DRM and Multiple Installs

[Puppeteer]

My newest PC has integrated graphics that work with the game but at minimal graphics settings. I'm thinking about installing Spore on my older PC with a 6600GT AGP card which should perform better graphics-wise.

I'm not talking about trying to run the game on both machines at the same time, and these PCs are inches apart and share a KVM. But I'm wondering if the DVD-version has the same DRM that balks if you try installing it on different hardware.

Eventually I'm going to get a PCI-x graphics card for the new box, but not now. I just don't want to mess up Spore's DRM if it has it.

Will the DRM be affected if I install on more than one box? Does the DVD version track installs?

[GoodGame]

It will likely notice major changes---CPU, hard-drive, motherboard. I don't think it will notice things like ram or video cards or sound cards. Those aren't crucial to identifying a computer.

[Dale]

I've heard over at EA forums that video cards are included in the check.

[SpurnSpore]

Well I have my new Rig,the most powerful I have had ever!
Spore is now installing this will be the 3rd machine and third time,
dunno if it knows?
Surely fingers and spores crossed it will like this machine/card....please $900 bucks later!
AMD 5000 2.6 ghz 2GB RAM
160 GB HDD
ASUS 9600 512 ram
XP home and 20x DVD
soon I can play spore!
Well it worked! a bit of hiccup with directx 9c (which I already had but had to install it through Spore)
then all ok
Just done cell stage-that was fun,Pacman was never like that! laughed heaps...

[Murky]

There's lots of 1 star reviews on Amazon because of the DRM.

[TyranusBonehead]

yeah the DRM is pretty lame

really unfortunate, as the game is decent

my hope is that EA wakes up and puts out a patch that either removes the DRM or significantly ups the number of allowed installs, 3 installs is not nearly enough, and besides who owns this software anyways, I paid for it

[Lord_Iggy]

If you read the EULA, you don't own it, you've purchased EA's permission to install the game 3 times.

[Genocidicbunny]

I await the many complaints to come of people not beign able to activate the game any longer and having to call EA to reset their count.

Whoever came up with the idea that you dont own software but just borrow it should be shot. It's obvious now that it's not the best model, not even the most profitable,s o why do big companies do it. Take a look at Stardock. Their games are DRM free and yet they still sell really well and are enjoyable.

@OP, did you mean PCIe gfx, not PCI-x? PCI-x is just extended PCI

[Lord_Iggy]

I know, ridiculous, isn't it?

[Genocidicbunny]

It is indeed. And this argument has been made before, but the DRM only hurts the real buyer. The pirate will find a crack anyways, so it wont affect them ( Well, I havent seen a crack that allows you to download other players content yet, but thats besides the point).

That, and EA's DRM is more intrusive than spyware. I have to reboot my computer to play Spore because SecuROM gives errors if Ive had any virtual drives or Process Explorer open. Im considering just finding a crack for it since I already own the game and dont want to put up with their local DRM.

[Macha]

Well, I havent seen a crack that allows you to download other players content yet, but thats besides the point

I have a mate who has a cracked game. I just send him the user content.

[Soduka]

DRM is silly in this or any game. I didn't buy it, but the DRM worked for the first 12 hours the game was out in Australia.

You know the game was cracked and ready to play for the entire world before it was even out in America? The pirate version is in many ways superior to the bought version:

Install as many times as you want,

Install on as many computers as you want.

The only "problem" with the pirate version is the inability to use the ingame download manager to get user content. However, you can just go to spore.com manually and download user content one by one. Another alternative that is popular is just downloading creature/user content in packages on torrents. There are thousands in each pack available, making the whole in game download feature moot. The pirates come out the clear winner with almost no down sides.

DRM must go.

[Murky]

I suppose if you wanted to have a clear conscious and avoid installing SecuROM's malware, you could buy the game and install the cracked version instead.

[Soduka]

Eh, Spore comes out on the disappointing side for me. It's not as deep as it was originally shown to be in all those conferences. Everything is based on a number and level scale (Fighting, speed, etc) , making customizing and building your creature intelligently unnecessary. Having more legs doesn't make you faster or slower. The placement doesn't matter. The entire experience is so dumbed down to supply to the lowest common denominator that it made the experience much less than it could have been.

[Genocidicbunny]

Wrong thread there Soduka. There's a thread to complain about the depth elsewhere in the forum.

[Fasturd]

I was going to buy the game but after reading about the DRM decided not to. There are 2,005 customer reviews on Amazon out of 2,020 giving it 1 star. The "most helpful critical review" makes for an interesting read:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RK9RKIU...#RK9RKIUMYF757

It's an outrage that people who buy the game are being restricted in this way!!

Hopefully the game developer(s) will listen to their customers, but sadly I think they won't :-(