Slashdot Mirror
New SecuROM Ties Protection to Physical Structure
bernardos70 writes "I read a brief article describing how the new version of secuROM, which is already present in newer games, employs a new encryption method which 'tie[s] itself specifically to the physical structure and characteristics of each disk'. Apparently companies are even ordering specially designed media to implement this method. I think that all this will do is frustrate the average joe trying to make legit copies, as the various groups online distributing ISO's are sure to find a way to bypass yet this new technology."
I feel exactly the same way. A couple of years ago, while trying to play Diablo 2 with my little brother at home during Spring Break, I stumbled across a very nifty program: Daemon Tools. After you make a 1:1 copy of the original CD (I use ddump to accomplish this), Daemon Tools can load the ISO into a virtual CD-ROM drive. At the moment I have three virtual images loaded: Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, and Warcraft 3. (Note that NWN worked perfectly even before they removed Securom support in a recent patch.)
The only game I have found that doesn't work with this program is Unreal Tournament 2003. I believe it uses the new Securom standard. I think you can recognize the games that use the new Securom because they cause the cursor to turn into a spinning green CD while the game is loading.
However, the Daemon Tools website indicates that, since August, their program supports CD images which describe the physical structure of the CD -- the problem is not with Daemon Tools, it's that there's no program available that can create a CD image which includes information about that structure. But such a program will most certainly not be long in coming, and when it does, the new Securerom standard will be just as useless as the old ones.
Returning to my Diablo 2 story, I had a legitimate copy of the game and a valid CD-key. I had stupidly left my game CD in my computer at school, however, so despite having access to my cd-key I could not play a game I had paid for. No-cd cracks for the executable are always available, but we wanted to play on Battle.net, so the solution couldn't touch the program files (or Battle.net would refuse to authenticate me.) I found Daemon Tools after an hour or so of searching, and have been a user ever since. It eliminates the CD juggling issue altogether.
Ironically enough, Daemon Tools' virtual CD-ROM drives almost invariably work with CD-based copy protection, while physical CD-ROM drives from some manufacturers often do not. If an end-user has this type of CD-ROM drive, they are simply unable to play the game they paid for -- and often unable to return it (thanks to draconian software return policies).
This, above all, is why I despise CD-based copy protection -- because it locks out legitimate users and does little to hinder more knowledgeable ones. This is almost certainly why Bioware eliminated the Securerom functionality from Neverwinter Nights during a patch -- legitimate users were unable to use a game they had paid for.
Theres a perfectly working no-CD crack for UT2k3 already. Guess this new system ain't all that.
I'm not sure who you are talking to but I personally hate using original discs. There are several reasons:
1) My CDROM drive has been known to scratch discs and even if it wasn't I would be worried about it
2) I hate the sound of the disk spinning up and down
3) Games run much faster from the hard drive
4) Switching disks and keeping them in the right cases is a chore
That's why I use ISO images even though I own the games.
First off, this is not the first time someone's tried it -- the scheme I describe is also used in 'StarForce' and 'TIES' protections, which also have not been broken (other than via no-CD cracks, of course).
Basically, the system works by measuring the angle between certain sectors. How does it do it? By timing the seek time between these sectors. First, the disc will do several seeks of various sectors with known angles to 'calibrate' it, and then, it does seeks of various random sectors (to compensate for various drive speeds). If the timing of the sectors is not within a certain tolerance, that indicates that the physical geometry of the sectors is not the expected angle, and it knows it's not a real copy.
Because CD burners do NOT preserve angle geometry when copying a disc, and even successive burns on the same burner/media may result in different angles, this is so far a fool-proof way. On the other hand, since production CDs are made by pressing with a stamper, not burning, it's not an issue for them.
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.