What's your take on Securom?

[PnJz]

I haven't purchased anything for my Sims 2 past Seasons because I'm afraid of Securom. Do you think there's a valid reason I've been reading so much about how horrible Securom is to your computer?
Has anyone had personal experience?
I'd love to get BV and FT but from what I've been hearing, it wouldn't be worth it.  I just spent over $2,000. on this computer in January.  I don't want it being messed up for a $30 expansion pack game.
Please share any information you can.
Thanks in advance.

[squegee]

I bought a new computer this year and now I can't use my burner. I took it in several times to see if I had so virus or if something was wrong...it turns out it was BV...It stopped working after I purchased BV...I hate it. If the game crashes I'm never reinstalling it...

[EKozski]

After the horror stories I've read about SecruRom, I'm not about to take that kind of a chance.

I almost bought an extra GIG of memory, but the temptation to expand beyond Pe(s)ts was there. I changed my mind.

There's not a company on this planet, or any planet for that matter, that can tell me what I can and cannot do on my computer.

I'm not about to let a company like EA destroy my livelyhood.

[grannyfay02]

I have BV and FT and can still use my burner to make cd's and DVD's, but have a great wee program called Slysoft any DVD, it still works great with all backups I make if this helps. It cost me about $30 US

[roger9]

In February, this year, I lost the game owing to crashes. I also lost my backups. Long story. Recently, I bought a new computer-- Quad core CPU, 2gigs RAM, a wicked video card w. 520 ram on it, tons of hard drive space-- I reinstalled.  I have all the add-ons to Bon Voyage (BV).  I loaded everything up to Seasons & started rebuilding & populating Pleasantvew.  I found my 1000 downloads, still zipped, on another computer.  I have unzipped & installed most of them over a week. Then I installed BV w. the dreaded SecuROM.  While running with Seasons, I could shut off the game, go online & download some stuff-- not mods & hacks, mind, just stuff like eyes & clothes-- put them in the game & go back in.  After installing BV. I have to do this:  Make sure the BV disc is never in the machine unless I'm about to go into the game. Re-boot my machine everytime I download any product from the net & install it into the game.  Re-boot my machine each time, after I close the game & make sure I remove the disc from the CD drive.  If I don't take these precautions, the brand new state of the art computer jams & goes to black screen where even CntrL-alt-delete won't get me to Task Manager & I have to unplug the whole thing, reconnect & then boot up new.  If I leave the BV CD in the machine, it starts up chattering when I'm doing things totally unrelated to Sims2.  Like a rookie cop that's gotta look at everything I'm doing. It's un-nerving.  I must say the game runs well when I get it loaded & the load time after the Custom Products Screen is fast.  I assume SecuROM stops looking around then.  I have heard rumors that SecuROM writes itself to Ring0 instead of Ring3 which puts it in charge of the basic ops system (Windows) if it wants.  That's scary.  I may delete the whole game & reload up to Seasons but I really liked Vacations in the old Sims1 game & I'd like to try BV here before I make a final decision. I certainly won't be buying Free Style or the new Sims3 game when it comes out.  Happy Simming, Roger9

[roger9]

I forgot to mention one thing I think is important.  I asked for Windows XP on my new computer instead of Vista.  I hear the problems in Vista only complicate the problems in SecuROM.  Also, The BV CD disc, on startup, asks me frequently to use the original game disc instead of the backup disc.  I don't have a backup disc.  I just take the game disc out of the drive & reinsert it at a different angle.  SecuROM never asks twice.  I also want to tell people reading this, I hate people who steal intellectual property, that is artistic designs & writing & computer programs.  I have had furniture designs stolen from me in my design career & I know the pain.  Have a look at this site.  http://securom.sublimesims.net/smf/index.php It is a pretty scary place to visit but they seem to have a serious attitude.  Roger9

[MaryH]

Roger-I hope you're not serious about SAS being a "scary place to visit"..we're trying to make sense of SecuRom, and not scare everyone to death. We've tried very hard to make it as friendly and inviting as possible for everyone to read our threads, join the fight and to have a little fun.
True, SecuRom is a very bad thing-but we're trying to change EA's attitude about their customers and their pain.
But you do have a point-come and visit us if you would like the "other side's " facts about this program and its issues.

[roger9]

to:mary-- I think what I read about SecuROM on the SAS site is 'scary' in as much as people are claiming sustained damage to their hardware & software programs after loading Sims2 Bon Voyage w. SecuROM protection. I think the SAS site is a good idea-- it's good to examine what SecuROM does to people's computers & let the general public know whether this is a real threat to the average computer's ops system by an over-zealous programmer at EA trying to protect their intellectual property from being stolen & used by other game design groups or-- you still with me?-- just a greedy program you can unload & everything in your system will be OK again.  To deelicious1920:  From what I've read, SecuROM is a piracy protection program that Electronic Arts has included w. Sims2 Bon Voyage, one of the Fashion Packs for Sims2 (I can't remember which off-hand) & every program since then including Free Style.  People have claimed that, after loading BV or Free Style, they cannot burn CD's & other programs on their computer have been altered. I suggest you visit Mary's SAS site w. web addy above to get more info. Roger9.

[Tigger68]

I would hope that I am not alone in this, but I have Vista and a brand new machine.  I had a graphics and gaming computer built and with all the EP's and SP's installed, I still have not had any issues.

My CD stays in the ROM as I am terrified of it getting scratches and I am always connected to the internet.  My husband is an IT, so if there were something going on, he would be the first to hear about it from me ... LOL.

As to the burning of DVD's, no problem there either.  I have a Light Scribe burner that burns images into the CD / DVD ... I have 2 year old twin neices and am always burning their photos (gawds there are so many) and the video's that we record of them fro mthe camcorder.

I hope that my results will help to calm some of you, I am sorry if others don't agree.  I'm not trying to tell anyone anything, except that I have no issues.  Best of wishes to all.

[hiiammregg]

what is securom?

[Tenshii~Akari]

Look @ MaryH's signature.  

[roger9]

SecuROM is a protective privacy package designed by Electronic Arts to prevent people from altering or copying parts of their programs.  It seems to affect different computers in different ways. Read up at http:\\securom.sublimesims.net\ for more detail. For those who report no changes or problems in their computer behaviour, aren't you the lucky ones?  I have to reboot my brand new computer before I put the Bon Voyage disc into the machine, every time.  It's still worth having that tropical island in my game, though.  Roger9

[Tomkat]

SecuRom never had any effect on my PC.
I wont say its harmless, because of all the bitching and moaning people do about it...there HAS to be something very evil about it...

All I do...install the game from original discs, and then get a no-cd/dvd. thats it, dont even start the game with the original installer or off the disc, and there will be no securom.

Id rather be safe than sorry... and even while no-dvd etc stuff is considered 'wrong' by some people, i dont see a point in that. see, i legally own all my games, and i believe that you have to do what you must to make your gaming experience the way you want it. If you have illegal games, thats your problem if everything stuffs up.

[roger9]

To Tomkat-- been away. Read your post & I think you should tell us how to get a no-cd/dvd unless it's illegal or very fattening. I also think people posting their problems & successes about SecuROM should say what hardware they have & whether they run Windows XP or Vista (or ME, or 98,etc). Then we would have better knowledge about what systems SecuROM is screwing up.  Another point to Tomkat-- You don't legally own all your games.  If you read the licence agreement that they make you sign when you download the game from web or CD, you will usually see legaleeze statements about your limited right to use the game, your total prohibition from copying it or any parts of it, & on & on.  If you own a car you can do what you like w. it-- If you own a game, there is very little you can legally do with it except play.  So I'm taking my own advice above in this post & here goes:
My computer has an Intel Core 2 quad Q6600 @2400MHz, Ram: 2x 1024DDR2-SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce 8800GT video card & a ST3320620AS 320 GB hard drive which is 10% used. I am operating w. Windows XP Home edition 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3.  This should be enough power to run anything & any game now in existance.  BUT-- It still takes me 2 or 3 tries to start up Sims Bon Voyage.  Once it's running, I have no problems w. freezes or other crap.  If the computer has been running & I had time away from the desk & it's in sleep mode, starting up I always get some error message. Either it's a dark screen w. a frozen load that won't ever respond to control-alt-delete. I have to shut the unit off manually & start again. Or, the BV CD sends messages like, "Take the backup CD out of the drive & try the original disc."  I don't have a back-up, I wouldn't know how to make one & I am using the original BV CD that came w. my purchased game.  The third error message is "Time out. Insufficient time to search for the disc. Try Again?"  You can imagine my frustration when I get all 3 of these error mesages in one attempt to play the game, one after the other. If I didn't enjoy the BV add-on so much, I would delete the whole mess (after saving my documents, of course) & reload up to  Seasons & play with that.  Does anyone know if EA plans to fix this mess or are they just moving on as usual?  Roger9

[EKozski]

I'd say, they're just moving right along as usual.

Nothing on the horizon indicates they have any intention of making life easier for the people that own SecuRom.