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Hi! I just recently bought Beyond Divinity. I installed it to my computer and upgraded to 1.47. The problem is that each time I try to start the game, it asks me to restart my computer. I guess it's because of the Starforce copy protection, and it's famed 64-bit incompatibility.

Question: will there be a patch to fix this? The store where I bought the game refuse to take it back, so my only hope is that the situation will be fixed by the developer.

The people behind X2 - The Threat solved this by releasing a NoCD patch to registered users. Would this be an option for Larian too?

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News - From the Starforce site
StarForce copy protection to support the x64 bit user community

StarForce, the international provider of intellectual property protection solutions, utilized by leading PC video game publishers and developers, releases an update supporting Windows x64 platform, allowing users to enjoy the advantages of any game ran on cutting-edge x64 bit systems.

With Microsoft having recently released the official version of its Windows XP Professional x64, the global trend of switching to 64bit platforms has gained a new momentum, allowing everyone to finally join the revolution. The video game community is left confused though: with the wide spread of outdated copy protection technologies, who will guarantee the game can actually run on a x64 system?

The concerns are not unfounded. Many copy protection packages require a set of special protection drivers to operate. Due to huge differences in the architecture between x32 bit and x64 bit platforms, the x32 bit protection drivers won’t work on x64 bit systems, ensuring that the game won’t launch.

Like other systems, StarForce protection utilizes a unique driver allowing it to thoroughly secure the game data, and to prevent the analysis of the application’s code. Using that driver, StarForce provides increased defense capabilities, blocking the hacker’s attempts to tamper with the game core by running it under a debugger. To ensure the x64 support, the publisher should deliver his games with a x64 version of the StarForce protection.

StarForce x64 support is automatically included in the version 3.5 of StarForce. For the previously released games the publisher should add the x64 bit support by producing a special patch and making it available for his customers. The procedure is semi-automatic and takes just a few minutes to complete using StarForce Protection Studio, the universal protection platform for software developers and publishers. Protection Studio was first shown at the E3 exhibition to the wide acclaim of international media, publishers and developers.

According to Oleg Salyakhov, StarForce CTO, it will take some time for publishers to entirely switch to StarForce x64. They are still focusing mainly on x32 systems, and even though various gaming companies have started to include x64 support, with the big names of the industry the process takes a bit longer. Although once the decision on adding Windows x64 support is made, StarForce immediately provides the publisher with the tools to implement it, quickly and efficiently. “We believe that Windows XP Professional x64 arrival opens tremendous opportunities for the gaming world, and we in StarForce do our best to allow video game players to move to the x64 bit platform with its increased performance and security”, says Mr. Salyakhov.
10.06.2005


Tehy are advertising that it is for download.... BUT either their site was not working properly, or they are hiding that very very DEEP....

Well hopefully Larian will release the update / patch here soon <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />


Your existence alone, is excuse enough for the creation of the entire universe… Il you my darling Jeanne-Dré 
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Hi,

We have been looking into this matter and the problems with WinXP64 seem to be related to the copy protection, though theorethically WinXP64 should be fully backwards compatible. Unfortunately, due to the way we implemented the copy protection in Beyond Divinity, it is impossible for us to upgrade to a version that is compatible with WinXP64.

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Lynn

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Hello guys,

Well, i have bought your game after playing with Divine Divinity.

With DD, i had no problems at all and i was quite happy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Now, the BD don't even launch and i see on this forum that the cause is that i use WIN XP PRO.

I'm quite disappointed with that. Worse is that you don't even seem to try to solve the problem !!!!

Sorry to say, guys, but you don't mention this limitation in the game configuration on the box nor on your main site !!!!
If someone don't come deep in your technical forum, it is impossible to know this limitation.

I think that the least that you may do is to propose something to solve this issue.

chloeliane

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[color:"orange"]Now, the BD don't even launch and i see on this forum that the cause is that i use WIN XP PRO.[/color]

XP Pro should be fine, just not the 64 bit version.

The 64 bit version of Windows XP was released some time after the game, so there is no way the game box could contain any information on it one way or the other (except by omission; the 64 bit version of XP is not listed as a supported OS).

They did try to solve the problem, as Lynn stated, but the issue is not as simple as re-doing the patch with the 64 bit version of Starforce. There were technical problems patching the game in the first place, that they had to find a workaround for (see BD Peek of the week #33 for details). That may be part of the problem with the 64 bit version of Starforce, or there could be a conflict with something else.

The BD FAQ on the website could certainly be updated to include this information (or a note added under support), though it has not come up that often.


[color:"orange"]I think that the least that you may do is to propose something to solve this issue.[/color]

Unfortunately, I think the only solution is the same as for any other software or hardware that can not, or will not, be updated to work with the 64 bit version of Windows: dual boot with a previous version of Windows on the same system, or setup a different system with a previous version of Windows.


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