More Awesome Than You!

There is a shiny tutorial available at Reclaim Your Game (http://www.reclaimyourgame.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=40). It has pictures!

There is also a handy removal tool HERE (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9929.msg428248.html#msg428248).


Revised 8/4/08
Rewrite notes
LAST EP is used to refer to the last EP you have installed. You only have to worry about applying a crack to that one. This could be BV, FreeTime, ApartmentLife…whichever is the last-released one you have.

How do I get rid of that nasty, interfering DRM?

Follow the guidelines below ripped from http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/98241-13-remove-securom-malware-uninstalling-bioshock-demo:

2. Double check your registry files. Still see any keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER---Software---Securom? Just delete the suckers. Won't blow up.

3. If that damned SecuRom folder still can't be deleted, even after correctly following the instructions above, download DelinvFile from http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm . Run the executable and find the C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME HERE\Application Data\Securom folder and open the sub-folder. (Sorry, mine's gone, but I believe it was named "User Data"). On the right, choose each malformed file and delete. Go back into My Computer and delete that SecuRom folder for once and all.

4. To not get it again, you need to start loading from a no-CD crack. I get mine at gamecopyworld.com. I recommend any versions by Fairlight. Make sure that, if you have patched your game, you get the patched version of the crack. Go to "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 LAST EP\TSBin" and change the name of the crack to whatever you like. Then place the crack in the same folder. Make a shortcut to this on your desktop, and run the game from this new shortcut.

I haven't yet installed one of those SecuROM EPs. How do I make sure I never have to deal with this?
Simple. Follow #4. Get a no-cd crack. Use it and never use the game's included Sims2EP#.exe (where # is the number of your last EP), which is the file that contains SecuRom.

Random Questions that have popped up since the opening post:
See this post. (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9929.msg359618.html#msg359618)


Moderator edit: added a link to the Reclaim Your Game Securom Removal Batch file

Yeah... about that original .exe renaming thing. I didn't do that. My original .exe is history. Am I going to need it if I decide to patch?

Maybe. I accidentally patched Seasons once with the crack in and it went. I'd imagine (and I'm talking out of my ass at the moment) that it depends on where the patch is making changes.

Here (http://www.4shared.com/file/25915059/68fd6e04/Sims2EP6bak.html). My 4shared drive still has a lot of room left in it.

Thanks. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

How do you check your registry? My brother built my computer and if I have any problems, he usually takes care of it, but he's not awake now. And I've never had to do anything with the registry before.

Regedit or Powershell.  For Regedit do Start > Run and type in regedit in the box (In Vista, just type regedit in the startmenu box).

Can we sticky this please.

It doesn't matter that the original exe is gone; you can get a clean .exe from the disc. Click explore and then open the TSBin folder. Copy the Sims2EP6.exe and paste it here: C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin.

Alright, maybe I'm mildly retarded here, but I can't seem to download the fixed executable file.

Edit: Never mind, it appears that neither Firefox nor Opera could download it, strangely. Internet Explorer worked just fine.

I can't get that RegDelNull program to work. I downloaded it, extracted it and when I double click on the file, a box pops up for a fraction of a second, and nothing else happens. Is there some trick to the program?

You don't actually run RegDelNull. You just install it on C:\. Then go to the Windows command prompt and follow the rest of the directions.

I did that, but I'm unsure what to do next. My brother told me to go to Start/Run and type in "cmd". Well, I did that, but then when I typed in that first line it tells you to enter, I got some message about C:\ not being a command or something. I think it's because it's already pointing to my My Documents folder and I can't figure out how to get rid of it. My brother said he hasn't used that in ages, so he doesn't remember.

Yeah I did this about a week back and it works,no more sukurom on this PC.
I mailed this link too a friend so she could get it off her comp as well.Thanks Zaz.

I don't think it's advisable to mess with the registry if you don't know how to use some simple DOS commands. 

Ok, then how else can I get rid of SecuROM?

The reason you're having problems is that RegDelNull probably isn't installed.  The OP did a poor job of checking the link.

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/regdelnull.mspx, download RegDelNull and place it in C:\, then you'll be able to run the command.

I think the problem is actually that ShortyBoo doesn't know how to do a cd command.

Stickied, and added to the FAQ.

Ok, here's the problem. When I open up the DOS prompt, I get this: http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8803/yafsscreen003gh0.jpg If I type anything, it tells me it's not a correct path, but I can't figure out how to remove what's already there (the C:\Documents and Settings/Krystan) Does that make any sense? I'm not exactly computer illiterate, (I manage to do most basic stuff like formatting drives, installing parts, etc) but I've just never had any reason to do anything in DOS.

Type
cd c:\windows\system32

Not for the RegDelNull portion of the instructions, if ShortyBoo did unzip it to C:. You have to be in the same directory as the program to use the program.

Oh right, I was reading steps ahead of that.  Then type "cd\"  to get back to C: (no quotes) shorty. 
This site may help http://www.computerhope.com/cdhlp.htm

Fankoo!

Ahem...Precisely, and if you read the quoted material (not my work, but I wasn't going to retype something that was already there), it stated to download it and put it into C:\, not to run it. However, I understand the temptation. Ya'd think that, given an .exe, you should run it.

Alrighty folks, so for being unawesome. Got to this step and am a little stuck.

(http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/Untitled_2c76.jpg) (http://imagesocket.com/view/Untitled_2c76.jpg)

Where can I find the Computer specific key? I tried the numbers on one of the folders, and then I clicked around in all those folders looking for something similiar to what is in the instructions, but I stumped at the moment.

Is down lower. Under HKEY_USERS. It doesn't reference SecuRom, but is in that super-long s-1-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx format.

Something interesting.  I have vista, and two admin accounts.  One for the usual high visual fun stuff and one for the sims 2.  

When I went to look for secuROM, I couldn't find it on the first one, which is odd because that is where I install the games due to the fact that I am mainly on it.  Just for shits and giggles I looked under the sims 2 account today, and there is secuROM in my registry.  For some reason it can't be found in the registry on my main account, but it is in the registry on my sims account.  Thought I was in the clear, now it is time to get that shit off.

Thanks Zazazu, and here's one more. I don't wanna muck about in the registry too much because I'll probably break something, so I'm gonna ask to make double sure :)

(http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/Untitled_38e6.jpg) (http://imagesocket.com/view/Untitled_38e6.jpg)

I have the same thing, which one is it? *knows nothing about registries or anything, but doesn't want SecuRom on her computer, damnit!*

Just the one that does NOT have "classes" appended to the end.

Here are the files and steps for winning.

1. Open the run dialog and type "services.msc"
   a. Look for SecuROM.
2. Open the run dialog and type "regedit"
   a. Look for SecuROM under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE...Software
   b. If there are no SecuROM, you can haz no security.
   c. If there are, continue reading to find out how to successfully dismantle your computer remove SecuROM.
3. Download "TrashReg" and derar it.  Run it.  Look for the !DO NOT DELETE! key by going to File...Find Keys with NULL -embedded names...Check ALL boxes.
4. Right click the !DO NOT DELETE! key and delete it.
5. Download and run CureSecuROMeng.  It'll do its thing.
6. Open up RegEdit again and try to find SecuROM.  If it is gone, yey.  If not, you fail at life.

It'll re-add itself every time if you don't have a NoCD crack.  Find one yourself.  They're ALL OVER!

TrashReg (http://www.4shared.com/file/25879006/8bff1e6d/trashreg.html)
CureSecuROM (http://www.4shared.com/file/25878993/9d3a0d41/CureSecuROMEng.html)

Question with the creating an image of my disc and running it from there.  This will still work with JM's hacks right?  i am assuming it will but just wanted to check.

Alright thanks a ton, now I'm one more user who is securom free. I followed all the rest of the steps correctly, though I did not have the uaservice7 file (though I did have the cmdlineext one).

Yes, the hacks run with the game; the CD (or image) is only checked to see that you have a legal copy.  But running from an image doesn't solve the SecuROM problem, because it's the .exe that installs it as it checks to see if the valid CD is there.  You have to run with a no-cd .exe to prevent SecuROM from installing again.

I'm a Vista 64bit user and could not find the UAService7 at all, after running through all the other steps though and before rebooting I did see a service belonging to Sony DADC called something like CmdLineEXT_x64 (I forget exactly what it was but it was something very close to that).  After the reboot to finish the removal procedures it was gone.

*edited* I forgot to say thankyou to all who have contributed to this thread, I couldn't have done it without you  ;)

Thanks for starting this thread, Zazazu. It's nice to be able to find the removal information easily.  :)

By way of thanks I offer up an easier way of deleting the registry keys via regdelnull that doesn't involve typing in that mindbogglingly long computer specific key.

Replace this step from the first post:


with this:

Download regdelnull.exe and place it in C:\
Go to "Run" and type in "cmd", then type the following:

cd C:\
regdelnull hkcu -s
regdelnull hku -s
 
The two regdelnull calls above will scan the whole of HKEY_CURRENT_USER (abbreviated to HKCU) and HKEY_USERS (abbreviated to HKU). It's possible you may find other null registry keys during the scans, since you're not targeting *just* the SecuROM keys doing it this way. regdelnull will prompt you with the full pathname of every key it finds though, which will contain the name "SecuROM" if it's one of the ones you're after, so you can check names and only respond "y" to delete those two.

* goes back to lurking again *


Edit to add: If you're the only user on the machine and log in as administrator, you may find that there's not a key to delete under HKEY_USERS once you've done the delete from HKEY_CURRENT_USERS. The HKEY_CURRENT_USERS subkeys are all built from information in HKEY_USERS at the time you boot the PC, so deleting the key there seems to clobber the other one as well. It's probably as well to run the scan for both just to make sure all traces are gone though.

Apologies if this has already been covered (a quick scan of the thread suggests it has not,) but I installed BV and immediately replaced the .exe with the no-CD version before I ever started the game up, and while I did get an empty SecuROM directory and an !!OMG DO NOT DELETE!! registry key, as far as I can tell SecuROM was never properly activated on my system.  No processes to cancel or files to delete and the game ran without a hitch even before I axed the stuff I did find.  Perhaps this should be the recommended install procedure?

It's definitely the recommended install procedure. If you never run it from the original .exe (which is what contains the poison) you can't get SecuRom. Will add notation. For your suggestion and Muridae's.

I found that I didn't need to do the regdelnull steps after I had used TrashReg and CureSecuROM, although I didn't have any SecuROM entries under HKEY_USERS from the beginning.  I also didn't have SecuROM in services.msc but then I installed from a pirate image as my proper disc had not yet arrived - not sure whether that makes a difference.

Is there a possibility for secuROM reinstalling itself if I decide to install the new BV patch?

Yes. The patch would replace or be incompatible with your new noCD, in all likelyhood, so it will no longer function.

Hey I am hoping that one of you tech savy gamers can help me out here.

I am trying to remove this securom crap off my nephew's pc.  Sadly though he has windows vista ultimate.  Everytime he tries to run trashreg  it keeps giving him an error message saying that " this program needs MSVBVM50.dll which is no longer included in this version of windows"
I am at a loss as to what to do.  Does anyone know of a way to get this off a windows vista ultimate pc without reformatting?

Thanks!

Vista is teh evilz. I thought someone with vista had reported that trashreg worked for them?
Is that dll file just not included in vista or does it not work in vista? If its just not included but still functions as it should then you should just be able to download a replacement dll file and stick it in your windows32 file. someone with some vista experience please educate me.

Hell, I will give that a shot.  Thanks.  :D

So, it would be pointless to go through the process of removing SecuROM if you updated with the patch.

And we'll have to wait for a new hax0red no-cd patched .exe, right?


Ste

Well for me it wasn't a problem.
I downloaded and installed the patch, which over wrote my no-cd hack
so I reapplied the no-cd patch
And I'm playing  the game as I type.

Are you seeing any performance improvements?  I'd think that overwriting the new .exe would bollux up at least some of the fixes in the Maxis patch, though if some of the changes were to objects.package or other files then you might still get some benefit with an "unholy hybrid" configuration.

Bad advice..

If you use a patch that patches the exe file and then overwrite that exe file with a nocd crack that was made based on an earlier exe build, you're most likely going to limit some of the fixes the patch brought to the table.  On top of that, some hacks have to be re-done when a patch is released.  Those hacks may have an issue since the nocd crack will show that the game is an earlier build and not the newer build.  And there is a possiblity no new nocd crack will be made.  I'm pretty sure they never made a new one when Seasons was patched, they just made an image file you can use daemon and yasu with. 

Ubisoft, Eidos, EA Games, Konami, and Rockstar are just a few of the publishers who use securom and who will be using the newer version.  Ubi is going to be releasing some pretty fun games in the next few months.  So if you're a gamer, I'd just get used to securom because even you get a nocd crack, chances are they'll patch the game and you'll need the patch.  And since there's never a guarantee of a new nocd crack being made for a patched exe, you'd be stuck using the image file or the cd and need securom.

Securom is about as bright as the drm shit sony made for wma files.  But the publishers are so paranoid about piracy that they're just ignoring the fact that software like securom and starforce are crap.  Starforce was by far worse than securom but Ubi and a few others finally dropped it, thankfully. 

I'm not a rigid person, never was, but I do have principles. I will not allow anyone to install something on my computer that has the potential power to override my set-ups/instructions/whathaveyou. I rather go without those fun games than do that. I go back to console before I do that, or re-discover older, also fun games that don't mess with my computer and my sole authority over it.

Maybe, if enough people get pissed off enough, this will open the door for smaller companies that have until now never had a chance. If they are smart, they'll use protection ware that is not malicious, a rootkit, or spyware. I for one would gladly switch to them.

I will not get used to it, not now, not ever. That's what they're banking on, but I'm not biting. I might be just one person, but I will not go against my firm beliefs or my principles - ever. No game ever invented will be able to do that.

Ahem... Battleship anyone? I'll supply paper and pencil.

not yet.

And there's a better alternative? I'm not the kind of person who would normally get into warez at all, but right now it looks like the better alternative to invasive copy protection is either pirating games or buying a console and swearing off PC gaming. Is either good for EA or the gaming industry as a whole?
I'm reluctant to remove SecuROM because I'm worried about Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword not working (thank you, 2K Games!) but then again, Bioshock broke people's Beyond The Sword game with incompatibility between games running different versions of SecuROM 7. I realize it's probably a corporate decision by EA to include SecuROM 7 on all their games and Sims players are just getting caught in it, but what else can we do?

Going the the booty route doesn't necessarily mean you'll be avoiding securom.  A few of the scenes are pirating the games but using image files instead of nocd cracks to allow the player to just mount the image with daemon, use yasu to hide daemon from securom and then play the game.  But securom is still active at that point.  A few of the other scenes are still releasing games with nocd cracks, however they're not updating those nocd cracks everytime there's a patch.  I mean some games have 3-4 patches before everything is taken care of, can't expect the scenes to keep up with that.  But it depends on the popularity of the game, not how many are playing but who.  The sims seems to be loved by many but hated by those who are more into the pirating thing.  Every time a sims game is pirated a ton of guys bitch about how the game is for women, or they'll download it and swear to everyone they're downloading it for their girlfriend.  Which is fitting since in theory, their hand is their girlfriend and it also controls the mouse so it isn't an all out lie.

I'm avoiding Bioshock regardless of the fact there are two pirated versions.  One goes the image route the other is a nocd crack.  The problem of course is that bioshock will without a doubt be patched a few times to resolve some of the issues, that means if I use the nocd crack, I'll have to replace it with the original exe to patch it.. and then wait on a new nocd crack if it ever gets released.  It's just to much of a headache. 

If you're using Xp.. what you can do is create a new user account.. install the sims on that account.  Set it to where it isn't accessible to other users.  That way when you go into your other user account, securom shouldn't be present..

I think that would work..  I mean in theory it'll still be on the hard drive.. but if I remember right.. securom installs in c:\documents and settings\username\blah blah..  If it does that, that would mean the other user account wouldn't have to worry about it..

I believe I asked that before, but I don't think I got any kind of answer.

If you install the game on a peripheral hard drive (one you plug in via usb port) will SecuRom still infest your main drive? Your partition advise reminded me of that. If that's possible, then installing on a plug-in drive should do the same. Yes? No? Maybe? Do I not know what I'm talking about? I'm not at all tech savvy, and I've learned a lot the last couple of days. So please enlighten me.

I actually did that. I installed it on my peripheral hard drive. However, I installed it while running my main hard drive; that is, the peripheral hard drive was connected, and I instructed the installer to put it on there. SecuRom still managed it's way into my registry.

Bleh, there goes that easy solution. But just like some other easy outs, it sounded too good to be true anyway.
Thanks Kutto.

I have been waiting to see if anyone asked this and I have read the whole thread but I can't find the answer.

I stupidly downloaded H&M and BV from EA Link. Do I need to worry about SecuROM with H&M or can I deal with it by removing it and getting the nocd crack for BV? Secondly since I do not have a "cd" do I still use the nocd crack for BV?

I'm sorry if these are n00b questions  :-\.

Securom runs/installs in the .exe application. H&M really didn't use securom, only safe disc cause it was only seasons.exe was required to load the game, but thats changed with bv. It would only be necessarily to run a no cdcrack for bon voyage.

Thanks :) That's what I thought I just wanted to make sure.

Nope.  H&M used SecuRom, and did install it -- especially for those who 1) downloaded it from EA, and/or 2) have limited Windows accounts (non-admin).

Max

I think maybe we're all overlooking the point that with sims games prior to BV, it didn't really matter if the no-cd.exe was updated, since you could apply the patch and still run it with an image -- Safedisc didn't care. However, with all these newer games going to SecuROM, perhaps the no-cd makers will continue updating the .exes to keep SecuROM off their systems.

Maxis began using Securom on every sims release since April of 2007. 

I don't do the stuff discs.. so I'm not sure whats on those.  But I read on the Maxis board that the H&M did have securom.

Deviancy, we're talking about SecuRom as it pertains to playing the Sims2 here, not any other game that someone may get at some other point and choose or not choose to patch. No one here is saying that you must get rid of SecuRom, just if you want to...this is how. The no-CD crack I mention does not contain SecuRom.

Some don't like having SecuRom because they don't like that the EAxis of EAvil installed it on their system without prior notification...not even stating that there was 3rd party software included. I'm one of those. Some don't like having SecuRom on their system because it has caused problems with making other software not work, or CD drives not work, or antivirus programs not work. I'm also one of those.

EAxis patches are notoriously crap which breaks just as much as it fixes. Most of us here go to this site for our "patches" because they work better and don't contain the same bloated twisted twine-code that caused the problems in the first place.

It's not bad advice. It's a solution that you can choose to use. If you fuck it up later by installing something else with SecuRom on it, well, that's your fault. And guess what? You can follow the same directions again and get it off your system.

*gets back in her rocking chair and mumbles about know-it-all kids these days*

Oh, and what kind of stupid guy has to lie and say he got the Sims for his girlfriend? Sounds like someone has adequacy issues. Or someone else is talking out of their ass.  ::)

I performed this step and upon restarting my computer, my display settings have returned to the defaults.  My desktop wallpaper, the color of my taskbar, the stupid language bar was back, etc.  My computer otherwise seems to be running fine, but have I done something terribly wrong here?  I know it was this step because prior to doing it I had restarted windows, and restarted again after.

For the people who can't find uaservice7.exe, I had the same problem. I simply ignored the step that called for stopping the process/deleting the file, and the removal worked just fine. I was able to run the game with the no-CD crack, and there's no sign of SecuRom.

I'll admit that I told a few of my friends this very thing. But then, those few particular friends of mine aren't exactly open-minded, so.... I mean let's face it - although it's pretty hard to just come out and assume these things without polling people, but I'd be willing to put money down and say that mostly girls play The Sims. My main reasoning (and I'll admit as well that it's kinda flimsy..) being that it's awfully hard to find a comparable selection of male skins and hair to the female ones... just look over at MTS2... You don't even have to actually LOOK at all of them (though I'm pretty sure most of the male hairdos were designed by girls..) - just the number of pages. Pretty steep difference, really..

Alright, I've talked out my ass enough. Bring on your worst!  ;D

Nevermind. I fixed.

When you say that you ignored the step because that service (uaservice7.exe) didn't exist, did you still do the rest of the step and unregister cmdlineext.dll?

As I understand it, you only get the uaservice7.exe service installed if you're running Bon Voyage under a limited (non-Adminstrator) account. SecuROM needs that service to give it administrator-like privilege in an account that shouldn't have that, which to me is one of the more worrying low-level activities it gets up to on your computer.

cmdlineext.dll seems to get installed no matter what kind of account you're running the game under, so you need to look for it even if you don't find uaservice7.exe. If it's there in C:\Windows\system32, run "regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll" to unregister it, reboot, and then delete the file.

Oh, my friends think I'm a total dork because I talk about my simmies to them...and they don't play computer games (even the guys) at all, much less the Sims. But that's their loss.

As for the custom content issue with males/females, I kind of think it's because in life, there's not as much variety in male hairstyles and clothing. Plus, women are prettier.  :P

Okay, so I ran the regdelnull hkcu -s and the regdelnull hku-s and the first found the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM\ CAUTION NEVER DELETE and deleted it but the 2nd didn't find anything. It scanned, and told me the scan was complete. In my registry I still have one marked BinData and another called SecData1. Are these the keys I am supposed to delete manually?
ETA: Wait maybe this wasn't clear enough.

In My SecuROM folder there are 3 sub-folders, Keys (contains 1 subfolder, named 399fe07, which, in turn, contains  a folder called 0001 and holds the things I mentioned before called BinData and SecData 1), User Data (which appears to be empty) and a folder called WL( which has a subfolder called 0002, which contains 3 files called CK, DATA, and VER)


Crap I am so confused. Here is a screen cap of what I am talking about: http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q131/PollyNo9/Capture.jpg?t=1192126886 (http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q131/PollyNo9/Capture.jpg?t=1192126886)

Thanks to Zazazu for this info.   I was really ticked off when I learned about the securom spyware crap & logged onto MATY because I knew there would be info here.

FYI, ever since I started using this fix, my graphics problems have apparently gone away.  I have a fairly recent Nvidia video card (7600GS) & ever since I installed BV I've been having crashes.  The whole screen would freeze & then get corrupted (like random pixels were shifted right or left).   My computer would either reboot by itself, or I'd have to do a hard reboot myself.  I kept updating my drivers to the most recent beta drivers from Nvidia, but it never helped.

After I did these steps, I haven't had this happen.  I even tried to cause it, by setting all my graphics options to high and going to the CAS screen.    Not sure why this fix would have that effect, but I'm glad it did.

dano

That's right. If you'd run both scans and said no to them it would have found a registry key in both places, but they seem to be different views of the same key so when you delete from hkcu the kcu key vanishes as well.

The other SecuROM keys in the registry don't have null characters in them to make them undeletable, so regdelnull won't report them. So yes, you have to delete those manually. Delete the entire SecuROM folder in the registry, and all the subkeys below it will go too.

So I should delete the folders under Keys and move on to the next step?

You can delete the whole SecuROM folder from the registry. That'll take out the Keys, UserData and WL folders and everything underneath them.

Thanks. Now I move on to the next steps, correct?

Correct. Cmdlineext.dll did exist, and needed to be unregistered.


Aha! I run everything from the admin account, so that would explain why it wasn't there.

(I apologize in advance for remaining off-topic..)


 ;D I hear you on that. Oh well. Different strokes for different folks, I always say.  ;D


True... but still, why make guys pretty too? I mean, surely the majority of males don't sport 'metro-ish' hairdos and clothes..

Alright, in step 2 the "uaservice7" doesn't do anything, which makes sense since mine is an administrator account, but the "regsvr" command doesn't do anything either, except bring up an error that says

"The module cmd  rgsvr failed to load. please make sure the binary is stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .DLL files. The specified module could not be found".

This doesn't seem right. What now?

I <3 you, tiny n00b.  You are the lulz!

/me stamps Ste's seal of approval on this post. :D



Zazazu, I love you like a fat kid lubs cake.  But me thinks you've misunderstood Deviancy.  I'm pretty sure Deviancy understands why people hate SecuROM and how the no-cd crack works.

As I understand it, and feel free, anyone, to correct me if I'm wrong, Deviancy is referring to the issue that, if we decide to use EAxis patches, it will 'break' the use of the no-cd crack, because, in many cases, the no-cd cracks aren't updated for patched games that aren't as very popular (inferring that TS2 may not be as popular as most games, enough for the people who made the original no-cd crack to go back and make another no-cd crack for the patched version.

So... Deviancy is not saying that using a no-cd crack to begin with is bad advice.  The 'bad advice' they are referring to, is trying to patch the game, then revert back to using the original no-cd crack  Both Deviancy and AmberDiceless caution that this could be 'bad' because you are basically reverting to an older version of the executeable.  And since the patch might 'fix' things in the executeable, you are basically going back to an older version, which creates an 'unholy hybrid' that could potentially cause problems with your game.

I would imagine then, that they (Deviancy) would actually agree and support the idea that you shouldn't patch at all, if you want to make sure that you can remove SecuROM and keep it removed.

If you read the rest of their posts, Deviancy clearly is not fond of SecuROM, pretty much calling it a piece of shit.  So yeah, I'm sure they are fully aware and would agree with how many of us feel about it.  Hehe. :D


Anyhew,  due to this whole fiasco, I will most likely also not support the BV patch.  Unless someone actually manages to get a patched object.package posted somewheres.  I will not install the BV patch myself, and therefore I will not update my hacks for the BV patch.  Stupid SecuROM. >:(


Ste

Just to clarify, I'm not so much cautioning against it as just calling attention to the fact that this is, in fact, what you'd be doing and people should be aware of this fact.

I seem to recall that a number of people did this with Pets at one point (or was it OFB?), foregoing the .exe fixes but still getting the benefit of the object.package and neighborhood file fixes.  As far as I heard it caused no major issues, but of course there's no guarantee it will work this time around (or if it does, that there'll be enough benefits from the patch to make it worth the time.)  As always, it's up to the brave or reckless to back everything up, try it out and report back...

The next step is to see if the file actually exists, I guess. :)

Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Windows\system32 (or, depending on your version of Windows, it might be C:\WINNT\system32). Look for a file called "CmdLineExt.dll" in that folder. If it doesn't exist, you don't have a problem with it, and can move on to the next step. If it does, check spelling, open a fresh command window, and try "regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll" (without the quotes) one more time. You can copy the command from this thread and then do right click -> paste in the command window if you want to be absolutely certain that the command is correct.

Might you perhaps have deleted the file before you tried to unregister it? That would give you a "The specified module could not be found" message.

Use this program to delete undeletable files, this way you can skip one of the steps in admin mode: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

It was the glaring "Bad Advice" header in their earlier post that set me off. I got that Deviancy doesn't like SecuRom either, and agree that installing other games with it will put it right back on your system...as well as applying patches and not still running from the then-outdated crack. Just after days/weeks of people trying to figure out how to get it off their systems, multiple people posting the instructions, them getting losted, etc. etc. to have someone say something that on a skim-read came off as ...for lack of a better word...assholey... got me. I've slept since then, and my current cold-killing fever has me feeling all warm and fuzzy and sleepy.

Well in theory it is bad advice..

You're using instructions that were meant for people who uninstalled bioshock and have no intention of running bioshock again or any other securom release.  The kids here still want to play the Sims.. they want Bon Voyage to work.  Maxis may release another patch after this one that does address more issues, but this will force them right back to securom because as I said, the chances of a new nocd crack for newer Bon Voyage executables is very, very unlikely.  Then someone goes on about using the old nocd crack and using it to re-write the newer patched executable, not bright.  I don't mean to be offensive but that's like having a crappy pinto.. buying a new civic to replace that crappy pinto.. and then pulling the pintos transmission and putting it in the civic.

Any update done on that executabe is now gone because the nocd crack is the cracked old executable..

And yes, securom has issues.. and yes.. Maxis is naughty for using it. 

But if you plan on patching the Sims..  or buying any of the newer cool games like Crysis, Far Cry 2 or Hellgate: London.. don't use these instructions..

If you don't plan on updating the Sims.. or playing any of those new games..

Follow the instructions..

That's all I'm saying..

And as someone else pointed out, the likelihood of a new non-CD crack is higher now that the need for it is greater than with previous expansions.  (In fact, if I'm not mistaken there are programmers frequenting this very board who could produce one if they put their minds to it.)  Also, as I noted above, there is a precedent from an earlier Sims 2 expansion for using a combination of an old .exe with new versions of other files, which resulted in partial improvements for those who tried it, so it may--I emphasize may--be a useful strategy with Bon Voyage for those who wish to make the attempt.  We don't know yet, because only one person has reported trying it and has not provided any detailed information about the results.

Please bear in mind that you are posting on a fairly advanced modding site here, not the BBS.  Anyone who chooses to participate is expected to read carefully, heed whatever warnings they see, and take full informed responsibility for anything they do to their own computers.  Kids who don't know what they're doing--or anyone who lacks a reasonable degree of common sense and computer savvy--are actively discouraged from hanging around here.

It's entirely appropriate to point out the potential downsides and risks of anything that's suggested.  But writing off a possible course of action as bad advice before anybody has had a chance to thoroughly test it and discover just how useful or not it actually is, is not appreciated--especially when your rationale is basically "Some kid might try it and mess up his game(s)."

Basically, it's assumed that the ones who want to remove Securom 7.x and then still play Bon Voyage either know how to do this, or at least deserve not to play it because they did not Lurk, instructions are everywhere. The use of the nocd key is the only way to play without secuRom reinstalling. If they are that determined to not play with SecuRom on their system, then using a few hacks to fix what the patch fixes instead of the, possibly also broken, patch should really not be an issue. It's a trade off, a working pc without SecuRom with a playable game or potentially the following issues, A 30 coaster, the possibility of viruses because your virus scan isn't working, a borked cd-burner and the feeling of being violated. The BioShock players who removed it but wanted to keep playing their game are also using no-cd keys right now. I had looked into it because of all these issues and I had planned on getting the game in the future.

If someone can't seem to accept that a trade off maybe needed in these circumstances, then why are they bothering trying to get rid of it? Although the patch and a no-cd is a questionable method, I have not seemed to have had any problem with it in the past, some people will do what they will do, regardless of what is advisable or not. All you can do is state the possible issues and let them have at it.

Currently I will not be purchasing any game with SecuRom on it or if I do, I will be torrenting a copy as well and installing that one. If someone wants those games in the wholly legal way then they will just have to deal and that is that. The rest of us have other methods.

note: AmberDiceless posted it while I was writing and said it much better then I ever could manage.

To be fair, securom 7 isn't brand new and the issue with burners only seems to be affecting a small percentage of people.  So it really shouldn't even be mentioned because all it will do is make the paranoid more paranoid.  The known issues are that it does cause virtual drives to have an issue at times and it is known to have a memory leak.  Those are two big enough issues to where personally I think people should just boycott the publishers, but they won't.  Tomb Raider Anniversay shipped with securom 7 I believe, I'd have to re-check, but their bbs isn't filled with people claiming their burners don't work anymore.  So sometimes the issues are somewhat pebkac related.

It is an invasion of privacy..

But the point you two keep missing is that trends are changing and I see the torrent sites putting up more and more image based torrents rather than actual cracked torrents.  I also see far less updates being done on games in regards to new nocd cracks after a patch.  Sure, with the Sims it doesnt matter, they usually break more with a patch then fix anything.  But what I continue to say is that it is bad advice to those who want to play a lot of the newer games coming out and who want to patch them if patches are needed.  It is NOT bad advice to those like you who are happy playing with a non patched version of the game and who believe that every new game will be updated with a new nocd crack everytime the game is patched.

As for BV, I'm going to go the nocd route again eventually but only because their patches tend to screw up more than they fix.  But that's rare.. usually patches actually do fix the games that have issues.



 

especially since "our" reaction to some kid doing that would be to point and laugh.

I haven't decided yet on torrenting/buying in the future. I would have used a crack from day one with BV, but I believe Fairlight's wasn't out yet and then I had a dumb-butt moment. For the whole EP...well. It depends on how EAxis behaves itself in dealing with this and their general attitude towards Customer Service. Isn't looking good.

Mid-posting edit: Ok, now you really are pissing me off, Deviancy. This isn't the fucking BBS. We don't get paranoid just because someone says the sky is falling, we look up and decide for ourselves.

You seem to be assuming that this is the only game we play. I will play with an unpatched version of any game if it means that the game in question only supplies me with the files that it needs to play. That is the trade off. No patch but no other possible issues and no extra things on my computer.
It seems that there is actualy a pretty good sized number of simmers with cd burner issues. Not so much other gammers but simmers yes, it seems like every time I talk to one, their cd burner is suffering. Its the major complaint at the moment, most haven't even noticed the virus scanners not working because they know jack so they probably don't run it like they should and most others don't even know what the hell a memory leak is. You have to actually know what you are talking about for the memory leak and all those complaints on the bbs by different people with their drivers and software malfunctioning are certainly making it a major issue. I really don't see how it can be called a few, its more then a few, it's just not all.

First off, I don't mean to be pissing anyone off...

But there are things some of you are not letting lurkers know about bypassing securom, such as using a nocd crack may actually open the door to other bugs.  There's no guarantee a nocd crack is going to not create its own issue, such as the original Sims 2 nocd crack that locked out the building options.  You're also not letting the lurkers know that some hacks are patch specific such as inteeniator, which I bet will not work on the fairlight crack, at least properly.. hoping I'm wrong though.  I also hope there is a new nocd crack made with the patch in mind, I'm just not holding my breath because I know most of the demand right now is going to be on Bioshock since it's the big machismo game to play right now.

And it's hard to tell a newbie what a memory leak is and how it affects things.  You can sit there on the phone with a customer for hours trying to help them troubleshoot a situation and they'll do the total opposite.  "open the registry and delete the securom key".. 'Ok.. I deleted the soulseek key".

So again.. it's important for big gamers to know that bypassing securom isn't the answer..

Boycotting the publishers is the answer..

But people are lazy :D

The building options being blocked out is caused by a badly made no-cd. Get a different one is the answer. Actually all the info that you mention that lurkers may need is either on this site, on the site of the ones who make the very involved hacks, or can be googled. It is not up to us to do someone else's research. Inteeninator supplies that info for themselves, besides that it is not supported here and you will get hassled if you ask about it here. If the people can not read where that version of the hack says that it needs this patch or another then the problem is their own. If they can't read that, then they are certainly going to have bigger issues with such an involved mod. If they discover that there is some issue with the no-cd method then they can simply remove it and name their original exe back to the original name. Game is back to what passes as "normal". The information listed in this forum was not really intended for the "average" user, it was intended for someone who could actually use their cognitive functions enough to follow directions and use a search.

We are not arguing that the bigger issue is that it is there at all. We are merely suppling a work around for those who want to enjoy the game that they have purchased while waiting for their letters to get to EA. There are many here who have taken such measures and have used this method. You seem to believe that they are using this method instead. No one here has ever called it a solution, it's only a quick fix for now.

I understand where you're coming from, really, I do.

But I feel it is important to inform even the lurker of known problems they'll have if they use the available workaround.  It isn't my job nor am I required to do so, but I feel it's the nice thing to do.  I mean I know I personally have better things to do then hop on a dozen sims sites in order to find out if one hack will conflict with another hack.  I'd rather have had the person who posted the hack inform me of the possible issues their hack will cause.  So that's all I'm doing here, I'm advising those lurkers or those possible newbies that if they use this workaround they may run into future issues with hacks such as the inteeniator. Which is an excellent hack btw.. I love the abort the fetus part.. wickedly fun.  And they may have games that won't run anymore because they never put a nocd crack on those and those games were also relying on those securom files.

In order to inform people of certain issues, it may at times make those who are more experienced feel as if they're being talked down to, but I feel it's worth that sacrifice in order to inform those who are less experienced. 

I miss the days when a game was on four floppies and the protection usually was just a serial number..

The good ol days..

Interesting walkthrough though.. I had all of those files on my system except for.. "uaservice7.exe".  I checked for it a number of ways, it just didn't exist.  I wonder if its because I use yasu to hide my drives and virtual drives from Securom. 
 

Yes, because that is exactly what a majority of the people are here ...nice. *sarcasm* People here expect you to take responsibility yourself. This is not a sims exclusive work around. If something like this was exclusive to the sims 2 then there would be more info on it here, but since this works for any game (the no-cd bit) then someone can find that for themselves. It's been said before on the bbs for one, and on the original site that the instructions come from, that if you remove SecuRom then any game with it will not run. We just metion that it will if you don't use the original exe.
If you are going to use a file then you had better learn about it, do you want us to give a class on what a no-cd key is and what it does? That is information that could be found anywhere.


Yeah but you still have to hop on the site of one creator and the site of the second one. Sometimes even they don't know, sometimes one mod predates the other, other times one mod is bigger and they have no idea about this other random mod, they themselves don't even know to list it. This isn't about hacks, hacks are exclusive to the sims 2. That is information that is pretty exclusive about where you get it, things in this thread certainly are not.

That's exactly why before I download a hack I read the thread and see if anyone has posted things about it causing an issue.  I never entirely trust the person who created the hack, people tend to leave important things out because they're lazy, then they're like, they could have done the research themselves.  This is just an excuse to be lazy.  If you're go to provide help provide the advantages as well as the disadvantages, don't assume that downloader is going to go and investigate, because chances are they're lazy to.  And as always, when offering any pc help always assume each and every person reading the walkthrough are novices, because most online are.  It beats getting a ton of posts later from people who need more help because the walkthrough wasn't as simplistic as it could have been.

I think the walkthrough snagged from Toms was pretty damn good, it just left out a few minor things which I covered..

And yes, I will post about what exactly a nocd key does and how it works. 

But I'm a good person and I'm going to the happy place when I die ;).. *sarcasm*

It would be one thing if someone here made the no cd-key, then there would be all this information that you are referring to, but we didn't. If someone is too lazy to find it themselves, when it is easily found then they will get picked on and laughed at here. That seems to be one point you are missing. No one sits around here waiting to be helpful and spoon feed people information that they could have easily located, that is not the MATY way at all. Anything posted here is not going to assume that anyone reading is a novice, that is something I mentioned before, this was for people who already had an idea of what they were doing. The instructions used to be in another thread but that one became too involved and the instructions were beginning to be hard to find for those who wanted it. The people posting here, for the most part, are semi to extremely computer literate. Those instructions were moved here for those people, anyone else was on their own.

Feel free to be as nice as you want, but don't expect other people here to be just as nice. They reserve the right to be as nasty as they want and aren't going to go out of their way if they don't want to.

Oh I don't expect people to be nice, I was merely explaining to you why I posted the words "bad advice". 

This is how you offer help..

http://www.deviancy.ookiespookie.com/doom/ (http://www.deviancy.ookiespookie.com/doom/)

Same thing really.. just has a small disclaimer..

And we'll see about the extremely experienced literate thing..

I'm still new on this lovely board, so we'll see about that.  So far I just see a lot of simmers who know their way around the game.  That isn't exactly a pc guru, it's just a sim addict.  But it would be nice to finally find a Sims community where the members didn't come off like they were formerly on ABC's the View or born with autism.  So I'm feeling somewhat optimistic :).

/me eyeballs Deviancy.

Can't speak for anybody else, but I've been up to my elbows in Intel machines since 20 MB was a spacious hard drive, Windows was a curiosity and a full meg of addressible RAM was a luxury.  I could list my mad computer skillz for you, but I don't know how you define "computer literate" and Pescado would point and laugh at me for being so pathetic compared to him, so I'll just say that I am not intimidated by PC's and Microsoft is not the boss of me.  I think it's fair to say I'm not atypical of MATY users in general (not counting the full-time denizens of Retardo Land, which is called that for a reason.)

If you want to see REALLY computer literate, though, check out the subforum called the Bowels of Trogdor.  Just don't expect to be allowed to post there unless you can prove you're as tall as Pescado's beefy arm.

Was that you in Wargames? 

Cool.. I always wanted to know.. why did you marry Sarah Jessica Parker?  I mean that chicks got a nose on her.. I mean christ... I think skate off that thing.

I think anyone who even remembers windows 3.1 is literate in my book.  But with the being said, you of all people should know that this wonderful world that Al Gore created... is loaded with newbs who still think shutting off their monitor is the same thing as rebooting.  It has only gotten worse since Myspace, Myspace has really pulled the newbs into world of the net.  I cater to them only because a lot of them are cute ;).  Ok, seriously.. I care.. sniff.. not sure why but I do.  So I like to lay things out as very basic as possible regardless if they can google and find the info somewhere else.  I like making things easy for people, well not to easy unless they're really cute..  but that's besides the point.

So Pescado is the resident geek? 

Curious.. I'll have to check out this Bowels thing..

Yup.. total geek.  Anyone who can sit there and pick apart every issue with Simpe is a geek. 

Maybe that's why there's not a new one yet, maybe Pescado made them cry.

Anywho, not only have you proved your literacy.. hoorah.. hoorah.. you got a few years on me.  I was an apple boy because the school only had apples at that point and my parents figured home computers would be obsolete in a few years.  So when I finally got my pc, they were up to a whopping 300 megs and windows 3.1.  I stuck to dos primarily because I was into bbs's and Telemate was my favorite program. 

So whys an old fart like you playing the Sims?  My excuse is that I'm troubled and have a lot of inner demons that prevent from being well.. normal.

Windows 3.1 *sniff*  Newcomer.  Many of us probably still remember MS-DOS 3.3 - I know I do.

As for the demographic on MATY, our resident surveyer, B, asks for that kind of info in his surveys.  You can find the results of one of his surveys here (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9242.0.html).  As you can see the majority of MATYites who chose to respond to this particular survey are 30+.

Many of us were playing the Sims 1 when it had no EPs, and some of us played SimCity before that, so we're older than 16^* 12.  There is an impression that the Sims is a teen/young adult game, and sadly EA markets at this age group, but a big part of the reason the Sims is so successful is because it appeals to a wider range of players than the average game.  I've heard it said that the Sims is one of the few games that appeals to 24+ females.

^*If you're confused about ages on MATY, please read the FAQ.

EA's target audience for the game is teens and young adults.  As Kyna says, we here are not necessarily the target audience.  I'm 36, a fair few of the other regulars are my age or older, and Pescado (the computer guru who runs the joint, but not the only resident geek--you really should check out the FAQ (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,7437.0.html)) is old and has a long beard. 

ETA:


Who you calling old, Junior?  :p  I use it as a creative outlet, making custom content and simple mods more than I actually play the game.  I also like that it's a computer thing that I can tinker with and get immediate, attractive and entertaining results.  Plus it's just cool to be able to build characters and stuff from the assorted fandoms I'm into and watch them actually walk around and do things.  XD

Well I'm glad to see others here who are 30+.

Now I know I'm not the only social retard ;)..

I got into the Sims for all the wrong reasons..

I went to go buy Alice I think and my girlfriend at the time saw the Sims on the shelf.  She had to have it and well, I encourage girls to be gamers.. there's nothing hotter than a cute girl who loves games.  So eventually I got into it myself.. not that I'm a hot gaming chick, but maybe one day.. well probably not.. I like my boy bits.

I never played Sim City though, I watched someone play once.  I was to into fighting games a that point.

So ok, judging by this age thing, I see why there's no kiddie gloves being used on this board.

So ok.. nothing is taken to seriously here and quite a few are older..

Good.. good.. very good..

Oh and I'm 34..

And I'll check out the faq..

MS DOS?  Anyone remember Apple IIE?  The Commodore 64?  Programming in BASIC, "Hello World", backing things up on real cassette tapes, the innovation of the "hard" floppy, now THOSE were the days.

Well if you count non-Intel machines, the first personal computer I ever had was an Atari 400 (basically a crude game console with a keyboard tacked on and a few optional peripherals, including, yes, a cassette tape drive, and a version of BASIC hardwired into it.)  I wasn't cool enough for a Commodore 64.  :p  I did use those and Apple IIE's in a class at school, though.

/me wonders how long it'll be before Venusy splits or locks the thread for veering entirely off-topic.  Sorry all. 

I had this old tandy thing, I won't call it a computer even though Radio Shack called it one.

It was like a keyboard that hooked up to the tv and I could write programs on but in order to back anything up, I had to use casstte tapes.  So I got the hookups for my cassette recorder, supposedly that's all I needed and this tandy thing supposedly stored the data on tapes.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.  I also had one game cartidge for it, some mud like game.. sigh..

I don't miss that thing..

But at the very least it was what helped me learn how to type.

Apple IIE was what I played Oregon's Trail on when I was in 5th grade I think.. I swore it was IIC, there was a IIC right?

Oregon's Trail.. that was one fine ass game...

Oh the topic.. hrmm..

I see why Securom 7 is an issue for sim addicts and not those who play Tomb Raiders newest release..

Anniversary uses an earlier version of 7, I don't believe the earlier version installed uaservice7.exe, if it did I'd have that on my system and I don't. I think the newer version came out around time bioshock did, and 2k went all out to try and prevent that game from being pirated. 

So unless you lil addicts can really put maxis on the defensive, the next Sims expansion which is due out in Febuary will be hell since Securom most likely will step things up, I just have a bad feeling they're following in Starforces footsteps.

I don't think I have SecuRom on my computer. I ran the checks for it under the start--->run--> regedit and the other one suggested and didn't see anything for it, so does that mean I don't have it or could it mean that it is hiding? Does everyone have it that installed BV or is it just some folks? I just want to make sure I'm understanding this right.

Also sorry if that was a stupid question.

If you downloaded Bon Voyage from a torrent site and followed the torrent instructions, chances are you don't have securom on your system.  If you downloaded Bon Voyage from EA, I believe they use a different form of protection, but don't quote me on that.  However, if you bought the game from the store and installed it, and played it from the cd.. you should have securom on your system. 

I'm trying to create a faq about securom 7, how it affects the game.. and the newer securom 7.

I went over to a few other sims sites.. far to many are downloading the patch..

Not good..

Actually, (according to Jase (http://box156.bluehost.com/~aestudi1/forums/inteenimater/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=540&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30#p2804)) inteen doesn't need an update for this patch. As for the part about it not working properly with cracked executables can you show me a source? I can't find any sort of reference to that in the inteen documentation or anywhere on their site.

I have no idea where I read that at, I just remember reading something about not supporting nocd cracks since they're not legit.

But it's good to know Inteeniator won't need the patch.

It depends on whether you downloaded an image of the CD or a cracked exe.  If the image uses the original exe then secuROM will be installed the first time you run it.  If you only ever run the game from a cracked exe (such as the Fairlight one), then you should be ok.

BTW, inteen is spelled inteenimater, not inteeniator.  But on MATY it's better known as the kitten killer.

I spell it like 5 different ways, I have no idea why, I just do.

And the kitten killer?

My mind is making me think that's because it either kills the pets in the game or has some kind of deviant meaning..

And someone, maybe you, earlier said it was made fun of here.  Why is it made fun of?  I always found it to be a rather complex hack that does quite a bit.  For one, it adds a very nice level of realism to the game.  And it's the best solution that I know of to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy in the game.  The old days, I used to use the tombstone to speed up the pregnancy, then I aged the sim.. then I killed the sim.  But with Inteen.. "abort.. abort"..

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cats/kittenkiller.jpg)

Haha.. so in other words.. Jase loves you guys?

Jase wears his non-awesomeness like a badge of honor.  XD  The InTeen is apparently a bit of a monster from a programmer's POV (and even Jase admits this,) suffering from a lot of unnecessary file bloat and badly in need of a rebuild.  It's not really his fault--he's still limping along on code he wrote in the early days of Sims 2 modding when a lot of things weren't yet well understood, and it's now got six expansions worth of new features and fixes he's tacked on as best he could.  But it also makes so many fundamental changes to the game that a lot of other mods aren't compatible with it, which makes things difficult for the other modders because they'll get bug reports about their own work that turn out to be caused by InTeen incompatibility.

The InSIMenator has also been referred to as "the Puppy Killer" for similar reasons, though Pes seems to have less of an allergy to it...

Ok I installed the game from the CD version, and sadly I also patched it. Man I hope I'm not screwed..

Now I need to really search for this.

I haven't seen any changes on my computer thus far, though I'm still on XP and not Vista but I still don't want it on my system.

And I'm guessing that you can still play the game without it on your system?

Edit to add:

I finally found it. Now because I installed the patch, is it still safe to remove? or am I going to have to re-install all together?

If you installed it from the CD, you have it. Period.

Here's a better way to check: Open up "My Computer". Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME HERE. On the window's menu bar, hit Tools, then Folder Options. Click the View tab. Under "Hidden files and folders" make sure to click on the "Show hidden files and folders" radial button. (Insert beef about Windows hiding crap from computer owners for no valid reason here). Click OK. Now click on the new light-colored folder called Application Data. See a folder called SecuRom? You have it.

I'd suggest having someone a bit more computer savvy carry out the instructions for you. Nothing personal, we all have our levels of comfort with different things.

As for Windows 3.1 being the mark of respect, that's funny. I was programming in BASIC on my Commodore 64 when I was 8 6. I remember seeing the Tandy, but never actually got to play with one. My parents have never been computer-savvy, so I always got to play with the new ones and figure them out so I could teach them.

For general issues of concerns with other hacks, it's really upon the user to go to the site that deals with said hack. Unless all hacks are at one place, you can't expect people to be able to advise you, or to feel the responsibility to. Whining that the kitten killer is screwing up your game here generally gets you laughed at, and gives Pescado an excuse to post the domokuns.

Heh -- remember Logo?  I first started programming in that on an Apple II in the local library when I was killing time waiting for my then-wife to pick me up after work.  My first computer was a Franklin Ace 1200, which was Apple II compatible and also had a CPM board in it so I could run Wordstar and SuperCalc. I remember when I bought it that the salesman swore to me that 64k RAM was more than anyone would need for the foreseeable future. :)



uaservice7.exe is only installed if you install/run a game with a user account that doesn't have admin privileges. It's used by SecuROM to bypass the restrictions on a regular account, and give itself admin privileges. Which is one reason why most of us don't like it -- nothing should go behind our backs and give admin rights to a program when we specifically created an account without those rights. And frankly, a program that gives itself admin privileges in an account that shouldn't have them pretty well fits the definition of malware.

I did find it. And I'm going to remove it, although it doesn't look it from my previous post - I do know how to do things on my pc, I'm not as dumb as I sound (read). Anyway I just woke up and this SecuROM thing is very new to me.

While I like BV I'm going to uninstall it all together, but first remove the SecuROM and start new. (Without installing BV I don't like it enough to go through the crack thing. But I might change my mind later, who knows.)

I'm just glad that MATY is here, you guys are the best. /kissass

You don't have to be that old to remember IIe's and Commodores.  I'm 24 and used those the first few years of grade school.  I could do very basic programming in BASIC (har har).  I remember being amazed at the IIgs's in the lab...with a MOUSE and COLOR.  My mom, however, brought home the largest floppy disk I have ever seen the other day.  It was bigger than my head and stored an amount that seems ridiculously small now.  It was from some programming/accounting class she took somewhere around the time when I was born, I think.

I wouldn't worry too hard about NoCD.exe's and patches, either.  Recently, I installed Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, and the NoCD explicitly said to download the patch(es) first, and I'm about to switch out my Knights of the Old Republic for a NoCD, and I believe that one's a post-patch as well.  (I hate hearing CDs whiz around in the drive when there's no need.)

You might have to wait a little bit to benefit from the patch, but it's not like the scene doesn't make new .exe's.  It may be that it's not a general practice for Sims games, but it doesn't seem like a problem elsewhere, so I doubt it will be, especially now that there's added incentive to use a NoCD.

This is the only thread that search returns for "SecuROM," so I'll ask here. What the hell is it, or rather why is it so evil?

I was posting a list of problems on Insim in the General Help area, and I got the response that because I have Deluxe (Base+NL), I have the evil SecuROM and that is the likely culprit. I really don't understand how copy protection software can cause the errors I was experiencing, but because I have no knowledge about this particular program, I obviously can't be 100% certain of that fact.

'

Oooh.. Do I get to make a  LURK MOAR POST?
  Had you actually read through, You'd have seen it's mentioned a few hundred times what it is, where to find more information on it, yadda. yadda, yadda. Scroll up just a few posts, and read. I know it's hard, and it makes the brain hurt, but it may help with your problem

<edit>: oops.. quoted the wrong post

I installed with a torrented copy even though I legally bought the game. I nearly always do if only so i can leave by cd in the box and I only need open the box for the cd key. Anyway, It did still install some Securom files onto my computer, just apparently not all. My actual SecuRom file was empty, but I still found one file in my Windows 32 folder and the keys in my registry. They wouldn't have even been there but I installed the game the day it came out and I had not been able to locate a no-cd crack.

But anyway Deviancy, about the kitten killer, have you never heard the saying, "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten"? That is pretty much what the kitten killer phrase is a spin off of, unless I am sadly mistaken on this. Anyway, the others have told you the rest, it changes so much code that it wrecks hell on other peoples mods and hacks. I happen to like it, not that I use it's features all that often, I just like the option that I could if I wanted to. Anyone posting an error log on this site that then turns out that the problem is that hack then they are not given help and their help thread is locked. We do not support it here, and if someone is silly enough to have not removed such an involved hack and then testing before asking for help then they can do it the hard way with the fifty fifty method, actually, they should have used that method already before asking for help. You have said it, there are no kid gloves here. Don't use the Retardo land area as a judge, seems like most here are 20's-40s or more, those primarily in Retardo land ...well it's a little hard to tell, sometimes kids get lost.

Had you actually read through, you'd have seen it's not mentioned "a few hundred times," smartass - in fact, it's hardly mentioned at all. The best I can gather - which is the same [useless] information I gathered from searching other websites, googling it, etc. (so thanks again for another ASSumption) - is that it can cause some problems with some CD burners and virus protection software. Well, in my book, "cause some problems" isn't exactly an answer, and isn't very threatening. In fact, if I go solely off of what I've researched, it's really not that big of deal, and I tend to agree with Deviancy (hmm, how could I do that if I hadn't actually read through?). Then again, the *real* problem with it seems to simply be a matter of installing 3rd party software without consent; that receives more press than any actual problems that may occur/exist. Yeah, sure, it pisses me off to learn that this was passed on to us without our awareness or consent, but this is hardly the first piece of software to do that, nor will it be the last. Game companies - most companies in general these days - couldn't give two squats what we think. They do whatever they want to do that they feel is in their best interest, or just because they felt like doing it regardless of interest. Who knows, maybe it's a conspiracy and they are in cahoots with Sony so that we at least have to buy Sony burners if we want to keep burning stuff (since Sony can't seem to make a computer worth buying). [I figure I better mention that I'm being sarcastic here.]

As for "where to find more information on it" - I didn't ask where I can find out more about the NOCD hacks, which *are* locations mentioned in the posts. I wanted to know why SecuROM is supposedly so bad that I need to remove it. Again I agree with Deviancy - with the information I've been presented, I don't think it's really that big of a deal, but threads like could unnecessarily panic someone, or encourage people - especially newbs - to: 1) do something they may not need to do; 2) do something they have no idea how to do properly; and/or 3) do something they don't fully understand the consequences of. That is, of course, unless they actually try to learn something more about the problem, like I was attempting to do. Do you do all of your college research and then never ask you professor any questions, assuming everything you read is both correct and consummate? Simply because someone researches everything they can doesn't mean they've found all the answers they need.

As for my reading skills - for your information, although I could really care less if you know or not, I've spent about 30 hours of the last two days reading hundreds of threads on this site looking for mods, suggestions, fixes, et cetera. I never post a question unless I am absolutely 100% certain it either: 1) wasn't already answered; or 2) wasn't answered thoroughly enough for me, or at least didn't actually answer my specific question. To do otherwise is a major pet peeve of mine, as there is no excuse to post a question just because it wasn't answered on the first page of a multi-page thread. I hate that, and don't particularly care for anyone insinuating that I've done such a thing. Of course another pet peeve pertains to people that take the time to post, but only post derogatory comments, instead of using those few minutes to be helpful. Thumper's mother had some good advice along these lines, I believe. It should be a staple of Internet etiquette.

Hypocrites are my third pet peeve. So thanks for playing, try again soon. You'd better pick a different target next time if you actually want to score.

:D

Check the 'BV with no CD' thread -- I believe there's more discussions about why SecuROM is bad there.

For some reason that thread didn't get returned by the Search feature, and I probably would've overlooked the title because I don't have Bon Voyage, and thus don't care about playing it without the CD. LOL. I never would've though it could include something pertinent to my questions. I'll check it out now.

Thanks, Joe!

Oh, and I finally managed to (successfully) respond to your post in the Wants & Fears Sanity thread. LOL. Be forewarned: I talk a lot.

Hmmm.. Not even going to bother pointing to them, cause anyone can simply read the first freaking page which clearly shows how to remove said maulware and also points to a few spots suggesting what said program can do to your system what other people have experienced. Of course, you want to be spoon-fed and to top it off praddle on in your follow-up post when someone calls you on your non-clear-ity of your first post.

<edit>: Goggle is your friend, too!
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM

Result 1 of about 735,000 for securom.

Oh for God's sake. You obviously didn't even bother to READ my post, let alone anything else. I never, EVER asked "how to remove said maulware." I also still do not see a link to any location of *what* SecuROM can do to your system, but there are plenty of links to how to get rid of it, as well as to sites for things like Daemon Tools, NOCD cracks, YASU, and whatnot. As for your last sentence - I'm not even going to bother. You'll just respond with more witty remarks for lack of anything better to do (such as, say, oh I don't know... helping someone by giving them information instead of infantile insults?). If you wanted to clarify yourself, why wouldn't you "bother pointing to them"? Or is it simply because you can't be bothered to actually read through everything? And as far as research goes (which you are so fond of telling me I should do), it wasn't even my first post, which you can find out easily from this site's very own tools.

And now to someone who actually IS interested in being helpful, thanks again, Joe. There was definitely some interesting information in that thread, but nobody can really seem to agree on any one method of removing SecuROM, other than it involving a crack. Of course, I still didn't see very much about *why* SecuROM is so bad. Venusy did makes some interesting points, but most of them were identical to what I've already seen on other sites while doing my research (self-spoon-fed, I guess). It can cause problems with certain burners and certain virus protection programs. That leads me to believe that not everybody really needs to remove SecuROM.

That said, Venusy did mention one other thing that did stand out - that it was a potential security threat. However, I am wary of that statement. Let me clarify that I am not claiming Venusy's statement is incorrect; I am by no means an expert (but I'm also by no means an ignoramus, as some here would like to think). The problem is that I can find almost nothing to substantiate it. What proof has anyone discovered of this? Have there been any examples of security breaches known to be related to SecuROM?

I guess what I'm saying is that experience has shown that panic ensues anytime something happens to a person's computer - often a very personal and important thing in our lives - that they didn't authorize or were unaware of (yeah, I know, I ended my sentence with a preposition - unless you count the part in parentheses :)). These days it's not surprising that some people would jump to the conclusion that such an underhanded method of installation must surely insinuate a shady purpose. One such purpose being? Oh, spyware. I did see mention of spyware in one of B's posts, but it pertained only to the new Maxis launcher (which troubles me, but isn't a worry for me as I don't have that EP, yet).

Obviously, the inexperienced user could read that thread and see all of these different methods and bits of information (security risk, registry files, spyware, etc.) and think, "Oh my God, SecuROM is from the devil [MicroSoft] and my computer's going to explode in 5 seconds!" Fortunately, I know a bit more about computers, so I'm not panicking. Instead, I am trying to learn more about the "devil." So I guess the reason I was asking about SecuROM is because I'm wondering if I'm missing something obvious, because right now I just don't understand why SecuROM is so bad. In the other thread, one of the members actually *likes* SecuROM (at least for the purpose of making backup copies). I don't have a burner/VP problem, so that's out. I can't find any information that actually states what security threat it could pose, if any, so I feel safe there (not to mention there are plenty of other safeguards you can enable to minimize that risk either way). And my game seems to run fine (or the only problems I encounter can be linked to bad mods or known Maxis bugs).

That's all I really wanted to know. As it stands, I could care less about SecuROM (but I'm still pissed at EA). Unless of course somebody edumacates me otherwise. Sans insults.

EDIT:

You know, I love a good back-and-forth. Debate is a great way to test your knowledge against others, as well as to learn other viewpoints. But it's really no fun at all when all the other person can do is come up with immature one-liners like, "Google is your friend." You keep accusing me of not reading, then instead of actually reading my replies to find out that's not true, you accuse me of "praddling." That's called hypocrisy (aka: double standards). So the question is: Are we going to keep going with this childish Inquisition, or can we simply agree that neither one of has all the answers, no matter how much research we may or may not do, that insulting each other about it accomplishes nil, and that if we let people that do need help ask their questions and those with the answers provide the answers, we can all be happy?

I would like to see someone reply to JCspencer as well, I don't know that much about SecuROM (and I read quite a bit as well.)

I just assumed I wanted it off of there because I just got a new PC and didn't want anything to get messed up, I work hard to keep things off my system that I don't want on there or didn't put on there.

So on a 50/50 chance that it might mess up my burner, or disable some of my programs... Lets say it gets back on there, what could I do to limit it, so it doesn't have full rein over my PC?

Also I realized that if I buy other PC games it's most likely going to have some sort of protection on it and even possibly SecuROM, which will be on my pc anyways (unless I play with cracks, which I might do.)


(I already uninstalled SecuROM from my machine but since I patched my game I'm seriously thinking about just uninstalling BV, and reinstalling it the way that was suggested in the first post.)

I can at least answer part of your question. In order to limit the appearance of, return of, or initial installation of SecuROM, I advise you to read the thread Joe directed me to, here: BV and no CD? (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9559.0.html)

While the primary purpose was too discuss BV in particular, most of the other problem expansions are also covered, and there are plenty of methods to choose from. Some may work for you, some may not. But the thread is definitely very informative.

EDIT: Oh, and make sure you read all of the posts, because different configurations are discussed on later pages. Some people had different approaches depending on whether they had XP or Vista, and some of the solutions were easier (but theoretically only short term), while others were much more advanced (but theoretically long term). The only part I found confusing was that some people say to remove registry files, others say not to touch them - that it either isn't necessary, or could cause instability.

That's one reason I would like to see if there is more substantial evidence regarding the "badness"of SecuROM before I bother messing with stuff. After all, the old saying goes, "If ain't broke, don't fix it." I'm perfectly fine running with SecuROM on my system (it came with Deluxe, which I have atm); no problems to report.

Well, Obviously *you* didn't read, because this thread clearly states "How to get rid of SecuRom, NOW," and I was clearly stating your origional post :


 was vague and unacceptable and would normally be responded on this board with the reply that I threw.

 As your later posts elaborated on the subject, they would have been more acceptable, and you would have happily been pointed to the correct thread, which also tells you that not everyone is experiencing problems, only those of us that have programs/configurations that Sony has decided they don't like.

 And, as this is wandering off the subject, I'm going to drop it here.

JCSpencer, you may have just been searching for results in this thread (the big blank text box). It's best to run a search from within "Advanced search". I got 2 pages of results for SecuRom.

First, few here are panicing about SecuRom. We aren't that alarmist. The BBS...well. That's another story, and the big NOW was a badly-aimed mocking at the pitchfork-raising going on over there. And "we" (and especially I) am not saying that you must remove it...it's your computer. It's your choice. But if you are having issues, or feel violated by it, here in this thread we have instructions that have been reported to work with both XP and the evil Vista.

Issues that can be caused by SecuRom:
1. Causes some CD-burning programs not to work. Known targets: Nero, Sonic, Alcohol 120.
2. Causes some anti-virus programs to stall during a scan, not start a scan, or report subscriptions as expired. Known targets: Norton, McAfee.
3. Causes issues with running the game from CD on initial install or on reinstall. This is especially bad since EAxis' solution to everything is to tell us to reinstall the game. Users get the message to enter the original game CD instead of a backup, even though they are using the original game CD.
4. Rumored to actually break CD readers. While this is technically not possible, one user did report that they had been trying to burn a CD right before bed and when they woke up, Nero was still stalled and the CD writer had misaligned. Unnecessary wear-and-tear, if you will.
5. Possible security risk through rootkit set-up. This one is beyond me, perhaps someone more awesome can explain. (hint hint)

Hmm, not sure how I made such a silly error, but I was puzzled by why the "BV no CD" article never showed up in my search results when it clearly talked a lot about SecuROM. Now I know. Thanks!

And I hope you didn't take offense to anything I said. I didn't mean to infer that you or anyone else was causing unnecessary panic; I did notice some of the posts in related threads did reflect a more panicky response (usually from the people that were only following the advice but didn't really understand what they were doing it or why they were doing it). I simply like to be kept abreast of things, and I really just didn't understand what was so bad. Contrary to what my friend above thinks, I did quite a bit of research, but most of the sites keep talking about how to remove it, or about the CD-burner/VP problems. Not even the Wiki or hack sites really gave much info. They just mainly focused on the here-and-now: I don't want it, how do I get rid of it.

Oddly, I do have Sonic, but I haven't noticed any problems that I know of. Well, I get the occasional "failed to make a copy" thing, but I've been getting those forever. 1 out of every 15-20 discs or so. I attribute it to trying to do too much other stuff while burning. Or just a bad disc now and again (which is a pretty common error, but has been incorrectly attributed to the wrong sources).

No problems for me on #2 and 3, but #4 can actually be caused by almost any copy-protection software, especially when it is called needlessly and incessantly. Can't recall which of my games was doing that, but I know the community was pretty ticked off about it. It's actually bad for the entire system, especially laptops, because of the extra heat and vibrations. But to be honest, I haven't noticed excessive spinning of my drives; but since I know I acquired SecuROM through Deluxe, and I currently have installed up to OFB, that means I am playing with the OFB disc, which in turn means I'm not susceptible to constant CP checks caused by SecuROM - right? At least until (or if) I have installed BV. Let me know if I'm wrong with that line of thinking.

Unless I misunderstood #5, SecuRom itslef isn't actually a rootkit. You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about (and how to find) rootkits here: RootkitRevealer v1.71 (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/RootkitRevealer.mspx) (yeah, I know, I'm linking the scriptures of Satan). Anyway, SecuRom is just a service, and can be disabled/deleted; of course that doesn't mean it couldn't be a potential threat (XPSP1 proved that). However, the problem is that it gets reinstalled and reinitiated every time you load a standard disk. That alone could make this "magically" reappearing program look malicious, but I still haven't found any real cases of security risks. And the only real downside to having SecuRom running is that it can cause intermittent spikes in resource usage. Not that Sims doesn't already handle resources in an incredibly inefficient manner.

I could be way off base here, I suppose. Just what I can find on the subject thus far. There are a gazillion tuts out there for removing SecuRom, but hardly anything discussing what the problems are. I think people may be associating the evils of the Sony Music DRM to Sims, but that doesn't apply because there's no such protection granted to Sims discs. I think I'm even more confused. I can just delete the service after each game session; only takes a few seconds, and I'm never connected while playing (assuming there is a security hole and nobody's found it yet).

Anyway, thanks for taking the time out to educate me, Zazazu. I may be new here, but I've spent countless hours reading threads lately, and have seen enough of your replies in other posts to respect you and your opinion. So again, apologies if my wording was offensive in anyway. I merely came seeking information. I had preconceived notions about the issue, but I was wondering if I may have been wrong.

The search function in this forum is the cause of much wailing and gnashing of teeth even among forum regulars, so don't feel bad.  :)

I just wanted to add that I've heard some people report that Bon Voyage refused to install if it detected the presence of certain programs (such as Daemon Tools) on their computers.  Others have been unable to run the game at all without a no-CD crack due to Zazuzu's issue #3.

I personally dislike the thing because it irritates me no end to have to haul the CD out every time I want to run the game, and unlike the copy protection on earlier EP's, SecuROM won't let me start it up using GameJackal (a perfectly legal program that requires the original CD for initial setup) instead.

Also, I just have a strong philosophical objection to anything being on my computer that won't delete when I hit 'Delete,' especially if I was not accorded the courtesy of being told about it beforehand.

It sounds like Maxis (EA, whatever) is screwing this up more and more. If this were a restaurant, we'd get free (better) replacements, an apology and a coupon. Personally, I love OFB and I love UNI (although I seem to be in the minority on the latter), but from everything I read, I think I may just stop here while I'm still happy with the game overall (for the most part).

I definitely echo your sentiments regarding things being installed without consent or at least being made aware, and certainly being restricted from ultimate control of your PC is enough to make me throw mice and fruitsnacks. But I guess in my old age, and pessimistic view of life, I've come to realize that most companies don't really give a damn about courtesy anymore. Although I am still puzzled as to why they think we'll never notice. We always do.

Honestly, I'm trying to avoid dealing with all this other nonsense if I can, which was the main reason I was hoping to learn as much as I could about the threats that SecuRom might have posed (if any). If running from the disc doesn't turn my comp into a BFBVFS, I'm happy. But if I have to start downloading cracks and special tools just to play a game I paid US$50 for, plus hundreds of extra dollars for all the EPs and SPs, just because it was virtually unplayable from the box or risked my computer, then EA can go to hell. I've got a lot of other fun games from less devious companies with which I can divert my attention if one of them becomes more hassle than fun.

At this point I think whether or not I continue to pick up the EP's is going to depend on what the new EP's contain and how much of an issue it will be to upgrade.  I can live with having to keep downloading cracks and stripping out the SecuROM with each EP and/or patch, if necessary.  But if, as Deviancy predicts, new cracks are not forthcoming...well, there's tons of custom content and mods out there to keep my game fresh, and the more difficult and annoying EA makes it for us to keep adding expansions, the more motivated creators will be to learn to come up with fun new stuff themselves.  Or at least I hope so.

Honestly, that's why I have yet to buy any of the stuff packs. I can't envision paying US$20 for a handful of new items, most of which I don't even care about, when I can pick and choose exactly what I want, for free, and frequently at much higher levels of quality from websites like this. Which brings up something else - the only reason MATY is even around is because JM is doing for free what Maxis should have paid its people to do the first time around. As much as I appreciate JM and the MATY crew, this shouldn't be necessary. I swear, I really think some of these companies are releasing games in the states that they are because they know somebody in their respective communities is going to fix it for them and it won't cost them a dime (actually we are *paying* for their borked crap and then fixing it for free; what's the definition of a sucker?). "Yeah, it's done enough, ship it out and let them fix it. Start the next EP!" I've never seen this in any other industry, at least not to this degree. What if Ford BMW made their cars half-ass and required customers to fix it at their own time and expense? Or what if you got an oil change, but they secretly slipped something else in there without permission or notification that could screw up other parts of the car? There'd be hell to pay. And we're not talking about simple fixes here, at least not for the layman. How many Sims players do you really think can grasp this SecuRom tutorial. I'm not trying to insult here, but a high computer literacy isn't required for most games - and it shouldn't be. Apparently EA doesn't agree with me.

Okay, I better stop. I just totally derailed this thread. Feel free to move my posts to a relevant whiny section if you like. Or burninate them. Or rip off my lips. Or both.


EDIT: Good God, this is beyond disgraceful. I hope I didn't belittle anyone and their problems with any of the previous statements. I just spent a while reading the BBS with Maxoid Sam (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=4f90725217b358753515d34b6a607873&directoryID=211&startRow=1&openItemID=item.211,root.1,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23#b751cea4d0687bbe54f7ddbd16e79da6) (where I notice some MATY members have posted); I had no idea the problems were so extensive. But what I find odd is why this information isnt being better spread to the internet. This needs to get out there (even if only to boycott EA). My mind is made up - screw giving them any more of my hard earned money. I hope JM makes a real world burninator so we can turn EAxis into a BFFBVFFS (extra Fs added for dramatic effect and censored cussing).

EDIT #2: I just found this online. Sounds a little too easy, but it also makes sense logically. Posting it here to see what any of you might think.

As someone noted here or in one of the other BV threads, the Slashdot web site has noticed the uproar, and they're one of the big gamer news sites.  So the word is getting out there beyond the Sims community.

Yeah, I discovered if I try a bunch of different keyword strings, I can bring up a better selection of specific articles, but you have to know what the keywords are before you can really search. Kinda hard if you don't know anything about it initially. LOL.

LOL! Ah I miss my old TI.

You know, I actually can't help but wonder if the CD burner problems I've been experiencing have really been related to this SecuROM crap. I wrote it off as normal misbehavior, but now I'm not so sure. It didn't give me too much trouble until about 4 or 5 months ago. I thought maybe I had just overused it. But it just so happens I installed The Sims 2 then. Before that, I was using my friend's copy, but when she took it back I had to buy my own. And guess what? I bought Deluxe, one of the SecuROM carriers. Unwittingly.

Now I also wondered, "If Deluxe had SecuROM, why is it only now becoming a problem?" That thought contributed to my suspicion that most of the people (not all) were misdiagnosing their problems. But then it occurred to me that not many people had bought Sims 2 Deluxe, but Bon Voyage, the first non-repeated EP to be released with SecuROM - the majority of the players grabbed that one. Thus, it suddenly seems to appear, even though it's technically been floating around for over a year.

And my writing this off as normal wear and tear makes me wonder something else. How many people out there are doing the same thing? Writing off SecuROM problems as something else? EA claims it can't be SecuROM based mostly on the fact they've received few actual complaints (they say 41 phone calls and around 1000 BBS posters, as of a few days ago). They call that few, but they also say they've sold 100,000 copies. That's a 1:100 problem ratio, which should be unacceptable to most companies -  sure would be in the car industry (however, I argue that the numbers their using are inaccurately evaluated; I think it's closer to 1:30 and that's probably too high as well).

Deluxe not exhibiting problems would simply be because if you have a more advanced expansion pack, its executables are used instead of the more primitive ones. Therefore, it never becomes a factor. Same reason why H&M and Celebrations(?) which had it, also didn't become issues, because their executables are not used.

My laptop's DVD burner started playing up round about Christmas last year, at which point it was about 8 months old and hadn't been heavily used. I wrote it off to crappy hardware at the time, but the problems all started at around the time I installed Neverwinter Nights 2. So I've now checked, and yes, there are SecuROM services and registry entries, and the datestamps match up to when I patched NWN2. And I use Nero to burn DVDs, which would also be a factor. So it's taken 9-10 months for me to start wondering whether there could be a connection between me installing a game and the DVD drive playing up.

To be fair, it could still just be crappy device drivers and nothing to do with NWN2's SecuROM. But when I can find time I'll do a complete rebuild of the machine and not put any games back on it. In the meantime I'm trying to keep my desktop machine clean, so that I can at least burn DVDs somewhere.

I do wonder how extensive a range of hardware it's been tested with. I have a SATA DVD burner in my desktop machine, and that's definitely caused me compatibility issues with a couple of pieces of software before they got patched, because they were expecting an IDE drive. It's a Lightscribe drive too; heaven only knows if that confuses the issue.


There have also been other choices for latecomers to the game to buy, other than Deluxe. In the UK we've certainly had a Base Game + Pets bundle, and a "Festive Edition" which bundled the base game and the holiday stuff pack, and I still see them on the shelves from time to time. Deluxe was released 2 months later over here, so only came out 2 months before Bon Voyage. So those regional differences whittle down the numbers who might have got problems from it still further, even before you factor in combining it with later EPs and SPs.

Also, for some people, Bon Voyage displays quite noticeable lag problems just trying to load the game, with stuttering audio/video at the neighbourhood chooser and during the initial neighbourhood load. That's an immediate giveaway clue that there's something slightly wrong; if the earlier games with SecuROM on loaded smoothly their owners would have had no real reason to look deeply into what the game was doing on their PC.

Thanks for the clarification, JM. That didn't occur to me, but I guess it's why I my problems have been so small and intermittent. I acquired EPs pretty soon after Deluxe, so I stopped using that disc.

muridae, I have pretty much the same bizarre happenings as you denote. I also use Nero and Sonic, and further my system (laptop) is an HP, which I heard someone say was also causing conflicts (although I've heard several reports about peope having problems even with Sony equipment). But I'm also hard on my computers. I usually end up replacing them every 18 months or so, sometimes more frequently. Not from abuse mind you (that's reserved for my separate keyboard and mouse). I just overuse the hell out of them and they are almost never shutdown, other than for the few seconds before restarting them. So I'm used to things acting up over time; but the computer was still pretty new when I had the burner issues. However, after seeing stories like yours and mine, where it's easy to see how we can *think* it's something else, I wonder, if you have hundreds of people that are thinking "nah, it's not SecuROM, it's something else," then there seems to be an uncomfortable pattern. Some are doing this just because they don't want to jump on the bandwagon out of ignorance and point the finger at EA, but how many of us are there going to be (people with SecuROM-type problems, but that are looking for other reasons) before we realize - there are way too many coincidences to ignore. That's a rhetorical question, lol, not directing it at you specifically. And what the point of that diatribe was, well... I'm still in the middle of my first cup of coffee?

I wonder if the references to rootkits and security concerns are related to the Sony fiasco some time back.  They had decided on a DRM scheme that installed a rootkit on your computer, without your knowledge or consent.  And this was music, not even a program. 

Rootkits, for those who don't know,  are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic.  It's like the cloaking devices in Star Trek.  It makes you invisible and almost undetectable.

The Sony rootkit was designed to hide any files, registry keys and processes starting with the string $sys$,, IIRC.  You can see right away the potential for any hacker to exploit this to run a virus or malware and stay hidden from detection.  A fact that escaped no one.  In fact it was quickly taken up by some enterprising fellows in an online game who used it to hide cheating software from the scanners installed by the game to detect this type of thing.

To make matter worse, after Sony was called on it, and the controversy grew, this what happened :


So from bad to worse.  You can read the story on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal and from Russinovich's blog : http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/search.aspx?q=rootkit&p=1 You shoud read the blog.   It was like a watching a train wreck.  It was funny at the time, but only because I wasn't actually on that train.

That was a FUBAR of monumental proportion and let to several lawsuits. It also set a bad precedent for the software industry.

So, not that I want defend EA, but this is nowhere near as bad as the Sony case.  The changes are not hidden, for one.  But the Sony case might be why people are mumbling about security issues.  It's just a guess on my part.

(ROFFLE!)

I like that word. 

Not to mention all the other trojans, malware, spyware and adware, and who knows what else, that also took advantage of Sony's free umbrella.


I wouldn't defend EA, in fact *because* of this they should be smacked silly. It's not like it was a secret, isolated little incident. It's all over the big news, music and gaming boards. Everyone knew what Sony had done, so EA was just plain stupid for getting involved (not to mention aligning yourself with a company that has been getting worse and worse PR lately, with statements such as the one declaring "copying a song from a CD you own is stealing.")

I think the real reason EA kept us in the dark about the new "copy protection" was not because they didn't feel like making a new EULA, but because they knew most informed customers would never have bought the affected games had they told us up front that SecuROM was on it - it's already got a bad track record, and there would have been warning posts put up on every major gaming and Sims-related website. Maybe that's a little conspiracy-theory-ish, but ...

I think part of the damn problem with all of this having happened to begin with is how corporations promote new members of their team. They bring in people from outside the company who know about business in general but not about the specific business that they are in. One example of this is my manager and I reading a transcript from the head GameStop office. "We welcome out new VIP who comes to us after being an executive of Tacobell". Not an exact quote as my memory is horrible but you get the gist. What the fuck does Tacobell have to do with selling games? The guy must know business, but what does he know about this business?
It's horrible business practices like this, putting a person who knows nothing about the particular business, in charge of making decisions that effect the more base and supporting levels of the business. So maybe the guys who wanted the almighty dollar actually had no idea about the Sony fiasco because they are so far at the top, it didn't effect them, they never knew about it, same thing with what everyone is saying all over the gaming sites about it, what could they know about it? They probably have nothing to do with games other then raking in the cash, why would they be on a gaming site? Which just points to them doing horrible research about a company before they make a deal with it, Sony is still one of the big boys, that's what most people see, unless you look in the right places you wouldn't see how big of a deal the incidents that surround them are. How many of the average joes on the street know about this incident or the other one?

Now the Sims 2 team is having to back peddle through enough sludge and shit to make Katrina proud. Part of the reason why there is the big cry of Rootkit with all of this, other then the previous DRM scheme, is the fact that SecuRom shows up with the rootkit revealer. If you see RootKit on your computer and there is this connection to a similar situation that had a real rootkit then yeah, you are going to get a little loud about it. That's one thing I want to know, why exactly does SecuRom show as a rootkit if it isn't one, what in it screams Rootkit to the programs meant to find these things?

From what I've read, it's identified as a rootkit because it's behaviors are virtually identical to (and thus fit the definition of) rootkit. Such as the manner in which it installs itself, the manner in which it runs, the manner in which it attempts to mask both its presence and its functions, the location where it is installed, and the fact that it does provide administrative-level access (or the potential for other programs to have it) on systems (which was the original purpose of rootkits on Unix systems, I believe). The people screaming that SecuROM is malicious are not really on the right track. With the DRM fiasco, Sony's program was not malicious in and of itself; it was the fact that it allowed a nice hiding place for other malicious programs, which is what Sony got sued for. And according to FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras: "Installations of secret software that create security risks are intrusive and unlawful." Yet this is exactly what SecuROM is doing - it is a secret program (or attempts to be) that creates a security risk. It certainly was secret in the manner in which it was distributed to us.

And still EA hasn't answered this question: If they claim and truly believe that since SecuROM is a copy protection program - meaning they didn't feel it was necessary to disclose which CP they were using - then why can't it be uninstalled with the game, especially when they claim that SecuROM is integral to Bon Voyage? If it is going to leave the software on our computers even after the game is installed, then it is not integral; instead BV is dependent on it. There's a huge difference, especially since the latter requires not only EA to inform us of the install, but to inform us that SecuROM is part of the software's operational requirements. They were allowed to say that SecuROM was included, but they broke the law by hiding everything from us and allowing the installation of software the FTC labels as illegal. And that's another important point to get across to all the naysayers on the EA BBS claiming that SecuROM isn't damaging systems: Whether or not systems have been damaged because of SecuROM is not the point - EA broke the damn law! That's all that matters, and THAT affected everyone who purchased and installed any of the SecuROM-inclusive titles.

As for what you said, morriganrant, I agree with you mostly, except the higher ups weren't the ones programming the game. You'd think at some point someone in the company would've said, "Um, sir? Is this really a good idea?" You'd think someone that actually mattered in that company would've heard about SecuROM's previous woes. PR, legal, marketing, programming... someone. I dunno. I still think EA is more to blame than Sony. Sure, they made the product, but EA made the choice to give it to us without warning, and now is unwilling to make a sincere effort to apologize and help us fix this. They must have mighty big rugs in EA headquarters, that's all I can say.

Has anyone had success using these steps on a VISTA machine?

I can only suggest checking page 2 of this thread. Some users with Vista discussed using this method with success, although a couple of things seemed different, such as where registries are located, and possibly requires you to download a DLL that Vista no longer maintains by default. Wish I could be more help.

Yes, it worked like a charm too.  In my own case a couple of steps weren't necessary because the files were apparently not installed, possibly because I have read-only dvd and cd drives.

The main reason I say SecuROM is malicious is the fact that it shuts off firewalls without our knowledge.  This leaves machines vulnerable to malware. 

The rootkit in SecuROM fits the definition of an application level rootkit.  It's my contention that we have an IT professional's compiracy that seeks to change the definition or separate other types rootkits of what has been traditionally known as rootkits to take the teeth out of other forms of rootkits given that Sony's kernal level rootkit has a very bad reputation and has come to everyone's attention. They probably got together at some IT convention think tank meeting and decided to take this approach as many software companies desire to use DRM technology for copy protection and don't want the other types of rootkits associated with the very nasty kernal rootkit.

I expect some time in the future we will be receiving a little post card in the mail informing us of our eligibility in a class action suit against EA/Sony over this matter and whether or not we want to take part in it.   I am beginning to see the second wave of complaints at the bbs as so many had forgone installing BV until that patch was released.  And then there is all those offline customers who haven't even purchased it yet since it's only been released for a month.  The nerve of EA not to remove their defective game off the shelves, if not for the sake of it's customers, at the very least to save their own behinds.   So EA has more complaints coming down the pike.  It's not over until its over.

It is EA though and not just The Sims 2 branch. SecuRom 7.x is on many EA games now, they've started to put it on all of them. Would The Sims 2 branch have been able to stop it from being put everywhere? I doubt it, this is a big financial deal for them. We may have a chance if enough of us complain, that does not mean that they'll switch back all EA games but they may just switch back to SafeDisc for The Sims to get us all to shut up, I don't see how it would be financially beneficial for them that way though, it would probably cost less to only pay one company for their piracy protection services. How many are in on the big deals before they happen? In most cases everyone else just has to flow with it after it happens. I'm not saying EA is not a fault, they most certainly are, if only for being completely blind when it came to Sonys past mishaps, I am saying that The Sims 2 branch may not have had that pull and maybe if they did, how many of these people still play games and visit gaming sites in their spare time? For some, the hobby dwindles, you don't spend the time on it that you once did. Someone is at fault, they did not use their heads and did not do sufficient research, otherwise they would have seen it for the horrible idea that it was, unless the focus on the money was just too much for them. They probably had a deal, EA already puts games on Sony systems, I'm thinking there was some sort of "let's make a deal" situation and all sense was lost in money grubbing. When you get that high up, you loose sight of what exactly is holding you up, in this case a whole lot of angry gamers, hopefully their tower is shuddering enough for them to take notice that their foundation is crumbling.

Yeah, well, that would make sense if the solution they chose actually did what was intended - stop piracy of the games.  In the case of TS2, far from discouraging "arrr!" versions, it has positively encouraged even those of us who own legit CD/DVD copies to download torrent versions and no-CD cracks, just to avoid having screw-u-ROM on our systems.  It is therefore doing the opposite of what EA contracted Sony to provide.  It costs them more to have the privacy protection than not have it, because they are now paying Sony for the "benefit" of having their former customers arrrr! the program.

Conclusion: their entire policy/strategy regarding protection is counterintuitive and made of FAIL.

In my experience, this is not fact, at least with respect to the way that Sims 2 is using SecuROM.
I have directly investigated this claim with no success in verifying it.  Although, I am an IT professional, so I might be part of the compiracy.

Tell that to my Norton Anti-Virus caught in a continual uninstall/reinstall loop.  ::)  If I was more awesome, I'd already have the Securom off my computer. When I do, if I have the same problem, I'll stop blaming SecuRom. Yes, I have contacted Norton and tried all their fixes. At first they were helpful, but now they've taken to repeating the same instructions over and over. I guess they're taking a page from EA's customer support manual.

Conspiracy!!!!!

Considering that I personally had issues with McAfee saying my sub was up, and others have had issues with Norton Antivirus doing the same or stalling/erroring during scans, it's not a huge leap that some firewalls might be seen as The Evil by SecuROM. The thing displays no logic whatsoever. I've seen several people here and on the BBS post that their firewall was turned off or had increased events. Too many to be coincidence.

I also had an obscene amount of blocked events (I'm at tight security level), but more suspect a coincidence in my case. I don't see how the two could be linked. And yes, since SecuROM was removed I've had no--count 'em--no events, but I also banned a whole bunch of EPs at the same time. Can't be sure.

Yes Ritcher I agree.  The list of the evils of SecuRom is getting a little too long to be believable.  I would imagine that maybe just maybe, some antivirus wouldn't deal with the software well when it attempts to scan some protected data.  It's like running two Antivirus programs on the same machine.  It's usually a bad idea, because they conflict with each other.

Turning off firewalls? I seriously doubt it. I just think that because SecuRom is so very close to being malware, that it's considered to be  one and the same and gets blamed for typical malware activities, like turning off your antivirus and firewall and establishing multiple connections to unknown ip addresses.  It is malware, but the difference between Securom and the stuff in the wild is that it's malware used by legitimate companies.  So they have to show some restraint, unless they want to be the target of multiple lawsuits.

I think we are just seeing a reaction where people are blaming everything weird that happens on their computer to Securom.  There is a logic to what this program does. It's main objective is to prevent the running of illegal copies.  So it messes with DVD drivers.  It attempts to detect the running of software that circumvents copy protection.  It does a bad job and produces false positives.  It attempts to hide itself and so triggers programs that are designed to detect behavior like that (Antivirus). It's annoying and undesirable but it makes sense. within the scope of what it is trying to do.   

I had a user the other day call me because she thought she had a virus on her computer because she opened a JPG and mysteriously her background was changed.   It was a perfectly innocent little JPG attached to a perfectly innocent little email.  I can always tell a viruse email just by looking,  but I scanned it to be sure). When she opened the JPG she must have clicked on the option to make it a desktop background.  But since viruses are mysterious evil programs that do mysterious things, and something mysterious occured, ergo, it must be a virus.  (To be fair, I know that some malware do change backgrounds, however, not usually to a bunch of pumpkins).

So I think this is the phenomenon that is at work here.

And you say this in spite of what experienced computer users, many of them professionals in the field, have said here and elsewhere about SecuROM preventing their McAfee and Norton internet suites (which include firewalls) from working? And also seeing multiple attempts to 'call home' while the game is running, and ONLY while the game is running?  On what basis do you make your claims that people are just getting hysterical and blowing this out of proportion?  Do you, perhaps, work for EAxis, or Sony?

(And that's not even considering the installation of a service that bypasses the user's security on the system and installs itself with administrator rights if you install the game under a user account that doesn't have admin rights.  That's one of the definitions of malware.)

My understanding is that Sony has already been the target of at least one lawsuit related to SecuROM, precisely because of the malware characteristics of this sort of copy protection.  Your argument PHAILS!

I have one of the audio CD's with the copy protection they got sued over.  It's not restrained.  I really only lucked out in the fact that I was running a 98SE system at the time, and the installation was limited to a .dll.  I still could only delete it from the command line, however.  The rootkit was installed on XP machines.

It's really a shame, because I love the band whose album I bought, and they really deserved a lot of support, but I held off on suggesting people buy their music until it was available in digital formats, like on iTunes, because of the horrid junk on the CD.

You say it's unbelievable that SecuRom could mess with a firewall.  You would think it'd be unbelievable that an audio CD would contain a rootkit that disabled functions on a computer, just because someone wanted to, say, listen to the CD on their computer or rip copies of it to use in their portable music players.  But Sony already did that--it's not really a stretch.  Also, keep in mind that messing with a firewall doesn't necessarily mean that SecuRom intentionally messes with firewalls; sometimes corporate incompetance has the same results as corporate maliciousness.

tut tut.  My argument did not PHAILS.  Since I said that if they don't show restraint they will be the target of lawsuits and they were.  And that Sony fiasco was far from showing restraint.  That was a train wreck of gigantic proportions. They deserve all the lawsuits they are getting.

However, unless there is another incident that I am not aware of, at that point they were installing a rootkit on people's computer.  That all of itself was pretty damn rotten to begin with.  But to make matter worse, their rootkit worked by hiding any process, file or registry key that started with $sys$, IIRC.  Holy security vulnerability Batman.  I would think, hope, expect, that after being sued, lambasted, publicly humiliated, drawn and quartered (maybe not that yet), they have learned SOME lesson.  Maybe not quite enough, but anyway.  They didn't get sued for Securom but for something called XCP.  Unless they got sued again and I don't know about it.

And no, I don't work for Sony, Ea, Securom or anyone remotely related to them.  It's just that, when everyone is forwarding to "all the people they know" dire warnings about aid infected needles in cinema seats, I'm the person who is on the net, checking the story out.

I don't panic easily.  I don't like hearsay.  As JM calls it "lies and propaganda". I want explanations and information that make sense, before I am convinced of anything.   And so far, I am not convinced.  I've googled it.  I've seen many people complain that their antivirus, especially AVG, and and securom don't like each other (which isn't really surprising).  I've seen lots of people wonder if it's a rootkit.  I've seen many other say no, it's not.  ( I don't think so either....that XCP WAS a rootkit, no doubts about it).  No mention of firewalls. 

I think there is no doubt that it's a really crappy piece of software and a really bad idea on EA's part to implement it.  They should have kept on using whatever the heck they used before.  I hope's someone ass on the line for this stupid decision.

Quinctia,  I remember that incident clearly.  I was following it at the time.  That was unbelievable.  And that stuff was naaaaasty.  Almost impossible to remove without making your system unstable.  It was a nasty piece of business.  Then after the uproar, they finally, reluctantly agreed to provide a means to remove it.   But you had to send them a request and they would email you back some kind of key that was only good for that one computer.  And to make use of the key you had to install an activex component that introduced another security vulnerability.  What a shambles that was.

Read about XCP here.  It's enough to make your hair stand on your head, to know that this was somehow done by a big corporation.  Although they probably had no idea just what it was they bought.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCP

Whoopsie, spoke too soon.  :-[  This is still happening occasionally, although with much less regularity than before.   Never mind...

dano

My mistake.  The OP said "firewall" not "anti-virus".  Anti-virus software is not firewall software, even if they are bundled together.  It is not unusual for there to be conflicts with AV software, unfortunately.

SecuROM, as installed by Sims 2 patch 1 on my sandbox PC, does not interfere with my firewall and does not bypass the firewall to access the network.  It also does not phone home, as measured by the log on my separate LAN monitoring platform.

I don't use Norton Internet Security because I don't trust the Norton firewall software.

I don't work for EA or Sony or any company related to SecuROM or Sims 2, either.

I don't use Norton because it's a resource hog. I don't like to share my playing area with pigs.

I use PCillian.

Add me to the list of people who've had their AV software and firewall screwed up because of SecuRom. I just spent the last couple of hours attempting to repair the damage and eventually just doing a complete remove/re-install. I know for a fact that it was SecuRom that did it because I've not installed anything since BV. And both were working perfectly prior to BV. Thankfully I haven't installed anything since BV, as I've had my AV and firewall turned off in an attempt to get BV to actually run! Of course, I removed the garbage as soon as I found out it'd infected my PC, but apparently I was too late to avoid the hassles. I'm so pissed about this SecuRom thing I could spit nails. It'll be a long time before I consider buying any sort of PC game ever again and only after checking that it's not connected with Sony and it's Malware.  >:(

A question from yet another non-awesome person. This is what I get when I run the RegDelNull commands

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/jmtmom/ScreenShot030.jpg)

No options to delete anything, no results in the scan (if I'm reading it right)

Yet in my registry, I see the accursed files:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/jmtmom/ScreenShot031b.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/jmtmom/ScreenShot031a.jpg)


Any words of advice? I did perhaps screw it up by deleting whatever I could before running the scan, several folders of crap in the SecuRom folder.  ???

Try running the scans again, but put a space between "hkcu" and the "-s". The "-s" is the instruction that tells regdelnull to do the scan, and "hkcu" (or "hku") is the part of the registry that it's actually scanning. Without the space, it's looking for something that doesn't exist.

Got rid of the "DO NOT DELETE" with your advice muridae.  ;D   I'll keep trying on the other one.

Your statement was correct Angelyne. However, they, as the company that got in bed with SecuROM, phail if they try to use this as a justification.

SecuROM does hide its files. Not only by making them garden-variety hidden, but by making the file names malformed so that they cannot be removed without additional utilities.  Now as for the rest of the rootkit definitition bits, I'm not sure. At best, it's a gray area.

My investigation shows that during normal operation, SecuROM is not making a habit of communicating outside of the PC after installed by Sim 2 BV gold or patch 1.  I do not know about the stuff pack because I don't own it, nor am I testing other SecuROM installations that may have come from other games.  I have recorded no instances of communications by SecuROM after installation.  I have not checked DURING installation yet.

The Sims 2 program at BV level does not need to communicate with the outside world.  Mine does not from the start of the game to the neighborhood menu.  I do not use the launcher, I start the Sims directly.

I do not have McAfee, but my experiments with Symantec Anti Virus 9 shows that it SecuROM is not messing with it and it is working and updating fine.

SecuROM does not disable my firewall sofware, either.

I should note that SecuROM is not causing any problems on my sandbox system, as of yet.  The DVD and CD writers both are working normally.  The only symptom I have is that Process Explorer is detected by SecuROM, but that is easily countered.

My logs were showing many attempts by Sims2ep6.exe to access the net at start up and during play. I firewalled it and my vanilla, BV game, lag stopped. Eh, I have no idea why it's connecting for some but not for others but it was defiantly showing activity on my machine. I had Norton firewall at the time, I've since ditched it and I am now using windows firewall. Norton seemed to have no problem with letting it through and my free subscription expired a while back so I was in the market for a new one anyway.

Well my Paid Norton is not working at all. I believe it's SecuRom but I haven't been able to completely get it off my system, that's the only thing that will tell me for sure. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Norton multiple times and followed the instructions they gave me to no avail.

I'm tearing my hair out trying to follow the SecuRom removal instructions posted here. I may give up and reformat, it would be easier and I don't have much to lose on this computer.

I think that is Sims 2 behavior, not SecuROM.  Sims 2 does have the ability to check for patches and connect to the Exchange.  I turn that off.

I am continuing to watch this machine as I just use Sims 2 BV normally.  Sims 2 and SecuROM have free run of the computer to do as they please.  Nothing says they have to phone home every day, if they are so inclined to phone home at all.

My game has never been set to auto login, I'm aware of the game options. I don't need them to inform me of a patch, I can check that myself. Besides, it's unlikely that I would bother installing an EAxis patch at the moment they announce it, anyway. It would have been one thing if it was just the one attempt, but it was several, over and over.

My guess why, would be that I had installed using a torrented copy. I do have a legal copy but use isos for convenience. I share this computer, it's just easier to have images and no-cd cracks then trusting my significant other to place the cd back in it's box or at least in a place where it will not get damaged.

 
I don't think that's considered to be a rootkit.  If you use rootkit revealer (from Microsoft) and do a scan, you might find a couple of instances of keys with imbedded nulls, and they are actually legitimate.  One of them hides passwords information, IIRC.  A real rootkit hides better that that.  A rootkit is invisible from normal detection means. You need a special tool like the rootkit revealer.  From reading the Tom's Hardware article Securom makes itself difficult to remove and plays a couple of rather unkosher tricks, but it's not truly hidden, or especially difficult to remove. 

But the thing with the process explorer that is just rude!  Process explorer is a legitimate application (from Microsoft no less) and no two bit "security" software with delusions of grandeur should interfere with that!.

Again, not that I am defending that stupid piece of crap software, and the even more stupid decision to implement it.  Just that I am hearing a lot of terms being bandied about that seems to come from a big muddle combining the Securom mess, the Sony XCP fiasco and malware in general.  The XCP WAS a backdoor (the size of a freaking barn), and it WAS a rootkit and it WAS spyware (it phoned home). And you know what else?  On top of civil lawsuits, there was even discussion of criminal charges, and homeland security looked into the case.  a FUBAR of truly gigantic proportions.   Sony was in deep deep doodoo.  Would they be so incredibly stupid as to do the exact same thing again?? I know human stupidity knows no bounds but that's a bit much, even for Sony execs.. Unless the lass bunch have all committed hara-kiri.  Anyway. The thing is so far, I haven't heard any concrete evidence that Securom is a rootkit, even if it exhibits some rootkit like behavior, I've seen nothing to indicate it's a backdoor, and I've seen nothing to indicate it's spyware.  Although it fully fits the definition of malware.

Why does this bug me, and why does it look like I'm defending Securom?  I'm not.  I don't give a rat's ass about it.  It's crap and the sooner it's off your system the better.  But there is a lot of misinformation out there on the subject and it's making people panic.  And panicked people do panicky things like reformat their drives.  And then they come here and complain about loosing everything in the big securom crash of '07.  Blah.  I don't want to hear that.    But seriously.  It's probably because I work in tech support, it goes against the grain to see people freak out about their computers and my professional reflexes kick in.

What part of the removal process are you having problems with?  And what is Norton doing ?

I was able to take out the "CAUTION!! NEVER DELETE" key using the DOS command "regdelnull hkcu -s" after quite a bit of stumbling. It hasn't yet worked for the "regdelnull hku -s" command. It says it's scanning, but doesn't show anything. I still have the miles long key/folder in my HKEY_USERS and cannot delete it. I have not been able to get the "uaservice7/remove" command to work either. It's rather ballsy or stupid of me to attempt it as I knew nothing about DOS commands when I began.


My Norton suddenly shut off completely and instructed me to uninstall/reinstall. It gets as far as configuring, then prompts to uninstall/reinstall  over and over. I got some instructions from Norton Support, but I found myself unable to access all the files even with an Administrator account. I've used their removal tool, downloaded a fresh copy several times. I think one reason I'm even trying to remove the SecuRom rather than reformatting is to prove to myself that it is the cause of my problems. I am pretty close to giving up though and doing just that.

If it matters, I have a VISTA Ultimate 64 bit system on a 4 month old laptop.

Try this:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2006050909471013

I just got Norton cleaned off someone's laptop with this tool.

Thanks Witch, but I already used this tool at Norton's instructions. It didn't resolve the issue. If I can manage to get the SecuRom off my computer, I'll know if it is the culprit or not.

well, first let's establish something basic.  Do you actually have the uaservice7 service on your computer?


Go to Start>Run and type "Services.msc" (without quotes) and press Enter.

Scan your list for Securom User access, if you find it  double click on it, click Stop and then set it to Disabled.

It's now got its teeth pulled.

We'll see about removing it if you can confirm it's actually there and running

PS.  Maybe Ritcher could confirm the exact name of the service.  My information might be out of date.

Actually, I didn't find it. I also searched for the specific file under windows/system32 and didn't find it. Perhaps I don't have it? Another VISTA user said they didn't. I did install BV under my Administrative account.

I still have the miles long key under HKEY_USERS though. I haven't been able to get that out yet. Probably because I am still struggling with mastering DOS commands. I was successful in deleting the "CAUTION_NEVER_DELETE" key though.

That's what I figured.  It was the same for me.  I had the registry key but not the service.  And only the DO NOT DELETE user registry key, which I deleted.

So I think Securom is not an issue and your Norton is just misbehaving, as antivirus are wont to do.

Maybe try uninstalling Norton from safe mode, if it will allow you.  Sometimes uninstallation in safe mode are better, because you have less issues with locked files.

Antivirus are tricky sometimes, because they are so much like malware themselves (by necessity).  They protect their files and processes in order not to be easily defeated by malware.  It makes uninstalling the thing sometimes difficult and the process can go awry to such a point that it's easier to simply restore.

However, just before you are ready to give up and go for a reformat, try one last thing.  Go to Accessories, System Tools, System restore.  Go back to a restore point that before all your issues started.  This should not affect your data (although back them just in case), but it will set the clock back if you want and undo all the system changes that were done, including installations of software.  Anything installed will be gone, all registry changes undone (including the Securom changes you did, which you will have to redo).

Sadly, I do not have such a restore point. I don't know if it was my general un-awesomeness or some sinister behavior by SecuRom, but when I checked (hoping to avoid having to do all the tedious/terrifying mucking about in my registry) there were none. My earliest one is after Norton started acting up.

I'm curious to know if anyone has noticed an increase in computer or even game performance since removing SecuROM?

My game performance has altered little, but my DVD Burner software now works.  Before I payed closer attention, I actually went out and bought new (yucky) software for it that was "SecuROM Compatible".  With a No-CD executable and SecuROM removed, my old software functions properly again.  Also, no random hits on my firewall.  I don't know if everyone sees this, but my computer kept trying to contact someone or something about every 15 minutes before I removed SecuROM.  Now it doesn't do it at all unless I tell it to.  Again.  Finally.  The gods of sand that were compressed into chips to make my computer are happy again.  Techno-Shaman rule.

It's already been established that I need moar rams and graphics for my game to run 100%, but I have noticed a slight improvement since getting the malware off my computer. And my computer certainly runs better now that I've repaired all the software issues SecuRom caused. I think YMMV according to how many problems it's gifted you with. If you've not had the unfortunate experience of all it's many "gifts", you'll likely not notice too much difference. That being said, it's still a good idea to remove it, in case those "gifts", or perhaps a better word would be "features", decide to show up later.

OK, so after reading topics/posts on this issue for 4 days now, I'm gonna ask(probably stupid questions) to re-re-recheck I'm doing this right.
Yes, I'm very paranoid about my computer.

First, is it safe to install BV from the disc or should I use a torrent instead? If I understand things correctly, I can use the disc so long as I avoid the original .exe.
I've been using CureSecuROM to scan for SecuROM on my computer. This WILL get the job done, right? Even if I do just use the disc to install, running the scanner will have it off immediately, right?
Second, using Invisigoth's advice in the beginning of the "BV and no CD?" thread will keep me safe and running smoothly, so far as intelligence goes.

And has anyone found a way around the conflicts between nVidia and BV? I tried updating my drivers and no go.(I have an 8600 GT)

Lol.  If Securom was a person, I'd feel sorry for him.  He would probably be blamed for the war in Iraq.   

I had the same situation as you.  Some registry entries and files, but no service running.  My restore points are all there.   So dunno what happened.  To clear your restore points, you need to turn off system restore, and then turn it back on.  Have you done that in the past?

The removal tool has a linkie "what if it didn't work"  http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2006100312110513?Open&docid=2006050909471013&nsf=sharedtech.nsf&view=docid&pid=2006050909471013&pkb=sharedtech
did you try the instruction there?  And also try their removal tool in safe mode if that doesn't work.

After that I'm out of ideas. 

It's ok to install from the disk. Do not run the game after you install. Before you run the game you must replace the game exe with the no-cd game exe. Make sure you change your desktop shortcut for the Sims so that it points to the Sims2Ep6.exe and not the Launcher.exe (or whatever it's called).

I can't answer your question about CureSecuRom because I've never used it. If you've only run the game with a no-cd, you shouldn't get SecuRom.

nVidia has notorious issues with Sims2, switch to ATI. ;)

Thanks for the help, Angelyne, your patience is duly noted, no more ideas are expected. I did use the Norton Removal Tool and the Safe Mode. Never have cleared my restore points, I've made some now, but that's just closing the barn door after the cow's gone.  ::)

After my last Windows update, things are even worse: I can't update my drivers, my temp file gives me error messages... >:(  I may do another system restore and see what that does.

I'm not surprised that SecuRom gets blamed for everything. The whole sneaky way EA put it in our systems, the fact that you need a LOT of knowledge or balls ovaries to get it off your system, the whole "I am not a rootkit, I just look like one" business. If SecuRom were a person, it would be the fat, uninvited uncle that stays in your house for weeks. Of course when you find the silver missing and the toilet seat broken, he's the one you suspect.  :P

Thank you!

And switching out video cards is easier said than done.

As I recall, there was a prior issue with nVidia cards causing blue-screen and it was fixed eventually. It has since returned. I have no business giving advise on this subject because I'm running ATI. IIRC, there's a thread about this somewhere. Pescado has said before though, the solution might not always be to "upgrade" your drivers, you might try rolling back to one you know works.

Yes, I've heard that advice too. However, I found a more recent post that suggested upgrading, so I thought I'd try that before I started rolling back.

And yes, there has always been a nVidia issue. I've used nVidia since the beginning so I dealt with the BSOD until they finally fixed the issue... THEN REBROKE IT. UGH.

Oh you mean a fat obstreperous jerk ? :D


I'm weird.  I actually like the launcher.  It happens too often that I click on the sims and go...Damn, forgot to transfer something to my download folder <smack head>.  Then I have to kill the program or wait till it finishes loading.  The launcher is easier.

Just in case:
The Link  to Mark Russinovich's Tool RegDelNull in the first post is shorted and thus broken  (you can't just copy and paste such abbreviated links and expect them to work ;)
Mind the [...]
The complete Link  is http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Miscellaneous/RegDelNull.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Miscellaneous/RegDelNull.mspx)
Now it works on Firefox and Opera as well.

-le

Then, again, if you follow the first link:


not only will you get the link to RegDelNul, but the full instructions on how to remove the maulware SecuRom

Silly how that works, huh..?

Meh, my point in quoting that page was so that people wouldn't have to tab back and forth. No idea how that link became malformed. Fixed now.

I had copied and pasted the same instructions on my LJ, it became malformed there too. The link apparently does not like to be copied and pasted with the surrounding text but seems fine if you copy the individual link and paste it on it's own.

I am very interested in stopping the madness when it comes to SecuROM.  I would very much like to give this method a try:


My problem is that since I only have one user account on my computer, and it has administrative privileges, I don't have an executable file -- I have the cmdlineext.dll file instead.  Does anyone know if there is a way that I can still make this "turn off" method work?

How can I be sure it's gone? I think I got it all, but I would love to have a complete list of everything to search for to be sure. I've already checked for "uaservice7" and "SecuRom" followed Li'l Brudder's steps... Being entirely un-awesome and having mucked about in my registry with no smoke spewing out of my machine, I'm wondering if I missed something. I still have a folder in my registry:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/jmtmom/AfterRemoval.jpg)

It did have a SecuRom folder under Software which I deleted. It also looks differently (with all the essential folders under it) than others I've seen . It's possible that i f***ed it up and did something more un-awesome than usual.

If in fact it is gone, my Norton still fails. I have some more complicated steps to follow from Norton Tech help. We'll see if that works.

As near as I can tell, the file cmdlineext.dll is not needed if you are running as Administrator.  It is a registered DLL, so you can't just delete the file and hope it goes away (Windows keeps a copy around for just such an occasion).

You have to open a Command Prompt, change directory (cd) to the Windows\System32 directory, then run this command: regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll

Once you do that, it can be deleted.

Yes, but would that allow her to keep SecuRom on her system in a dormant state? She wants to leave secuRom on her system but shut it off completely, that way she can play games as per-usual even if they have SecuRom and not bother with the no-cd key method.

If using a SecuROM free version of Sims 2, yes.

That's the thing, the method she's referring to turns securom off leaving in on the computer in a way but keeping it from turning itself back on or replacing the file you've modified. She wants to be able to play BV and other SecuRom games, those are not securom free, she does not want to use any kind of nocd method.

If she wants to play games protected by SecuROM and not use a no-CD crack, then she needs to forget that SecuROM is installed and simply play the game.

If she is having no technical problems due to SecuROM, there is really no need to worry about it.   If she is having problems, she needs to determine whether she wants to play games protected by SecuROM.

In Sims 2, SecuROM is in Sims2EP6.exe.  The stuff placed on the hard drive seems to be mostly temporary files.   Sims2EP6.exe will generate whatever temporary files it needs when it runs, no matter what you have done to remove traces of SecuROM from the hard drive.  EDIT: If it cannot, it throws up an error box and quits

It occurred to me that CmdLineExt.dll wouldn't be installed if it was not needed, and Sim 2 runs fine without it, so I went back and looked at my logs.  Sims 2 has built into it a program called "CmdLineExtInstallerExe.exe" that it places in a temporary directory and runs when it cannot find CmdLineExt.dll or the version of CmdLineExt.dll does not match what is expected.  CmdLineExtInstallerExe.exe will create a new copy of CmdLineExt.dll in the temporary directory.  The 'hidden' SecuROM registry entry is used to point to it. 

So, even if you delete the one in \Windows\System32, next time you fire up Sims2EP6.exe, it will create one in \Document and Settings\(user)\Local Settings\Temp.

lordrichter, I just want to make sure that I understand what is being said.  In JCSpencer's post that I quoted, it says that when you turn SecuROM off using the method of replacing the .exe file, that SecuROM will never load or install again.  I assumed that this was because when it checked or touched the file, the file was turned off and therefore there was nothing for the .exe file to do (i.e. load, mess with the computer, etc.).  Are you saying that this is incorrect? 

BTW, I am definitely having problems with SecuROM and that is why I need it stopped.  I would like to try this method first (if possible) before I resort to messing with the registry.  The truth of the matter is, I'm lazy.  If this will turn SecuROM off and I never have to deal with it again, then I'm all for that.  I'm just not sure that I'm going to remember to check files and mess with stuff later on when I patch or install new games.  I don't like to mess with things unless I absolutely have to.   :-\  See what I mean -- I'm lazy.   ;D

The only way to stop SecuROM from being run is to replace Sims2EP6.exe with a no-CD version that disables SecuROM.

In every other situation, Sims 2 either repairs SecuROM so that it functions normally or it quits running and displays an error.

I've been poking a bit at SecuROM this evening watching the self-repair mechanism built into it.  It is very robust.

Edit: Want to add that on my system here, a no-CD version would probably be more of a problem than SecuROM, so I haven't tried any no-CD versions and don't have them.   I have verified on my system that SecuROM has no detectable adverse effects, so far.  The main point in what I am doing is to verify or refute what EAxis says about SecuROM without depending on anecdotal statements.
SecuROM is very touchy about being watched, and there is a legal limit to how far I will go in watching it, but most of what I am interested in is how the computer behaves when Sims 2 is not running.

UAService7 only installs itself if you run the game as a limited user. It won't install itself if the only user account is an admin account.

Yeah, I figured that out too late -- just as I figured out that SecuROM was installed on my computer too late.   :P 

I'm still trying to find a way to use the "turn off" method.  I know I should just give up and delete the keys from the registry and use the removal method, but there have been people who have said that removing SecuROM caused other problems with their computers that then forced them to reformat.  Reformatting is sort of a no-no with our computer situation (long story), so I'd like to try the least invasive method first before I am forced to move to the harsher remedies. 

If anyone knows how I can make the "turn off" method work, or has an idea about how it might be possible, I'd love to hear from you.  I know there are a lot of computer geniuses out there that are so awesome that they can come up with a way to make it work.   ;D ;D

Didn't we just go over this whole general idea the other day re: messing with permissions in the registry? The answer is "No". Someone brings out the bunny with the pancake on it's head, malformed idea continues to be brought up, answer doesn't change. Lather, rinse, repeat...

Lordrichter, have you determined what are changes Securom makes to a system?  After the uproar, I got curious, but there but is actually zero information out there on the changes it makes.  Just a lot of misinformation and suppostions.  Not a peep from the malware people, which tells me a lot.  When the Sony rootkit came along, there was a lot of interest from the professionals and people analyzed it to death. 

So far, have you determined any permanent changes that stay even after the game is shut down?  And when you say the program is touchy about being observed, what did you mean.

Sugar (and I feel funny calling you that, I admit), if you are referring to a discussion of this on another MATY thread, I recommend reading to the end of the thread.  The "turn off" method is not recommended for several reasons.  It leaves the offending software/malware in place rather than taking out the trash.  Consequently there may be consequences associated with it's continued presence in the registry.  There are many people here who can not afford to "lose" the data on their computers, but who have found the secuROM removal process successful.  Naturally, backup of your system is recommended before doing anything that might affect it.

Disabling things in the registry and leaving them there is potentially dangerous to the health of your system and would be a way to potentially cause you to have to reformat, rather than prevent such an occurrence.  It's also a sloppy way to address the problem.

Jolrei, here is the original information that I quoted back to:


I found the information in this thread on page 6. 

As you can see, the method doesn't turn things off in the registry or mess with the registry.  It turns SecuROM off in the Services panel.  Since I don't have the executable file necessary to do the swap out of files (I have the cmdlineext.exe file), I was hoping that someone could tell me how to complete this method some other way. 

I finally got SecuCRAP off both my desktop and laptop (I had Pet Stories on the laptop and therefore SecuCRAP).  I did notice that after I went through all the steps, my screen saver/power settings were changed on both the laptop and desktop.  Instead of going to a screen saver like I had it set up to do, the power settings made the computer shut down/hibernate after 5-10 min of inactivity.  Not that it's a big deal to change the settings back to "never," but I thought it was interesting to note at least.

Speaking of Pet Stories, does anyone know where I can get a good, reliable, no-cd crack sans SecuCRAP?  I went to gamecopyworld and there was a no-cd crack listed, but I don't do much ARR-ing and I'm not sure if the file is reliable or not.  Anyone have a good source for one?  I went ahead and uninstalled PS from my laptop, but if I could find a good SecuCRAP work-around I might go ahead and re-install it.

I somehow prefer gameburnworld to gamecopyworld. Try that site, it's way better and reliable in my opinion. I hadn't go there in a long time though, haven't need to...

Sugar, if you really want to guinea-pig that method of defanging SecuROM, mightn't it be easiest to delete it the official way here, and then simply create a backup account for simming and other infected games?  It'd be a little extra work, but might be the safest way to get it all done.

The Vitality crack for Pet Stories hosted on GameCopyWorld is the only one available and a reliable one.

Personally, I find GameBurnWorld less reliable than GCW, as GBW don't list the release group name and release date clearly. Looks cleaner though, as they don't put up as many ads as GCW.

Yep, might be the looks that got me... GCW sure looks like a mess :(

Unless this backup account is on a different computer, there are no real way of segregating changes so they only affect only one account.  So this is not safer in anyway.

I said guinea-pig for a reason.  I'm happiest just running BV-less, but if she really wants to try questionable SecuROM controls more power to her.  If she finds out something useful it'll be good for the rest of us, and if her computer blows up she might learn to listen to people who know what they're talking about.

I really appreciate how helpful everyone is trying to be.  I know that I sound a little paranoid, but I'm an infant when it comes to computer stuff (I know just enough to get me in trouble -- I'm not awesome at all), so I always check everything out several times before I actually make a decision.  That caution has paid off many times.  I just wish I had been that cautious when I decided to install BV.   :'(

The "turn off" method is appealing to me because it has been possible to turn off things in the services menu for quite a while, so I feel that this method is tried and true.  It doesn't feel like an experimental attempt at all.  My only problem is that I don't have the .exe file needed to turn the program off and I need to figure out how to do it with the files I have.  I guess that could be considered the experimental part.   :-\

I know that many people have deleted the keys from their registry and installed the no-cd crack without problems.  However, I have read some posts where this HAS caused problems for people.  Since I have the "unholy hybrid" (the game plus the patch), I worry that I will be one of those at risk.  And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not allowed to reformat my computer, so I need to make sure that whatever I do doesn't cause a disasterous problem. 

People here have been telling everyone to read up on the SecuROM issue because the net is full of information about it.  Well, I have been reading and something that gave me pause about using the regular removal method discussed here is something I read over at wrongplanet.net.  The poster worked in security.  He doesn't like SecuROM, but warns people about cracks in general:  "I let my cert expire a while ago, so I won't recommend against buying one copy and downloading another. Just go over your downloaded one with 3 or 4 different AV/anti-trojan scanners before you use it, because half of the cracked stuff I've seen has had non-Sony rootkits in it, and those are even less fun than SecuRom. Stuff in RAR format seems to be especially bad, since few AV packages know how to see through the compression like they do with ZIPs, etc."

As I mentioned earlier, If possible, I would like to try the least harmful method first, and then move on to methods that might be more likely to hurt my computer.  But no matter what, I do want to get SecuROM off my computer.  If for no other reason, I need to see if that is what is causing the problems I've been having. 

So, although I know that many of you want to just tell me to shut up and use the delete/crack method, I would really appreciate it if anyone that might have the knowledge to help me with the "turn off" method would speak up and let me know their thoughts.   Thanks again to everyone.

  The problem is, it's not the .exe that causes the problems, but the actual registry entries. "Turning off" the .exe will only disallow it to do  more harm, If you're not presently having problems and are too unsure about deleting the registry entries, and are using the NOCD, go ahead and take a leap of faith (I would still go ahead and disable the cmdlineext.exe file). If you're planning on "turning off" and expecting to go ahead and use the original TS2-.exe to start the game, I really don't think that would work as people have reported the original TS2-.exe is what allows it to "phone home" and/or re-establish the reg entries. Disabling the cmdlineext.exe file here may throw errors.
  Btu then again, I'm totally not awesome, and I'm just talkin' shit here.

Of course some cracks out there can have bad software in them, pirate junk isn't exactly regulated.  However, when people on a savvy site are pointing you towards a trusted source for a crack, it should help ease your mind.  If a good site suddenly had a malicious link up, there'd already be warnings to stay away from that version, and go elsewhere.

And you don't have an unholy hybrid.  That reference is to someone patching the game and then using a cracked .exe, which, at this point, is only available for the original .exe.  The patch changed the executable file, so some of the benefits of the patch might not be present if you switch out your .exe.  If you're worried about the patch situation, uninstall/reinstall and don't patch the game.  It's not a recommended course of action around here anyway, and any issues with the game have fixes here for them.

Finally, leaving registry keys in the registry that are potentially damaging, or just plain not in use anymore is potentially a very bad thing.  Here's my anecdotal evidence:

I don't like reformatting.  If I have to reformat and reinstall the OS, I view it as a loss in my battle of domination over my computer.  Anyway, I had an HP with a failing HD, as many HPs from 99/00 were wont to do.  So, I format my new HD, get everything all ready to go, install it as a slave, and copy over every single file from the old HD onto the new one.  Make new HD the master HD, boot up the computer, and everything seems fine.  Until I try to open anything with HTML, then the OS crashes.  Browser?  CRASH.  Help?  CRASH.  (Help files are full of html goodness.)

At the time, I was at college with a 24/7 Tech helpdesk, so I called them up, they were baffled.  I set up an appointment for later in the week, but I figure they'll just tell me I need a fresh install on the new HD, so I get back to work.

A couple hours later, I found my problem.  Guess what it was?

Leftover registry keys from a Microsoft language pack I had installed to display asian characters.  I had gotten sick of looking at boxes.  It seemed to slow my computer down a bit, though, so I had uninstalled it.  That uninstall process had left keys in the registry, though, and that was enough to screw up my computer later.  Since then, I've made it a practice to keep my registry as clean as possible.  So the SecuROM thing would definitely piss me off, even if there were no compatibility issues currently.

I'd suggest deleting all of the keys, and any attempt to kinda avoid it is something silly and time-wasting that will really only benefit you in that it might make you feel better.

I've been running patched BV with the original cracked exe from the BV no CD thread. No problems.

My advice would be leave securom there, unless you know it's causing you a problem.  I think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion.  I don't agree with EA.  Making changes to people's systems that cannot be undone by uninstalling the game is wrong.  Installing stuff that prevents other software from running is damn wrong.  They have no business preventing programs like Daemon tools and Alcohol 120 from running. I think that's a big part of the uproar.  People are pissed off, and rightly so.  However, since it's installed on your system the harm is done.  If it's not actually causing any problems, and you aren't computer savvy, you might do more harm than good tinkering around.  Leave it be. 

SecuRom wasn't even EA's business to switch with. I bet they got tired of people stealing their games which will still occur. I bet they'll keep on trying to get rid of pirates, but that will never happen. No matter what the protection, somebody WILL find a way around it. The only thing they might change is their customer base. Securom does cause problems, but not as many problems as Starforce does (and it's why some companys have gone away from starforce, like ubisoft because they knew people would not buy games that use starforce)

SecuRom, right, or wrong? Wrong, since the ONLY legitimate way to remove is to uninstall The Sims 2. Not a viable option. I'd rather never have it installed in the first place. It has removed my ability to use daemon tools for some programs that I just don't want to dig out my CD for (BF2142, BF2. Digging out the CD is too much of a hassle)

Uninstalling does not remove SecuROM. There is no "simple" method of removing it.

Uninstalling does not remove all traces of SecuROM and there is no simple way to do that.

Uninstalling appears to remove the active portion of SecuROM, which seems to be in Sims2EP6.exe.

However, what is left after uninstalling Sims 2 BV appears to be benign.

More than anything, SecuROM's reputation appears to exceed reality, at least with respect to how BV is using it.  In a way, it is sort of disappointing.

Benign or not, it still has no valid reason to stay there. If it's not doing anything, then I want it off my comptuer. No matter how small, wasted space is never a good thing.

If you have the skill and means to remove it, yeah.  If not, well, I wish you well in your quest to remove all things that don't belong there.

If you don't have Vista, you will want to remove the Vista specific stuff that EAxis is installing on your system, too.  ;)  It's not doing anything and has no valid reason to stay there. 

Actually, I have already removed it. I was merely speaking on principle.

Stuff that appears benign can cause problems later.  That's why my philosophy has been if I know something is still on the computer AND is unnecessary for anything I use, I get rid of it.

I dunno about a consensus.  I think that most people who have the know-how to remove it have done so, just on principles. I know I have.  But I think that if removing it means messing with things you aren't comfortable messing with, you might as well leave it there.  LordRitcher has tested it and it doesn't seem to cause any problems, to his system anyway.  Your millage may vary, but  I'll trust a real life test over hysteria anytime.

And you are absolutely right.  Copy protection encourages piracy.  I've seen it in games, I've seen it with music CD. When customers suddenly find they can no longer use the product they paid for, or not use it in the way they want (like running the game without a CD, or moving music you bought to a new device), they go searching for answers.  And the answers are not hard to find.  And that opens a whole pandora's box.

My guess is that game companies consider that a reasonable risk.  They figure this will stop more casual piracy than it will cause customers to embrace the "dark side".  Although I have my doubts.   Getting a pirated copy is absolutely trivial.  Usually downloading a new expansion pack is faster than waiting for the game to hit your local stores.  Would there really be more piracy if the games were left unprotected?  Who is this copy protection stopping now exactly.  Maybe the kiddie crowd, whose internet usage is closely monitored by parents. 

One thing for sure they made a big mistake switching to Securom.  They thought the change would be transparent.  It wasn't.  That's lack of proper testing.  Like applying an untested patch system-wide in your corporate environment.  As as you pointed out, the uproar caused a lot of people to discover the wonders of cracked exe's.  Not good for EA.  Good for the customer.

I have heard that you can change the name of the cmdlineext file, and create a dummie file to turn it off.  But the thing is that file I believe is only for creating the analysis file.   The file that is activating SecuROM is the sims2ep6.exe which is communicating with the NEVER Delete key in the registry.   In a user account the exe can not perform that action because of the limited priviledges it has.  The UAService7.exe enables the sims2ep6.exe to communicate with the registry key in the user account.  This is why people using an admin account use a no cd executible to replace the original, because SecuROM is removed from it and will not install or activate SecuROM and all together bypasses it.  I can vouch that the no cd cracks at GameBurnWorld.com are safe.  I have been using them since the Pets expansion and they have never caused me any problems.  If you put the crack in before starting the copy protected game up, SecuROM doesn't install at all.

Celesta, thanks for trying to explain this to me.  I finally called in a favor from a computer geek friend of mine.   :-\  He's going through my computer with a fine-toothed comb to see if all my problems (BV tries to launch but sits on the same screen forever, anti-virus/spyware programs stop in the middle of a scan, computer lags, internet connection lags, etc.) is caused by SecuROM or something else.  He says that there is definitely something funny going on with the system, but he's not sure if it's a trojan or other malware let in by SecuROM or if it might be SecuROM itself.   Neither one of us wants to guess what's wrong, we want to know for sure so that when we fix it, we make sure it's fixed for good.  So, I'm going about this the slow, methodical way.   ;D  I will keep checking the info here to see if anyone has any other info that might be useful to us in our quest.   

Edited: for clarity.

I believe I can explain why your scans stop.  It's my understanding that SecuROM performs some type of activity to remove itself from scan lists during the scanning process.  In some anti spyware and anti virus programs this causes an interuption of the scanning process and it becomes stuck.  The scans are actually picking up the SecuROM files as potentially harmful, therefore SecuROM was programed to remove itself from these scans.  It's another attempt to hide itself and prevent removal.  If the scans were permited to list the SecuROM files then you would be able to remove them.  Also after running these programs it is necessary to restart your computer before attempting to start up the game, or SecuROM will refuse to let the game start up because it thinks you were attempting to remove or bypass the SecuROM protection.

Also there has been others who have reported general or overall decreases in system performance after installing SecuROM.  If you removed SecuROM and these problems cleared up, then you would know whether it's SecuROM or something else.  A number of individuals have done so and reported that all the problems went away once SecuROM was removed completely. 

Celesta, you are full of wonderful and useful information.  Thank you so much.

It certainly does look more and more like I have a SecuROM problem.  However, since so many people seem to think that this is impossible (I mean, SecuROM is only a harmless copyright protection program, right), my tech guy and I want to make absolutely sure that it can't be anything else before we attempt removal of SecuROM.  That way, when everything immediately gets better afterward, no one can say that it was because of something else we did.   ;D  I especially want to be able to list everything I did when I send a nice little e-mail to EA support.   :P

I really thank you (and everyone else) for all the support and help.   

BTW, does anyone know of any anti-virus/spyware programs that will run all the way through with SecuROM on the computer?  I currently have Defender Pro, AVG, Ad-Aware and SUPERAnti-Spyware.  Some of them will run when you do the quick scan, but none of them want to complete a full scan -- even in safe mode.  I'd prefer it if I can get some free software since my computer fund is all tapped out with all the problems I've been having.   Thanks again!

Windows Defender worked for me. Ad-Aware did as well. Hard to say really, as a good deal of the problems cropped up because of the vast differences in software on peoples computers. One persons Norton had been working fine but the next person couldn't run their Norton, their mp3 player, or their burn software. It all seemed kind of dependent on what the total objectionable software had been. Bit odd.

The whole thing is more than odd, edging into irritating.  I can run Norton and Ad-Aware just fine.  I have no load/lag problems, and my game has never crashed.  I know others here who have (on paper) better specs than my rig, who have endless problems, possibly due to screw-u-ROM interaction issues with some other bits of software, drivers, etc., and/or basic game incompatibility with drivers, video cards, etc. that EA never told us about and still does not acknowledge (although to be fair, they probably don't know - they should, but they don't).  This leads to inconsistent experiences. 

NOD32 works fine with SecuROM installed. At least on my experience it does, and it's my personal favorite :D

 After reading the whole 10 pages of this post 3 times over (I like clarification!) I followed the instructions and have removed SecuRom from my laptop. Have now got a no cd crack and BV runs fine. However, when I rebooted after removing SecuRom windows acted like it was running for the first time, desktop was reset, windows walkthru video wanted to run etc.  As if that wasnt irritating enough when I connected to the internet IE had also been reset and needed initial setup! my homepage was back to msn etc.  As IE was the first thing I noticed any strange behavior in while SecuRom was present I am sure that it has been affected by it in some way but have not seen anyone mention it here so am I wrong?  My laptop is definately running faster again now.  Also my keyboard is now confused, @ and " have changed places which is a total pain when typing my email address...is there any way to put this right?

Thank you for covering this subject, I knew something was on my machine that shouldnt be there as it was not behaving quite right and running slowly, but had not even heard of SecuRom before. I am a sims2 addict but will never buy another expansion if SecuRom is used.

Sounds like you might have deleted something by mistake in the registry.   You appear to have lost your settings.  Like you said no big deal.   Your keyboard was reset to the wrong language or to a default language of some description.  Go to the control panel and locate the Regional and options applet.  Select the middle tab: Languages and click on details. If the default input language is not the one you expected, change it.  Make sure that the keyboard you want is listed on top in the installed services list.  That's the one the system will use by default.  Remove the ones you'll never use, if there are any more.

I just want to make some SecuROM stuff clear.



Both of these statements are false.  SecuROM is much more clever than that.   Edit: removed some rattling of the mouth...

Thanks Angelyne
I should have known how to do this, was looking in the wrong place!! Like many people I should spend more time exploring windows instead of waiting until I need to find something.   :-[

I followed the steps to rid my system of Suc-u-rom. It worked beautifully! It was NOWHERE to be found. I was happily playing my game with all the expansions until something totally un-related got borked and I decided that a total re-install was neccessary. After the game was completely gone, I checked the registry to make sure it was gone from there too and guess what I found? 

Apparently the damned game installed Securom during the UN-installation process. Now THAT is what I call ridiculous!  >:(

Lemme guess.

IT'S TRUE!  YOU SAW IT ON THE NEWS!!!!1

Hee Hee Hee.  :)  SecuROM is not installed while uninstalling. You never actually removed the SecuROM program, so next time you ran Sims 2 BV, it recreated all the stuff you removed.

No. It was gone. I checked several times just for the hell of it on several occasions. I was using the recommended no cd crack to play the game. Also while uninstalling, I noticed that strange black box that someone else mention somewhere, pop up for a brief second. I know it was reinstalled during the uninstallation process.

Well, I have uninstalled BV several times and I have yet to observe this, so even if it happened to you, it will not necessarily happen to everyone.

Were you on a non-administrator account?

Just spit-balling.

lordrichter: Did you see anywhere that I said it would happen to everyone? It DID happen to me. I just thought I would post it here to let anyone else it may happen to know that it has not just happened to them. I beg your pardon it that does not happen to be okay with you. Mmmm 'k?  :P

Zazazu: No. I have only ever had one account on this computer as I am the only one who uses it. All I know is that it was really strange. I saw that little black dialog box pop up both while uninstalling H&M junk AND BV. *shrugs* Maybe it was just a freak thing that somehow happened. If it's possible for something freaky to happen; it will likely happen to me...lol.

I'm not worried about it thiough. I got rid of it once. Now I've gotten rid of it again.  :D

This may be a stupid question, but, I want to be sure. I did the steps above and I have a SecuRom folder but it is empty. Can I delete it?

Yes you can delete that.  But if you still have BV installed and you start it up that folder will return.  Also, that doesn't completely remove SecuROM.  There is also files in the registry.  You open the registry and use the find feature to search out all the files in there.  Search for both SecuROM and cmdlineext files to be deleted in the registry.  If you search Safedisc in both the registry and System 32 drivers folder you can also rid yourself of the SafeDisc files (though no prolbems have ever been reported with these, but they are DRM technology as well). The file that says NEVER Delete requires a special removal tool.  I used trashreg to remove that one.  All the others can be removed by simply right clicking on them and deleting.   There is a file or two in the System 32 labeled cmdlineext.dll  Those can be deleted easily as well.  I deleted all of these with no consequences to my system.  The only way to keep SecuROM off your system and still play BV or other SecuROM protected games is to use a no cd hack.  I purchase all my games legally, and I see nothing against using a no cd patch and ridding myself of having to deal with copy protection. I don't believe this is illegal as they have never procecuted legal purchasers of games for it and probably never will.  I believe if you paid for your games the fair use laws make it perfectly legal to circumvent copy protection to preserve the integrity of games disks and to protect your property and privacy.  Otherwise just don't install or play SecuROM or other copy protected games which most of them have it these days.

Most likely you will not be able to delete the folder without using the full instructions. There are two files with malformed names that do not show, regardless, and if you try to delete the folder without running a program such as the one I linked to, you'll just get an error message that some file with a string of unintelligible characters can't be deleted because it can't be found. Annoying, as well as completely illogical.

I tried following the instructions, but I didn't have anything with uaservices.7, it doesn't exist on my pc.  I looked through task manager, and it also showed no uaservices.7.  The instructions weren't working for me, why I don't know. Anyway, I enabled all hidden files.  I created a search for all securom, also in hidden files.  When searched finished, I created desktop short cuts to each one, there were 2, one in user applications, another in program files.  I uninstalled bon voyage, I used the desktop short cuts to ship me to the folders/files. I deleted each of those found.  Next I used the "cureSecuromEng".  I used trashreg and the "do not delete" was gone.  I also ran my RegCure.  I created another search for sony and securom and it was clear.

I had at one point in time made a back up of my registry keys.  When I examined the back up, it really details all information as to what each registry key is, and did a compare with my current registry, as there was only one key that was suspicious.  I was able to confirm this suspicious key was actually a microsoft key and not to delete it.

Did I remove it all?

I just wanted to add to my above post.  I made a backup copy in my registry keys as the are now.  Now it appears is a different story.  With looking at the backup, i right clicked and picked edit and all this info appeared. I selected "find" and typed securom.

I was suprised to see "securom" under the uaservice7.exe.  Securom was 008, but there were others listed under the key.  There was "backweb" "webex document loader" "catylist control, dir/A, conspawn.exe, thumbs data base folder, shell32remote assistance.  I dont understand why these are all together in this one same registry key, If I delete this key, will all the others in this group also delete?  I dont understand why uaservice7.exe was not showing anywhere for me.  Just wanted to add this added information. Any Suggestions?  I have called Sony, and made contact with a person said he would try and get some information I requested.  What to do?

Well.. what I usually do when I find something I don't recognize in my registry (re: OCD), I'll google it.. and not just check out the first hit on google. That usually lets you know what you've found in your registry .


Hopefully you typo-ed and meant "uaservice7.exe" If not, search for it again and get rid of it as noted. Remember,  it won't be there if you installed on your Master/Administrater account.

Another note: the "backweb." Find a safe way to get rid of it. Regardless of what anyone has ever told you about it, it is Evil, Forced Maulware. My HP machine had it so that HP could upload updates at their leisure. well.. it seamed to always be connecting to HP's site and using "downtime" on my access to put their bullshit on my computer. Get rid of it, it's evil. 

Proprietary pre-installed spyware is exactly why you want to ALWAYS reformat a preloaded computer. Plus they tend to partition the drives funky.

...and give you 40 versions of AOL and MSN you'll never use.

Yeah well, aparently they caught on to people reformatting as soon as they took their machine home. They no longer supply you with a disk of your OS. They instead force you to make a system restore cd. That way, in the event that something goes wonky you reset your system to they way they packaged it for you, with thousands of programs you don't need.

Yeah, my wife's laptop was like that.  Yet another reason to build your own rig, if you can.  Fortunately, with Vista out, copies of XP become "trailing edge" and therefore cheaper.

Just wanted to thank you for this post. I hadn't even heard about this until I was looking at something else here and saw a link to this post mention. Then my 10 page reading day began...and then my "...I miss everything, don't I?" and then finally said goodbye to SecuRom (it was sad to see me go).

Then I go to sleep, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up to a nightmare about SecuRom taking over my computer. Go figure.  :D

But yay and thanks for giving me an...interesting read...and for telling me how to get rid of it (really not that hard, at least it was easy for me). Because without this helpful post, I'd have probably not even heard anything about it and my Sims would've kept acting wonky. They were fine, I install BV and then they were mean. I figured it was because...I had too much sims crap or something. Or I just spent too many hours simming. But then after I read all this and got rid of SecuRom...suddenly my Sims went to how they used to be (since nothing else I have on my laptop is SecuRom, I made sure to check on that).

Thanks, thanks again and you are definitely more awesome than me (since I only did all this stuff yesterday and thought I'd share today).

*goes back to lurkdom*

 Just so you know, here in Michigan, US, they *have* to supply a disc. If not, they have to send you one *free of charge.* This I know, because I receive a "notice of settlement" and a restore disc 3 years (!) after I replaced the HP with a computer that actually worked.

Well, here in Louisiana, that doesn't do me much good. When my family purchased a computer for me a few years back I realized there were some pretty major disks missing from the package. I have my family call them up to see if it had been just some kind of mistake, alas, no. They just walk you though making your own restore disk, the bastards. That was a few years ago. This practice continues today. On my currant pre-built, I at least got a deal, it was their last display. It would have cost me more to build one and I had a very small budget. Still pissed I couldn't reformat it, I'm still finding random useless programs, and then there's programs that I'm not even sure I need currently, gah. this thing is a mess.

I used to get pissed off with computer shops that did that.  I got to the point where I would tell them that either they provided me with disks for all software, drivers, and extras they were loading, or they could do without my business.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't - well, if you consider that I only bought from people who supplied disks, then it worked every time ;D , but some stores did not get visited again.  Fortunately, Ottawa is (in addition to being a government town) a high tech centre of the Empire, so there's a lot of choice of vendors.

Hi Sluggo,
Thank you for your response.  Yes that was a typo.  Yes again, as I did install on my Administrator account, so that does explain why I couldnt find it.  I was able to finally remove the "backweb".  That is one nasty sucker.  It seemed to have been everywhere on my pc.  It does appear I have it completely removed.  I also used the Window Washer and did a complete search to see if anymore places remained. I believe I can claim success.  Thank you again!

I just ran regedit.  There is so much in there.  Is there a program (either free or cheap) that you recommend to use, to clean that up; so that only what I really need is in there?

This method of removing SecuROM is different than the original post in that you won't need to use command prompt.

The best and more thorough way to remove SecuROM is manually.  You could use the find feature in regedit to locate all the SecuROM files. 

Step by step:

To open regedit.  Go to Strat, Run, type regedit and press OK.  Go up to the Edit menu and use the find feature.

Search for SecuROM, NEVER DELETE, and cmdlineext (some will have cmdlineext menu in the name, delete everything with cmdlineext in the name. 

In the system32 folder go into the drivers folder and remove cmdlineext.dll and anything else that looks like that.

There is a hidden folder in this directory: C:\Users\YOURACCOUNT\AppData\Roaming

In my set up I don't have the UAService file since I don't have user accounts.  If you have user accounts you will need to search the user account folders for that file. 

Just right click and delete everything.  It's not as harmful as they say it is.  It's actually the best thing for your computer to get rid of the SecuTRASH.  If anything is stubborn and won't delete, then start up in safe mode and that ought to do it.

As an alternative to manual uninstall, you can try this program, not sure how good it works because I removed everything manually.

http://unidownload.com/filedownload-CureRom_548.html

This one does get rid of the NEVER DELETE key. 

http://www.databack4u.com/snc/rtkf_eng.html

I did use this one, and it works like a charm.   It's the only file that can't be right clicked and deleted.  When Trashreg wouldn't work on my son's computer, it was because of a missing file: msvbvm50.dll.  We were able to google and find a copy of it to download, slipped it into the system32 folder and then we were able to use trashreg.  When you run trashreg, it will tell you if a file is missing, just google the missing file and find a copy of it, move it into the System32 folder.

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvbvm50

Instructions for using Trashreg:
Save the archive to your desktop
make a new folder on your desktop
open the archive
extract the contents of the archive to the new folder
open the new folder
click on the trashreg.exe
The program will open in a little window
Go up to file, choose find embedded nulls
The NEVER DELETE folder will appear
highlight it and press your delete key

If by chance this doesn't get rid of the NEVER DELETE key, then you might have to take it to a repair shop to get it out.  I believe there is a way to remove it via command prompt, but that is very technical.  Personally I have yet to find any resource on the Internet that explains how to remove that with command prompt.  If you can't afford to pay a repair shop, then reformating maybe your last or only resort. 

No-CD install information: If you want to be able to still play Bon Voyage download this

http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml
or
http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_sims_2_bv.shtml

Go into C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin

Change Sims2EP6.exe  to Sims2EP6ORG.exe

Then slip the no-cd exe Sims2EP6.exe into the folder.

When you want to patch your game, change the no cd exe to Sims2EP6NOCD.exe, and change Sims2EP6ORG.exe back to Sims2EP6.exe.

Patch the game as usual.  When finished label and swap the file names again and you will be good to go.  ;D

Um. Yeah. that was all in the first post.

FourCats, I'm assuming that you are talking about all the other registry entries in your computer, not those to do with SecuROM. As a general rule, if it's not causing you problems, don't mess with anything in your registry.

Please be open minded. I believe the method I have outlined is much easier then the first post.  That RegDelNull registry editing utility thing is too hard to use, and frankly it did not work for me at all.  A lot of people have been saying the first post is too hard to understand.  Plus this provides some additional resources.  I think we are learning a lot more about SecuROM removal than we did starting out.   ;)

Also that Trashreg file is an all purpose registry cleaner.  It will get rid of all the "other" entries.  I use it all the time.  With it you can even delete entries for free trials and use a free trial software again once you've deleted those.  ;D

I'm open-minded, I just found it redundant upon skimming. Alternate programs for the same thing, then the same directions over again. Possible I missed something, though.

Call me stupid (I prefer technologically challenged), but If you get the securom off the computer how are you supposed to put that link in place of another?  Is this download to install it all over again?
Obviously I'm having trouble with this. I am not real confident about doing it myself yet, but am working myself up enuff courage to do so. I have disabled the permissions part of it, as someone had told me to do (in the registry), does this help?
thanks,
Skye

I am not sure what link you are refering to.


No, disabling permissions in the registry does nothing.  You have to get SecuROM off your computer completely to be safe from it.

The no cd crack, I mean. Sorry.

I got totally lost in the directions. Maybe I ought to find a tech to explain it to me?  Would there be a "walk through" for 'unawesome' ones like me--ones who aren't so tech smart, but who would really like to get this off? I'm almost broke (paying for these ep's and sp's), and want a cheap way to do it.
Thanks
Skye


My heart goes out to all these people who think all they have to do is uninstall the game to get the securom out. I read that in the bbs teen style stuff area.

Skye - *waving* I've seen your postings at the BBS, welcome to the dark side.  :D



What exactly are you asking? Have you removed all traces of SecuROM from your PC? Do you need help with that? Or do you need help using the no-cd crack?

muahahahaha, thanks tessie, I'm the nasty one over there, and thank you for the warm welcome here.

I want the securom out of my system, but I want to play like no one's business. I just found out I have that daemon thing too. Do you think they will actually come up with a fix for this, or do you think they'll continue to hide from us?

I was wondering, do you get rid of the whole game, then get rid of the securom, then reinstall it and before you launch the play button, put that no cd crack in there?

Which directions did you follow, the one in the original post or mine? 

Try mine, I think it's easier, just follow it one step at a time:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9929.msg281293.html#msg281293

No I don't think they will ever fix it.  The only way to fix it is to get it off the game completely.  They possibily could change to another copy protection some day, but that's not going to be for a long time.


You do not have to uninstall the game at all.  Just uninstall SecuROM, then before you start the game up again, put the no cd crack in.    The crack will bypass the launcher all together.  You will start up from a short cut of the crack on your desktop.  You will no longer need to keep the disk in the drive to start up the game. 

Hi, I too have had lots of computer weirdness since the spring, and it kept getting worse.  My tech said he suspected a rootkit, and then I found out about this Securom stuff.   Well, long story short,   I am now waiting for service on the machine because my USB's are malfunctioning.   Once I get either restored USB function or a new computer, I am setting up the game system to "stand alone"...no internet connection.   
For the first time I have downloaded a noCD crack from the link http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml
but I have read enough of these threads to be confused.   The first entry from Pescado was clear enough.  When i reinstall my game and EPs etc, before the first time I start it, put the noCD crack in place of the .exe ... got that.  But there is stuff about torrent and Yasu and Daemon and I don't know how that all applies ... Is the noCD all I need, will I still have the CD in the drive?   And the link above has two files,   I wasn't sure, so I picked the second, is that for the BV patched game?  I never in my life expected to go and get a noCD for anything, but I have been through HELL since April,  if anyone is interested I can list 8 very weird things I experienced that convinced me someone had unauthorized access into my home network.  Any advice vis a vis the noCD and which one I need would be very appreciated.  K

You have legal copies of the game, you have no need for deamon or yasu, that was for those of us who installed using a torrented copy.
You're doing fine so far, just install your games under an admin privileged account on your system and before you ever run it, drop the no cd in place. You will no longer need the cd. Make sure you drop it in the right place, some people have not and just put securom back on their system all over again when they used the shortcut and it was in fact the original one. Make a back up of the original exe, then drop in the no-cd. I don't have much experience getting things from gameburnworld, I prefer gamecopyworld. You can not patch with a no-cd in, you have to replace it with the original exe if you want to patch and then put the no-cd crack back (and have an unholy hybrid that may cause problems later) or find a patched no-cd to take the place of the old crack.

Yes, the patched BV version is v1.10.0.122.
Like morriganrant, I prefer GameCopyWorld (http://www.gamecopyworld.com) to GameBurnWorld. Unlike GBW, GCW clearly lists the release date of NoCD and the name of release group who made the crack. The group name info can come in handy when multiple versions of NoCD are floating around.

Sky - if you're having trouble following those removal instructions, lemme know. PM me or something. (have you ever messed with your registry files before?) It can be pretty daunting if you haven't but it works, trust everyone here!  ;D

As for the no-cd patch, once you open that .rar or .zip file, you'll fine a new Sims2EP6.exe file. That goes under this: Click My Computer, Click whatever hard-drive you have you game on, Click program files, Click EA games, Click Bon Voyage, Click TS bin and copy the new .exe file there. (Make sure you backup the other one in case.) Then just close all those folders and click on your BV icon on the desktop. This allows you to play without the CD (which means no SecuROM!  :D )

Kinwa -
That's exactly what happened to me! (besides not being able to read CD/DVD anymore) My USB SanDisk mini-cruzer wouldn't read either......it showed emtpy, even though I know I had tons of stuff backed up on it.  >:( Once I removed SecuROM, everything was fine.  :D

Uh folks.  I feel like such a n00b....Never used a cracked exe before.    There is a 3kb file with the Fairlight file,  that is named fltdox.  Does that go somewhere?    I still don't have a standalone set up for the game...awaiting my tech at the moment to see if he can recover my USB capabilities.   I got a lot of tips from BleepingComputer.com,  seems I did have an invasion.   But since the computer has been wiped, unless it is connected to the Internet, I probably won't have those scarey weirdnesses (death to all nesses)   anymore.  They suspect I may have caught something "in the wild" and gave me a routine to find it...if it ever happened again.   So far, this eight year old Win2000 system is looking secure. 
BTW guys, thanks for all your help and kindnesses (that one we can keep) ... What a great site!

Don't worry about it, I was a noob to the whole no-cd thing too when I came here. Never thought I'd resort to something like that but there ya go............ :D

Here's the patched no-cd file for BV:
http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml

It's version 1.10.0.122 (14.5MB - it's the only file you need) and read my post above on where to place it. (I'll post those again below) I've started using those no matter what, it's just easier? Plus saves wear/tear on the CD. Those guys at Bleeping Computer are great, I've been there before too.  ;D

Instruction for no-cd crack:
That goes under this: Click My Computer, Click whatever hard-drive you have you game on, Click program files, Click EA games, Click Bon Voyage, Click TS bin and copy the new .exe file there. (Make sure you backup the other one in case.) Then just close all those folders and click on your BV icon on the desktop. This allows you to play without the CD (which means no SecuROM!)

Well, apparently I've been banned from the bbs. I can't get in there. I knew it was only a matter of time before they got attitude on me. Oh well, at least I don't have to deal with those two ninnies for however long. I had told this one simmer to come here to get the securom out. That must have done it.  I didn't even hint about how to cheat on any of it, just the info on the securom removal.

I have been trying to remove the securom bits, am having trouble finding the do not delete one, and the others too. I clicked regedit, and found the area, then clicked the find, and nothing came up.  I saw the securom still in there, though.

boy im really glad kazsims got back in to the bbs because i dont think i could have coped with the stream of consciousness and the long run on sentences for another few paragraphs i was starting to get kind of seasick and dizzy because i couldnt remember wher my place was and im glad i didnt have to do anything about the request because i found it almost imcomprehensible. Phew.

skye, I don't think you're banned.  No one was able to get on the website.  It's been down a lot.  ;)

/me cracks up

Where did you see it? So you're not sure if you've removed it completely?

Damn - coffee on the monitor.  now i'm going to have to clean this up because even if it's a sad statement about my day this was probably the funniest thing i've seen all morning don't ask really and then imagining veilchen laughing made it like more funny you know so now i have to clean this all up and i still have a bunch of stuff i have to do before lunch i mean besides being here and i realize that i'm running on a bit here but i thought you should know, k?

Hey, typing like that is harder than it looks at first glance.  I almost got lost in my own paragraph.

It is really hard to type BBS-style! Ages ago, witch and me had a thread where we were typing like that. It hurt my head in the end :D I'll have to try to find that thread 'cos it was really funny! Do you remember it witch?

PS, it isn't fun to wipe coffee from your screen is it jolrei? Now you know how I feel when you keep making me laugh :P

 8)
Sorry?

Notes on removal from Vista: running cmd as root like the first post no longer works. Instead, enter the following:

schtasks /sc Once /ST (current time + 1 minute) /TR cmd /TN cmd /IT

EDIT: Wait a minute, why did I get SecuROM 7.02 when the version on BV is apparently 7.20? And why did I even get it given that I haven't started the legit executable up?

NEVERMIND: It was apparently installed by GTA: San Andreas. The cmd command is still useful though.

Hi Again,  On with the saga.  Have a new Vista machine en route,  no Sims goin' on that one darnit!    Set up the broken machine with the disabled USB's as a standalone just for Sims and ripping my music.  Sneakernet is a PITA,   but better safe than sorry.   Thanks to all you intrepid folks, for all the comfort and support.   No SecuRom.  Followed the instructions (once i understood them) and all is well.   Not that it probably matters at all now since the damage was already done to my USBs and that borked machine is going no more online. Thank goodness my hubby is all love and understanding!  The minute it looked like a mobo failure he said buy a new one,  and then when it wasn't he said buy a new system.  He is such a love.   That is my reward for not crabbing about his hunting trips.  Heh heh heh.   More Sim time for me, right?   My sympathies to all the kiddoes that will have (and have) problems and no money or support. K

Yeah i remeber cos u wer mean 2 me and mad me cry

Yeah, I have 7.02 from NeverWinter Nights 2. It doesn't screw with my system like 7.20 does, so I'm letting it live. That and there isn't a crack for the current NWN2 patch.

Kikilove, Go ahead and install BV. Don't start it up. Go to the official site and apply the patch. Go to the link by tessiroo for the patched version of the crack (http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml). Download it. Open up the compressed file and take the file named Sims2EP6.exe and follow just step 4.
I'll add the link to the patched .exe to the first post.

Possibly time to redirect people back to the very top of the thread.  This provides a pretty good walkthrough/tutorial, courtesy of Zazazu, I believe.  With regard to the .exe file specifically,  Do NOT delete it.  Move it somewhere safe or rename it when you put in the no-cd .exe file.  You might need the original again if you need to patch or update something.

If you load the no-cd hack, no, you should not be using the CD at all.

Incidentally, you may wish to watch your spelling - "bear with me" is, I believe what you wish to say.  I don't think you know anyone here well enough yet to suggest that they "bare" with you.  :D

Ah, well, this is where my own helplessness rears its ugly head.  I can not explain this better than Zazazu's tutorial starting on page 1 of this thread.  It will give you a step by step guide on how to eliminate secuROM and install your no-cd crack.  I would suggest there is not much point in doing all this if you are simply going to leave secuROM on your machine.

You may want to print the tutorial to better follow the steps.

Kiki -

To completely remove all traces of SecuROM on your PC (as it may mess with other things, no one really knows) follow the instructions in the very first post on the first page of this thread. If you have problems, PM me & I'll walk you thru it. Did you download the patched version of the no-cd crack already? If so, you don't need to get the official patch from the offical site, it's already included in the new no-cd patch. Go back a couple pages here to see the instructions on WHERE to place the new no-cd .exe file. NO, do not delete the old one but back it up someplace safe on your PC.   ;)

The patch does not just change the exe. You still need the patch for changing other things like the objects.package file and such.

Kiki. You've never run BV from the CD, have you? Are you using the administrator (main) account on your computer? If you can answer yes to both questions, you do not have SecuRom on your computer. It only gets added on an administrator account after you've loaded the game using the default executable (not the crack we've linked to).

If you installed it under any account other than the administrator (like if you are using Mom & Dad's computer and they set up a restricted account for you) then yes, it does install without you ever running the game from the CD. Then you need to follow all the instructions in the first post.

  The catch is, they don't have to tell you they have to supply the back-up disc. I can't find the letter I received that informed me that I ha the right to the back-up, therefore, no case number. I'll try to do some research adn get back to you on how to contact HP and insist on the back-up they "forgot to supply," But I do know you have to contact them with some secret code words or something silly like that. Then again, as trends have gone for Best Buy to sell you a back-up, they're not gonna tell you freely that you have the right to a free one.

Yeah, so how do you find out if they're required to give you a disc? Is it nationwide or only for certain states?

Apparently, it only works for the SecuRom specific to BV. It doesn't work for the infestation due to Deluxe, H&M or Pet Stories. You also have to have the BV disc, so anyone who took up EA on their refund offer is out of luck. EA seems determined to fuck this up every possible way it can.  ::)

They now have SecuROM removal tools for Deluxe, H & M, Teen Style Stuff,  Bon Voyage & said they are working on one pet stories  too.   I did try them they removed all of SecuROM it very quickly.
It does not un-install your games.

I saw the additional tools. Does anyone know if they work on Vista?

 Now I'm starting to believe they changed the law after that class action was won, because I can not find any information about it. Curiouser and curiouser. I'll go through my paperwork this week and see if I can find the letter informing me of the back-up disc.

Edit: I may have been talking though my ass, because all I could find on line was:
  http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=365052&Main=356463
 Which is a copy of an Email someone received. It seems the reason the disc I received was due to the fact HP provided back up on the hard drive. I'll do more research, because I'm pretty sure the notice I received noted I had the right to request a back-up disc free of charge for any computer.

I tried the new suckRot removal tools (for BV, H&M, TS), they didn't remove the registry keys (the don't delete one and the userdata one). maybe because I didn't uninstall BV or the others... 

anyway, I put in the no-cd exe, game works but I still get those annoying random 5 second freezes.

You're surprised? I doubt it's because you didn't uninstall BV. It's prolly because the Maxis-supported tools don't actually remove SecuROM. Yet another placebo thrown to the masses.

nope, wasn't surprised at all. I wouldn't have bothered to check if I had actually trusted them to do it right.

Oh, there was also another registry key under Local Machine that got left behind.

It didn't remove for me either, and good ol' maxoidsam told me that I was the only one it didn't remove for.  I wondered, then, if it could be the music I had checked out at the library, or music I'd bought for my daughter that had securom in it.

How come all the others are able to get it off their computers?  I know it isn't the windows media 11, cos that program is on two different computers--one that has issues, and one that doesn't. 

And why is it so hard for the darn company of EA/Mazis to put out a stupid game that doesn't have the darn securom anyways? They told us there are only a few of us that have issues. Well, why don't they offer those "few" the game without the securom?  And why the heck are they continuing with the next eps-to have securom in those games as well?

frustrated, I'm still trying to get rid of the securom in my computer....trying to use the tutes you guys put up. I did figure out one thing....I'm a tard! I can't understand it all....I am trying though.

REally Frustrated,
Skye

Possibly, because many people are sheep and believe what they are told. Most don't know where to look for the traces either. A folder that was there, no longer being there, "Woo! It's gone!". Many are nervous about looking in the registry and wouldn't know what to look for in the first place.

There are so many in there who are so "grumpy" (yep, I'm censoring m'self) that you're almost afraid to give your opinion about anything. I've been getting nasty letters in my guest book even.

They are indeed sheep, who don't want to believe their beloved company would do that to them. Surprise?

Their machines are probably also riddled with spyware/malware, have a zillion toolbars in IE - because of course they still use that - take 10 minutes to boot and load 15 non-needed services in the system tray. The majority have probably completely failed to notice their machines are running crappily because for them that is the status quo.

Huh? You mean, like, someone coming over to your house and doing it? Do you like getting axe-murdered? We don't really do that here. Prison's a bitch.

No offense meant, but take it if you feel it...you come off as very young. Perhaps it's best to get a parent to follow the instructions for you. If you closely follow them, you aren't going to touch any non-SecuROM registry keys.

I did get the tools to remove all SecuROM off my PC.  This is what I did, I ran the tools with the game installed, rebooted.  Than un-installed the games (with SecuROm), ran the tools again, rebooted.   I checked all the files in the registry where it ad been before & found Zero, not even empty files.    I am not a BBS  sheep, I believe nothing unless I have tested it for myself.  This one worked for me. But, I am reading where it has not for others.  Maybe for the same reason SecuROM affects some of our PC's & not others ?

I did get rid of Windows Media players since the game first came out. Only because I never used it & there was some reports on the BBS of possible issues.  I had a lot of trouble with SecuRom, so I removed it too see if it might help.  I also changed my anti virus program & dumped Norton.  I don't know why I can play BV now glitch free (thanks to hacks from this site).

I do not have any tool bars installed & keep my PC clean. 

As for the OP about Skye, she may be young at heart, but she is a grandmother, not a child.  She came here as many of us do to see if someone more awesome than ourself has answers.   Often
we do not need to ask the question, the answers are already here.  She has been trying hard to get answers on the BBS. Those willing to help, do not have answers for her. 

Perhaps now  her only answer it to go to the agrrrr sites now & enjoy her games again.

Or they can't without getting banned. If you've been around the BBS (sounds like you have) you've seen that in spades.

I wasn't talking to Skye, by the way. She seems just fine. I was talking to imasimming, who appeared to want someone to step him/her through it in person, and was using quite a few leet-ish mannerisms that lead me to believe they are very young and perhaps not taking the time to read things over and understand. We all have different backgrounds, and some things don't come as easily as others, but that one doesn't seem to get it or be empowered.

I can't answer personally as to what the removal tool does. I don't have the EA version of SecuROM (I have NWN2's and no way to play the patched version with a crack, but NWN2's seems to get along just fine with my system) and am not going to purposefully infect myself again to test it. I've just heard here and at PMBD that it hasn't removed registry keys. If it removed yours - great! Suffice it to say, though, that I'm far past the point where I had any trust in EAxis. They either are stumbling about in the dark and truly don't know what they contracted into (idiots) or they are deliberately misleading their fans in an attempt to make themselves look trustworthy (backfired).

Sorry to be clueless, but even if you use the Maxis tool to remove SecureRom, won't it just install itself the next time you play using the CD?  I haven't been to the EA site, but are they recommending you use a no-CD crack?

Yes it will install next time you use the cd. EA is recommending that you use nothing at all and keep your SecuRom infected computer the way it is, or use the removal tool and get rid of your eps that have securom.

As for the removal tool from EAxis people seem to be getting mixed results.  I experimented and it worked fine for me.  I think you have to use it in a certain way for it to be effective.  You have to have the protected game installed, have the game disk in the drive when you run the tool.  Of course this is not going to help people who's drives aren't working.  Where people seem to be having complications is when they've uninstalled the game and left SecuROM on the computer.   It won't work unless the game is installed, of course, but also it appears when they reinstall the game, they must still start up the game first to reactivate SecuROM (which is risky to their computer), and then use the removal tool.    The risk to reactivating it is they could risk having problems with their drive not recognising the disk, and then they've got SecuROM reactivated and no way remove it again.

Yes, malware, spyware, et cetera. It mainly fucks with CD/DVD drives, anti-virus programs, and emulation software, but I wouldn't be surprised if it messed with the internet. The biggest problem, however, is the fact that EA wants to put something on your computer without telling you.

It can cause a problem in USB devices as well.

The reason MaxoidFucktardSam claims that only about 150 customers contacted EAxis with SecuRom issue is, most average users don't ever imagine their legitimately bought game can fuck up the system in such a malware-like fashion. If their burning software no longer works, they'll go to local repair shop, or contact the manufacturer of DVD burner. Why would they contact the game company? People assume malwares come only from shady source like porn sites. They don't expect to be infected by malwares just by playing Celine Dion CD from computer. (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2005/11/are-you-infected-sony-bmgs-rootkit)

Try the second option for that step:
It's a lot easier than searching.

Might want to do a basic scan on your computer, too. I'm not saying that SecuROM couldn't mess with your getting into Hotmail as I don't have it and don't know how they handle their portal. But it's not something I've heard of before. I personally use McAfee but then also scan with Panda ActiveScan  (http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/)as it seems to find more. Only problem with the free version of Panda is that it only ID's, it doesn't remove. You have to search out removal instructions.

Yes, once you get everything fixed, you could if you want play BV with a no cd patch.  Just be careful not to start up the game until after you put the crack in, or SecuROM will get installed again.  Oh and don't forget to patch BV before you put the no cd crack in.  That way you won't be dealing with the NPC spawning/programming error.  Just don't start anything up until the crack is in.

You always forget to tell them that they have to install to an admin account. If you install the game to an account that does not have admin privileges then Securom 7.x will install with the game.

I just had to add this, for those of us who know our securom problem. Bruno has made a funny along with beautiful gowns---check out the magazine cover!  http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=263180
merry christmas,
Skye

(still working on making those programs work.. I think in using the registry cleaner that I got rid of some of the stuff I needed to help get rid of the securom)

That's pretty cute, and a very well done cover at that.

The EAxis of Evil... classic. ;D

:P I've been saying that for ages. But I'm sure I wasn't the first. I love, love, love that Bruno was using a Liana Sims mesh as she's now with TSR and was a pay/donation site before.

Easist way to hunt for the Securomkey: Open your regiestry (run . regecit)

Make sure that Computer, the top entry/key is selected

Go to Edit in the Menu > FIND  and type in Securom

This will find the Securom key if it's there. (Hitting Find Again (or F3) finds the same entry again (duh))

Now go back to the instructions here to get rid of the little bastard kety if you found one.:)

Thjis is a handy dandy search function and works just the same as any Find function in any, for instance, word processor software. Learn it, use it. it's great and easy.

You can also search for the cmdlineext keys with this same method.  I believe the manual method is the best because you can be sure they are all getting removed.

Hi all

     Fresh start I have all my Sims EP's and SP's I also installed H&M did not run it, installed. I then installed my BV. But did not start it up.  I just want to make sure I have this right. 
I have some questions:

Do I down load the patch from EA before I install the NOCD or skip the EA update?

Just making sure here and again please how is the NoCD installed ... never done this one before?

Will Matys hack work with this NoCd?

An my last question is will I have to go in to the registerys and or try to remove items?

If I perchance receive a Teen Stuff Pack what steps would I have to take then?

thank you for allowing me to post here...   

1. Did you install on an admin account? If you did not, you have securom.

You can patch if you like. Do it before installing the no-cd. I beleive the Nocd at Gamecopy world is a patched one.

Get the no-cd from game copy world.
Install BV. Right click on the shortcut on your desktop. Click properties. Click find target. Change the name of Sims2ep6 to Sims2ep6backup (or anything really). Now drop the no cd into this folder.

If you want to bypass the launcher, you will go back to the shortcut on your desktop. Click properties. Change the end of the target from The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin\Sims2launcher.exe" To The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin\Sims2EP6.exe". No more launcher.
Feel free to start the game from the desktop shortcut.

Yes maty hacks will work.

Not unless you already have had all the securom infected material installed and ran it without a no-cd. Or if you have installed on an account other then an admin privileged one.

Just install it. On an admin account. You will keep running from the BV no-cd.

Ok I went to Gamecopy world and I am totally confused on where to find theirs... lol   Directions please or a link would be helpful  ppplease... ty

The link in the first post is a direct link.
 ::)

Thank you all for being patient with me. I finally got it up and running I checked my registerys in the find SecuRom I found nothing so it worked. I will be loading my CC and I also was wondering where I might find the Maty Hacks for the muti NPC and so on...

Thank you again ... Your all great

MATY hacks are found in the numerous sub-fori underneath Retardo Land. Newer hacks are in The Firing Range. For quick access to all the hacks in one download, try the Director's Cut in The Armory. For more information, check the MATY FAQ.

Can anyone tell me how to get the no cd patch from fairlane to work on a admin account of a vista computer? I think I have tried every which way to get it to work but alas cannot. I even used mor's above instruction and still all I get when I try to run it is the little white box with a red x that lets me know it won't be running the program. :( any other suggestions would be helpful.

It works fine for me, no problem at all, no special settings, on Vista Home 64bit.

I bet you've put it in the wrong directory.

Don't worry, everyone on the site where I got it from did that too.

Works fine for me, with vista ultimate 32bit. Are you sure you put it in the right folder? It should asks permission to replace, if it didn't ask, then it's a wrong folder

Because I renamed the original exe file to a bak file, it would not ask me to replace it. So therefore, I believe I have the correct directory. C:/Program Files/EA Games/The Sims 2/ The Sims 2 Bon Voyage/TSBin

If this is not the correct folder I do need to know the correct one.

Oh yeah, silly me. I didn't back up the original exe because I can always get it from the original cd. Anyway, it should be the right directory. I don't know what could cause the error. Have you tried to run it in compatibilty mode?

Uggghhhhh! I had thought of that but didn't pursue the idea. Now that you suggested it, I did try it and no, even in compatiblity mode it will not work.  I remember now that this is why I quit using no cd patches. I could never get them to run. Sigh, I suppose I'm stuck with securom......

I remembered reading somewhere about somebody having the same problem as you. Can't remember how they resolved it though, maybe try to run as administrator?  :-\

Although I can change tic the box to run as an administrator, apply it, it doesn't hold. Tried to do that several times last night and it just wouldn't work.

Good Morning All
     
  I ran my game twice so far with the nocd.  I reformated my PC and I never ran the game with a cd. So I know I did the steps correctly. I really havent played much because the NPC problems. I want to go with the wait and see thing.  So as I was thinking about playing today i thought i would take a peek at my registerys. So I went to find and put in Securom. This is what I found.

HKEY_Current_User /software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Low Registry/Extensions/cmd mapping

Should I be worried about this and should I remove this?  Is this even part of the game or Microsoft? I am going to go back and re read the directions to see if I can find any more.

Thank you for allowing me to post...

Hun. Google should be your new friend.
http://www.safer-networking.com/removeCashToolbar.php
That is a toolbar for IE. Why are you still using IE as a browser? Cash Toolbar has normal search functions, but may generate ads as well.

EA has merged the SecuRom forum into the Technical Help forum.

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=b063b8844056800bf5bc9501dc6175df&directoryID=21&startRow=1&openItemID=item.21,root.1,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23 (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=b063b8844056800bf5bc9501dc6175df&directoryID=21&startRow=1&openItemID=item.21,root.1,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23)

They say it's because the traffic has slowed in the SecuRom forum. They're probably hoping that it will get lost in all the stupid questions over there.

I noticed MaxassSam was over here a few days ago. Probably checking the climate on people's attitudes--see if the Securom debacle is dying down.

I'lll never ever spend another dime on EA products or any software that has securom or starforce or any other crap they come up with stronger than SafeDisc. I'll pirate it and get a noCD.exe if I want it that badly which is what they--those in the gaming industry--deserve for putting that crap on our machines and then ignoring our problems.

I had a friend that said 'why wish a fucking on them? why not wish on them something unpleasant, like an audit?' So: Audit them!

Sure, now that they've banned and censored everyone the traffic has slowed. The problems have gone under ground, or over here where they can learn how to pirate the game.  ;D  In the tech area simmers are being lied to.   I suppose if I post to set the record straight I will be threatened with another ban.  :-\

All eyes are going to be on the tech section at that bbs when Free Time comes out with all new programming errors, bugs, glitches, and SecuROM damages.  :o

Heh--I had one of those too. Didn't need a CP/M board, but I had a Hercules display adapter so I could see italics and such in PieWriter. When I was no longer doing that work, I had to sell it to pay my income taxes (self-employed), but it and my Star Micronics dot-matrix printer remained in service for years afterward, printing product and tracking labels for a company that made cardiac catheters, using absurdly primitive BASIC routines I wrote for printing the labels.

My first programming experience was in a CS course coding Fortran IV on punch cards to run on a Burroughs 6800 (I sucked at it).   :P


Okay, wait. My PC takes several minutes to boot, and I don't have all that stuff—I actually know what I'm doing. But, um, my XP install does date from December 2003. . . .    :D

The stupid thing about this whole thing from my perspective is that people who have always thought that no-cd cracks were an illegal, VBT only used by teens and techies are downloading their first ever no-CD crack to avoid Securom.  Will they stop with one?  Not likely.  So putting Securom on the Sims BV  in a move against piracy etc etc has been entirely counter productive.

The no-CD crack use to avoid issues with it really isn't the biggest problem. It's the fact that many of us now can't bring ourselves to support the francise, but still want the game. And we will get it, even if it doesn't involve money changing hands.  :-\

's'truth.

 :(

If you own the game, using a no-CD crack isn't illegal. It's only illegal if you didn't buy the game, but downloaded it or borrowed someone else's CD to install it.

Duh.

But Maxis is trying to claim that using a No-CD crack at all is illegal, regardless of whether or not you own a legal copy.

I tried looking it all up when all this started. It'd damn difficult to find anything related to copy protection measures and the users rights. Never did find anything that gave all that much information or what I did find didn't seem to be able to back it up with anything official.

General SecuROM question: all versions of SecuROM are bad, but are some (e.g. the ones included with BV/the BV patch/TSS) worse than others? Because something seems to have installed SecuROM v7.01 on my PC without me noticing it, but all the games I have on this PC are running fine even with DAEMON Tools running.

I thought that anything past Securom6 was bad. I haven't seen any reports of nasty behavior from anything before that. Although my Google-fu may be made of fail.

I wrote to the better business burea, and turned in the problem.  I had been one of those who they were trying to censor in all this.  Trolled many many times over it. Just because some don't have the problems doesn't mean we all were that lucky. They take great delight in putting us down over there. Anyways, here's the info for you to read:

On January 09, 2008, the business provided the following information:
Greetings,

If you have are not satisfied with the game play for the games you have purchased. You will be able to use our warranty information located in the back of the manual. If you no longer have the manual for the game you will be able to use the following link to locate the same information on the internet. Please click on the following link to http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8947

Now for your specific issue, if you do not wish to communicate with our technical support team to with solve your issue. If your game is within 90 days of purchase and you have your receipt of purchase. You will be able to send your game to our Warranty group in exchange for a sealed copy of the game. This sealed copy of the game will be accompanied by a note from us asking the store to refund your purchase. If you do decide to use this method of return please include a note explaining what you would like to have happen. If you wish you can also reference this correspondence and my name. I am located at the same facility where your claim will be processed. So if issues do arise on this end I will be able to solve them for you.

Mailing Address:
Electronic Arts Customer Warranty
209 Redwood Shores Pkwy
Redwood City, CA 94065

Thanks!
Jeff
Electronic Arts
Not acceptible because the warranty has now run out on both games while waiting for an answer. What do I do with it once warranty has run out?
Technical support is not an option without the game in my machine, I was told. I turned in all my information before when I had the game in, and they lost my letter.
I would like to request, again, the game with another anti-piracy program in it. Just replace the disks, as I am fixing the computer myself.
EA wanted us to put the game back in so we could see what their patches do. My computer is out of commission right now.
I would also like EA to publicly tell us what is going on.
They are still continuing with this securom program, even though it is messing up even more computers. Many of us don't have a place to complain to that will listen. We are cut off now, not supposed to discuss it with each other now in the bbs area.

Better Business Bureau is a crock, alas. Try Bad Business Report online.

Good god, the Engrish in that reply letter is appalling.

Quick question... I'm installing Deluxe and the EP's (including BV) on a new machine.  If I just installl everything consecutively without running the game and then get a no-CD EXE for Bon Voyage, will that still ensure that I won't get SecuRom from Deluxe?  I swear I'll shoot fireballs at someone if I get it on my shiny new system.

Si. If you install both and then run just after installing BV, you'll only be running from the BV executable. The Deluxe .exe could be coded to tell your computer to explode, and it wouldn't care because it only looks at the latest .exe (the one you double-click to run the game).

Thank you Zazazu. :)

I am not awesome.

I followed the directions and removed SecuRom from my computer (Vista), however, I have no idea what to do with a no cd crack. I went to the link in the first post, downloaded it and unpacked the rar file to my desktop, followed the directions in the first post to place it in C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin after renaming the original file to have .bak extension. I double clicked on the new .exe for BV (I had previously moved the original .exe to my 'Unused Desktop Icons' folder so I wouldn't use it accidentally) and nothing happened. I tried double clicking it again and nothing happened. I brought up the task manager to see if it showed up, and when I double click, it shows up for 3-4 seconds and then vanishes and the game won't load.

What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it?

Delete your Groups.cache? Try that and come back and report. If you don't know how to do that then go here. (http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Delete_Cache_Files)

That did it! Thanks very much for your help!

That's very nice hun, have you read the FAQs?  (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,7437.0.htm)

See, Venusy? Your tactic doesn't work. Now we can't even blame people for not reading it.

Can we blame them for not being pervy enough? I'm disappointed in you, KiganMatsuei.

I'm not 100% sure that this is a SecuROM issue, but I'm fairly certain it is.

As you can see by my above post, I managed to get rid of it and use a no-cd crack for BV to work. And BV worked perfectly until today. I purchased and installed Castaway on Tuesday, and today for the first time since installing Castaway, I went to play the Sims--and the game won't load. I'm starting it from the no-cd short cut, and it simply won't start. The really odd thing about it though, is that if I look at my task manager, it shows the game as running.

What can I do to fix what I've broken?

Delete groups.cache?

I just got BV today.  I went through my Downloads folder and removed all my hacks, and stupidly started installing BEFORE I came here.  While waiting for the install, I started downloading all the BV-compatible versions of the hacks I use, and stumbled across an article with numerous comments complaining about SecuROM.  So I Googled 'SecuROM "ea games" ' and found a link to this thread (as well as a couple to now-locked BBS threads that complained of the usual Suck-u-ROM ills).

By the time I had found out about all the potential problems Suck-u-ROM can cause, I'd already run BV (without the no-CD patch) to see if it would work on my somewhat outdated PC (which is a different on than the one I use to access the intarwebs).  After reading this thread (and the ones on the BBS), I exited the game, ran Norton AV (no problems there), ran AdAware and Spybot S&D (no problems there), then started up BV again. It seems to be running fine, except that it paused for less than a second, about every five to ten seconds, during the loading screens.   But that could just be because I'm running Sims 2 on a 2 1/2 year old eMachine with a 3 year old NVidia card.

Apparently, I'm one of those lucky people whose system didn't get FUBARed in some way by Suck-u-ROM.  Does this mean I won't get rid of it?

Hell, no.  The fact that it has been installed on my PC without my permission pisses me off.  The fact that Sony has designed it to hide itself and make it difficult to remove makes it even MORE desirable for me to remove it.  I resent Sony and EAxis putting that kind of thing on my PC without even giving me the chance to refuse it.  Sure, I could have not installed BV in the first place, but I didn't know about this embedded software until it was too late.  Now, it's going to go the same way as any other malware that attempts to insinuate itself onto my computer.

And it's going to make me think twice about buying anything else from EA Games.

Just so you know, Securom is on the H&M and Teen Style Stuff Packs as well.

I never bought H&M, as I couldn't really see the point.  I *had* considered Teen Style, when I bought BV, but only because I wanted the Goth/emo stuff.  But not badly enough to pay $20 for it.  I have plenty of custom goth stuff that I downloaded for free.

I'm sure the "Free Time" EP will have Suck-u-ROM on it, too, but so far it looks like an EP I can live without.

As do the "stories" games and the Deluxe addition.

I'm absolutely sure that everything else with "Sims2" on it will now. But now we know how to avoid it... torrent the games. Quite sad for EA really, but they made their own bed. It's not like they didn't see the color of the sheets before they tucked in.

...even if those sheets happen to be Eau de Brynne colored.

And get infected by SecuROM? No, thanks.

DRM in general has no point, because game manufacturers refuse to realize that sharing/copying disks is the least popular form of piracy.

Not only is it unpopular as a method, but it is also the method most likely to actually generate sales! The "casual" disk sharer is most likely to buy his own at some point. The veteran e-pirate is not only unlikely to do so, but strongly discouraged from doing so by the superiority of the counterfeit product that he clearly knows how to acquire. A short-sighted move like this forces customers that run into problems to learn the ways of the pirate, and pretty soon they join the Dark Side in frustration. By taking that sale now, the company costs itself future sales, an incredibly short-sighted move. Better to lose a sale in the present for sales in the future than to permanently alienate customers  while simultaneously teaching them to be pirates to make what they have bought work!

Consider: A user who borrows a disk from a friend, with no CD check, probably won't buy the game NOW...but he might in the future, when he has to reinstall it, or buy the expansion pack now that he has the game, and is no better equipped to be a pirate later than he was before. A customer pissed off by the game NOT WORKING that has to go find a crack has now learned some dangerous knowledge and has a hostile disposition. It is not a customer that is pleased with your product and likely to buy future products.

Hi

   Im back...lol any who I got the Teen Stuff will I have to remove the nocd set up and return it to the Original or because its just a stuff pack I can install over the NOCd patch?

Thank you
Simerette

More context. If you're installing JUST a stuff pack, it's advisable to restore the original executable, but you can go back to using the crack again after the install.

Because the game will check for it when it "checking to make sure your game is up to date." After that, you're cool to use the crack again, because stuff packs run off the most recent EP's executable.

How would I go about getting the original boot up if I deleted it? Also since they have new patches out - should I install those and then try and find the no-cd crack which will work with it?
I haven't installed any patches because I'm afraid I'll get the wrong version of no-cd crack.

It looks like the no-cd crack for the new patch is already up at Game Copy World: http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_sims_2_bv.shtml

You'd have to reinstall the Arred copy I think. Unless someone else knows.  :-X

Couldn't you open the iso copy like a normal cd and take it out of there? I have before.

You might want to give this link to zazz, so can have that link in first post as update. They'd appreciate that, I think.

I am having a terrible time, here. I tried going through the tutorials, but when I bring up the regdelnull thing, it does not show anything in there!  I don't know why! Gads, I'm retarded here! I am still working with it though. Will keep trying it....Tessiroo? Help? haha
hugs,
Skye

The command runs the regdelnull program, which if you're like most users has been placed in somewhere other than the base C: directory.  Find where you actually put it, and go to My Computer/C:  Drop a copy of regdelnull in there, and the command should work from the command prompt then.

When I type all that in it tells me 'regdelnull is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
(http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh239/Skye61/Secucrap.jpg)

Uh-huh. Did you make sure to download the program, and place it directly in your C:\ drive (not in a subfolder)?

Also, make sure you are spelling things correctly. I noticed you are typing \Softward\

Hey, could suckyourom have something to do with my dvd burner not being able to read burned discs?

Yes, it could.  This is apparently one of the possible side effects of SecuROM.  Lucky you.  Removing securom may solve the problem.  However, this solution may be temporary, at best, if you play CDs or DVDs in your DVD burner regularly (especially from any Sony Entertainment company) as many of these now also come with a version of Securom.  Securom = disc transmitted disease for your compy.  Abstaining from Sony may be the best policy.

Very interesting. Well, I do have another computer I can still access these discs from, as well as my dvd player, so it's not like I'm hurtin or anything. Still, it's really inappropriate for people to be utilizing software like this.

SecuROM would show up on the add/remove programs list, correct?

I thought I had gotten some securom free arr's, but my hubby has had trouble getting the CD Drive to read legitmate game discs. (It took him several tries to install some games last night) is this securom crap or is it that my CD drive is wearing itself out?

It is at this point that one should probably go back a few pages (17 or so) to the top of the thread and look at the steps required for actual removal.  I'm not sure it actually does show up on the add/remove programs list.  It does not on mine, and I have not removed it as yet because 1) I am too lazy, and 2) it has not noticeably caused problems for me.  Securom installs itself in your registry, as well as in hidden files/folders in your directory.  The removal techniques clean all this out.  Note that playing the game from the disk without a no-cd crack will result in the game simply re-installing it the next time you play.  Also, using the computer to play Sony Music or other CDs or DVDs with securom will also re-install it.

No, showing up on add/remove would defeat the purpose. It tries to be all sneaky.

Hmm. I must've had another version on my PC then, because before I reformatted I checked the add/remove and SecuROM was showing up there. Mayhaps I should check my registry then.

hi all!!!!!!!
I have a huuuuuuuuge problem! I had securom as well on mypc and I follwed the steps mentioned and eventually deletet that shit! But actually, I'm still not able to run ANY Sims-game! dumb as i am I deleted them all cause I thought that then it'd be possible to run it - that was before I found out everything about securom on your page! Little did I know that I was not going to be able to reinstall ANY Sims-Game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know why, but I can't run any of em, It doesn't start, nor does it react when i click Autorun.exe or Setup.exe!
So my problem is:
1) I aint got SecuROM
2) I can't reinstall Sims-Basic version, nor any expansion, of course!

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fixed.

Uninstalled or just deleted? What exactly does "them all" mean? Hang on, let me translate back...

UNINSTAL3D OR JUST DELATED?!??!?!?? OMG WTF LOL WUT 3XACTLEY DOES TH3M AL M3AN?!?!!!?

And this is today's record folks - less than 7 minutes from registering to total error.  Adonis, you are appearing less than completely godlike.  Think things that eat mud.  Read our FAQ and the other stickies in the Podium section on how to post, or more pertinently, how not to post and come across as a complete pratt.

That said, it sounds like you not only got rid of your securom, but also deleted your sims games and all EPs as well, yes?  If you want to play them, you will need to reinstall them.  If you have borked your registry, or you have made an error uninstalling the game and EPs, that might explain why the install process is failing.  We will, in any case, need more information to help you.  

Can you tell us in reasonable English, without too many exclamation points, how you "deleted" your game (did you uninstall or just delete stuff from directories), what happens when you put your install disk for the base game in the drive (error messages, nothing, blue screen of death, etc?).  I'm assuming your drive is at least working since you seem to be able to see the autorun and setup commands on it.  

Jolrei has infinite patience.

ok, so I'm gonna have to explain it once again: First I uninstalled all my sims 2 ep, sims2 basic inlcuded, because I had no clue about SecuRom and thought that would help me to run the game - course it didn't. then I made some system restores (damn, I don't know whether that was good) and finally I came accross this forum and followed the instructions. actually, I managed to delete securom completely from my pc. however, no sims package was installed when I deleted securom and now, it is impossible to reinstall any. help me please!!!

btw: sry for my first comment, but I'm a nervous wreck, I have on that for many days and I'm frustraded cause the lteast ep has just been released in europe and I'd like to buy it, but I wont if I am not even able to lapy the normal game!

I already got rid three times of Securom. It keeps showing up on the computer that I share with my daughter, probably because she plays CD/DVDs in the burner. Any suggestion on preventive measures that she couldn't circumvent? (Other than to tie my daughter's hands)

Why restore the system after you uninstall? Do you have any EA Games or Sims folders left on your system?  Is the stuff all gone?  Might system restore have reloaded some stuff that you just uninstalled?

You may want to try 1) getting a torrent version of the base game and seeing if that installs.  Get one without securom and a no-cd crack for best/easiest results.  2) reformat your drive and start over if there really is something seriously messed up.

Can you install anything at all from your drive (other programs?).

Why doesn't it reinstall itself when you put the CDs in? Did you actually go through all the uninstallation process or did you start deleting things?

yes, i can, without any problems. I have deleted every remaining folder. what do u mean by "get one without securom..."? is securom also on the basic sims2-cd? hmmm..... reformat my drive just for theSims??? well, maybe I'll find another solution

do u mean securom or the sims? well, if u mean the sims, that's why I'm wondering , too!

*head desk*

Did you run uninstall when you "deletet" your Sims games? Or did you just start deleting things willy nilly?


Is the question that complicated?

I uninstalled them via (damn, that is hard for me in english!) Start/ program access and standards (I don't know if these are the correct enlgish words!). and after that I deleted every remaining folder and registry key from theSims cause it didn't work after I had deleted securom and sims. so I tied to get rid of the rest -> I thought it would work after everything had been deleted.

Okay, now: Are you getting any error messages when you try to install the game again? Or does it sit in your CD drive and do nothing?

Another thing: be sure to check your registries again for broken any Sims registry. I don't know if all the system restores may have messed something up on this end.

Also, which version of "The Sims Basic" do you have? Only the special editions have Securom on it. So if you have the original CD version or the DVD version, you don't have to worry about Securom getting installed on your PC. BUT if you have the Special Editions that include Nightlife (cars) or Seasons (weather) or Bon Voyage (vacations) then yes, they will have securom on them and you should follow the instructions in the first post about getting a nocd crack to run the game without getting Securom installed on your system.

It just sits in my cd-rom drive and does nothing.
acutally, i'm not sure if i have ever had the same problem as you all... My problem was, that couldn't instal any further EP and I always had to start TheSims via Start\Programs\EA Games... Is that the common SecuROM problem? What could it be if it is not? I first realized the problem when I tried to install Teen Stuff, cause nothing happened when I put the CD into my drive and when I tried to start AutoRun manually (that seems ironic to me - I try to start a program called "AutoRun" manually!!!)

Weird. It's kinda similiar to my problem, but it happened when my hubby tried to install LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth and Star Wars: Empires at War.

Are you sure it's just Sims games that your cd drive is ignoring?

NO! After having read your comment I tried it with several games! Every game worked, but SimCity 4! what's going on there? Sim City does work, but without AutoRun, I have to start it via Start! Any ideas why???

Hmm. Well, try this, this is what my husband did to fix ours:

Without a CD in the drive, go to my computer and select your CD Drive. Double click it. It should bring up an empty window, place the CD in the drive. It should automatically load the info into the window you had open. Select setup or install or whichever.

See if that works. Barring that, do you have another PC (friends, relatives, whatever) to test the Sims CDs to see if they're busted?

and itz the same with battle for middleearth!!!!!! so it is something with EA games? but thatz weird, why is that so?

omg, red alert 2 doesn't work either! itz the same with all ea games! but where does that come from?????

Maybe we're discovering why you're not supposed to uninstall SecuROM. *laughs*

If you're not scared of torrenting, maybe you should try to torrent the game instead. I mean, you already have legal copies of the game. So it's not like it's a big deal.

oh, red alert works. but battle for middle-earth, sim city and sims don't. I can't really get download versions of all of these games, just becuase all of a sudden the can't be installed!!! I have been playing them for years and have often installed, uninstalled and reinstalled them and suddenly I got these probs! i just want a solution, but I'm afraid EA is just uncapable! ufff.....

Did you try the method I mentioned above? That's how my hubby managed to get the Battle for Middle Earth to install.

no, that method neither works with ballte for middle earth nor sims.... surprisingly, I can install the directX included on battle for middle earth...

Mmkay. Then I am stumped. It's obviously not a hardware problem, because you can use other games. So... I dunno. Unless this is a new symptom of Suck-u-rom and it wasn't properly deleteted.

maybe u're right... but there is nothing remaining in neither the registry nor anywhere else on the computer... at least nothing visible! I'm gonna ask a friend if he can help me, and maybe I'll write another email to EA... I mean, they must be interested in someone who invested nearly half of his pocket money in their games, no? XD
anyway, thx for ya help!

I'm not convinced it is specifically a securom-based problem.  If you followed the steps to remove as provided in the thread, that part should be OK.  However, I can see that there may be problems arising from deleting the game incorrectly and then system restoring which may have left residual things on the system or in registry.  As this would be EA code, it might explain why EA games are the ones affected.  I should note that I am speculating at this point and am not 100% sure.

I have never heard of this particular problem so it is difficult to identify the specific cause or where to look to repair or remove the offending file, code, registry entry, or whatever.  I would agree that it does not sound like a hardware problem or a problem associated with just the Sims discs.

That being said, if it was me (and since it is a drastic step, I can not "advise" you to do this) I would likely back up my data, saved games, hoods, documents, bookmarks, address book, etc. and then reformat the drive and start over.  At least I would be sure that everything was cleared.  It does mean having to reload your whole system (all programs, games, etc.).

well, I'm afraid u're right.... but that aint good... i don't wanna do this... thx , anyway

I believe, that if there are things that you want to save, a good PC repair shop can save them for you when you do the reformat. You just have to tell them first, and I am pretty sure, have them all in one location.

Google is your friend (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)).

...how far back was your restore point?

Maybe I have it out of order, but if you
a) uninstall the games
b) uninstall Securom
c) go back to a restore point before uninstalling the games

wouldn't you have Securerom back, at least in some partial vestige? And thus be having issues playing various CDs?

I have a couple of questions.

I never bought Pets so BV was the first EP I had to worry about Securom.  I had read this thread before loading the game so have been running from a no CD hack.  Now I have purchased FreeTime and realize I need to make the game right before I load, but I'm not sure how to do that.  Do I change the Sims2EP6.bak back to Sims2EP6.exe and remove the crack from the TSBin folder?  Then after loading the new EP change the Sims2EP7.exe to .bak, right and load the new hack? 

Second question - I went to gameburnworld to get a No CD hack and picked up a No DVD hack.  Will this work if I bought the game on CD?  Somehow this seems like a simple question, but I really don't know the answer.

Thanks for your help. 

When I installed FT, I did NOT need to remove my crack for BV.

Also CD Cracks for CD-rom version DVD cracks for DVD versions. Must match.

Thanks for helping!

as far as i can tell freetime only comes on cd at least everyone i know who bought it says it is a cd not dvd, yet the no-dvd is the only one available for freetime.

The international version (which has been on the market longer) is on DVD.

Are you sure it must match? I think the exe for the DVD and CD version is the same. The autorun.exe and compressed.zip most likely are different, but the actual Sims2EPX.exe usually identical.

And in both cases all the real .exe does is check for the SecuROM signature on the disk, which would be the same for a CD or a DVD.  So there should be no difference in the .exe at all (and it would surprise me if there were).

Eh, I've tried using the dvd version of cracks before and they didn't work. My experience doesn't count for anything, because I can't tell you Why they didn't work. I haven't tried with this game though. Oh, and there is a no-cd in my sig ...for whoever wants it.

I wound up using the No DVD hack for my game (purchased on CDs) and it is working.  I couldn't find a CD version that I had what I would consider a trustworthy recommendation and was worried about errors caused by a bad hack.  Having it plain old not work was preferable.  (No offense Morriganrant, this was before you posted.)

Anyway, thanks for all your help.  I don't post much, mostly just keep up with what's going on and download the DC regularly.  I honestly don't know what I would do without this site.

NoCD/NoDVD are the same thing. The entire point is to REMOVE the desire to check for a disk, thus rendering the system identical, since nothing needs to be in the drive.

The no-DvD/CD also works for copies purchased through EALink (or whatever they've renamed it to now).

Really? Interesting. I've never purchased a game through EALink, in what form do you actually download the game? Is it an iso or one huge executable, or...? ???

It installs itself. I never paid attention. I wouldn't recommend it now, because it involves EA putting even more unsolicited crap on your computer.

Do you have to completly uninstall the Sims 2 Freetime to get rid of securom?? If so when I reinstall it, even with a no cd crack won't securom just get reinstalled? Also, if I reinstall and put in my back up folder but use the no-cd crack will that put securom on my pc again? I have not been able to use Nero to burn discs anymore and I'm really peeved. ??? >:(

Did you read any of this thread?
Even if you uninstall FT, securom will still be there. Once you remove securom, the use of a no-cd will keep it from coming back. You game files have nothing to do with securom. Go back to the beginning of this thread and follow those directions for the removal of securom. if you installed on a non-admin account instead on an admin account, then the securom files that were placed on your computer are a little different, that information is also in this thread.

Thanks for your oh so polite response. I know that uninstalling FT won't get rid of  securom, sorry if that was misleading as I'm a bit tired. What I meant was.....If I uninstall the sims 2 untill say BV and then remove securom, would securom just be reinstalled upon my reinstalling the sims eps, even with the no/cd crack? But I have the answer now. Thanks again,  :-\

Well for one thing, BV has securom too, as does TSS, H&M, Deluxe and the Stories series, so does every EA game made now. You could remove all securom infected games and use the securom removal tool that EA has provided, I am unsure how well that works though. Once securom is removed, you can install securom infected games (on admin account) and replace the exe with a no-cd. So long as you never play from the original exe you, are fine. I can not endorse the securom removal tool as I have not used it and can not tell you if it gets everything when it's run. Following the instructions at the beginning of this page is probably the best method of removal.

I uninstalled every ep and stuff pack back to pets. I just hope I can remember what order to reinstall in  :D I followed the directions and I'm pretty sure I have suckurom off my pc now!!! for yay. The true test will be when I try and burn a DVD, which I will be doing shortly. Now if I can figure out the whole no cd crack thing for Free Time... ya I've never used one of these before so I feel like a tard. Thanks again for all the help. Much less frustrating than the BBS.

You can reinstall them in any order. It doesn't matter. About the crack thing, it's very simple. The only thing you have to do is copy the crack and paste it to the TSBin folder, and you're set.

You didn't have to uninstall the games to remove securom with the instructions on the first page. It was only needed if you were using the securom removal tool that EA gave us.

Only after renaming the original. If you have trouble figuring out where the no-cd goes then right click on the FT icon on your desktop. Click properties. Click find target. Rename the Sim2ep7.exe that you find there to something like Sims2ep7.bak or Sims2ep7origanal.exe. Then drop in the no-cd. If you ever need to patch then you will need to delete the no-cd, rename the origanal back to the right name, patch and find a patched no-cd , then use these instructions again, rename, drop in no-cd.

DOH! Well thanks again for your help. It is much appreciated. ;)
Oh oh I have another question. Which is the correct link for the FT no cd crack? http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_sims_2_freetime.shtml
I think it would be the EXE one but the fixed image one says it's in English so I'm a tad confused.

Morriganrant has a link to a no-cd crack for FT in her signature. Use that one.

oooh, k thanks. I just tried to burn a DVD again and it still didn't work. This is the error I get:" Burning did not complete successfully! However all of the output files were successfully encoded, and they are ready for burning with the appropriate burning software.":
I have Nero 7. I have never had this problem sense before FT. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, Securom didn't appear in my reg after following the steps, so I'm really confused and pissed. I'm either stupid or screwed or both. About to throw this computer out the window.

Why do you want to burn one anyways? You don't really need it with a no cd crack.

Im not trying to burn the game, i'm trying to burn a dvd. The point is I can't burn any dvd's or cd's now. Which is very very frustrating.

Oh. My reading comprehenshiun. Let me show you my lack of it.

Are you sure you don't have securom then? My only other advice would be to check Nero for updates. Are you trying to burn a DVD on the proper type of DVD? (I learned the hard way about the difference between -DVD R and +DVD R.)

I'm using the same stack of DVD's that I was when I was successfully burning....I don't know

Mmm. Sorry then. I don't know. I was just trying to throw out some random stuff.  :P

Have you tried burning a CD or DVD with any programs other than Nero? I know my laptop came with a couple of different programs capable of burning CDs/DVDs when I bought it. If you haven't tried that yet, you might want to, since it's a possibility that it's just Nero.

Also, go into C:/Documents and Settings/(insert user name here)/Application Data and make sure there isn't a Securom file there. (You're going to need to have "show hidden files and folders" enabled under folder options if you don't already). If there is, it might explain why your burner isn't working correctly.

Nero is the only burning software I have. Just seems odd I never has this problem before I installed FT. I went to the directory and there is no Securom folder, but when I was trying to remove it following these instructions, I kept getting "invalid blah blah" or this file does not exist when entering commands in the CMD. There was one specific file that could not be unregistered/deleted no matter how many times I tried (the long one without classes at the end). I have contacted Nero support, hopefully they will be of some help.

Have you tried burning using Windows? Windows can burn CDs without any 3rd party software by default. Try that.

Sariah, been there, :) done that.

I had to re-install Nero which meant I also had to first remove Nero, which turned into a huge task because it would not remove--had to do it manually. I learned a lot about my registry that time.

So try that, remove Nero, and hopefully you won't have to do it manually like I did, then reinstall it.

I am still pissed off at EA for putting that crap on my pc unannounced and then for their very bad response on it. I will never buy another product of theirs, not that I want the crap anyway. But I do want to finish out the Sims2 Eps which means I wil  ARR it. The money they lose to me I will consider repayment for my drive and labor. :)

Ok I put in the no cd crack in my tsbin folder and renamed the olther one .bak. The game wont start, I just get a gray box with an x

Thanks for the advice, you would think that that would work but I have a Sony PC (ya never going that route again) and My particular version of XP doesn't let me burn DVD without other software. Like I can't just put a dvd in one drive and burn directly to my other drive, it simply will not do it. I have also tried putting blank DVD in the burner and adding files to burn, it never works. Yet another attempt by sony to make it difficult to make DVD. I could always burn CD's with or without Nero. Now sense securom I can't. I was told that the reason I can't burn like most can is my version of XP, which was why I had to buy Nero.

Delete your groups.cache found in your sims 2 folder in My Documents. Then report back if that doesn't fix it.
*Snort* So you have a sony drive too? I remember that a lot of people were pissed because Securom attacked their sony drives as well.

ya real wonderful. I getting my next pc built from Micron (I live in Idaho) OK I tried the groups cache, still didn't work. Just get a gray box with a red X

I don't have BV or Freetime yet, but I was wondering as long as I got the no cd crack for when I play the game, would it be safe to go to the store, buy the game & install it with the original discs, or does just installing it put SecuRom on the computer?

I bought the FT and installed it, then did the 'no cd crack' thing (to avoid more issues with securom). I then made a shortcut from that, cut that shortcut from the tsbin, and pasted it on my desktop.  I have been playing it very well.

I'm still too 'un-awesome' to figure out the securom removal, but this way I don't do more damage to my machine.

hope I helped
Skye

Oh yeah, funny thing here. In looking at my machines? I have been running these games on an NVidia GeForce 4200 without any problems on the good one! Not sure if that helped anyone, but hey, it's information for future reference.

Did you try the Wiki? http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Game_Problem

You put your No-cd, here? C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 FreeTime\TSBin ?
Where did you get your no-cd? You may want to try another, maybe the file is bad or the download went wrong.

Yes, you can buy the game and install with that. Install on a admin account, drop in the no-cd before you even try to open the game.

It's much easier and cheaper to take another route. There are instructions for said route on this very site.

Amazingly enough, I now have a problem.
I torrented Sim City Societies and it installed just fine. I did not try to play it yet. I, like a dumb ass, patched with the 3rd Societies patch without checking to see if it's protection changed with the patch, before I installed said patch. I then spend an hour or so tring to get the game to run with A:Deamon B: Deamon+YASU, C: No-cd, D:Mini Image. It never started. In some cases, it would give me a "confliction with emulation software" message, others would get "insert correct cd in drive E" ignoring Deamon completely as drive K. OR it would show up in my processes and never start, it's mem usage would stay at one set amount. I learn on Deamon forum that in Societies 3rd patch it blacklists deamon tools.  I get pissed, uninstall Sim City Societies, and reinstall it, no patch. Still more of the same. So ...did I just royally screw my FreeTime over and update the Securom that sits in my system? As now it will not open with it's no-cd either. I'm only asking to make sure that I'm not missing something totally stupid. Sure, I did not have the recommended space for Societies but The Sim2 with all expansions and stuff packs was running and now, even with Societies uninstalled, thus freeing it back up to the same amount of space as before. It will not run.

I am going to try and remove Securom once more regardless, I was just hopping to put it off longer, and I'm having trouble with RegdelNull for some reason. I can't seem to direct it to my C drive. This is a brain fog day, I'm going to go google that issue or else call my personal tech support and feel like an idiot.

Have you tried Mini image+YASU combo?

For Societies, yes. Daemon is completely blacklisted. I wasn't using Daemon for Freetime anymore, I was using a no-cd. I tried a no-cd for Societies as well, it never started, now Freetime is doing the same when previously, it was working fine.

What version is your daemon? Maybe you should try a newer version that isn't blacklisted by SecuROM.

My Deamon is the newest. I had 4.0 went I started this. I have 4.12 now. Go read the deamon forums, I'm not the only one. One person had a way around it and that was to use 4.0, which is what I used in the first place that didn't work. Anyway, now my Freetime with a crack will not work, getting something to work with deamon is the least of my worries. Boyfriend decides he wants the computer last night so I didn't get a chance to try to remove securom to see if that works.

Good News! The no cd patch worked this time, I'm at a loss as to why, but it works now. Yay, now i'm just down to the problem of not being able to burn discs. I did notice an error saying something about calibration...I don't know how to go about fixing that.

Calibration? I assume it means your cd drive. Sometimes lasers mess up a bit and loose the "sweet spot". I do not know how to reset them. Google is your friend. Another cause is just bad software, Nero will pull up a "Power Calibration" error some times, I don't know the cause, I don't burn discs like I used to. Google "Power Calibration Nero" and see what you get, you may find something useful.

I have the no cd patch now for FT. It loads properly, but it is so weird. The butterflies are boxes in the yard (you know when sims "catch" them) I am missing several Maxis objects. Some have a square in the buy catalog but say "no image". All of my BV seem to be affected by this. Also the seasons icons in the UI are just black boxes.

Reinstall the eps, that's not a no-cd problem, thats corrupt core files, and maybe a graphics issue.
Did you ever mark your seasons files (or any other eps core files) as read only?

no I never marked them read only. That stinks. Thanks again Mor, you are awesome. I was hoping to not have to reinstall but oh well.

Which no-cd did you use? The one in my sig is fine. A no-cd wouldn't cause those problems though. With a bad no-cd you generally get missing features like a missing build and buy mode. I would have said that it was possibly a  graphics card issue only, but you said there were missing maxis objects as well with the no-image icon. That sounds like some files had a problem on install or corrupted, with more then BV if it effects seasons stuff.

Ok FT will not uninstall. I need to do it manually but I don't know the registry entries. Anyone know? Thanks

Yay! Thank you to all who helped with instructions and links in this thread. I am now Securom free. Eaxis has no one but themselves to blame for it either because all I really wanted to do was play from an image of my own disk instead of using the CD, and it wouldn't play nice. (Freetime) Now I'm using the no-crack because I couldn't get it to load from the image. It kept whining about the original disk needing to be in drive F, even though I installed the game from the image (virtual drive G)

So there, Securom. You're toast. By the way, I found the instructions at the beginning of the thread quite easy to follow.


Also, (quite off topic so you're welcome to poke me with sticks ;P) I read with interest the discussion of age and who remembers which dinosaur computers. Who remembers the Radio Shack 2k thingy? That was the first one I ever tried to use. It was concurrent with the first Apple computer, I believe. No one misses it. The first one I actually owned was a Commodore 64, which I poked around on. It didn't actually make me computer literate, unfortunately. I am NOT a programmer by nature. It was fun though.

Hi! I just got BV (a bit late I know) today. I installed and patched it, and then remembered about the whole securom-thing. Ouch! I havn't actually started the game yet though, does that mean I'm still securom-free?

I thought I'd jump right to Zazazu's step 4, but I'm a complete no-cd noob and there are 3 versions to dl at the place where the link leads to. Is it the v1.10.0.130 I should go for?

(Oh, and I did a search before I asked, I just wasn't sure how up-to-date the info I got was, since it was mostly from back when BV came out.)

You are still securom free if you installed the game from an administrator account. For the crack, look for the game version. If you installed the latest patch, then yes the 1.10.0.130 is the right one.

Yes, I just dl:ed the patch today. For future reference though, where do I find out what game version I have?

Well, I guess I'll try it out then, and see how it works... Thanks!

Turn on the testing cheats -- the version number will appear in the upper right corner, at least on the neighborhood screen (and maybe everywhere -- I don't really notice it anymore :) ).

Okay, so when they come out with the patches, what do you do to insert those? Do you temporarily remove the no cd patch, then put in the patch, then put the no cd patch back in?

I have bought the games. I just refused to allow any more securom in my pcs!  I also gave my pc guru a link to your site so he can figure out how to remove the stupid securom outta my machine!  LOL
Thanks for all your help in this! You folks ROCK!!!
hugs,
Skye

Yes, remove the no-cd, patch and then find an updated no-cd for the updated game.

There is a patch for freetime on this site http://www.diesims2.de/files.list.asp?id=583  and on our ea site there is one for bon voyage here http://thesims2.ea.com/update/

Thank you for the help!!!
 ;D
Skye

Update: Uh....what if they don't have an update for the no cd crack yet? Do I just use the one I have already?

If there isn't a NoCD crack for the patched version, then don't patch.  I didn't patch BV until half an hour before I installed FT, as I couldn't be bothered to download a crack for the patched version.

This is probably a stupid question so you are welcome to poke me with sticks as you like, but I still want an answer. When a no-CD crack for FT with the patch is released, will there be an announcement in this thread? Will there possibly also be a link?

Why don't you just bookmark gamecopyworld.com and check for yourself everyday? :P

Surprise surprise, the bbs announced that the newest FT patch has some bugs in it, so they have pulled the patch. To be fixed and updated next week. Something about making clothing with the sewing machine and the skin.....wonderful. After I just got everything patched! I guess will have to uninstall and scoop up the former patch again. What a bummer! But now you all know the score!

No, you shouldn't have to re-install -- if the patch installed for you ok, just keep playing the game.  Just avoid having your sims make custom clothing on a sewing machine until they get the next version of the patch out.

It's malware. I don't like rootkits on my computer so I removed it when I realized it had been installed on my system (to which I never agreed, another thing that makes me dislike it intensely).

The side effects of SecurRom can be pretty severe, such as preventing you from using you from using your CD/DVD burner for perfectly legitimate purposes.  It depends on your setup.

 - Gus

 ::) japinard, did you even skim the first part of this thread?  ::)

Patch and then use a patched no-cd for the latest ep, which would be FT.

I usually don't install a SP until the next EP comes out, but I want to use the K&B stuff before the fall.  I d/l'd the no CD for K&B.  Put my original EXE for FT back in the Program Files where it belonged.  Installed K&B.

Unzipped what I d/l'd.  The 5.48Mb exe file is Sims2SP7.  What do I replace with this?

Replacing the exe in the FT folder does not seem to work and replacing the one in the K&B folder does not seem to work either.  Or am I just being punished for installing a SP before the next EP.  Dammit.

You should replace the file with the exact same file name. Sims2SP7.exe, which means it's K&B executable.

OK, then do I start the game off of the original FT exe?  Or put in the no cd FT exe again?

Put the FT crack back in, otherwise you'll get infected by SecuRom

Excellent!  Thank you, crystalclear, for making that... well, crystal clear.   ;)

You didn't even need a no-cd for K&B as it never runs from it's exe you only needed to put the FT one back.

Oddly, I found I did need the bathroom crack, even though I was running from the FT crack. Maybe it checks something?

I have torrent version of bathroom and freetime.  I am running from the ft crack.  I don't have the bathroom one unless it was already in the torrent.

I just reloaded my machine yesterday. I found I only needed the FT crack, didn't use the bathroom one at all. Maybe my machine was already going spazzy before.

Im confused as to whether I would need Daemon Lite or pro. I have never used it before so it seems very confusing to me. I have never used torrents before either, but I am having real bad luck with me discs not running ehem. Anywho trying to get K&B stuff, but maybe i'm too dumb to figure it out lol.

If all you want to do is run a virtual copy of the game, then all you need is the lite version, pro does more then what you need, and considering that you seem to be just starting out, probably beyond you at the moment.

If your discs aren't working, when they probably should, go back to the first page of this thread and the first couple of pages, and check the instructions to know what to look for in regards to traces of securom.

hi all!  thanks for the thread.  I just got bon Voyage and just heard about this SecureRom thing.  Grrr.

 I was reading at the Tom's hardware link that the offending game should be uninstalled before attempting to remove securom, but here some say no, you don't have to uninstall.  Can someone who REALLY understands computers please tell me which it is?

I suspect that Tom's hardware is suggesting that the "offending" game should be uninstalled, because removing securom with the game still installed would result in securom being reinstalled the next time you played your game using the game disks.

The method for securom removal described by Zazazu on the first page of this thread DOES NOT require removal of the game.  Do not uninstall the game first.  Follow the steps as per the tutorial in this thread.  Get a no-cd crack for your latest EP (you only need a no-cd crack for the latest one).  Follow the steps for installing.  Running from the no-cd crack has the benefit of 1) making it so you never have to insert you disks before playing again; and 2) not reinstalling securom.

To recap:  For the method for securom removal described in this thread, Tom's hardware is wrong.  Do not uninstall your game first.

...because if you do, and then install the game, you'll get SecuRom again. Which would suck.

That's why I started quoting from Step 2. The Tom's Hardware link was bibliographic. Only uninstall game if you don't want it anymore.
Not usually. If you are on an administrator account and put the crack in before running the game, SecuROM doesn't trigger as it would only trigger from the default executable. But if you aren't on an administrator account, yeah.

I suspect this scenario does not apply to pieridae's situation.  Sounds like she's been running the game already, and so likely has securom on her system, administrator account or not.

thank you jolrei and zazazu.  that's what i was thinking too, but y'all clearly know more about this stuff than i do, so it's nice to have the reassurance before i begin. 

pieridae

* witch gives peridot a present

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/shiftkey_small.jpg)

It sounds a bit much for it to be Securom related, you said you removed signed of securom? If you did and they are still gone it is certainly not the problem. Have you run any programs like Adaware lately? Have you turned off things in your processes that are un-needed? Checked your fire wall logs for things that aren't supposed to be trying to connect?

I'd recommend the next step and going to someplace like http://www.geekstogo.com/. In their forums, they provide great support for removing tricky malware. They helped me with Vundo ages ago, as well as to track down a weird error I was getting a few months ago due to a faulty patch automatically applied to a program I don't even use. Your issues don't sound at all like SecuROM.

It's possible that you have securom too, as your inability to burn cds and your drive being unrecognizable do indeed sound like it.
Does the burner show up in My computer? Or whatever it's equivalent is for whatever OS you are using. Have you restarted your PC and gone into the BIOS to ensure that it is enabled there?

For future installs, the database  here (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/gamedb.php) is useful to check, for Securom or the ever evil Starforce, before you install.

Hi, thank you so much for this post.

Back in October, SecuROM immobilized my machine.  It would read only selected DVDs and CDs (the DVDrw was 6 months old at the time).  Just a bit of background, I didn't realize that "Insert the correct CD" was a SecuROM thing at the time.  I thought, into every simmer's life an uninstall/reinstall must fall.  I don't complain about those, I just do it now and then.  When my game starts running slowly, I've found that cleans it up.  That was the worst idea ever, because I could reinstall the base game, but none of the EPs and this meant I couldn't do much about it working with EA (grrrr)...  I ran a CureSecuROM file, and still nothing.

I tried everything I could think of and finally replaced my harddrive (it was something I was considering doing before the crap started anyway, so no big deal).  Well, it appears that SecuROM actually physically affected the DVDrw as the same CDs it would read before it read and likewise the ones it wouldn't it didn't read.  So I replaced my non-functioning DVDr that I had (yes, I had a DVDrw and a DVDr) with a new one.  My DVDr was 5 years old and needing replacing.  I do not blame SecuROM for that, but I do blame it for the DVDrw failure.  I installed up to Seasons like a dream!

Lilke a Good Simmer, I saved all my games before installing BV and I had saved them on an external drive before the hard-drive replacement, so I'm back to where I was before all this started.  I'm a mostly happy Simmer.  I am ready to install BV (and other SecuROM infested software) but before I do I have a couple questions:

1)  Will I need to add this cure (I've downloaded the newest link) to the TSBin of all the SPs that are infested or will just the TSBin of BV be enough?
2)  Similarly, should I rename all the exe's of the SPs to bak's?
3)  Can I add this to my Seasons TSBin and rename it to bak before installing BV so it's erradicated from the beginning?
4)  I'm awaiting FreeTime, will this be addressed for that as well?

Final note, I know you can't answer this but commiserate with me...what the heck was EA thinking?!?!?!

VK :-)

Violetkitty, I think you may be reading too far into what needs to be done in order to keep securom at bay in the first place. If it is not on your pc already it is as simple as using a no-cd crack.
Install your ep on an admin account only. Rename the exe in your latest EP's Tsbin folder. Drop in a no-cd crack. You do not need one in any other then the ep that you run from. When you install FT the process will be the same.

I guess I wasn't clear about what I was asking, which was is there a way to stop it before installing.  If the only thing I can do is install and then put in the cure immediately, am I still at risk?  I'm extremely gunshy about this malware because it has literally taken me 6 months to erradicate it from my machine and it seriously disabled my machine.  ad

I've already downloaded the no-cd fixes for all EPs and SPs.  I know I don't need them for Seasons and before, but I have them just in case.  The Seasons fix was broken anyway as was the Teen Style Stuff.  However, wouldn't I need to add the fix in for any SP following BV because those are now the run disks?  (or at least the one that is the run disk?)  I have Kitchens and Baths so that should be the run disk.

Thanks for all your help :-)

Securom infests your machine the first time you run the non-cracked .exe.
So installing BV and FT will not install Securom.
Before you start it up, go get that BV crack and back up the Securom infested .exe. Make sure you do this on an Administrator account.

By the way, I've played for years *and never uninstalled and reinstalled ANYTHING.*
I'm either lucky, asinine, or extra careful. Or all of the above.

Ah, gotcha, thanks :-)

As for the uninstall/reinstall, you're likely to actually notice an improvement if you do.  The game starts slowing down but it's imperceptible because you get used to waiting a little longer for lots to load, etc.  Not like to a standstill, just slower load times, etc.  I'm OCD about a clean system :-D At the time that I purchased this machine it was top of the line (purchased with TS2 in mind), but it's 5 years old almost.  My goal is to make it last for 2 more years.  Sadly, I hate Vista, and XP will no longer be supported after 2009.

Well, I have 5 gigs of *compressed* downloads (20,000 packages), and 3,000 packages in my Saved Sims folder, and it's 15 minutes from start to lot. Now, I wonder how long it would take me to uninstall all of those stuffit packs and expansion packs... probably not worth the time.

Glad to help, anyway. Use Ubuntu.

LOL, you're prolly right about it not being worth the time.

[sigh] I just installed everything to the T...and the bak file shortcut would not start the game.  I found a reg system that was supposed to help, so I added it and that didn't help.  In fact after I cleaned the system, I couldn't uninstall BV so I had to restore.  After all that, I unintalled what I tried to install today (BV, H&M, Teen, Ki&B).  Then I had to of course put back my saved games.  I wonder if I'll EVER be able to play these! 

I have a good contact at EA but I don't wanna be her whining board.  Ack...and I won't whine here either!  I'll just figure something out...

No, no, no! You don't run the game from the backed up .exe! It's just there for when you need to patch your game, so the checksum comes out right. Run your game from a no-cd cracked Bon Voyage .exe!

Get one here (http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml)

Okay, I'm missing something then...grrr...since I'm working with a fresh install, I only had to follow the 4th step:

4. To not get it again, you need to start loading from a no-CD crack. I recommend the Fairlight version from http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml. There is now a version for the patched game available as well. Go to "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin" and change the name of the current Sims2EP6.exe to Sims2EP6.bak. Then place the crack in the same folder. Make a shortcut to this on your desktop, and run the game from this new shortcut.

So I got the no-cd cracks and placed in the folder...Oh I think I just figured out what I did wrong.  I was supposed to rename the Sims2EP6.exe to Sims2EP6.bak (after I saved the .exe to another file) but I made a shortcut to the .bak, I was supposed to shortcut the added crack? 

Thank you for your patience and help.  I'm sorry I'm such a bother...

4. To not get it again, you need to start loading from a no-CD crack. I recommend the Fairlight version from http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/sims2bonvoyage.shtml. There is now a version for the patched game available as well. Go to "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSBin" and change the name of the current Sims2EP6.exe to Sims2EP6.bak. Then place the crack in the same folder. Make a shortcut to the cracked .exe on your desktop, and run the game from this new shortcut.

Yes, the shortcut you make is to the cracked .exe. The .bak is there in case you need to patch the game in the future.
If you've done that, then you can play-- finally! <whew>

Yes.

Back up the original Sims2EPx.exe (rename it "sims2EPx-exe.bak" or something else you will recognize) in case you need it again (i.e. when you load a new EP).

Install your no-cd crack - make sure it is named sims2EPx.exe  ("x" should be the number of your latest EP.  For example, if your latest EP is Freetime, it would be named Sims2EP7.exe)

Your shortcut should point to the no-cd crack file.

A better approach is to rename the crack rather than the main executable, and just repoint your shortcut to the cracked EXE, like I do. Then the original EXE remains in place and unrenamed.

So the game executable doesn't need to be the specific name, eg simsep7.exe or whatever?

No, that makes sense.  The filename of the .exe is simply an identifier.  It does not affect the functionality of the file.  You could name it "FTno-cd.exe" and it would still work, provided that your shortcut pointed to that instead of the "Sims2EP7.exe" file.

This would also make it simple for patching and loading new EPs, as you would not have to remember to rename your original ".exe" file for that.

And Pescado proves that he's smarter than us once again. Brat.  ;)

Of course he's smarter. The directions say to rename or move the original EXE because the directions are written for *dumb* people. People who would start the game from a shortcut that still pointed to the original, SecureROM-infected, EXE. Renaming the original EXE or moving it out of the folder and moving in the NoCD crack, keeping it the same name as the original EXE, is a safe-guard against stupidity.

I always renamed them so that I can actually remember to get another. You would think that this would be simple enough, alas, not for me.

Is this Securom thing a US concern only? I have all the EPs to Free Time installed (and none of the SPs), and I don't appear to have a Securom directory under Application data or the Securom files in the Windows\System32 directory. My games were bought in shops in Ireland. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Securom only applied in some countries.

Is this true? If so, would it be a good idea to explain it in the top post in this thread?

It's definitely not a US problem, I had the thing from the German version of BV and FT. You can't normally see the Securom folders as they're hidden, you have to make them visible.

There are a random few countries that do not have them because Securom would be illegal there. There are however many many more countries where it hasn't been covered. Make all of your folders visible and look for the securom files, you will not see them otherwise.

My folders are all visible -- unless there is some arcane way of making folders visible beyond checking the "show hidden files" setting in Windows...

Curiouser and curiouser... I do have 2 Securom keys in the registry.

But I definitely do not have the Securom folder or the Securom files. I even searched the whole disk for them (with option to find hidden files/folder checked). Also no services running (which makes sense, since there are no files for them to run from...)

Also, why does this forum not let me edit my posts? I click the icon, edit the post, press the button, all seems well except my post isn't edited. Happened many times before, too, not just a fluke.

Sometimes you also need to uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files'.

The icon is bugged (has been for a while) -- you have to use the 'Modify' button at the top of the post to edit it.

That edit button is a LIE! Click the word "modify" and all will be well.

Also, go ahead and get rid of those Securom registry entries following instructions at the beginning of the thread. Burninate them just because you can-- and it's better to be safe than sorry.

I followed the removal instructions a while ago and re-tried. I can use my burner again, so that's an improvement, but every time I use that drive (for reading as well as for writing) my computer almost freezes. And the drive is slllloowww.... (max. read at 6 times when it used to handle 30 x).
I'm pretty sure it's still related to SecuRom because it used to work properly before that pest came onto my computer. Any ideas what else I could do? I can't find any of the files on my hard drives but something seems to be there after all. :(

Maybe try to reinstall the driver?

As long as you don't run the game from the "official" .exe, you shouldn't get SecuRom on your machine.  So don't install the new patch until a new no-cd.exe is available.

I followed all the steps at the beginning of the thread, but I'm stuck on this one:
Step 4: Removal of Securom files under "C:\Documents and Settings". I've unhidden hidden files, and I've unchecked 'Hide protected operating system files', but I still can't see a Securom folder.  I've successfully completed the preceding steps.  Does that mean that Securom is gone, or have I just not been able to find it?

I tried the new "no cd" crack and it doesn't work. I still get emulation detected. I replaced the exe. Do I have to do all that regedit things to get the no cd to work? The crack I got is found on gcw. But does not fix my problem after I installed the patch. Thought it removes the securom and lets me play but samething "emulation detected". I dont have anything like that besides nero and I removed it to check and samething. Any help please because I want to play freetime. The patch fixes some problems I have.

you need to wait until they create a new no cd crack the one posted is for the last patch.  new version should be 1.2

 I followed the removal directions for SecuROM, and I can't seem to find any traces of Securom, anywhere. I'm sure I have it, but it's not showing itself to me. I even tried downloading a program to detect rootkits or something of that nature, the program wouldn't even run(maybe I did it wrong?) I've been searching online for 1 1/2 months, trying to find a way to play my Sims2FreeTime, but nothing seems to work. The weird thing is, it used to before any of the patches game out. I mean sure it had a few bugs, but nothing unlivable. Now my game crashes literally two minutes after I load any house! I t just says "This Application has crashed. The program will now terminate" I deleted all my CC, tried uninstalling and re-installing the game, tried both pacthes(old and new), I tried without patches, nothing works. My computer was just recently re-formatted(a week before loading Sims2) I thought that might get rid of SecuROM, but I don't know I did install the latest patch but my game crashed instantly after neighborhood pan around, so I unstalled all my EPs and SPs again. And now I'm trying to locate the new SecuROM that came with the patch, and FreeTimeEP. But It doesn't show up, when I followed the "REMOVE SECOROM" directions.??  Can anyone help??   
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 6/2/2008, 22:05:56
       Machine name: AMBURE-PC
   Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
       System Model: GG038AA-ABA a6109n
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 1358MB used, 2974MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 10
  Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce 8500 GT
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0421&SUBSYS_C7403842&REV_A1
   Display Memory: 1007 MB
 Dedicated Memory: 241 MB
    Shared Memory: 766 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
      Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
   Driver Version: 7.15.0011.7516 (English)

I don't even know how to get to my hidden files, so "c:\Documents and Settings" says access denied.

Am I correct in reading that you're playing with the newest FreeTime patch? Unless you have the no-cd crack for it, that just might be your issue.

I've followed the instructions as well and it can't find a thing. I know I have SecuROM because I've got FT (even though I haven't installed either patch) and I've noticed it killing my programmes one-by-one (starting with Norton Antivirus, which is now dead as a doornail, and Nero is surely the next to go), but there's not a sign of it on the computer. I ran through cmd and it can't find any null keys at all, nor can I find a \Securom folder in Application Data (or, indeed, anywhere). This is really taxing! Any ideas?

To those not finding a trace of it, did you install FT while on the Admin account or on a secondary account? Aren't the files on the non-admin accounts labeled differently? It's somewhere within the first few pages of this thread. Can't look right now.
As for emulation software detected, that is a securom problem. If you installed the second patch, well good luck with that. You need an updated no-cd for it and we don't have one yet. Sim city societies gave me the same hell with the third patch. I had to uninstall then remove securom ...again. If that is just with installing FT and maybe the first patch, then you need to put in the no-cd and then remove securom from your pc.

Admin account, I believe. It's the main one.
I went searching for the SecuROM folder in all my accounts. No cigar yet.

I believe that if you install the "infected" EPs on an Admin account, you often do not get a securom folder - I did not.  I only got the registry entries when I installed BV, for example.

If you can't find the Securom folders, but have removed the registry entries and followed all the steps, and then run from the proper no-cd, I would think your system is clean.

Mind you, if you have other games that have securom and you play them from the disks or original .exe files, you will keep reinstalling it.

Agreed, it was the same way for me when I installed BV patch the first time.

I couldn't find the registry entries! I followed all the steps and it came up with nothing; no null registry keys and no sign of SecuROM anywhere, even though I KNOW I have it.

But at least that explains why there's no folder. Thank you. I did wonder.

(But it isn't getting rid of SecuROM. ;))

Is it just possible that your system has some other difficulty.  If there are no securom entries in registry, and no folder, the likelihood is that there is no securom.

Are you all using the original .exe? If not, a malware/spyware program might have rooted them out for you-- that's all I can think. Bizarre  ???

Securom is well known malware now. I wouldn't be surprised if some programs have defined it as such.

I only have one account It's the admin account.

I used the original .exe and had the new patch installed, and I still couldn't find any traces of securom anywhere. I know I have it I have all eps and sps installed and the latest patch installed . . .er did I took them all off . But I couldn't find any traces of Securom. I have followed every direction for locating it, but I doesn't show up anywhere. Anyone have any suggestions?

I've just reformated my machine and I'm still searching for an anti-virus that suits. I thought I'd found it with Clamwin, because it only comes when called, but as it totally failed to update itself successfully in a fortnight, I've gone looking for others. I'm currently trying Bitdefender and AntiVir. Both of these tools enable me to search for rootkits, which is new to me in an antivirus program. I don't know whether they would work on SecROM, but both of them thought I was rootkit free.

If you play the game with your modem disconnected, and if you load onto an adminstrator account, you will likely not get a securom folder on your drive.  If you do not have the securom keys in the registry, you may have followed the steps for removal correctly and they may simply be gone.  If you can't find it, it may not be there.  Load from a no-cd crack in any case to avoid getting it back.  Has the added benefit of not wearing out your disks.

And please do not double post.  Use the "modify" button to add to previous post.  Double posting is bad, m'kay?

I'm using the original .exe and I don't have a malware/spyware program; only Norton Antivirus & Internet Security, which SOMETHING has killed, so that's not finding any bugs or spyware. I'm trying to use my internet as little as possible on the computer because of this. (I'm on my laptop now.)
Is it really possible to not have SecuROM on my PC (I bought Bon Voyage and FreeTime, and ARRed TSS), but to have contracted some sort of bug that killed Norton? If I haven't got SecuROM, excellent. I mean, I don't have to get rid of it if I don't have it.
(But that doesn't change the fact that something killed my PAID antivirus program, and is letting in lots of horrors, mostly "benign" tracker cookies. I rarely use my internet on the PC; only to download CC and songs through Limewire, which has never once given my a virus.)

Ehh, I'm using the 1.1 nocd crack with patch #2.

It's a temporary workaround until patch 2 is nocd'd

It's not on Pets or Seasons. It's only from BV onwards, including stuff packs. TSS, K&B and H&MS all have it.

do you notice if the patch actually fixed anything?

Why yes, it did, including the worst problems with Freetime. This is currently the set-up that I (and many others) are using. You can still get it here. (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/patch/) Remember to download the corresponding 1.1 NO-CD crack.

Let me start by saying that I am not trying to be mean or unhelpful here, but I will be straightforward and perhaps somewhat blunt.  The explanation given in this thread is, in fact, helpful.  However, it presupposes that you have to know some basic things about your computer and how it runs.  It seems you do not know these things.  DOS, for example, is an older operating system, parts of which are still incorporated into current operating systems (i.e. XP).  It also means you need to know a basic bit about how command lines in DOS work and how to use them.  This appears to be tricky for you.  I would suggest you learn a bit about DOS before trying the steps in the first posts of the thread.  The first posts of the thread are quite detailed and if you follow them exactly they should work for you.  If you mess it up, and bork your registry, you could damage your computer's operation.  For this reason, I would suggest that you might just want to leave securom removal for now, or have a friend who knows more about computers help you out on this.


Unfortunately, your system may not be completely clear of old versions of the game or perhaps some old registry entries, which could be why you can't reinstall.  You might want to search for "manually uninstalling game" or other such keywords, to find a tutorial on how to get rid of any residual stuff.  Then install your game again.  Again, since some of this might involve some more technical steps, you may want to have a computer savvy friend help you with this.

We can probably not provide you with more help than this at present, since you have not really told us exactly what problems your game was/is having - you say nothing works and imply you tried to uninstall.  You need to get your game reinstalled cleanly.

I would also suggest finding a friend or relative that knows a bit more about PCs then you are displaying. Those directions at the beginning of the thread is the exact walk through needed and tells you every step. Without basic knowledge on the more technical bits of your pc, you could easily mess something up poking around in your registry. Where as it is possible to back up the registry for use if you mess up, it is not recommended that you depend upon this because it is possible the muck up the registry so badly that you can not get the pc to open up to a point where you can use the back up.

Why yes, it did, including the worst problems with Freetime. This is currently the set-up that I (and many others) are using. You can still get it here. (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/patch/) Remember to download the corresponding 1.1 NO-CD crack.
[/quote]

so you are using the old patch not the one that was just released may 22nd?  the version 1.1 no cd was made for that patch, and is the one i am currently using with the older patch.  i am waiting for the no cd crack for the patch released may 22nd

I wonder if I truly don't have SecuROM.
I bought both of the games online from Amazon.co.uk. I wonder if they don't sell games that come with SecuROM? Because we've fixed my Norton and I still can't find SecuROM, which makes me think maybe you're right and I really don't have it.
I think I should be pleased...

 :'( This is really lame. I don't know what happened, but it could be that your power supply fried your drives. I would do some research and see if this is the case. But then again, it could be SecuRom-- I've learned not to say never.  :(

Sure! But you'll get it again-- EVERY TIME YOU PLAY. That's why such an emphasis is placed on a No-CD crack.

Go ahead. Install that latest patch. Knock yourself out.


Might I mention that every other post in this thread has been complaining about the lack of a new No-CD crack for said patch?

Not 25 pages, just the last 3, not even, if you would have looked even a few posts before yours you would have seen people commenting about the lack of a no-cd for the new patch. Personally, I would have at least looked to see what the current topic was.

If you're formatting an HP back to its ORIGINAL state, you have far bigger spyware issues than SecuROM to deal with. Reformat CLEAN, destroying all previous state, WITHOUT using anything HP provided.

Dear, your PC in it's shipped state is filled with so much useless crap and programs that it's not even funny, or maybe it is funny, for the ones with the pointy sticks, but you certainly shouldn't find it funny.

I had everything removed from it. all the "useless crap" as you say. it has just vista home premium, and windows media player, word, my computer, etc. but that's it I found no trace of SecuROM anywhere. so Is it safe to reinstall my sims2 games?

Okay, I have tried everything said in this thread, but I can't find SecuRom. Is there a remote chance that I have never had it? Someone mentioned that SecuRom wasn't on all versions of the game. Does anyone have a list of the versions that didn't have SecuRom?
I case I means anything, I use Vista.

All the games that released after April 2007 has SecuROM (H&M and newer)

Sure. And installing anything newer than Seasons will put SecuRom on your computer.

I was referring to this post:


I wondered if anybody knew exactly in which countries SecuRom was not included in the game's .exe.
It could of course also be that I fail at finding hidden malware on my computer.

Well, Tsarina, I don't appear to have it and I have BV & FT (ordered from Amazon Jersey), so I'd say that it's a possibility that buying anything from Amazon Jersey means you don't get SecuROM.
Shame you don't live in Jersey. XD

Thank you. I will go and look for it again, and if I can't find it, I guess I don't have it.

Simprograms has posted a tool to remove everything SecuROM installs which came from SecuROM them self.
Its here towards the middle of the page-
http://www.simprograms.com/?page_id=39

I am guessing that if I buy a recently reprinted older ep such as uni, there may well be securom on it?  I suppose there's no way to tell from looking at the box.

Thats a good question I wouldnt be surpsied if it did have it, and no were on the box does it tell you if it would be in there.
The game manuals dont even tell you its going to be installed

I wonder if it's the same thing as the one Sam posted back then. ???

I don't think so since The above link has 1 remove tool to do all the work. EAgames has a tool for each single sims2 EP/SP...
(see: http://thesims2.ea.com/help/detail.php?help_id=341 (http://thesims2.ea.com/help/detail.php?help_id=341))
I Don't know what the difference could be, though....

EDIT: Am I blind or Is freetime not in that list?

Not really "longer than usual', I don't think.  I remember one of the earlier no-cd.exes took a while to come out after the patch (I think it was the first BV patch) -- maybe 2-3 weeks.

I tried this thing and it ate my soundcard's controls.  I ended up doing a System Restore because I didn't trust what else it ate.  It doesn't give a log of what it does.  If you use it, make sure you have a good System Restore in place first.

This is a question we're trying to work out over at SAS at the moment, so if someone gets a definite answer, let me know...  However we reached the same conclusion because EA's own information says that they're using Securom for their copy protection and doesn't specify just new games, the conclusion we've reached is that if it's a newly printed game, it likely has Securom on it regardless of which Sims game it is.