Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

[Jan 16, 2012, 11:36 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

An article on Guru3D outlines the site's frustrations with attempting to create a video card performance comparison using Anno 2070, the latest installment in the Anno series of strategy games. As noted on its Steam page, the DRM in Anno 2070 has an installation limit: "Solidshield Tages SAS 3 machine activation limit," and apparently they ran into this limit by changing video cards in their test rig, leading them to title the article "Why Guru3D probably never will review Ubisoft titles anymore." There seems to be a resolution at the end of all this, as there's an update at the end saying that while the publishing arm of Ubisoft was unwilling to help them with their plight, they contacted Blue Byte, and the Ubi-owned developer of the game was able to unlock the game to suit their review needs. Thanks ASLayerAODsk via techPowerUp.

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54 Replies. 3 pages. Viewing page 2.
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34.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 18:53

jdreyer

eunichron wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 17:10:
You know, I don't support piracy, but I'm going to pirate Anno 2070 just to spite Ubi. I'm not even going to play it.

What's the point of that? Just to increase the piracy numbers to prove a point? I mean, why take the risk if you're not going to play it?




Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

33.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 18:27

Creston

Dev wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 17:52: Dev wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:38: ^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:33: I may be wrong, but I think Steam is checking any of your cloud-saved games for newer saves. I think its more likely its checking your authorization to run the game. In addition to the verifying files someone mentioned, it could also be checking drivers now. Some of steam games now it checks your drivers (specifically video) before starting the game so it can tell if they are outdated. If that's what it's doing, maybe Valve can be smart enough to run that check only once a week. Since if I start a game five times a day, it really doesn't need to check five times to see if my drivers are outdated. If they weren't at 9.35am, I'm pretty sure they're still good at 2.50pm as well. Creston

32.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 17:52

Dev

Dev wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:38: ^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:33: I may be wrong, but I think Steam is checking any of your cloud-saved games for newer saves. I think its more likely its checking your authorization to run the game. In addition to the verifying files someone mentioned, it could also be checking drivers now. Some of steam games now it checks your drivers (specifically video) before starting the game so it can tell if they are outdated.

31.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 17:47

^Drag0n^

Creston wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 16:27:
Verno wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:56:
LuckyorNot wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:48:
Wow, that's dumb - I wish I was paid to speak ill of Steam.

Talk to StingingVelvet in HR

*snorts coffee over keyboard.*

Creston

LMAO

^D^




"Never start a fight, but always finish it."

30.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 17:37

^Drag0n^

Creston wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 16:26:
^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:33:

I may be wrong, but I think Steam is checking any of your cloud-saved games for newer saves.

^D^

It's possible, but it was doing this LOOOOOONG before they ever had cloud-saves. (and it's still doing it on games that have no cloud-saves functionality.)

Good example : Skyrim. If I launch Skyrim through the Steam shortcut, it'll happily sit there for 2, 3 minutes before starting the launcher. If I launch it through Nexus Mod Manager, it starts IMMEDIATELY.

Good job, Valve.

Creston

Wierd. In that case, I'd guess they are validating the files. As I recall, the Bethesda launcher/config util USED to be the exe that checked DRM...I remember FOMM launching fallout 3 faster as well.

I also remember that launching to FO3.exe directly eliminated the disk check completely. Beth was kinda cool about that and hinted that was the way around keeping your disk-in-tray. ;-)

^D^

This comment was edited on Jan 16, 2012, 17:45.




"Never start a fight, but always finish it."

29.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 17:30

s1mon75

eunichron wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 17:10: You know, I don't support piracy, but I'm going to pirate Anno 2070 just to spite Ubi. I'm not even going to play it. Currently doing the same thing. Ubi, this 'lost sale' is a big FU to your DRM. While I havnt looked and dont really care, im willing to bet there is a complete working crack for this title.

28.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 17:10

eunichron

You know, I don't support piracy, but I'm going to pirate Anno 2070 just to spite Ubi. I'm not even going to play it.

27.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 16:27

Creston

Verno wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:56: LuckyorNot wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:48: Wow, that's dumb - I wish I was paid to speak ill of Steam. Talk to StingingVelvet in HR snorts coffee over keyboard. Creston

26.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 16:26

Creston

^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:33: I may be wrong, but I think Steam is checking any of your cloud-saved games for newer saves. ^D^ It's possible, but it was doing this LOOOOOONG before they ever had cloud-saves. (and it's still doing it on games that have no cloud-saves functionality.) Good example : Skyrim. If I launch Skyrim through the Steam shortcut, it'll happily sit there for 2, 3 minutes before starting the launcher. If I launch it through Nexus Mod Manager, it starts IMMEDIATELY. Good job, Valve. Creston

25.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 16:18

Wolfen

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:58: Wolfen wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:44: 2 minutes on preparing to load eh? Older machine maybe? Mine is a bit older and I don't even wait that long. Actually, I've had similar delays myself. It might be related to the internet connection but if it doesn't launch instantly I've had quite a few occasions where it can take 30+ secs. Whereas if I simply restart the Steam client in Offline mode it launches instantly. If it's instant in Offline mode it should be the same online. Huh sounds logical. Maybe I have just been assimilated to my wait time and don't notice it as much heh.

24.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 15:56

Verno

LuckyorNot wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:48:
Wow, that's dumb - I wish I was paid to speak ill of Steam.

Talk to StingingVelvet in HR




Playing: Animal Crossing, Sleeping Dogs, Tales of Graces F Watching: Survivorman, Justified, Silent Running

23.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 15:48

LuckyorNot

Iurand wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 13:48: LuckyorNot wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:22: I wish review sites would use a bit of muscle to get Valve to improve Steam. How much Ubi pays you and your friends to black PR Steam in every UbisoftDRM thread? Wow, that's dumb - I wish I was paid to speak ill of Steam. For the record I hate all DRM and Ubi's sounds just as bad as all the rest.

22.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 15:38

Dev

^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 15:33: I may be wrong, but I think Steam is checking any of your cloud-saved games for newer saves. I think its more likely its checking your authorization to run the game.

21.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 15:33

^Drag0n^

Creston wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 14:08:
Teddy wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 13:14:
theyarecomingforyou wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:58:
Wolfen wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:44:
2 minutes on preparing to load eh? Older machine maybe? Mine is a bit older and I don't even wait that long.
Actually, I've had similar delays myself. It might be related to the internet connection but if it doesn't launch instantly I've had quite a few occasions where it can take 30+ secs. Whereas if I simply restart the Steam client in Offline mode it launches instantly. If it's instant in Offline mode it should be the same online.

I've had that issue on occasion, where it sits at preparing to load. Every time it's happened, simply shutting steam down and reloading it fixes the problem for me.

Sadly, that takes about just as long.

Steam's "Preparing to launch" thing is horseshit. WTF are you preparing, Steam? A fucking sandwich??

Creston

I may be wrong, but I think Steam is checking any of your cloud-saved games for newer saves.

^D^




"Never start a fight, but always finish it."

20.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 14:44

Verno

silentsammy wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 14:11:
theyarecomingforyou wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:58:
Actually, I've had similar delays myself. It might be related to the internet connection but if it doesn't launch instantly I've had quite a few occasions where it can take 30+ secs. Whereas if I simply restart the Steam client in Offline mode it launches instantly. If it's instant in Offline mode it should be the same online.

I had problems like this when I was running Steam on a Vista machine. For some reason Vista just seems to progressively screw itself as it gets older. Since switching to Win 7 I haven't had the hang issues in Steam any more.

Alternatively you can just pull your network plug and Steam will go into offline mode pretty quickly. Usually the hangs are because it won't time out for some reason, sometimes that's due to a connectivity problem on the local end and other times its on Steam. I agree offline mode isn't perfect but I'm thankful to have the option these days when everyone else is doing this "my way or the highway" bullshit with regards to persistent connection requirements.




Playing: Animal Crossing, Sleeping Dogs, Tales of Graces F Watching: Survivorman, Justified, Silent Running

19.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 14:41

jdreyer

Creston wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 14:08:

Sadly, that takes about just as long.

Steam's "Preparing to launch" thing is horseshit. WTF are you preparing, Steam? A fucking sandwich??

Creston

While my games launch quickly, installation (after download) can take forever. A lot of times what happens is some popup gets opened in the background and the game won't proceed until you answer the dialog box. I wish those things would popup on top. But sometimes it just takes 20m or 30m to install the damn game or DX, which seems excessive.




Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

18.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 14:37

jdreyer

Wow. Reviews are essentially free word of mouth (unless you make an absolutely horrific game). How stupid do you have to be to 1) create a DRM system that prevents that and 2) spurn the reviewer when they ask for a solution while creating your free word of mouth?




Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

17.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 14:27

Dev

I purchased settlers 7 on a sale and even a year after release they still had problems with the drm authentication for it, so it was incredibly annoying not to be able to play my SINGLE PLAYER game when I wanted to because of the always on DRM from ubi.

16.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 14:11

silentsammy

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:58: Actually, I've had similar delays myself. It might be related to the internet connection but if it doesn't launch instantly I've had quite a few occasions where it can take 30+ secs. Whereas if I simply restart the Steam client in Offline mode it launches instantly. If it's instant in Offline mode it should be the same online. I had problems like this when I was running Steam on a Vista machine. For some reason Vista just seems to progressively screw itself as it gets older. Since switching to Win 7 I haven't had the hang issues in Steam any more.

15.

Re: Ubi DRM Thwarts Review

Jan 16, 2012, 14:08

Creston

Teddy wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 13:14: theyarecomingforyou wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:58: Wolfen wrote on Jan 16, 2012, 12:44: 2 minutes on preparing to load eh? Older machine maybe? Mine is a bit older and I don't even wait that long. Actually, I've had similar delays myself. It might be related to the internet connection but if it doesn't launch instantly I've had quite a few occasions where it can take 30+ secs. Whereas if I simply restart the Steam client in Offline mode it launches instantly. If it's instant in Offline mode it should be the same online. I've had that issue on occasion, where it sits at preparing to load. Every time it's happened, simply shutting steam down and reloading it fixes the problem for me. Sadly, that takes about just as long. Steam's "Preparing to launch" thing is horseshit. WTF are you preparing, Steam? A fucking sandwich?? Creston

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