StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

I got the game in the mail today and installed it.

There is, for certain, something wrong with the CD check. My CD runs constantly at high speed at all times as long as the Starfury CD is in the drive. Even when I'm not playing it. It is VERY loud and it cannot be good for the CD drive or the game disk to be constantly reving at high speed. This stinks. I have a rig that is less than 1 year old and have never had anything like this happen. Some of the beta testers said that there was no CD check in the beta so obviously I suspect that this wasn't really tested much.

I was dissapointed (to say the least) to see MM employ a CD check for Starfury. They cause more harm and user grief than good IMHO. I'd hoped MM would avoid this tactic unlike most of the other lemmings in the industry.

Brad Wardell, the founder and CEO of Stardock and designer of Galactic Civilizations, one of the very best 4X space strategy games around, recently wrote a very interesting article in which he argues that using CD protection on games only encourages piracy and that better solutions exist. It's an interesting, thoughful read and I agree with most of it. The link to the article is here on his personal web site and a link to it also can be found on the Galciv site:
http://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=209

I encourage you to read it.

Since Stardock also distributes their games via the Internet like Shrapnel does, I'd be interested to hear what the Shrapnel folks here and Aaron think about his business model and approach regarding this?

And what does everyone else think about this subject?

In the meantime, I'm really http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif about the CD!

Edited to add: BTW, I'm using WinXP Pro, not ME.

-ColdSteel

[ October 09, 2003, 20:44: Message edited by: ColdSteel ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Two things you can do that'll help, before MM hopefully removes it in a patch:

1. Make a copy. At least on my system, the copy runs smoother. (this -is- legal, you just set the CD you got in the mail aside as your backup)

2. Eject the CD after you start SF. It just wants it at the start, not later.

In another sign this wasn't thought through all that well, every time you insert the CD, the installer starts..

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Phoenix-D, There's a little known Windows secret that will help you with the Autoplay/install thing..

When you put the CD in the tray hold down the SHIFT key until the CD light goes out (5-10 seconds). This will prevent the auto run/install from running. This is much handier than turning off autoplay in the CD properties as some have suggested. This works with all Versions of Windows, at least from Win95 on.

My tip for the day. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I do hope Aaron removes the CD check in the patch. I wish they would just use a CD key instead. Anything so I don't have to mess with the dang CD everytime I want to play. And let's not even talk about laptops. I think the battery would die in about 15 minutes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Again, you can take the CD out right after you start. No battery issue. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I know about the autplay bit.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Well, I actually tried to run the game for the first time despite the ever running CD and even with the original game disk in the drive, all I get is a message to put the Starfury disk in the CD. Grrrr!

So, it will just not run the game at all.

I have an ABS AMD 2.2 Athlon system running Win XP Pro with the latest service pack and all updated drivers. The PC is only a year old. I am a 48 year old computer professional who writes software applications. This has got to be the copy protection. It installed fine. The disk is not bad. I made a copy of the CD with no errors but it does the same thing when I tried it. I'm going to try to re-install it but this is just plain stupid. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

I was really excited to get this game and I've bought SE4 and SE4 Gold both and I even had one of my game mods on the SE4 Gold CD (with Raynor)but if I had bought this thing from EB, it would be going back right now.

I have no idea what my options for returning the game are with Shrapnel but I guess I may have to find out. I don't want to. I want to play the game.

To those who have not yet purchased this game, beware.

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

There isn't much copy-protection at all, just a CD check. I wonder if they had a bad run of discs..

EDIT: which would mean even copying wouldn't help in your case, but its probably a bug in the CD check. Hrm. Make a disk image maybe? I doubt it will help but it might be worth a shot.

[ October 09, 2003, 22:43: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

I tried reinstalling the game to the default C: directory. I thought that maybe since I specified something other than the default, that might be it. Nope.

It still will not run. Basically, I just spent $40 (with shipping) for a game that I cannot play.

I guess my next step is to contact Shrapnel.

I am NOT a happy customer.

(Phoenix-D - thanks for trying to help.)

-Coldsteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

You might want to bring this to Aaron's attention.

Just to be clear, Shrapnel actually came out with the same policy statement Brad does on his site years ago. I don't believe piracy is curbed by copy protection, not at all. However it is up to each developer as to what they actually do with their final product.

You will not find copy protection on a Shrapnel produced product, and on most of our developer products.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

And after reading the entire thread, yes it would appear that you have been sent a bad CD. Unfourtanetly, even thought this is rare, these things do happen from time to time when producing thousands of copies of a game.

Please contact our customer service department so they can send you a replacement.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

ColdSteel:

We just installed, from 7 seperate cds on 7 seperate systems and we are having no problems. My guess to is a bad cd, which is quite rare as they are not burned, but stamped.

At this point you have two choices. Return the game to us - contact our support center for an rma number - and we will refund your entire purchase price, plus the cost of shipping the game back to us.

The second choice is to contact support and request a new cd. It will go out tomorrow if you get the request in before 11:00 am EDST.

I am truly sorry you are having problems, but we have thousands of copies out there and you are the only one we know of with these troubles.

Please accept our apologies.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Richard,

Thank you very much for responding. I have reported this issue to Shrapnel customer support as you've suggested.

If it is a bad CD it is very odd. Notmally with a bad CD the install can't get past the bad spot on the disk. The installs both went very smoothly and the install log didn't show any missing files or errors.

I'd hate to wait and wait and get a new CD only to have the same thing happen. I hope you will mention this to Aaron in case he thinks it is the CD check causing the problem.

In the Atari forums I've seem identical reports where the CD protection causes problems on some CD manufacturer drives. I've never had it happen to me before but apparently with the new Temple of Elemental Evil game (cool game, BTW), it is very common. I don't know what product or technique Aaron used but he should be made aware of it.

If others report the same problem I'm having, that's probably it. If I'm the lone voice, it may indeed be a bad CD. I hope that's all it is.

I'm glad to hear you guys agree with Brad. Common sense does previal once in a while.

Thanks, http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Tim,

Thank you. You guys are on the ball and I appreciate it.

I already had created an entry on the customer support site (reference number 1065741695) before I saw your post here.

I modified that entry to request a replacement CD and quoted your reply.

The mod went at the bottom of the original message form. Do you think they will see that or should I create another entry?

Thanks, http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

-ColdSteel

[ October 10, 2003, 00:05: Message edited by: ColdSteel ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

(Sigh)
And to think I took the whole day off tomorrow just to play this game. But nooooo, I've got to be the only one out there with the bad CD. I had it all timed out perfectly with the long weekend coming up and everything. It's like winning the lottery in reverse. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Cold Steel, I feel your pain. I'm having similiar problems myself. I guess I'll also ask for a replacement disc tomorrow. I just hope it's as simple a problem as a bad set of discs.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

I don't know if this is related to the previously described problems, but my disk would not work in my old computer. (Win 98 SE - 1GHZ AMD cpu)
When I placed it in the drive the install screen came up but I heard a very fast whine and very noticable vibration from my CD Drive. The Install kept slowing down and pausing until, at about 75% done, It stopped entirely! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
Concerned, I took the disk out and looked at it:
It was NOT warped or visually defective. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif
I next put it in the CD/DVD combo drive I have in my new computer. NO Problems! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif (I did hear the drive speed up...) Since I was going to play it mostly in the new computer, I didn't try to return it.
Just thought you might be interested hearing about this...

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmmm, I'll have to try that tonight to see if that works for me too. Keeping my fingers crossed until then......

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Tim,

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for me. I always run my desktop at 1024x768x32. I tried changing to an even higher resolution but it made no difference at all. Same error.

Also just for kicks, I just now tried installing it from my PlexWriter CD writer instead of from my Pioneer-DVD (hoping against hope). No go, same error message.

So, unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm going to need that replacement disk.

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Quick add-on, poosibly related

Aopen 52X CDROM, Plextor 48/24/12
AMD Barton 2500, A7N8x-Dx Rev 2, Nforce 2.45 drivers, BIOS 1004
Win2k, Sp3 , patches ...
Desktop 1024*768 @ 16 bit colour
Starfury also @ 1024*768

3 things seem to happen with my Starfury CD on running the program.
1. Happy happy joy joy
2. Clunck-chuggedda-vrrrrrrrrrrr-zoooom-vrrrrrr, but it still loads, and once it's running, the CD stops making interesting noises
3. No cd detected in drive. Pop out tray, pop back in, and go back to step 1 or 2.

I also haven;t heard any CD's make noises like the one coming out of the AOpen when it;s working on Starfury. It whrrrrs like a blank disc sometimes, but then makes sounds unique to it.
As i said though, it does play.

[ October 10, 2003, 17:35: Message edited by: it depends ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Just a quick suggestion for you ColdSteel...

Get on the web and grab yourself a good 1:1 CD imaging program, either CloneCD or Alcohol 120% (It's very important that whichever imaging software you use will make 1:1 copies). Then grab a copy of Daemon Tools. Install your copying software and Daemon tools, make a 1:1 image of the StarFury CD and then set one of the Daemon Tools virtual CD drives to point to the disk image. This should allow you to play the game without the CD in the drive.

BTW: this will work with almost ALL games that require some form of CD/Copy protection (as long as your image is an exact 1:1 copy.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

Hope this helps...

NC

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Hi All,

Sorry for the CD problems. Some may indeed be a program problem. Anyone who is having problems with the "CD is not in the drive error" when you start the program, please email me at sf@malfador.com. Include the specs on your CDROM drive and what drive letter it is mapped to.

Aaron

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I don't suppose you could provide any links? I'm having a similiar problem as ColdSteel and am willing to just about try anything to get this game to work. Those links would be helpful.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Sorry about that, here ya go...

Alcohol 120%

Daemon Tools

Forget about CloneCD. I just checked their site and they no longer sell it. You can download the demo of Alcohol 120% from their site and use it as the full Version is $50. Daemon tools is free...

NC

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Just tried it out on my system. When you start the game with a virtual drive mounted with the StarFury image, an error box will pop up and state that Starfury.exe could not be found in drive E: (or whatever the letter of the first CD in your system). Just click continue and it works fine... Looks like a bug in code. Program checks first CD, does not find what it's looking for, pops error message, then scans remaining CD drives... Oh well, besides that popup msgbox, and having to click on 'continue', it works just fine on my system (without the original cd in the drive).

NC

Edit: One more quick note... In Alcohol 120% (retail Version at least), it will also allow you to mount your CD image on a virtual drive, thereby eliminating the need for Daemon Tools. As long as all the software is doing is attempting a CD-check, Alcohol 120% is all you need. If the disk has SecureROM or another type of copy protection, then Daemon Tools is a must. Just so you know... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ October 10, 2003, 19:28: Message edited by: NCrawler ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Ok, I'll try that tonight if the changing to 1072 x 768 doesn't work. Thanks

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

It's not so much a bug as weird programming, I think.

What it does:
Check first CD. No CD? Error message.
Check next CD. No CD? Error message.
-repeat until out of drives-
Error message "Insert the Starfury CD and restart"

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Hmmm. I'm wondering if it's where the drive letters are on your system that causes the problem.

I have a DVD/CD on R: and my CD-RW on S:, same for my old PC (which also had the same problem when I tried to install there). Could it be that the CD check code just doesn't expect to see CD drive letters that high up in the alphabet?

gregebowman, what is your CD drive letter? How about any others having similar problems?

Just curious if there's a pattern to this.

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Give me a moment, I'll try remapping my drives to see if that causes a problem.

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Confirmed. The Starfury CD check will only read down to drive I. Any further than that, and it can't see the CD and refuses to start.

EDIT: it reads down to drive J actually, not I.

[ October 10, 2003, 20:20: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Hah! The old debugging instincts are still there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Phoenix, did you email Aaron to let him know about the drive letters? Or, I can do it if you think I should. He may already know about this and I hate to bother him again today but..

I'm sure hoping he can get a fix out soon. I don't want to mess around with Alcohol, I hear it's very bad for you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I could try remapping my CD drive letter down to I:, installing, and mapping it back to R: after I play. I'd have to remap back and forth everytime I wanted to play though. Uggh!

Mama says CD checks are the devil. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">My drive letter for my cd-rom is Z. How can I change it for this game to read, but not screw up anything else?

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Well, you can't, really. You can remap it down to something starfury will read, but then any other app you installed will be expecting the drive letter to still be Z:. You would also have to have installed it on a lower drive letter then remap back and forth to Z: whenever you wanted to play. In short, a real pain.

Also, some applications like PartitionMagic come with a utility that allows you to move installed applications between drives by remapping the drive info in the Windows registry. That's a possibility I guess but it seems kind of extreme. For me, better to be patient.

Aaron sent me an email asking for my drive letter and saying he was working on a workaround. I'm going to wait for that.

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

I went ahead and reported the "up to J:" CD drive letter issue we discovered to Aaron.

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Just to update on my situation:

I got a very nice email from Shrapnel this morning saying that my replacement CD is on the way. They really are an excellent publisher/company and none of my frustration over any of this was intended to indicate anything otherwise. I can only wish that the Ataris of the world were more like Shrapnel. They're super. This is what builds customer loyalty.

I decided to try to load Starfury on my old P3 450 rig just to see if it would run on there by some chance. I got the same identical problem there I have on my new rig. I'm hoping like mad that this means it's just a bad CD.

What worries me though is that I can see no defect at all on the disk. No scratches or anything, even when looking at it with a powerful magnifying glass it looks perfect (though I did notice a kind of faint wavy watermark pattern like an amoeba around the center of the disk). And it did install fine without hanging at all on any of the files. I can browse all the files on the disk with an editor without hanging. Very, very weird. At least I'm not the only one having problems, it appears.

What I'm still afraid of is that this may not just be something as simple as a scratched CD. Maybe something in the creation process?

Well, I should hopefully know for sure when the replacement gets here next Tuesday at the earliest (no US mail delivery on Monday, just my luck).

In any case, I'm not unhappy with the game or with Shrapnel or MM. I've just been frustrated by my pure, dumb, bad luck. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

-ColdSteel

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Hi Guys:

A customer just sent Support a response to this problem that works for him. He was in 800x600 res, and the problem was related to the game switching to a higher res. He changed his resolution to 1024x768 and vialoa, no problems.

You may want to try this, before we send cd's 'cause if that is the problem the new cd won't work either. It seems to be a video card problem, not a cd problem.

If you can try it this morning let us know. If we don't hear from you by 11:00 am, your cd is on the way... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ October 10, 2003, 12:50: Message edited by: Tim Brooks ]

Re: StarFury CD check is screwed up!!
 

Some CD drives out there just have problems. Finding driver upgrades is hard enough to do (my plextor had an update buried on their page). Its just random (bad) luck. Usually, these problems can be redeemed though.
Shrapnel is nothing but good customer service. Why can't the other publishers out there follow the trail blazing example set here? I mean, look, Shrapnel is sending FREE replacement disks!