TrackMania without StarForce?

[bicostp]

TrackMania is a pretty fun looking racing game. (It's a lot like the DOS game "Stunts", or "4D Sport Driving") TrackMania Nations is a freely downloadable, full version of the game, not just a crippled demo. It was released for some online gaming championship or something, but it can also be used locally by one player. The problem is, it installs the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce">StarForce</a> drivers the first time you run it. (Possibly when it "detects your firewall".)

I've heard some horror stories about StarForce, which claim it messes up the Windows disc reading drivers and causes optical drives to revert to an old, primitive reading mode. Sometimes they claim it has "omg ruined my laptops dvd drive and its broken forever now!1!" (But they probably have no idea what the heck they're talking about.) There are also some stories from people where it doesn't do anything bad at all. What's the truth?

I tried installing it on a sandbox install during class last night, and it only installed the low-level, hidden StarFoce drivers after the initial installation. By that point it was 10:00 and I wanted to get home, so I ran a removal tool to get rid of the drivers and called it a night, so it's unknown wheather or not they're reinstalled.

I guess the question is, "How can I make the game not install the drivers?" or "Is there any sort of setting to change which changes the drivers' operation level so they're less dangerous?" I'm not asking about hacking the game, but honestly I'd rather not muck anything important up with a crappy hack of a copy protection program.

Here's a list of games that install StarForce:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/list.php

For the bold, here's the game's downloadable installer:
http://www.trackmanianations.com/indexUk.php

EDIT: title edited because nobody noticed.

[Harshboy]

Ah, Trackmania. Its an awesome game. I downloaded that demo like a few months back and the my computer got all screwy. I'd gladly appreciate if anyone could help both of us because when my computer wasn't acting up, this was a sweet game to play.

[Unidentified Assilant]

I'd love to get Trackmania Nations, but without this gay Starforce protection, I noticed LMA Manager 2006 had it, but found a way around it

for legal reasons I cannot disclaim exactly how I got past it

[bicostp]

Well, I've got a couple alternative ideas, but am uncertailn about performance.

#1- Use another machine with a clean XP install
I've got my old P3 500 box with a 64 meg Nvidia TNT2 card in it around here somewhere. Could always hook that up... However the processor meets the minimum requirement so it might run like crap.

#2- Virtual Machine. Not certain about its performance either. Any ideas about performance? (I've got VMware on this computer...)

The thing I'm most concerned about is the allegations that it "completely destroys" disc drives by "causing them to run at speeds too slow for them". That really sounds like BS to me, but if there's even a slight, remote chance of that happening, I'd rather not tempt fate.

Has anyone here used a StarForce-d game and not had any problems afterward? Do either of those plans sound feasable? Does anyone even read this thread?

[Skyone]

I'm willing to destroy this computer, I'll try it out for you.

*shrug* I tried it out, it didn't give me any problems, CD drive still works, but it is an awesome game!

I didn't see it install any drivers involving anything with the CD/DVD drive. I'll keep looking into it though.

[bicostp]

Open the Device Manager and tell it to show hidden devices. Now look under Non-Plug-and-Play Devices (looks like a grey diamond). Bam. StarForce.

But it is an awesome game, isn't it? If only they had not used such an evil copy protection program...

Screw it, I'm bringing in my P3 500 box. At least it will be able to run the game. (Unlike the P3 933 sandbox PC, which has crappy 4 meg Intel integrated graphics and no AGP slot.)

[Unidentified Assilant]

So? How does one get past Starforce? I hate it.

EDIT: What is the point in putting Starforce protection on a FREE game? Can somebody explain why?

[Sir Games-A-Lot]

EDIT: What is the point in putting Starforce protection on a FREE game? Can somebody explain why?

I had always wondered, my best rationalization is that it's creators mean it be "One download from our servers per computer" and not "One download and continued distribution through other channels" (burnt CD's, P2P networks, LAN's, IM downloads, other people hosting it, ETC.).

I suppose this could be for quality controll reasons (EG, they don't want hacked copies floating around that are really trojan horses, oh wait...) or they don't want people making money selling it to unsuspecting consumers on ebay in disc form (like those big discs of roms).