Physical Version of Lockdown has completely locked down my PC.

[Fartcruise]

Hey so I was wanting to try out the game yesterday due to curiosity and I had the physical copy laying on my shelves. I took it out and it was legitimate one, no kind of funky changes or anything.

Installing went completely okay, but when it got DRM section was something else. I had to run it on adminstrator mode just to make it work and had to restart my pc. Now it has completely bricked my windows, cant even repair or even reset. It's ironic for a title to be called Lockdown as my PC is completely locked down by it.


Any kind of help is appreciated.

[tyl0413]

Many older games such as this use terrible DRM, in this case the physical copy of this game uses StarForce which is one of the most infamous garbage DRMs from the 2000s, it caused many issues back then and past Windows 8 it is completely incompatible and guarantees your system will be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up if you try to install it.
It requires administrator permissions to install its kernel mode driver, as its a piece of ♥♥♥♥ and does not even work on modern Windows, unless you have the necessary knowledge to try and manually attempt to remove its traces which still might not work you're just going to have to reinstall the OS because the DRM basically destroyed it, hope you have a backup.

[Fartcruise]

Originally posted by tyl0413:

Many older games such as this use terrible DRM, in this case the physical copy of this game uses StarForce which is one of the most infamous garbage DRMs from the 2000s, it caused many issues back then and past Windows 8 it is completely incompatible and guarantees your system will be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up if you try to install it.
It requires administrator permissions to install its kernel mode driver, as its a piece of ♥♥♥♥ and does not even work on modern Windows, unless you have the necessary knowledge to try and manually attempt to remove its traces which still might not work you're just going to have to reinstall the OS because the DRM basically destroyed it, hope you have a backup.

I don't have any sort of backups or anything and I am luckily to have Linux installed in my computer. I am so surprised that a single DRM was able to mess up my entire day as I wanted to play games with my bro lol. Currently wiping my windows and getting files backed up because Bill Gates can suck my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 8====D~~ ~ ~

[tyl0413]

Originally posted by Audiology:

Originally posted by tyl0413:

Many older games such as this use terrible DRM, in this case the physical copy of this game uses StarForce which is one of the most infamous garbage DRMs from the 2000s, it caused many issues back then and past Windows 8 it is completely incompatible and guarantees your system will be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up if you try to install it.
It requires administrator permissions to install its kernel mode driver, as its a piece of ♥♥♥♥ and does not even work on modern Windows, unless you have the necessary knowledge to try and manually attempt to remove its traces which still might not work you're just going to have to reinstall the OS because the DRM basically destroyed it, hope you have a backup.

I don't have any sort of backups or anything and I am luckily to have Linux installed in my computer. I am so surprised that a single DRM was able to mess up my entire day as I wanted to play games with my bro lol. Currently wiping my windows and getting files backed up because Bill Gates can suck my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 8====D~~ ~ ~

I have no idea if it would work but if you use Linux you may attempt to install it on there using a tool like Lutris, as it will be running through a virtual Windows environment it can not harm your real Linux system, so may be worth a try if you wanna play the physical copy on your modern PC.

[Fartcruise]

Originally posted by tyl0413:

Originally posted by Audiology:

I don't have any sort of backups or anything and I am luckily to have Linux installed in my computer. I am so surprised that a single DRM was able to mess up my entire day as I wanted to play games with my bro lol. Currently wiping my windows and getting files backed up because Bill Gates can suck my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 8====D~~ ~ ~

I have no idea if it would work but if you use Linux you may attempt to install it on there using a tool like Lutris, as it will be running through a virtual Windows environment it can not harm your real Linux system, so may be worth a try if you wanna play the physical copy on your modern PC.

Can't bother on it gonna ship it to someone who wants their computer bricked by a russian tactical airstrike. Besides I have GTA 3 on my hand.

[col.kurtz]

StarForce Driver Removal Tool exists precisely for this.

Provided no-one messes with the links, you can find info on the English language Wikipedia page for StarForce.

[col.kurtz]

Oh. And if you're still interested in having a taster, there is a demo that doesn't have StarForce in it.
I installed it from a cover disk, so I presume there are downloadable copies to be found on the internets. The multi-player aspect looks functional as far as LANs go - up to 4 in co-op, or 4v4 adversarial.

Limit your monitor to 60fps and enable v-sync to avoid any physics weirdness. I had a audio bug so ran Creative Alchemy and enabled EAX in the sound menu.

[col.kurtz]

In case any one comes across this, and because it just happened to me again, this time on Windows 11. From what I remember:

It won't boot into Windows; messages 'Diagnosing' and 'Attempting Automatic Repair'
Two options: Reboot and Advanced - select Advanced
Grid of six boxes - middle one on the left(?) Troubleshooting
Another grid of six boxes - again middle one on left (?) 'Start-up Options'
Only one option now: Reboot

It should present a list of ten options including 4. Safe Mode and 5. Safe Mode with Networking.
Select, I think number 7, Disable Driver Signature Enforcement
You should enter normal-looking Windows.

Download and unpack StarForce Driver Removal Tool.
Run (as administrator) sfdrvrem.exe
Once it completes, there is one option: Reboot.

[Visitor 24]

Hi there, you're right, it does work on Linux (Mint 22) by installing from the disc copy.
Then plays as normal.
Cheers.

[meomarte]

I remember back in the days it was irritating to have to install the evil rootkit, but it worked on my windows. Then some years later I was worried about the rootkit again, but with the removal tool it worked just fine. This time (2025) I did not bother with the disc version. My advice: Just wait until it is on sale for dirt cheap and re-buy it on Steam. That version has no problems like that. What I´ve noticed though, is the red dot size is tied to pixels and disappears on higher resolutions. Iron sights FTW.