Fallout 3 SecuROM CD check: LOL

Z

Zinn

Guest
The CD check only applies to the Fallout 3 Launcher program.

If you manually run Fallout3.exe, there is no CD check at all. No keys to enter, the game will just run.

This is too big of a deal to be an "oversight." My guess is that the game's publisher wanted to mandate a CD check, but Bethesda didn't want this, so they just put a CD-check on the launcher to trick some office troll. Ha, and kudos to Bethesda to keeping shitty DRM out of their games. I wish more companies could take the hint.

Disclaimer: don't go out and pirate the game now just because of this ;) The game was totally worth the $50 I paid and Amazon is selling it for $29.99 today (Black Friday), so there's no excuse to not pick this one up!
 
Good to know. I just ordered the game as my Christmas present from my wife :) for $30 at ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ so this will soon come in handy.
 
When I installed, I blocked all web access to see what would happen.
The .net installer had a fit at me and effectively hung the installation process until I killed of the mscorvw (sp?) process which is the .net runtime optimisation process.
The installation went ok after that and it plays great.

I havent got a no CD patch though as this game hasnt bugged me enough (spend way more time playing than loading).
If I was suffering crashes like many of you seem to get, I would have had the no CD patch too.
Its good to know I can bypass that now though :)

edit:
The downside of not using the launcher comes later in that if there are any mods installed, they wont preload and game elements will be missing.
 
Zinn said:
The CD check only applies to the Fallout 3 Launcher program.

If you manually run Fallout3.exe, there is no CD check at all. No keys to enter, the game will just run.

This is too big of a deal to be an "oversight." My guess is that the game's publisher wanted to mandate a CD check, but Bethesda didn't want this, so they just put a CD-check on the launcher to trick some office troll. Ha, and kudos to Bethesda to keeping shitty DRM out of their games. I wish more companies could take the hint.

Disclaimer: don't go out and pirate the game now just because of this ;) The game was totally worth the $50 I paid and Amazon is selling it for $29.99 today (Black Friday), so there's no excuse to not pick this one up!
Click to expand...
You'd be surprised at the kind of oversights that are made in software development.
 
This might just be a coincidence, but even though I make a shortcut directly to the .exe, I find that if I keep the disc in the tray I have way less random CTDs vs. when I don't. *shrugs*
 
I've never noticed this. So if you launch the fallout.exe directly, you don't need the disc in the tray?

I've been using FOMM (Fallout3 Mod Manager) and my ATi profile to launch FO3.
 
Nenu said:
When I installed, I blocked all web access to see what would happen.
The .net installer had a fit at me and effectively hung the installation process until I killed of the mscorvw (sp?) process which is the .net runtime optimisation process.
The installation went ok after that and it plays great.

I havent got a no CD patch though as this game hasnt bugged me enough (spend way more time playing than loading).
If I was suffering crashes like many of you seem to get, I would have had the no CD patch too.
Its good to know I can bypass that now though :)

edit:
The downside of not using the launcher comes later in that if there are any mods installed, they wont preload and game elements will be missing.
Click to expand...

It does install Games For Windows Live which has all of the live acheivements. And everytime you run fallout Live will check for updates, but it has caused issues on some computers. If you need to disable it you can rename Fallout3.exe.cat , Fallout3.exe.cfg , xlive.dll.
 
The Steam version has all the DRM crap, right? 5 times and yer done?
 
Brahmzy said:
The Steam version has all the DRM crap, right? 5 times and yer done?
Click to expand...

I don't think there's an install limit on FO3. And it's not Steam that's forcing the install limits, but rather game publishers like EA; so if a boxed version of the game doesn't have install limits then then Steam version won't either.
 
-PK- said:
It does install Games For Windows Live which has all of the live acheivements. And everytime you run fallout Live will check for updates, but it has caused issues on some computers. If you need to disable it you can rename Fallout3.exe.cat , Fallout3.exe.cfg , xlive.dll.
Click to expand...

It may have installed Live, but I never entered my Live key, or logged into Live the whole time I played the game. Nor has it even updated the game (finished the game without that first patch)
 
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Bethesda did it that way on purpose. This is the same company that put ZERO copy protection on Oblivion. More proof that if you make a good game, people will pay for it.
 
CTDs don't occur at all when I have the original DVD in the tray.

The game is well worth the money to buy legitimately, as all the games installed on my computer are. :)
 
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