Mass Effect Copy Protection - Good News!

Good news. Mass Effect copy protection is Registration Code only. You can play without the DVD in the drive! Installed on both desktop and laptop and both started up without a hitch.

Please support this game by buying it, not only for the great RPG gameplay, but also for the fact that the copy protection is sensible.

So many more games need to be this way, instead of resorting to quasi-legal practices to workaround getting the game to run.

 

that is great, hope that everyone decides to purchase this game to show support for not only the developers but for the pc gaming community in general

even tho i have it for xbox, i think i may purchase this for pc as well!

 

I'm very glad to hear it, and I am still hoping that it will show up on Steam or Impulse. (likely? No.)

Jade Empire (another Bioware game) was put on Steam a long time ago, so I still have hope.

Otherwise, I think this is a really fun game, I've played it on the 360 and recommend it to others. I think the PC version will be better, as I hear it fixes some texture popping issues and speeds up some of the very very slow load sequences (known as "riding the elevator").

 

It is available at Direct2Drive for $39.95. $10 cheaper than retail boxed.

It plays smooth on my desktop maxed out at 1920x1200, have to try it out on my laptop yet at 1280x800 maxed out.

 

Excellent news.

 

that was the pre order price.....i bought it today at 49.95, but no tax plus its 60 here in Canada i think so i save a bit either way

 

Good to hear... but it still has the limited installs, right?

 

Good to hear. How does direct 2 drive work? Can I burn the image?

 

I wanna get it though I might wait till its a bit cheaper (free ), nah probably buy it since it will be like 6gb to download but I'll wait till its a lot cheaper.

 

good news... i went to ebgames today and i notice it will be available @ 05/06/08...damn it... another week more to go...

 

Where do you live thy1986? It is available in US and Canada as far as I know.

 

I dunno. It never indicated to me that it was going online to validate it. If it did it did it without my knowledge, which pisses me off. Hopefully with the whole Bioshock debacle they won't be that stupid.

It doesn't create an image, you just download an executable file that installs the game. You can back up the file though.

It requires internet validation this way, only because Direct2Drive issues you a unique D2D registration key, and phones home to check if it's legit. I believe the key is different than the ones that come in the boxed version.

 

I WANT SCREENIES.
Screenshots are always nice to get the idea of the looks of the game.
And current framerate/system/settings...

 

Will try to do that this evening time permitting. I'm heading out on vacation tomorrow, but hopefully can get an hour or two of game time in.

 

limited install mean=DRM

 

And....?? 10char

 

So it doesn't verify your key online? It doesn't limit you to installations on 3 different systems?

Because that's the last official word. Would surprise me if they'd tell everyone it has awful DRM, and then actually not implement it.

So hold your horses until we've confirmed this part.

Actually, if one of the people who bought the game can try installing and launching it without an internet connection, that'd be nice for providing confirmation.

 

I wonder if they will get a lot of sales as a lot of potential buyers already got the game on x360...

 

If you have a Fry's around you, they have it for $39.95 today.

 

I don't know. If it did verify it online it did not ask or tell me. But if it did without at least informing me I'd be pissed.

 

AND THEN STILL GOT COPY PROCTECTION.you can't install more then.....they will controll.

 

its stupid this DRM protection BS, if I bought it I'd probably go download the crack off warez just to save me the hassle of this BS, yes there is already a crack.

 

If there weren't so many pirates, people that actually buy the games wouldn't have to jump through hoops. In my humble opinion, they tell you what restrictions they want to put on the game before you buy it. A lot of people are using the DRM as an excuse to pirate, somehow saying that its 'justified'. So its fair that I pay money and have to deal with this security stuff because other people decide to rip off the devs while people who decide to pirate can get it for free and have a hassle free experience? Bioware is already cutting some slack by not requiring the dvd in the tray to play.

Just a thought.

 

I wouldn't download the whole game off warez or anything just the crack, games are getting way too big in file size to pirate anymore, I think PC pirating is declining just for this very reason not going up like all the stupid companies are blaming their poor sale on. There are many other reasons why games on PC's might not be doing as good as they hoped for. Demanding graphics, think about it not many of the average PC owners have 8800GT's lying around in the PC's, half'em probably have Intel cards, the fact that games cost a lot of money to make nowadays so companies think it did poorly despite selling 1 million+ copies (Crysis anyone), the fact that a lot of games come out on consoles exclusively first then PC months later s obviously gonna be poorer sales, the fact that nearly all games are multi-platform nowadays so you gotta think a game which is out on PS3, 360, & PC is likely to sell up to 1/3 of the sales if it was a PC exclusive, or maybe the games just plain suck.

 

Best Buy, 1Jun08-7Jun08, ME will be on sale for 39.95. fyi

 

I'm replaying Oblivion as a wacked monk..and keeping an eye on these threads.

Oblivion's lack of DRM, other than key disk (use image), fast load times, makes this game a joy to play. I hope Bethesda laughs all the way to the bank and that other developers will follow suit.

 

Partially true.
But when people buy buy the game *do* have to jump through hoops, that further encourages you to pirate.
Moreover, when the game gets cracked *anyway* (As someone said above, a crack is available even now), that means that all their DRM efforts didn't even deter pirates.

Regardless of who you prefer to put the blame on, the end result is that pirates have it as easy as ever, while *legitimate* customers get punished by Bioware.

No, I'm not going to pirate the game. I just won't buy it until the value I get for my money is *at least* what a pirate gets for free. I don't want to pay more to get less.

What does that have to do with *anything*?
Show me a game that doesn't have a no-CD crack. I can play *all* my games without the disc. And I fail to see what it has to do with the DRM issues.

I simply want to be able to play my game 5 years from now. Is that too much to ask?

 

how about everyone stops the b!tching, buy the game and crack it, no problems, you payed for it you can put it on as many comps as u want that way

 

What are you talking about? I was asking if Mass Effect has limited installs and then you yell at me and say that DRM = copy protection. That has nothing to do with what I'm asking. I know what DRM, limited installs, etc is. I am asking if they have still been implemented into Mass Effect or not. Get a grip.

 

So far, I have installed it in 2 PCs (home & office) and 1 Laptop with no problem. I can probably try to install on another laptop here in the office and see if there is still a 3 install limit. So far I have no problem and the fact that you don't need the DVD once installed to run the game makes it so much easier (don't have to keep taking the DVD from home to office). I just carry the save game files with me on a flashdrive.

 

Load times, for me, are remarkably fast. For a game with rooms and environments this massive in scale, it is a very fast loader.

 

So why pay for it, if you're going to break the terms of the license?
If you're paying for a product that you're only *allowed* to install on 3 computers, and you install it on 4, that's still piracy.

That'd rock. Could you try doing it without an active internet connection first? So we can see if it needs internet connection to install/run. (If it doesn't, then we *know* it doesn't have any install limit, because it has no way to track your installations)

If it does require internet access, we'll still at least be able to determine whether they have a 3-PC install limit.

 

Here Is the official Bioware word on the authentication, you get 3 installs, then you have to contact customer support to get more.

 

so why pay for anything then? Honestly who in theyre right mind is going to have it on three computers, or re install three times in the same month, or a get a new HDD, etc, im sure if you called them up and told them your situation, they would allow it to be installed.

 

What do you mean? You were suggesting I buy the game and then break the terms of the license I bought anyway. I'm saying this is fundamentally no better than piracy. So if I did that, I'd end up paying for the game *and* pirating it. Worst of both worlds?

I pay for *plenty* of games, and I have no problem with that. However, I don't intend to pay for a game which I'm ultimately going to be unable to use. (That is, I'm going to have to break the terms of the license I bought)

And honestly, I don't see why you're making a fuss about this. All I'm asking is if someone can confirm the subject of the thread, that the game does not have this kind of DRM after all. It's a simple question.

Same month? You get 3 installs forever, not per month.
Now, I'm planning to upgrade my desktop next month. So if I buy it, install now, reinstall after I upgrade, and perhaps even dare to install the game on my laptop, that's it. I can never again install the game on any other computer.

But do pirates have to phone up Bioware to beg for permission to go around their DRM?
No they don't. So why should legitimate customers have to do it?
What when they one day decide to shut down their authentication servers or drop support?

I'm just saying that as long as I get *more* hassle and less value than pirates do, I'm not going to pay them anything. They can keep their game.
And no, I'm not going to pirate it either. I just won't support this kind of business practice. If game developers want my money, it's easy, all they have to do is provide me with *at least* as much value as pirates get.

If they can't offer that, I'll spend my money on another game.

 

if i need to download crack then why do i need to pay money?i'll get whole pirate game in just few bucks but i'll not going to buy pirate game either DRM Game.

 

So it has been confirmed that it does phone home and authenticate? It seemed like after I plugged in the code it was immediate to continue with installation, no "waiting to contact EA" or "connection successful" or anything like that.

 

It takes milliseconds to contact a website to check authentication. You might not notice, or it might not tell you.

I'm interested in hearing how this pans out.

 

I just installed Mass Effect, but I didn't notice any kind of "phone home" software going out.

 

it might happen the first time you run the game...

there is really no way to know how their drm scheme works.

and to jalf, in my opinion, you should take a more holistic view of piracy and what is considered piracy.

you buy a CD, then go to college (and you left your CD at home) and you decide that you want to listen to it, so you download the CD from the internets, is that piracy? i say no. similarly, i think that if you buy the game, you have supported the developers with your money, and if you then go on to use the game however it is convenient and fair for you, i wouldn't call that piracy either.

is it illegal for me to run a sega emulator in windows and play sonic the hedgehog 2 (even though i have a sega genesis and STH2 in my garage)?

i think not.

but im willing to debate this- convince me otherwise. its an interesting point.

 

I agree with you ^

 

I installed Mass Effect, RAR files on DVD which makes a 9.9Gig folder, with internet off. Game installed and ran, no problem, no phone home..yet. The next step would be to monitor outgoing traffic with Zone Alarm or other software which I do not have installed.

Game plays without DVD, thank you EA. No idea about the install 3 times crap but hope EA does the right thing if going out of business or other.

If you want to download files, EA ask you to register your DVD key.

Games runs great with my P6831 configuration with good load times of around 1 minute from cold start. All in all an improvement over Bio Shock DRM, no?

 

Already been done on another forum.

 

Jlbrightbill on what forum you found that ^

 

Can't post that info here, sorry royk50. Just know that they know what they're doing.

 

i can tell by the post.
how about a PM?

 

Thanks Jlbrihtbill. There was no question if; but when

 

what about just having the program files for mass effect moved around?
would that kill the program? It works on some other softwares.

 

Well you can block all the .exe's in your firewall after activating, but the game might stop working properly until you unblock them.