab and choose the Show Hidden Files and Folders button under Hidden Files and Folders before I could see any Securom files.  I think this unhid it in the registry too...but I could be wrong about that.

My Securom folder is found on the C drive, Docs & Settings, my user acct., Application Data.

We ran the Regedit last night (hence the "clean registry" remark) but didn't try the "un-hide" trick. I'll give it a try when I get home this evening. Thanks all for the advice!

*snickers* Goofing on the phorums when at work :wink:

I made an mp3 CD with Sonic last night and my disc drive seems to be working. If it wasn't I would have strangled SimMaster Bitchy with her freaking USB cord.
No internet on my laptop is probably why I only had the one SuckuROM folder...

I'm almost tempted to post in that stupid thread.  I have an MCSE, and work in the technology field fixing other people's fuck ups.  Not to mention doing networking and cabling.  Does he think that we are all "just armchair techs"?  Hell, Pez patches their games better than they do.

And, based upon the tech info that I have seen, gaming and software corps are all too aware of the risks, they choose to protect their precious shitty software while causing harm to their customers.  This whole issue has pissed me off  royally.

PEZ FTW!
Candy anyone?
*snort* :lol:

*smacks Ry*....It's early Ry, give me a break  :D

SimStranglerBurpie is a female, btw lol

And a Pez candy...actually, I've never had those before.

To update:

Latest post in AssoidSam's begging post:



Again, missing the point entirely: SecuRom was installed without knowledge & consent of user = illegal, despite being "harmless" (as THEY say). Yeah, a "harmless" software, that just searches your computer for instances of possible copyright infringments on software unrelated to The Sims Products.

At least they now let us know all the games SecuRom comes with, so people who have those games can add it to their lawsuit or whatever.

I have actually pointed this out (under the cunning username of CalalilyPlayer).  Someone told me to follow StupidMaster Burpie's instructions and uninstall - to which I replied (in a far nicer and more long winded way) that MATY had noticed a character file problem that EA didn't, and they didn't know shit - so I would believe MATY over EA anyday.

*wanders off to squish lollies onto her game disk in the hopes that helps something.

Another thing that really pisses me off about EA's conduct is that they added something to the game that clearly isn't compatible with Vista, even though they state that BV is compatible. Sony certainly never said anywhere that it is compatible with Vista. But since EA added something that they didn't want us to know about (hence the secrecy), they couldn't very well say it wasn't compatible since that would give away the secret.  :roll:  Apparently it's pure luck if you vista machine don't rocket off earth and spiral into outer space. Installing something incompatible on vista is like willingly injecting cancer on it and hope it has good fighting spirit. And then EA has the gall to say that they tested and researched the thing?   :shock:  

Gah, just wanted that off my chest.  :x

I'm so friggin' pissed off, I could scream. I would never allow Sony to have access to my computer. No way. I followed the FTC settlement with Sony BMG and remember thinking, "wow.....that sucks....how can they install something without the computer owners consent?"

And now it's happened to my simmies.  :?

Ummm... for the same reason that Sony BMG thought it was a good idea until there was an uproar?  Besides, EA's big money comes from console game sales vs PC sales (See Chart (http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=21098)).  It was a gamble that they could afford to make, as it would not upset their core base, the console player.

Software installed without knowledge of consumer = bad
Software that messes with the functionality of other software = bad
Software that is not easy to uninstall off of computer = bad
EA = bad

I already contacted the FTC this morning about it, filed complaint against both EA games and Sony DACD (just Sony period) for installing a program on my computer without my consent or knowledge.
Spoke with the woman for about an hour and she's very familiar with the settlement against Sony. She's forwarding my complaint to the correct people (whatever the hell that means) and also said they've received alot of complaints regarding this in the last week.   :?

So I hope those of you with problems are calling!!!
1-877-382-4357 FTC consumer line

Sims 2 Bon Voyage does phone home during gameplay. The story about the Launcher being the only thing trying to acces the net is not true.
However, I do not know why it phones home. Sims 2 does have the option to download from the exchange, but is it supposed to connect without the users knowledge or without there being the need?

Pic:
http://i23.tinypic.com/209g7df.png

:shock:

I hope you've posted that at other forums and places. That's unreal.  :evil:

Can you check the logs for what ports it is using? It would be interesting to see what kind of packets it's sending.

Ok, I'll restart the game and see if it tries to connect again. Log will be up soon.

Wow, I just read up on some of the other Ea game forums, and all their new games are having these same problems. So far in my search, which has only been about five games so far, the only ones that have pin pointed SecuROM as the issue are the Sims and Command and Conquer 3. Most of the other forums everyone is going around in circles trying to trouble shoot their problems. The tech support thread for Medal of Honor: Air Born are 14 pages of the exact same issues that I see all over the Sims BBS, the only difference is Securom is mentioned at the most twice.

My hubby just tried to install Scrabble complete from a different vendor and it borked his system.

Game won't even come up. After going to their forum trying to find an answer...what do I find?

A thread about Securom on the games and trouble people are having.

Who would of thunk it?   :roll:

As I just finished writing this to a friend about this very subject, I decided to post it here. Because if any of you have consumer protection agencies in your respective countries, you might be wise to use them especially if after what Sony did was deemed illegal in your country. Anyhow here's what I just wrote to a friend about this and what I intend to do if my DVD writer doesn't work on account of BV & H&M recently being installed:

I read parts of the thread that I found at the URL you gave me and from what I know, here in Canada it's illegal. I don't know if Securom is on my copy of the game or not, because I haven't tried to burn anything on my new DVD writer yet. But the other burner that I had and got rid of burned things just that they weren't readable on anything afterwards. And I'm not sure if it started acting like that before or after I installed BV on here. I am pretty sure it was before I got BV but I could be mistaken. Anyhow I know for sure this drive that's in the machine now is brand new and so if it doesn't burn anything that's readable on it, I'll know why and I have a bill to prove that it's brand new to Maxis too (which is after the date of the bill I have for Bon Voyage). Sony (which I guess is the maker of Securom)
tried this shit before here in Canada and got sued and all their products that had things (because they also had implanted noise signals in things) that disable or damage a persons hardware or sound/entertainment/tv system removed off the Canadian market and it's illegal to sell anything like that here now. So if Maxis embedded this Securom thing and it prevents me from using my writer which I bought and paid for (and since I have other uses for it like to save data and my digital camera pictures for safekeeping and NOT for pirating their f'ing lousey crappy software that I probably couldn't sell pirated copies of even for less than the cost of
the f'ing CD it's written on) I can go to a Canadian gov't consumer protection agency (I don't even need a lawyer) and have them ban all of Maxis' products and have them removed off the shelves and sent back to them, in Canada if I want to. And if I can't use my new burner when I go to burn my next DVD that's precisely what I'm going to do. Let the Cdn gov't fix their wagons at least here in Canada. That'll be 30 million less potential people they'll be able to screw over and annoy and aggravate the f out of. And if other people use the same recourse or equivalent thereof in their countries, pretty soon the only market that they'll be able to sell to
will be the US market (because there they don't have consumer protection agencies and if you want to go after a company you have to do it out of your own pocket and hire a lawyer yourself). So that'd be one way to show Maxis enough is enough. Maybe I'll post my intentions on their BBS and see what happens and how many other people want to do the same thing.

Believe me after all of the problems I've had with the Sims 2 crap and all their addons, I will NOT ever buy ANOTHER Maxis EA product again. NEVER. Sims 9,999 could come out and it could be completely ew aw holographic and you could interact with it like the STNG hollodeck and I still wouldn't buy it, because I know with my luck I'd find a bug where I'd get stuck in it and never be able to get back to reality again.  I definitely won't be buying Sims 3 either, whether I have a computer that handles it or not. After all the problems and BS I've had with TS2, I've had wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy more than my fill of it and am not going to spend more money for yet more aggravation. I can get anyone I want to aggravate me and it'll be free, all I have to do is antagonize them a little bit and whoopie cayou away we go, they'll be all too happy to aggravate and annoy me all I want and it won't have cost me anything at all. Or better yet, I can send flaming emails to Thomass and Atwat and they'll be happy to aggravate and annoy me right back. ;) Well at least I'll some scapegoats to vent my anger on anyhow. ;)

I am getting so annoyed by people constantly saying " I don't think EA did it on purpose". No one is claiming that ea purposely caused problems to anyone's computer, but doing something accidentally doesn't excuse them from being responsible. Also, they didn't accidentally neglect to tell people that they were installing SecuRom. They purposely omitted that information.

Which is exactly why BOTH EA and Sony DACD are named in my complaint with the FTC, the BBB, and the AG in my state. I've been checking around on other forums too. It appears to me (and maybe not) that when I entered SecuROM into google a couple days ago, alot came up but now it's pages and pages long!  :shock:

This isn't the first time EA have pissed people off. From what I have read on Wiki and elsewhere, they already have a pretty bad reputation among hardcore gamers.

Frankly, I'm very pissed with them myself now; I deleted ALL my downloads for a 'fresh' start, and now all my glasses are gone besides a pair of NL ones. (Maybe Vampire fangs?)

I actually have Vista Premium and have had no problems.  However, you can roll back to XP from Vista.

Well, I don't want to paint the devil on the wall, but I didn't have any problems at first either...

And no, I won't roll back to XP, I'll find some other solution.

Come on guys, where's all the juicy info?

I wanna know what's going on in terms of lawsuits! lol

Actually, I did start thinking more about this because I came across a similar thread on some BioShock thing (google led me there).  They have the same complaint we do: for their game, SecuRom was also installed illegally (no knowledge or consent of the user).

Also, I think depending on where you live, what EA has done violates more than one law..

My hubby is a console gamer (all the systems but x-box) and says that unless you are a sports game lover, EA games are not the best. He said they are typically games that he may rent if bored but never buy.

EA released the patch for BV! But they still have a lot of glitches that need to be fixed. :(

The "so-called" patch for BV addresses very little. Its TRUE purpose in pushing out so quickly is to upgrade your installed SecuROM spyware. The present version does not have a cure, hence their desire to push it out quickly.

The official position we hold here is that the new patch is Evil and to be Avoided. There is nothing it fixes that cannot be done better by Awesomeware and much that it will do worse!

Pes FTW!

Seriously. I won't download shite from EA anymore. Pes, your patches are most awesome. *nods head*  :lol:

I d/led the patch because I'm non-awesome.

Go non-awesome people! -Sarcasm-

I seriously did d/led the patch since I'm concerned about my darned game. My main family's in their 3rd Gen! (Sucks, I know but that's GREAT for my standard)

Ok I have a question:

Is the SecuRom in H&M Shitstuff the same version as the SecuRom that comes in BV?  If so, then I have nothing to lose by yo-ho-ho'ing it, because H&M Shitstuff already injected itself illegally into my PC.

My Sims generally put me in a good mood, but I haven't played the game in soooo long.  Nothing interests me.  If BV has the same SuckuRom version as H&M then I might as well get it.  Maybe then I'll actually play my game? *shrug* Or I may be even more reluctant to play due to the lag I'll experience on my non-awesome PC....blah.

Edit: Is it even WORTH yo-ho-ho'ing?  I don't want to deal with any dumb launcher or the game "phoning home" or whatever.

Since you don't use the H & M disc to run the game, you should be OK.  If you have done a search and didn't find anything suspicious on your comp, I would guess you are clean.  

I yo ho ho'd it and used a no CD crack.  I was fine, but then I didn't really like it so I got rid of it.  My computer is clean.

I use the Seasons crack to play with H&M and Seasons, but I've never searched for SuckuRom on my PC - nor do I care to, because I'm lazy.

That information helps, maybe I'll get Bon Voyage then uninstall it if my computer runs too slow or weirdly or whatever.  Thanks again, tomato ;)

Well, I have both H&M and BV, both purchased legally from a shop, and my SecuRom folders weren't created until I installed BV - so H&M doesn't put the crap on my PC - maybe not on anyone else's.

Crap, so I'm back to not wanting to install it. I've got important crap and fun crap that require things like Alcohol 120% and Daemon Tools to run.  I don't want BV to mess that up.

How is it that both things came with SuckuRom, but only BV installed the folder? This just gets even more confusing *sighs*

Don't - I don't have either of those programs - so I haven't felt the full force.  Although my DVD drive seems not to recognise some discs.

And if you're reading this, and haven't patched - for Christ's sake don't.  It looks like the patch is for securing SecuRom more firmly - not for fixing your game.  http://tinyurl.com/yue866

Oh my this is just getting worse and worse, they actually patched securom? That's like putting fuel on a fire ffs!

This was posted at MATY:



Sounds like they can slip this crapware back on thru a patch. Oh, and I found a delightful post by SimMasterMoira on the BBS:



*holding hands to sing kumbaya*  :roll:

Requip, I saw that post just now by SMMoira too and it made me even angrier.  If I were to see her IRL, I'd probably be sticking my pirate boot square up her ass.

BTW - I filed my complaint with the FTC online.  Simple and painless.  Now onto my state's AG.

I will definitely be going to the Cdn gov't consumer protection agencies about them now, whether or not my DVD writer works or not after the little experience I just had while trying to post the following on the Maxis BBS about the whole issue....

As far as I'm concerned since I do now know that SecuROM IS on my system (despite what was written in another post posted elsewhere on the net), that if it
disables my NEW DVD writer that I bought (because my other one wouldn't burn anything readable so I bought a new one to replace it, not knowing about the
SecuROM issue when I did),  I for one won't be bothered contacting you nor anyone else here. I'll simply report the problem to our Canadian  gov't consumer
protection agencies and let them deal with you and have you remove all of your goods off the Cdn store shelves, like they did with Sony and their stuff that damaged
and disabled people's equipment.  I have simply had it with all the problems and cr*p I've had to put up with this game and all things associated with it. FYI my net
name is  netseeker2.  The law  is the law and I don't know how you nor anyone else would feel if any of us started slashing your tires and breaking  your car
windshields just because we percieved that you might be doing us wrong (whether or not you actually are is irrelevant because disabling and destroying someone
else's property is illegal - period - if you *think* someone is doing you wrong it's up to you to persue them via legal channels and not disable and destroy their
personal property). That was the reasoning of the law used against Sony and it'll be used against you too when the gov't removes your products from the store
shelves here in Canada. Hopefully every other country in the world also has consumer protection agencies that consumers can complain to too and have your
products removed from their shelves as well. Maybe then you'll smarten up and get the message. Ban me I don't care, might as well. I'm used to it now after the run
in with an arrogant so and so on TSR.

--------

As soon as I hit the button to post it, I got a "Document Contains No Data" reply and everything locked up and my net connection stopped responding - including my firewall.  I copied and pasted that into a text file to save - that's how I managed to have it now (I'm used to that after my experiences on TSR believe me because I knew that most of the time whatever I posted would be removed or not get posted to begin with). So obviously they didn't want it posted and didn't want me to be able to post it elsewhere and tried to shut me down completely by disabling my firewall etc.... I've literally had more than enough of my fill with all the BS associated with this thing called "a game", in more ways than one too.

Oh yes, it's a much nicer world when we all let go of our anger over our rights being violated. War is peace. Fucking EA.

I can't wait to see how they react when the consumers they've fucked over with this product let their anger loose all over their fucking heads. I know I have securom, got it from H&M shit because after I installed it, my Nero burning program went down the toilet. So, they can go fuck themselves, they slashed my system and the only way to put it normal is to fucking reformat. Way to make a friend in the buying world, EA, and by the way, how would you like to suck shit? Oh, that's right, you already did by putting fucking malware onto MY computer without my fucking consent, you dickless mothers!! Ok, I feel a little better now, but not much... *mumble, snort, bastards, jerks, assholes, fuckwits, snort, mumble*

Paden, do you need some toilet paper for that potty mouth? :shock: lol, I'm just teasing *offers cookies & hug*

I'm probably not as pissed off as you are, but I definitely understand where you're coming from and want EA & Sony to pay.  I think a lawsuit is deserved, no matter what the program does or doesn't do.  I've said that like 50,000 times in this thread.

DeathtoTSR - I'm Canadian too, perhaps you could help me on who to contact and stuff?  I think over here they actually violate more than one law, I'm pretty sure of that.  If you could post that here, even, that would be good.  I'm pretty sure we have other Canadians here who read this and may want to know what steps to take.

As you know each province has their own provincial legislatures and laws and agencies. Here in Quebec there is a consumer protection agency (it's a long French name that I don't remember now). Plus I believe the Federal gov't has agencies or departments that look into fair trade practices and breaches of such. So given the fact that I have no clue which part of Canada you live in, all I can suggest is that you look in the blue pages in the phone book under whatever appropriately named gov't departments you can find that will help defrauded consumers. Or if your province has all of their stuff on a website somewhere like the Cdn gov't does, perhaps you can find them online.

Well the law is simple that they violated. They willfully and knowingly disabled and perhaps damaged private property (it's like as if you suspected one of them of something and just based on pure suspicion without having any actual proof of them having done it, decide to go and smash their car windows and tires - that's illegal - pure and simple).  If they suspect anyone or a bunch of anyones of piracy or breaching their copyrights (and if that bothers them so much why are they letting TSR operate and get away with it?), they have legal recourse to go after them on it, but they do NOT have the right to deprive someone of use of their own personal property (as in disabling CD/DVD writers), or damaging their personal property (by making their computer and other software nonfunctional to the point where they have to reformat and maybe lose data etc on account of having to do that). That is ILLEGAL and I'm sure it's not just illegal here in Canada but perhaps world wide.

I hope people are doing this. Nothing is gonna change if we don't and Sony will get away with it again.   :evil: If you don't wanna call, do it online. And for those wishing to follow-up with a letter here are some address's I found at the BBS -

Electronic Arts
209 Redwood Shores Pkwy
Redwood City, CA 94065

Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20580

and address it to: Deborah Platt Majoras - Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, who has prosecuted Sony for this stuff once already.

To those requesting links and contact information for your protection agencies. I just did a quick cursory search in Google and came up with those for Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, the Canadian Federal Gov't and one that has a lot of links to various consumer protection agencies world wide and I will post them here:

The English version of the Quebec gov't site:

http://www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/e_HotLine/map_Site.asp

Ontario protection agency:

http://www.gov.on.ca/MGS/en/ConsProt/050451.html

The one for Nova Scotia:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/consumer/abstracts.asp


The one for the Canadian Federal gov't:

http://kingston.cioc.ca/details.asp?RSN=21335&Number=63


And lastly the one for the list of links world wide:

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/55533


Hope that helps those of you who are having problems with Securom.

And to answer those who asked me about how you know you have Securom on your system.... You will find a folder in your  C:\Documents and Settings\username (whatever that is)\Application Data when you use the Windows search for SecuROM filename and tick the advanced search features to show hidden files and folders.

Who does EA think they are, the gubmint? That they can go in and disable something just because they think someone is going to burn off something that will violate their security? What about our rights as the owner of the property damaged? Who are they to say that I have to disable a part of my computer that happens to be used to burn off images that I own? Who are they to say that I can't share the pics of MY kid? No one, and they have violated my freedoms... I resent the hell outta that.

Hey kiddies! Here's how you bypass the launcher;



:) Worked for me. I quite liked the launcher anyway, I'm a weird one.

Thanks for posting the Canadian protection agency links deathtotsr.
I'm going to check and see if there is one for Western Canada(Alberta). Not many serious Simmers in my area, so doubt it will make any impact.
Now stuck with useless software because I can't do a patch with my current set up, and trading it in would just mess up someone else's computer.
EA can go woo-hoo themselves. :evil:

Eh, what a cream of shagwa. It doesn't take energy to hold onto anger, you GET energy from holding onto it. Without anger, what is there to live for? Anger is the underlying element behind everything I've bothered to do. If it doesn't piss me off, why do I need to do anything about it, after all? Without anger, there is only apathy, and apathy is hardly a good motivator for action.

I'm more mad at Maxis than TSR or any other paysite. But y'all know I have perma-PMS.

Since the "official" patch is garbage, does MATY have all the needed fixes the official patch is said to do?

I've found anti-redundancy and some fixes, but I can't seem to find the other ones in the "official" patch list:



I must be crazy for wanting BV :(

Actually for novelty's sake and if you actually play the game, it's pretty fun. I don't blame ya, Renegade.  :lol:

Avoidable, don't call tour guides and chefs. Why you would try to in the first place is beyond me.
Avoidable. You know how you got there...the car's at the curb. Why bring out the cellphone?
For me, the shuttle-related annoyance is that, if you end vacation early, it will try to pick your sims up again after dropping them at their home. Either way, a fix would be appreciated.
Ditto the above. I still wonder if it's doing playable neighbors or all character files.
There are many no-autonomous hacks for this. TwoJeffs may have them (he does some similar), Monique...look around.

You're right - I'd only call Townies or vacation locals.  No need to call the chef or whatever.

Good point to the cellphone thing: none of my Sims are allowed to own a cellphone, anyway.

The shuttle vacation thing, I don't really understand it but it does sound like a fix would be nice.

The neighbourhood scour thing sounds like it does all the character files, but I have no way of knowing that for sure.

I'll check out some No-Autonomous hacks.  The only non-autonomous hacks I've used have been Squinges.

I've collected almost all of Pescado's BV hacks.  Once I make sure things are good to go, I'll probably snag myself a copy!

My OS has crashed. In response to recently installed programs. Bv is the latest thing installed, nothing but sims games on my cpu. I am fuming. I can't even complete sentences. I am on hold with the Tech help at EA, the guy can not spell "mama".   :evil:  :x

I just got a response back from the FTC:



So, if you haven't filed a complaint, please do.  The more people that bitch, the faster the FTC will act.

Like we didn't see this coming.... (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=a91e5a1fdf562f6487b928279c8b1a80&directoryID=2&startRow=1&openItemID=item.2,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23)

Official SecuROM Statement from EA/Sony DADC  (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=586cb2d4a69162c5b8937c45c94b79e5&directoryID=211&startRow=1&openItemID=item.211,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23)

 :evil:  :roll:  :evil:

Yea..they are basically saying that we are liars since only 41 people called to complain.

So if your having problems you better call and file a complaint with the FTC if your in the US.

It's fun to get statistics to say what you want!

The way it's phrased is that 41 people called (not e-mailed, sent a letter, chatted with a representative) and specifically asked if their problems were caused by SecuROM (as opposed to people who may be having problems with SecuROM that are being blamed on something else by EA tech support, or just didn't know enough to ask specifically about SecuROM). That also doesn't include anyone with SecuROM problems that didn't bring it up with tech support, and it doesn't address people who may not be having a specific problem now, but just not wanting risky programs installed on their computers without their consent.

I know that when I had a problem re-installing Hot Date back in Sims 1 days, EA Tech Support blamed it on a variety of things and finally declared that I had a unsupported CD-ROM drive, and it took the Sims community to tell me that SafeDisc was the reason the installer was asking for a file that didn't exist.

I did find the discussion on how apparently there couldn't be a disclaimer in the Bon Voyage EULA because there is no Bon Voyage EULA interesting, though. No wonder I couldn't find it....

I'm one of those that went to EA's site and emailed tech support.  I asked them how can I back up my computer files to CD since SecuRom has disabled my burning software.  Their answer?  Uninstall BV (like that would get rid of SecuRom).

Is EA so stupid to think that we're going to forget all about this and keep buying their products?  Are they trying to get out of the PC side of their business?  Sure does seem that way, especially since they've phased out a lot of their sports games, making them only available to console players.  First we had that gawd-awful "Bustin' Out" and now "MySims".  At this point, it wouldn't surprise me.

*adjusts tinfoil cap

It also doesn't take into account the scads of folks who went to MATY or wherever to rip it out themselves.

The 'numbers' thing pissed me off, just another way of blaming the customer for the problem instead of taking any kind of effective responsibility.

And Burpie got canned for saying basically the same things (albeit in a rather immature fashion).

They turned me into a pirate today!  Do I get a cake?   :wink:

That new SecuROM info release on their site is a lie as well. I know for a fact that it DOES disable DVD/CD writers (or the burning software - in my case it's Nero), because the old DVD writer that I had that stopped writing anything legible on here, is on my husband's computer and works perfectly fine there. In a little while I will be trying my new DVD writer to see if it writes anything that's legible or not. I am positive it won't though. So there was nothing wrong with my DVD writer that SecuROM didn't make wrong.

They are just trying to fiddle the numbers to make it look like it's no issue and are lying through their teeth when they say it doesn't affect any system hardware or other software and that it's merely their program's security protection. That's total 100% unadulterated BS.

Good. That made my day.
 :D
This whole thing with EA though has nearly killed my love for the game. If there is a number 3 I can't see it selling very well.
Everything EA touches turns to shit.

I wonder if they counted the people that they hung up on when SecuROM was mentioned.

They're just covering their asses. Not very well, though.  :lol:

What I'm worried about is idiots like these that will just let EA get away with this:



Translation: "Yay!  They've given us a way to get rid of SecuROM!  Just uninstall Bon Voyage and never play it again, see how nice these people are?!  If you don't want your systems to have problems just get rid of BV!  You people have to understand, forget about the fact that SecuROM was installed on your computer without any disclosure or consent, and think of the fact that they actually gave us a cool way to disable it!  Thank you so much, EA, I look forward to letting you damage my future computer, as well as the computers of all your other customers! ^_^"

Edit: There's also THIS moron:

Yes, because obviously for some people losing money be it on a game or your computer you take in to have repaired, is no big deal.  :roll:

I was going to reply to him but really don't see the point because it seems his mind is made up.  I wonder when/if they are going to tell us anything about SecuROM and Vista being incompatible.

What is this, Maxis?

(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n290/Eloquee/wtfisthismaxis.png)

The words are 'MIA: Tattoo Icon' by the way.

PATCHFIX, I SAY!!

Oh they're doing perfectly well for what we are trying to do.
Let them do this publically... more proof of them looking down on, and using their fanbase just how they see fit.

To tell you the truth, EAxis has been becoming more Paysite-ish. I hate irony.

It's always been Paysite-ish considering the only way you could gain access to it, was by registering a legitimate copy of their game(s) which you had to pay for.

Seriously, guys, if you have SecuROM on your system and it's disabling your burning stuff and whatnot, antivirus, etc, humor him.  Follow these dumb steps, get your "ticket" processed, blah blah blah, prove them wrong.  Then they'll see that they are idiots and WRONG about the product they did not research.  Edit: Wait, no, don't do this yet until they reveal what information is being sent back in their "analysis reports".  And even if they tell us, can we trust it?  This is the only thing that would hold people back from following his instructions...cuz who knows what kind of info the report transmits.

Found in this important thread. (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=4f90725217b358753515d34b6a607873&directoryID=211&startRow=1&openItemID=item.211,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23)

I am without a doubt totally computer tech challenged. I will be, at some point, taking my computer to the shop where it was custom built, along with all necessary documents relating to Securom for its removal.
As for EAxis, this is the last time I will buy any of their products. As fast as threads and postsare being put up on the exchange, they are being deleted, and banning people seems to be their way of trying to control what is now an uncontrolable situation, as far as I can see. It doesn't matter how EA words it, the sheer number of complaints is far more than 41....
Now that the cat is out of the bag (so to speak) EA simply cannot backpedal fast enough.
I live in Canada and am in the process of filing a complaint with one of our government agencies. I am being advised that our copyright laws are extremely strict, and that in spite of the fact that EA is an American company, I still have a very strong and compelling case. The downside to it is that if they get enough complaints, and an investigation is launched, the outcome could be that EA will not be allowed to sell their products in Canada, unless they release products with the securom removed from them, or in BOLD print, include ALL information the package contains, including whatever they chose to include besides the game itself.....
For now I have to bear the repair costs myself, and unless a class action suit is brought against them from my country, I am SOL.

Wedgewood...which agency did you file the complaint with?
I'm wanting to do the same thing. My location is Western Canada(Alberta) and trying to find info online is a bit tricky as filing consumer complaints is somewhat new to me.
I'm mostly pissed because the roughly $60 dollars spent on unuseable software could have gone towards paying my student loans off.
I wouldn't have bought it or H&M knowing they had Sony created copyright programs on them. I am also completely daft when it comes to techie stuff and as mentioned earlier will probably have to go get my computer checked at some point because of this.

I thought that was pretty okay since it's legal. But by more paysite-ish, I mean they're becoming more of a pain in the ass than trolls and n00bs and Thoma$$.

I don't want EA Games to be closed down, since Sims 2 is still a pretty much, if you ignore the glitches, fun game.

Oh, but they could also have rushed to the release date to gain more purdy moneys. What Jackasses.

May I ask if I download the 'Cracked' copy, and uninstall Securom, will I still be able to play with my original families?

I haven't played with a cracked copy but from what I know about it there is no reason it should mess with your files in "My Documents > EA Games" so, yes.

EA won't be closed down but they do need to be held accountable for this shiturom mess.  

I frankly won't be buying anymore of their messes.  Seasons was the last game for me eventhough BV looks like fun.  I just don't want the hassles anymore.

People play the game for fun.  When the fun starts to be a headache it is no longer worth the energy.

ETA: They also need to be held accountable for the shittastic crap they've been releasing as well as the craptastic treatment of their customers.  

I've been bitter since the Uni fiasco. :evil:

If you used a cracked copy or a legit copy, as long as you don't run the game from the exe provided or the launcher, and use a no-cd crack, SecuROM won't be installed on your computer, from what I've read on MATY and the internet.  I haven't had SecuROM put on my computer doing this yet, and I've been playing it the last few days and constantly checking to make sure.

Here's the direct link for the Alberta one, you can still use the one I posted earlier for the Feds as well (it'll help to get as many gov't bodies on their case as possible):

http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=section:consumers

Wait, H&M has Securom as well? I thought it was just BV?

H & M does have it, but since you don't use that disc to play, it doesn't seem to cause the same problems.

That's what I thought, seeing as I never have any issues :lol: as long as it doesn't bork my laptop I'm fine :D

Just for your information, since my new DVD writer does work even with SecuROM installed, and my old DVD writer didn't work on here, but still works on my husband's computer, he believes that SecuROM probably reads and disables certain ROM BIOSes of certain peripheral and not the software (like Nero - as Nero is the only burning software I have so was used on both). Or certain manufacturers (like in this case, LG as it's my old LG writer that won't work here anymore) may cooperate with Sony and put a code in their ROM BIOSes that can either read or be used somehow by SecuROM and deactivates on it's own.

Thanks for the link :D
I wonder if this problem occurred with TS1. My parents CD Burner was fine when they first got it, but around the time we bought TS1 Deluxe Edition three years ago, it started acting up. It's an LG burner too...

Hmm, well, we only have Bon Voyage installed on two of our four computers, one of which has a multi external burrner, and both computers have Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 installed, and no probelms. My beau, BionixWV here is a pc nerd, so he's checked and rechecked and Securom hasn't been causing us any probelms, though he's waiting to see what happens when he installs it on our lone Vista desktop (the two BV desktops are XP home).

I and a few other people I know of weren't so lucky. In fact I know 3 other people personally who had precisely the same problem I'm about to describe (which is what happened to me)....

The game and all already burned CDs/DVDs reads fine no problem. However if you try to burn a data DVD, it appears that it's burning it. I mean Nero goes to the end and says it was successful and spits the disk out at the end of the session like normal. So you *think* it was successful and went alright - that is until you stick that disk back into a drive to be read (any drive even the same one that burned it) and the reader can't even find it. So everyone (me included) who had this problem thought our DVD writers malfunctioned and died and went and bought new ones.  Though I am the only person of all the people I know personally who've had this problem that has other computers available to try the old DVD writer on. We wouldn't have thought to try it had it not been for the SecuROM issue. My husband probably would've taken it apart for parts at some point, if we didn't get curious to see if it would still work but on a computer that's not affected by SecuROM.  So he put it in his computer to try it and it worked perfectly and whatever he burned on disk using it, was readable here on my machine. Yet when it was in my machine and I burned disks on it after installing H&M & BV (bought those 2 at the same time) I couldn't read it here, nor could it be read elsewhere. He basically has the same set up as me - with the same operating system and utilities etc except he doesn't have any new games (his are all antiquated and ran on 386s - but he likes them, so what can I say?) hence no weird anti-piracy protection schemes to screw his system up, so the LG DVD writer works there, but not here.

Well, I guess all I can say is congratulations.  Others do in fact, seem to be having very real problems with Securom.

I don't understand why you'd want to install it now. I sure as heck wouldn't. I don't plan on buying it anymore. No way no how. Not even if they fix it or change it.

I have BV, but haven't bothered to install it.

The hasle of updating all my hacks and mods, dealing with SuckyROM, and hoping that NVidia Blue Screen Of Perpetual Lag problems don't resurface all combined to make installing BV a headache before I even looked at it.

Maybe I'll ARRRR! it eventually. Or wait until someone makes a SecuROM removal .exe program, like the StarForce driver remover .exe I have. I installed a Microids (RIP) game with SF on it and wasn't aware of it being there until it tried to bork my legitimate software.

Since I have little free time, dealing with copy protection programs that want to kill my laptop is not on my list of Funtime Activities. I'd rather not play any games at all than deal with that shit. It's not worth the little bit of fun the game may provide.

Stupid fuckers. Copy protection programs DO NOT WORK.

I will just not buy a game if it has CP on it and I know this in advance. Even seeking out an ARRRR! version can be a pain in the butt when you have dialup and can only ARRRR! slowly or by leaving your house to find a WiFi spot that doesn't block torrenting.

Confirmed: Applying no-CD crack (the Fairlight one, anyways, can't speak for all others) right away and never running it from the .exe prevents SecuROM from being installed. I applied the Maxis patch, then put the crack back in, and Pescado said that was a no-no  :oops: so uninstalled and reinstalled BV. Other than losing a couple of downloads as I hadn't backed up my CC for a couple days, everything was fine and no SecuROM.

I also recently uninstalled and reinstalled Oblivion (got a conflicting Beautiful People 2.7 mod when apparently I had some other eye-affecting thing that didn't play nice and cleaning everything up would have taken hours) and can confirm that Oblivion doesn't have SecuROM, even after the latest patch (2.16?). Also can confirm that the damned thing still gives me motion sickness if I play for more than an hour. And I suck at being an archer in first-person games.

Sorry to stray off topic here, but thank god I thought I was the only one! I have not been able to play most games since the Nintendo 64 because they make me so sick after about a half hour. I take crap loads of motion sickness pills before playing but it usually does not ever help.

Edited to be readable.

YOu might try using ginger (the spice),  either the dried powder (makes lovely tea)  or the crystalized kind.  It works better than motionsickness meds.

I think I can confirm that using a NoCD is fine, as long as you never run the game from the original .exe or use the launcher.  My system is running fine off a Yo-ho-ho'd copy & Fairlight crack that came with the copy.  So far, so good, though I haven't scanned my system for SuckuRom or tried to use my burner.

I don't know if SuckuROM will install if you use the legit copy w/ a noCD crack.  I've heard that putting that CD into your computer triggers the SuckuRom, but who knows.  Don't take my exact words on this.

Found this info while cruising the BBS:

Do you work for AAA Carolinas?  :)  Because that's where I work (I'm a trainer at the call center) and everything you've posted sounds very familiar to me.  :)

Okay, now that I've finished reading the entire thread, I must say that I'm pissed beyond measure!  I do not use any of these Cd-burning programs, because unfortunatly coming to this site is about as much on the dark side as I travel, but it still burns me up!  I can't even put together an intelligent thought right now, I'm so mad!

Yeah, but that's the kind of bureaucratic process that tends to mostly drive home the canned, ineffectual nature of your system.

I prefer the following system:
Listen
Acknowledge
Fix
Fuck Off.

It makes for a much faster turn-around. Besides, everyone knows customers are never satisfied, so just fix the problem and fuck off. :P

Another reason why it's better is because the first letters ain't making any stupid acronym. The only thing worse than stupid corporate acronyms are motivational posters.

Oh really?  :?

I can't believe they're still sending out that ridiculous removal tool that doesn't do a damned thing.  :evil: And they're still denying SecuROM does anything................besides provide "copy protection for Bon Voyage."

What a load of shit. It actively searches your drives for programs and then disables the ones that SONY thinks you shouldn't have!!!!

Though it pains me do so, I must agree with you Pes.  We have fixed computers for people who swear that someone is coming in and messing with their settings.  Even though they didn't have that little "Save Settings on Exit" checked.  Trying to explain too much always leads to dumber questions.  And I wouldn't trust a fucking thing Sony says period, I've seen to much of their technical brilliance.  Won't even go into EA dumbshits.

Technically, they're correct because it didn't do jack-shit to my burner but it screws with my burning software.



As far as I'm concerned, SecuROM/Sony is the third party since my agreement was with EA and not them.  Since I didn't agree to have their crap on my machine, I consider it malware.  So there, they're wrong.



'Scuse me, downloads license data and information onto my computer without my permission?  Whenever Windows Media, ZoneAlarm or any other program I have on my computer wants to update, it asks me, whether in the initial setup (Would you like automatic updates?) or whenever there is an update ready to download.  But, they think it's alright to just use my computer to store their shit at their pleasure and I'm supposed to be OK with that?  I think not.

Requip, I'm writing to that law firm you posted.

I've already contacted them and made sure to mention Sony DRM (they're very familiar with that) and the FTC settlement as well as SecuROM and EA. It does say they respond to all communications so I'm curious to see what they say.

I hope others do the same. Sooner or later, the FTC calls/emails and this may do some good.  :?

(well, fu**.........I can hope, can't I?)

Hey, all we have right now is hope since EA isn't doing the right thing and trying to fix this.

I mentioned the FTC settlement, copied my complaint to the FTC and mentioned the names Electronic Arts/EA, Sony DRM, SecuRom, plus sent them a few links to the Wiki entry and the BBS.

I'm hoping everyone who's pissed off does something because the more that complain and say Hell No!, the more action will come from it.

I've read through, and didn't see where the no cd crack was explained as legal or not for sure.  I just thought I'd let you all know that at the BBS they are saying that no cd cracks are illegal, even if you are using it to power your legally purchased game.  Someone's post about it was deleted, and they threatened with permaban if it's brought up again.  

I don't know how to make a tiny url, so it's at the bbs under secure rom, titled fandec130.   It was posted by SimMasterZen.

**edit** They have also added it to the bbs rules, as the very first thing not to be discussed, since it is "illegal".  http://thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs_rules.php

According to Wikipedia:
Note "No-CD cracks have legal uses, such as creating backups of legally owned software (a user right by law in many countries) or avoiding the inconvenience of placing a CD-ROM in the drive every time the software is being used".

So, yeah. Very very illegal stuff there. I use no-CD cracks for all my CD-based games now. My PC setup makes putting in/switching CD's a royal pain in the butt (stupid tower is 1/2" too big to fit in my roller table).

Echo the Dolphin, which was a game for the Dreamcast, made me throw up just from hearing it. First person games it takes about an hour, and it's the motion. But I do get used to it after a bit. When I was doing my first play-through of Oblivion, I had to take it in little bits, then I could play for hours with no problems. Though I think the way the bow moves gets me more now. Odd, I've never been carsick and I love rocky boats.

I agree.  I think that since I've legally purchased the games I play (I don't have anything after seasons.)  I should be able to play them without having to insert my cd every time.  I just know that the bbs is taking the stance that all no cd cracks are illegal, and you aren't allowed to even mention them, for fear of bannination.  I am in total disagreement, I just know that if you have a no cd crack on the computer, ea considers it illegal, so you may have some troubles if you were choosing to deal with them.  (god only knows why would would choose to deal with them now though.)

I am really, really glad I never got Bon Voyage now.  I hear it's really fun though.   Do the No CD hacks circumvent the SecuRom problems for sure?  If so, then I can purchase and be tricky.

Sorry but I disagree with you and have 2 DVD burners & 2 computers here to attest to the fact. I had an LG burner, which after installing H&M & BV (bought at the same time) messed the LG burner over so good it couldn't write anything legible (not even when re-read on itself). So I bought a new burner (different brand - but not naming it so that those who want to tighten things up and might be reading this won't know which to tighten). I didn't change/re-install or set up anything in Nero - it was the same as it was when the LG was on here. Yet my new one burns things properly. And if you've read the thread, you'll know that the LG works perfectly fine on my husband's computer (which doesn't have SecuROM on it) and whatever it writes on his computer, can be read anywhere including back on itself again. So they mess with the burners - probably it has something to do with the burner's ROM BIOSes.

They are still claiming that SecuROM is nothing but copy protection and will never admit otherwise until the FTC or someone makes them responsible.

Still can't get answers and still getting canned responses.   :evil:

Have you tried using uTorrent? I've never had anything but problems with Azureus mainly because it's Java based and takes up more space than you would expect from a program like that.


I was personally turned into an Yo Ho Ho 'er after University. I haven't once had issues once with TS2 and SecuROM or anything of the like, aside from my little scuffle with BioShock.

For the many of you out there that have fears of torrenting or Yo Ho Ho 'ing in general. The lady that went to trial with the RIAA was using LIMEWIRE. Limewire is not and never will be your friend. Make sure 'if' you are torrenting it is from a friendly and credible site usually complete with forums. (IsoHunt, Demonoid are my main sources although the latter is member only. IsoHunt usually has uploads of Demonoid files though!) Make sure that the file you are interested seems to be of an accurate size. NEVER and I mean never Yo Ho Ho rar or zip files of anything if you know it contains multiple files this is the easiest way to get a corrupt file and "fuxx up yo shite" (This excludes TS2 Yo Ho Ho 'ed content, that is a whole other story).

If you are smart and logical about your Yo Ho Ho 'ing you will never, if ever rarely, have any issues with any files.



Awesomely Fluffy,
~ Kitty Buns
Corrupting the world since 1988.

They've removed most of the stickes at the BBS (cuz it was all bullshit)  :roll: and the latest from Maxoid Sam is that SafeDisk is exactly the same as SecuROM in that it leaves behind registry keys when you uninstall.

Claims people posted problems with SafeDisk at the beginning also? I don't remember a single post?  :shock: Course I didn't check the BBS back then but does anyone remember anything like that? Or is he blowing smoke up everyone's ass as usual?  :D

I think he's blowing smoke because I don't remember anything like that.  If SecuROM is exactly the same as SafeDisk, why did they stop using SafeDisk?  And if there was issues with SafeDisk in the past, why did he just post about this now, over a month after the shit hit the fan?

Even if programs I've uninstalled in the past left garbage in the registry, I've never, ever had to download a separate program to remove the crap.  Now, for a trojan, virus or a worm, yes, and that's exactly what you have to do get Sony's shit off the computer.  And never, ever have I had a registry folder that I couldn't open and see the contents.  Never.

I just think it's bullshit they allowed it on there anyways.
Do they really think ANY copyright protection is going to stop people from re-creating the disks anyways?
There are ALWAYS ways around that stuff.

I'm super dissapointed in EA.
I've never seen a company more or less tell people DEAL like they have. It's sad that they care so much about their fan base that sneak shit in without prior announcements or whatever.
I won't buy anything else from them if they don't knock off the supah sekrit installs.

Err ok, I hope I don't get alot of flack from this and I'll apologize in advance to those of you who know completely what is going on.  I have been gone from the community for a couple of months now (family issues and then my 12 year old kitty died) so I am kind of behind on this whole BV thing and I am not sure I grasp entirely just WTF is the problem with it, though it seems rather serious and frustrating.

I started reading through the first three pages and felt that even then I already stepped into the conversation too late, so if someone can sum up just what is going on or can direct me to a post that does I would be forever grateful.  

That said should I even buy BV?  I have always legally bought every game I have ever played, and had every intention to do so for this one, but um, if there are 20 pages of people here up in arms over EA I am not so sure I want to support them this time around.  Then I guess my last question would be is there an alternative BV that I can get ahold of that doesn't have this whatever is making you so angry or atleast a way to fix what is?

Thanks so much.
Sherry

In short:

1.Bon Voyage CD and DVD have Securom. It will install on your pc while you install the game. Securom may disable and damage programs on your computer Sony doesn't want you to use, because they are associated with piracy.

2.Bon Voyage obtained the illegal way, does not contain Securom. Wich means Securom is just a big pile of fail. It has failed it's pupose, to protect the expansion from being pirated. (plus, it's commonly known, a gamecompany's employees often put up games before or on the release date)

3. EA denies that Securom damages copmutersystems, has done everything to cencor people who point to real information, and keep lying about it.

That's about it.

I thought you could install it from the disk, and then download a no-cd crack to play, since it is installed from the exe you use to run the game.

Sorry to hear about your kitty, Sherry.  :(

I'd like to just elaborate on #1 of Nouk's nicely concised breakdown.

SecuROM is disabling LEGITIMATE, factory installed CD burning software like Nero for some people (amongst other things), because it 'blacklists' certain programs as conducive to piratey type behavior.  In other words:  it's making decisions about what people have on their computers OUTSIDE of the confines of the game.  Not cool.

People have also reported that it alters antivirus settings without their permission or knowledge.  Because they are not aware that SecuROM could be creating problems with certain driver software, people are taking their comps to geek techs, replacing drives that may be perfectly fine, and reformatting their computers.

I don't as yet have any issues, tho my wireless router drivers up and uninstalled on me out of nowhere a week after installing BV (easily fixed with a call to Comcast), but I worry that because SecuROM needs to update itself, one day I'll have a new peripheral or software rendered non-functional because SecuROM doesn't like it.

EA is whinging that not enough people are coming forward with complaints and the necessary ENCRYPTED analysis files generated by SecuROM (why the hell are they encrypted?!); people with problems didn't wait an entire month to get their problems fixed, that's why, and they're not about to reinstall the thing that caused them problems so EA can tell them it's all in their heads.

Currently, and in the face of a forum full of angry people, EA is convinced that SecuROM works properly.  They are assholes and not to be rewarded for such bad behavior.

Keep your money.  Screw 'em.

This whole conversation has confirmed to me that I'm really stupid about computers.  I had no inkling about Securom until I cruised in here.  So stupid me, I went and installed my perfectly legally store-bought copy of Bon Voyage without having any clue that there was any secret software attached.  I wondered why my stupid computer keeps telling me that I'm trying to use a "copy" of the disc rather than the original disc (I'm not).  I'm very glad that I'm anal enough to test every DVD that I burn rather than simply putting them away somewhere to watch later.

I hope this issue blows up and forces EA to reconsider using this software in the future.  Secretly slipping us software that affects our computers beyond the scope of their own product seems so unethical to me--how is it legal?

Um Wow!  Thanks Nouk and Jfed for the answers.  No wonder people are so pissed off.  That completely sucks that any software would do something to anything else on your PC whether it's legal like Nero or not.

I buy the sims so I can play the sims game and create free content for the sims game, it shouldn't do anything to my computer but allow me to play sims.  It's none of EA's business if I burn a CD or DVD I own here or there for my younger sister and if they messed up my PC they would be getting a bill.   If EA wants to get involved in this shit I will not longer be giving them any of my money.

So glad I was not around to rush out and get BV.  Good going idoits @ EA, I am sure it's not rocket science to play your games without purchasing them, and I am about to find out when typically I - and I am sure many other - who would have been content paying for the shit and not going through the hassle.

Now then, can anyone send me a pm where I can go about getting a cleaned up version of BV?  

Thanks again for clearing this up.

Sherry:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9929.0.html

Kari/Zazazu broked it down.   :D

Edit:  try this one too:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9559.0.html


The Bioshock forums are fun reading too:

http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8250

It's the Digital Rights Management (DRM) issue in general.  They want to stop 'piracy' but are taking it out of the hides of legit paying customers.  It's so stupid.

Solianq:  I personally don't think it is legal to install something without my knowledge, that I cannot fully remove, that will take inordinate control of my private property.  They're skirting the law somehow with this DRM crap, but I do hope to see them suffer for taking such liberties.

Thanks again JFed, I know what I'll be up to tomorrow.

Yeah backwards thinking on EA's part.  I always wonder why these software/record/movie companies are so stupid.  Someone is going to crack whatever security you have on whatever digital media you are selling, and someone is going to make your game or what have you illegally available for download and someone else is going to illegally obtain it.  You want to give them a reason not to do this shit, which is unfortunately exactly the opposite these idiotic companies end up doing.  Over charging and messing up your PC.  It's no wonder that people end up having no sympathy when they here about lower numbers due to piracy.

No forward thinking ever.  Except for Radiohead (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/radiohead-album-price-tag-its-up-to-you/?hp)

Radiohead kicks ass.

I heard or read somewhere (maybe here? I can't recall) that piracy goes UP every time an industry installs some sort of security software. People don't like you to fuck with their computers or their privacy. Surely EA has to realize that they're losing more money now than they were.

Silly campers.

You are most welcome, Sherry.  :)

And Hec:  Hells yeah.  I had no inclination to nor any slim clue how to pirate anything until now.  I still haven't done so (it's already on my puter, dammit), but I've got all the tools ready to go if I make such a decision.  The sure thing is that EA gets no more of my money if they continue to cling to this ridiculous concept.  Quite the bankrupt brain trust they've got over there.  They've lost far more than they've gained, but somehow they refuse to see it that way and maybe they never will.  I'm insanely curious about what their upcoming holiday numbers are going to look like; I want them to take a bloodbath, but who knows...

Like I needed another stick up my butt.   :roll:

FWIW Sherry, if you have H&M Fashion Stuff Pack it's also bundled with Securom so you might want to search your computer for it.

I've done a search of mine and haven't found anything (I have a yohoho'd copy of H&M but I didn't install BV).

Just a heads up.

Yeah, but because you still use the Seasons .exe you don't get SecuRom installed.  I have both, installed in order, and SecuRom wasn't installed until BV.

Well, that explains why I can't find it on my computer. I installed H&M and then installed Seasons. Phew!  8) No BV for me until/unless they remove  SecuRom from it.

I'm sorry for all of you who've installed BV and have gotten fucked up computers for your troubles.  EA makes me furious.  If I weren't such a lady, I'd do a Paden. :lol:

Hope this isn't too off topic, but RADIOHEAD RULES!  Best band in the world.  Have you guys heard In Rainbows yet?

Yeah I hear it all the time at work. It's a featured album on Triple J (a radio station here)

So uh.. I'm more excited about Ween's new album "La Cucaracha" I love that band. Especially the Blarney stone song. It reminds me a lot of this place...
 :lol:  

"Down to the pub for a two shilling ale
The bread on the counter is going stale
If I dont get some fresh bread soon
Gonna punch you in your face and bark at the moon"



 :lol:  :lol:  :twisted:

Iz you implyin' Paden ain't a lady?  :wink:

I heard Radiohead was telling everyone they could pay what they want for their new album. Even nothing. Wonder how that's gonna work out.

That's good to know, thanks.

Yes.  Well the technically it would work out that you have to pay $.2 at the most.  Still, the premise is admirable, and for whoever asked I think it's pretty good.  Finally, someone realistically looking at piracy.  Now obviously you could probably get it for free, but the point is you want to give your fans a reason to pay for your work.  

Legal, content that is reasonably priced and delivers what is advertised I am willing to pay for.  Legal, expensive content that could potentially screw my PC, not so much.  

So I have Seasons installed, I have H&M (still shrink wrapped) can I install it without any problems then?

As far as I know - yes.  I had H&M on for a while, but my SecuRom folders are dated the day of BV's release.  Pescado or someone more technical might be able to inform you better though  :D

I don't think Radiohead will take a financial hit on In Rainbows.  There were more than a million downloaders on the first day, and some of them must have paid something.  :)  Also, they're offering a box set that includes another set of songs on CD, as well as artwork, the first set of songs on CD, and the entire thing on vinyl.  It costs $81.00 US, and though I don't know how many have been pre-ordered, I'm sure the most rabid among us have sprung for it no matter the price.

AND they announced a world tour starting next May, in bigger venues than their tour last year.  That's bound to be a goldmine. 8)

It's working out very well. So far, they've earned over 9 million dollars.

Not to mention that there is the special edition in the works, next year they'll release the CD version of In Rainbows, and they're about to start their world tour. Tours is where you make the money these days, in addition to the merchandise. So, it is working out very well indeed.

Hopefully this time they'll come to Finland.
I've been a fan since they released Pablo Honey.

Yeah, pirates FTW!!  We have great taste!

I hope they do get to Finland, alia.  Did you see them in Copenhagen, or was that too far to travel?

I sorta followed them up and down the east coast of the US last summer. Finances took a major hit.  But it was worth it.
 :mrgreen:

hello guys,
i have a question, can we avoid the problems in BV if we use a no cd crack to play instead, of the cd we purchased?
if not, is there any way at all to play it with no bug?

Go to Nouk's site http://www.noukiesims2.net/.  There's lots of info to be found on her front page.

I'm hoping that upcoming Teen Style Stuff Pack, which is sure to be loaded with SuckuROM will bomb badly as a result of this. However, knowing how many sheeple are out there, as well as fans who are completely oblivious to this, it's a doubtful occurrence.
Plus if it does happen, EA will probably just shrug it off due to it not being an EP and keep using ShituROM anyway.

Too far, unfotunately. :(

They've been to Finland once before, it was before they were hugely popular, and the gig was in a rather smallish tent, as a part of the Helsinki city festival.

I was underage, I had no money, no car/driver's licence, no place to crash and lived several hundred kilometres away from Helsinki, so I didn't go. I've been mentally kicking myself ever since.  :(

Oh well, it was my own stupidity. Sigh.

And you went to several concerts. Oh, how I envy you, dietofworms!

thank you :D

:) BV's been fun but I'm going to have SecuRom uninstalled soon (I've been putting it off). No CD-Cracks are illegal, aren't they? But they don't make much difference to me since I already paid for the legal copy.

Tsk, tsk. Unless they remove SecuRom they're losing a loyal customer, and many others too, I'm assuming.

ETA: Since I have to patch the game after I download the No-CD crack, it will automatically install SecuRom back, won't it? Also, will the patch work with the No-CD crack?

Depends where you are, really. For example, here using a nocd crack is not illegal if you own the original version of the game.



At least some of the NoCD cracks do not work after you've patched the game. You need to wait for somebody to update the NoCD crack before you can use it. Besides, according to Pescado, the current patch only patches Securom, and has borked some people's games royally, so it should be avoided at all costs. Besides, MATY hacks fix most of the BV bugs.

Go to MATY for more info. You should be able to get the most recent info for NoCD hacks there. However, remember that if you feel the urge to post,  the MATYans are even more scary and ruthless than we are, so be at your best behaviour.

Well, Suck-u-Rom has officially made my husband a  little paranoid about the issue!!!  We had discussed the issue the other evening as he was doing his regular spy-ware checks.  He said at first that since we do not use any DVD-writing software, and since we had not already encountered any problems, he felt fine with me running the game as it.  He found nothing related to it on the AdAware or McAfee's AntiVirus, so to him, it was fine.  He knows a little more about computer than I do (Two years at Devry for Systems Analyst before becoming a Respiratory Therapist), so I didn't worry about it anymore.  Yesterday, I played BV for a couple of hours. I got done and signed off to start dinner, and he signed on the computer.  The comptuer wouldn't work.  It had frozen up.  He couldn't even Alt-Ctrl-Delete out of it, had to shut the computer down at the switch.  When he restarted it, it was giving him several different port failures, keybord failures, ect.  He wondered if Suck-u-Rom had caused it.  I told him that it had worked fine while running the game.  He called Customer Support, the computer guy told him that either something had come loose, or we needed to replace the motherboard.  ARG!  Luckilly, he opened the computer up, cleaned off some dust, and it has been working fine since.  But, he's a little leary of me playing BV.  I told him that if I played again and we got the same issues, we'd know that BV caused it.  But, I seriously doubt it!  It's just that fear, ya know, that there's something forigen on our computer, that we didn't put it there, and that we don't know for sure what problems it may or may not cause.  It's enough to make someone very paranoid.   :?

I agree with you 100% That is the reason I have thus far avoided the game like a plague lately, I don't even have the will to play my game with out BV anymore. I am just so disappointed with EA these days. I have ARRed version of BV sitting on my hard drive just waiting to be installed, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

Yep I hope they enjoy this, they are going to be losing customers left and right I am sure.  I have never played without a disc before (ie. I bought the games).  

So while I am looking into playing that way now, if it's not too much of a pain in the arse I don't know how motivated I will be to spend the money again.  If I deem it too much of a hassle then they lost a customer for sure.  I've been becoming less and less interested in the game because of EA's other actions such as not dealing with paysites and releasing their games full of bugs and glitches.  

Sorry EA your games are just not going to be worth it with the numerous forms of entertainment out there.

Before this, whenever they released an expansion, I would rush out, buy it, and then wait for the mods to make it playable before installing. Now, because of EA's incredibly lame and selfish decision to screw with components on my computer that they have no business screwing with, I've taken a pass on BV (and quite possibly all further EA merchandise).

Maybe it's because of this that I haven't played the game in awhile and instead find myself buying more music again (sorry, no SONY crap).

Way to go EA!

:shock:

Now that jerkoff Maxoid Drea is quoting an article from online and saying that the Sony DADC team "passed them on to him."  :roll: Wait, this article is dated Aug 31st? And Sony just now passed it on?


Riiiiigggggghhhhhhhttttttt................ *throwing up a little bit in my mouth*

Passed what on to who? (whom?)  I'm lost, but I'm glad this thread is alive again, I was wondering whats going on.

Who's suing who?! Where's the FIGHT gone?

Was this mysterious thing passed to MaxoidDrea?  I thought Drea was a her, not a "him" :shock:

http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/weblog/2007/08/bioshock_rootkit_rumor_shot_do.html

That's the link Drea posted.  It would be fair if she posted all the other links scattered thruout that forum that shine a brighter light on Securom/SonyDADADA, but y'know.  Gotta pimp for the EA man.

Otherwise, Maxoids are maintaining radio silence over there.  Hoping it'll burn itself out, probably.

Oh. I don't really see the relevance of that article, seeing as how people wouldn't have these concerns and issues had EA not illegally installed a 3rd party software.. :roll:

I seriously hope this doesn't just "burn out".  There must be MOAR FIGHT!

I found this one post interesting.........

I think that we need legal definitions of just how far copy protection can go. Most countries have some sort of unreasonable search and seizure concept. The police (in the US) are not legally allowed to enter my house to search for illegal activity unless they have a warrant. What in the blazes gives Sony and EA the right to enter my computer without a warrant? Why do they think I'm willing to PAY for such an invasion?

and I think EA is just waiting for this to die down. They're keeping track of the number of posts, etc so they can eventually close the "SecuROM" part of the BBS off.  I say MOAR FIGHT too!  :D

This is just my opinion, nothing more, nothing less, but as far as I'm concerned, posting any kind of complaint at the BBS is useless. EA needs to take a direct hit to their bottom line, which means that no matter how enticing they make the next stuff pack, or the next expansion, that people simply don't buy it.
Another good thing to try is a snail mail letter campaign to the head of EA games. Tactics like these have been successful in bringing canceled TV series back for another season or two.
If you do decide to mail the CEO and Chairman of EA Inc,the address is:

Lawrence F. Probst III
Chairman and CEO
Electronic Arts Inc.
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City California  94065

That address is by the way public record.

Personally, I think it's time for all of us to make some noise with any media that will listen.  Sony did the same thing EA is doing now when they had the MediaMax issue.  They first denied that it was a problem and couldn't understand why people were upset, all the while claiming that privacy wasn't being compromised.  Then they issued a patch, but that only made the problem worse.  And then, only after some media (mainstream, bloggers, etc.) started talking about it, they did something about it.

A good site to contact, which was instrumental in the Sony case, was the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/cases/sony-bmg-litigation-info).  The Senior Staff Attorney there is Fred von Lohmann (http://www.eff.org/about/staff/fred-von-lohmann).

If I remember, it was Mark Russinovich who blogged about it (wasn't he an MS tech or something) that seemed to start it all.

His tech blog is here - http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/about.aspx

and I think the Sony DRM stuff was in the October 2005 archives. Alot of people have contacted him via his email regarding SecuROM.