How to get rid of SecuRom, NOW

[JennyJenny]

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?

[syberspunk]

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

* syberspunk stamps Ste's seal of approval on this post.

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.

<snip>

EAxis patches are notoriously crap which breaks just as much as it fixes.

<snip>

It's not bad advice. It's a solution that you can choose to use.

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.


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

[Ambular]

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.

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...

[muridae]

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?

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.

[Noukie]

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

[Zazazu]

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.

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.

[Deviancy]

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..

[Ambular]

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 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)."

[morriganrant]

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.

[Deviancy]

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.



 

[Zazazu]

especially when your rationale is basically "Some kid might try it and mess up his game(s)."

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.

[morriganrant]

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.

[Deviancy]

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

[morriganrant]

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.

[Deviancy]

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. 
 

[morriganrant]

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. 

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.

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.

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.

[Deviancy]

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*

[morriganrant]

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.

[Deviancy]

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/

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 .

[Ambular]

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 .

* AmberDiceless 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.

[Deviancy]

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.

[Kyna]

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.  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.

[Ambular]

It amuses my nostalgic side to hear about 20mb hard drives and the days when cdroms didn't even exist.  But I was spoiled compared to you.  My first pc had 300megs.. huge mutherfucker.. and it had that rip roaring 2400baud modem.  I miss the days when it took a half an hour to download a nudie pic. 

So what is the age range for the Sims?  I was under the impression it was the typical 16-25 bracket.. but there's no way you're 25.. and if the others here know more than you.. hrmm..

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) is old and has a long beard. 

ETA:

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.

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

[Deviancy]

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..

[mitchellcjs]

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.