EA removed Crysis (2007) on Steam store...

[🍃🪻🪷Sylvie🩵🍸🍵]

Seriously EA, why remove the original Crysis (2007) version on Steam store?!

[tyl0413]

It's sold as part of the Maximum Edition.

[🍃🪻🪷Sylvie🩵🍸🍵]

Originally posted by tyl0413:

It's sold as part of the Maximum Edition.

Yes, but still it won't show up in the search filter somehow.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/17300/Crysis/

[Χάρης]

at least you don't need to login to Origin every time.

[MaxTheOne]

At least it is included with EA Play, I am playing it from there.

But Warhead is not included instead (why EA????)

[8Screws]

Just buy both C1 and Warhead from GOG, where they are both regularly on sale for 75% off.

[UmbralPenumbra]

Gotta love greedy corporations: Forcing you to buy bundled games when you only want one

[Mad_Commander]

Originally posted by 🍃🍸Sylvia🧋🍵:

Seriously EA, why remove the original Crysis (2007) version on Steam store?!

If you own it, it is still there but they removed it in favour of the remaster.

[mrtnptrs]

Originally posted by Mad_Commander:

Originally posted by 🍃🍸Sylvia🧋🍵:

Seriously EA, why remove the original Crysis (2007) version on Steam store?!

If you own it, it is still there but they removed it in favour of the remaster.

Maybe, but the bigger reason was that Crysis 1 Steam version had the 64-bit binaries missing, but even more important, it significant DRM-problems before where new copies couldn't be played with the provided key when purchasing through Steam. EA fixed this through an update in January that basically ported over the GOG version to Steam, thus removing the malfunctioning DRM and finally included the 64-bit binaries. See https://steamdb.info/depot/17301/history/?changeid=M:3196227748258693724 Still, kinda seems like EA forgot to publicly individually list this game again, even when quite some people dislike the Remastered version (for various reasons, lets not go into that here) so EA could make some money by making Crysis 1 available again individually and by search.

[Briar]

Originally posted by mrtnptrs:

Originally posted by Mad_Commander:

If you own it, it is still there but they removed it in favour of the remaster.

Maybe, but the bigger reason was that Crysis 1 Steam version had the 64-bit binaries missing, but even more important, it significant DRM-problems before where new copies couldn't be played with the provided key when purchasing through Steam. EA fixed this through an update in January that basically ported over the GOG version to Steam, thus removing the malfunctioning DRM and finally included the 64-bit binaries. See https://steamdb.info/depot/17301/history/?changeid=M:3196227748258693724 Still, kinda seems like EA forgot to publicly individually list this game again, even when quite some people dislike the Remastered version (for various reasons, lets not go into that here) so EA could make some money by making Crysis 1 available again individually and by search.

Thank you for this information! Can you confirm that both original Crysis and Crysis Warhead have no DRM on Steam right now? I am a little confused.

[vlad[54rus]]

Originally posted by MetalheadRocks:

Thank you for this information! Can you confirm that both original Crysis and Crysis Warhead have no DRM on Steam right now? I am a little confused.

In both games 64-bit executables are DRM-free, but 32-bit aren't.

[mrtnptrs]

Originally posted by Briar:

Originally posted by mrtnptrs:

Maybe, but the bigger reason was that Crysis 1 Steam version had the 64-bit binaries missing, but even more important, it significant DRM-problems before where new copies couldn't be played with the provided key when purchasing through Steam. EA fixed this through an update in January that basically ported over the GOG version to Steam, thus removing the malfunctioning DRM and finally included the 64-bit binaries. See https://steamdb.info/depot/17301/history/?changeid=M:3196227748258693724 Still, kinda seems like EA forgot to publicly individually list this game again, even when quite some people dislike the Remastered version (for various reasons, lets not go into that here) so EA could make some money by making Crysis 1 available again individually and by search.

Thank you for this information! Can you confirm that both original Crysis and Crysis Warhead have no DRM on Steam right now? I am a little confused.

Originally posted by vlad54rus:

Originally posted by MetalheadRocks:

Thank you for this information! Can you confirm that both original Crysis and Crysis Warhead have no DRM on Steam right now? I am a little confused.

In both games 64-bit executables are DRM-free, but 32-bit aren't.

Installing Crysis now, but can say that in January this year both the 32-bit as well as the 64-bit executables were updated. See https://steamdb.info/depot/17301/history/?changeid=M:3196227748258693724 So, strongly think that the 32-bit executable had its SecuROM DRM removed too. Will check soon. Warhead did not receive an update this year as its DRM wasn't broken, but don't know what existing DRM it still has, will check.

Edit: as both executables for Crysis were updated it is likely indeed that both executables had their SecuROM DRM removed as the installations were basically replaced with the GOG-version files. This is probably true as key-SecuROM files (like "paul.dll") are missing from any new Crysis installations of the Steam version. Warhead however wasn't updated and still contains these typical SecuROM files. Only the DRM for Crysis base game was broken for a while before the January update (kept asking for a key, but the one provided by Steam was seen as invalid, so they likely ran out of valid keys or something). Warhead always has worked fine. So, Crysis had its DRM removed because it had become faulty, but Warhead likely didn't have its DRM removed (or made non-functional maybe, cannot be sure sadly) because SecuROM can, under regular circumstances still work just fine on Windows 10/11 without any needed intervention. Only SafeDisc DRM doesn't work on modern Windows, but Crysis and Warhead don't have this DRM. So, whether their DRM was removed or not, they should now both work just fine, which is the actual important thing.

Edit 2: did more testing, all executables from 32-bit and 64-bit for both games launch fine without any hiccups with Steam closed, except for the 32-bit Warhead executable, which throws a "Steam error 5:0000065434" when trying to run the game with Steam closed.

Edit 3: the 32-bit Warhead executable also asked me once for the serial key, like the previous broken Crysis DRM did. However, I couldn't get this message to show up again. When launched with "<install path>\Bin32\Crysis.exe %command%" it launches just fine without asking for a serial key. Without it, it always gives the Steam error.

Crysis Warhead

So, my conclusions:
-Crysis 32-bit: Free of both Steam and SecuROM DRM.
-Crysis 64-bit: Free of both Steam and SecuROM DRM.
-Crysis Warhead 32-bit: contains both Steam and SecuROM DRM.
-Crysis Warhead 64-bit: contains no Steam-DRM when launched directly through "Crysis64" (like Steam does by default), but likely still contains a perfectly fine working implementation (or a non-functional variant) of SecuROM DRM.

So, my advice would be: the game is in a perfectly fine working state on Steam, even if Warhead still contains some DRM. But hey, it still works and having it on Steam is easier if you want to play it on Steam Deck. If you want a fully DRM-free experience and don't care about Steam Deck, I would advice the fully DRM-free releases of Crysis and Warhead on GOG. The GOG-versions can btw also be easily installed on Steam Deck through the Heroic Games Launcher.

[Briar]

Originally posted by mrtnptrs:

Originally posted by Briar:

Thank you for this information! Can you confirm that both original Crysis and Crysis Warhead have no DRM on Steam right now? I am a little confused.

Originally posted by vlad54rus:

In both games 64-bit executables are DRM-free, but 32-bit aren't.

Installing Crysis now, but can say that in January this year both the 32-bit as well as the 64-bit executables were updated. See https://steamdb.info/depot/17301/history/?changeid=M:3196227748258693724 So, strongly think that the 32-bit executable had its SecuROM DRM removed too. Will check soon. Warhead did not receive an update this year as its DRM wasn't broken, but don't know what existing DRM it still has, will check.

Edit: as both executables for Crysis were updated it is likely indeed that both executables had their SecuROM DRM removed as the installations were basically replaced with the GOG-version files. This is probably true as key-SecuROM files (like "paul.dll") are missing from any new Crysis installations of the Steam version. Warhead however wasn't updated and still contains these typical SecuROM files. Only the DRM for Crysis base game was broken for a while before the January update (kept asking for a key, but the one provided by Steam was seen as invalid, so they likely ran out of valid keys or something). Warhead always has worked fine. So, Crysis had its DRM removed because it had become faulty, but Warhead likely didn't have its DRM removed (or made non-functional maybe, cannot be sure sadly) because SecuROM can, under regular circumstances still work just fine on Windows 10/11 without any needed intervention. Only SafeDisc DRM doesn't work on modern Windows, but Crysis and Warhead don't have this DRM. So, whether their DRM was removed or not, they should now both work just fine, which is the actual important thing.

Edit 2: did more testing, all executables from 32-bit and 64-bit for both games launch fine without any hiccups with Steam closed, except for the 32-bit Warhead executable, which throws a "Steam error 5:0000065434" when trying to run the game with Steam closed.

Edit 3: the 32-bit Warhead executable also asked me once for the serial key, like the previous broken Crysis DRM did. However, I couldn't get this message to show up again. When launched with "<install path>\Bin32\Crysis.exe %command%" it launches just fine without asking for a serial key. Without it, it always gives the Steam error.

Crysis Warhead

So, my conclusions:
-Crysis 32-bit: Free of both Steam and SecuROM DRM.
-Crysis 64-bit: Free of both Steam and SecuROM DRM.
-Crysis Warhead 32-bit: contains both Steam and SecuROM DRM.
-Crysis Warhead 64-bit: contains no Steam-DRM when launched directly through "Crysis64" (like Steam does by default), but likely still contains a perfectly fine working implementation (or a non-functional variant) of SecuROM DRM.

So, my advice would be: the game is in a perfectly fine working state on Steam, even if Warhead still contains some DRM. But hey, it still works and having it on Steam is easier if you want to play it on Steam Deck. If you want a fully DRM-free experience and don't care about Steam Deck, I would advice the fully DRM-free releases of Crysis and Warhead on GOG. The GOG-versions can btw also be easily installed on Steam Deck through the Heroic Games Launcher.

Thank you for this experiment and a huge amount of information! Your post must be pinned or something, so everyone can see it!

[mrtnptrs]

@Briar Haha, thanks for the thank you, but still much is unknown. Only fairly certain that the Crysis 64-bit is DRM-free now and likely the 32-bit version too. Rest is, Warhead thus, much more uncertain. Honestly bit weird why EA doesn't just replace the Steam Warhead version with the GOG-version files; they seemingly only did that for the base game Steam-version of Crysis. GOG has always been open about that whatever work they do on DRM-free versions themselves, publishers are free to use their work on other storefronts, like Steam in this case.

Btw, every 32-and-64-bit versions of both Crysis and Warhead contain often more than 1 executable. Might, when bored, make a big summary of what every executable actually does (and which need compatibility mode set to work, like the Warhead 64-bit executable) and which make the game run and which don't. So, kinda bit like an executable analysis. And if I really wanna go overboard, I could potentially compare the files against the GOG-version haha. Bought the GOG versions just before Crysis was updated here on Steam to remove its faulty DRM.

[vlad[54rus]]

Surprisingly, GOG version of Warhead doesn't have 32-bit binaries. Looks like they lost the sources and could't get the original execitables without DRM.

[vlad[54rus]]

Also from c1-launcher github:

Why does the Bin64 folder contain 2 executables?
The original Bin64/Crysis.exe file is actually only a 32-bit SecuROM DRM launcher. It reads the Bin64/Crysis.ini config file and runs Bin64/crysis64.exe, which is the 64-bit game launcher. However, running the game launcher directly results in a crash during game startup. This is because the 64-bit CrySystem loads the Bin64/b64.dll library with additional SecuROM garbage. It checks whether the game was launched using the DRM launcher or not, and if not, the game crashes in a sneaky way.

All this nonsense is skipped by this launcher. That means you can safely delete all the mentioned files.