URGENT: Intrusive in-game anti-piracy spam (Steam Mac & PC)

[Murph]

Did you check the Log after seeing the issue. It might help us narrow down the problem if it does say something abnormal.

Nothing was logged about it, nothing abnormal in the log at the time. It just keeps spamming you, making false demands for payment.

The problem is already narrowed down. The DRM BS is broken, which is a very narrow part of the code.

[TheWraith]

Still hoping to find a solution to this problem. I thought I had it fixed by starting a new map, but once I went back to that save game, it happened again. Seems like something is getting corrupted while saving or loading a save file. I did find a steam forum post about this same problem and looks like a developer has responded, though we're waiting on an update to the cause of the problem or how to fix it. http://steamcommunity.com/app/447020/di ... 459651079/

[TheWraith]

The problem is already narrowed down. The DRM BS is broken, which is a very narrow part of the code.

What is the "DRM BS"? I don't know about code and stuff like that.

[Murph]

The problem is already narrowed down. The DRM BS is broken, which is a very narrow part of the code.

What is the "DRM BS"? I don't know about code and stuff like that.

Digital Rights Management bull s. It's the worthless code which has negative customer value, which interferes with the correct operation of the useful code.

This is highly unlikely to be anything to do with a "corrupted save", or similar. It's just broken stuff that is failing to properly identify paying customers. The best solution is to entirely remove the code in question.

[TheWraith]

Ah, yeah that would be something very difficult to have in a game designed to be modded. There has to be another way they can avoid piracy in their game while still allowing modding though. Other games have gone through the same trouble in the past, so I'm sure there's something that can be done without breaking the game. So there's nothing for us to do but wait until it's fixed. *sigh*

[rikor420]

The current (new 1.3) Steam version for Mac has a broken anti-piracy or demo thing which intrusively and repeatedly spams you demanding that you pay for a full version, forcing you out of the game and forcing a visit to the GIANTS store page in an external web browser. I do own a full license for the game, bought through Steam, and there's no license key or opportunity to enter a license key. There are many others complaining about this on the Steam forum.

This is making the game close to unplayable for me and needs extremely urgent attention. Apart from anything else, I find it extremely offensive to be falsely accused of piracy (I don't care what the actual wording is, the underlying meaning of the message is clear and defamatory).

Edit: Changed subject to include "PC" as well.

Ok here is my suggestion for you and everybody else, open up library on steam highlight the game that you purchased take a screenshot, then goto to your email grab the purchase reciept of the game take a screenshot "remove all personal information except your email address" if steam has records grab a screenyshot from that, now put up all screenshots to photo website, grab the links goto steam support page grab either there email from support and write the email to them stating what is going on and provide all the screenshots to them, this is showing proof of purchase, if this comes down to it and they still don't believe you on your purchase you might also take a screenshot of your bank card or credit card statement remove credit card information keep address and your name and remove all personal transactions that you accumlated since the purchase of the FS2017, that will also show proof of your purchase.

Best of luck.

next thing i would do is save the game, grab all the backup in the folder, move them over to a backup created folder, now uninstall everything, after that just grab the modhub.us mods only, do not download mods from upload.net or wierd other download names. just modhub.us within the game, but before that, see if you get the same message when you start up the game. if you do not have that issue about anti-piracy - then good, now drop your savegames back into the right folders, grab the mods from within the game couple at a time and test it out, until you get all the mods from the store in the game. NOW if that anti-piracy does pop up before the mods then i would grab a screenshot from the popup in the game by using the print screen and save it to your favoriate photo editor.

Ok that is my two cents, i had to go through that before, not in this issue but another issue with a different software company to provide receipt proof, this didn't happen with steam.

I helping you by experience, i am 46 yrs old man with 3 grown up boys that been through also and i had to provide screenshots in the past years.


One more thing, if Steam does not accept your email and screenshots that you have provided then i would forward that email with all those screenshots to giants support email.

hope this works.

Cheers.

[Murph]

One more thing, if Steam does not accept your email and screenshots that you have provided then i would forward that email with all those screenshots to giants support email.

There is absolutely no issue with Steam claiming that I don't have a license for the game. The game is correctly showing up in my Steam library and purchase history. There is not anything for Steam / Valve to fix here. The problem is entirely down to broken GIANTS code embedded in the current version of the game on Steam which fails to recognise that it's a properly licensed copy of the game.

[Sid1701d]

Guys, part of the problem maybe mods without hashtags and version numbers, Steam I think is notorious for causing problems with the game especially when it tries to update with mods installed never a good scenario. Some mods may change the version number of the game from current version for example I will use mine which is version 1.2.0, I know I update when I want not when a computer program tells me to. So if your game has mods, its supposed to update the version to 1.2.0.1.0 no mods, 1.2.0.0.1 mods, this causes the update script to say what the heck invalid version file, hacked version cancel update, but than it checks the hash marks and if they match ok fine mods detected some update scripts now disable mods before they update because mods are not official, but its best practice to remove mods before any update. Some poorly configured mods and scripts may reset the version file to 1.0.0.1.0, which will play havocs with the game itself.

The version information is only provided as a example of what happens and each company has its own way of updating version information for mods. In this example version 1.2.0 is the main release, 1.2.0.1.0 is no mods but DLC content, and version 1.2.0.0.1 is mods, if you have both DLC and mods your read them as 1.2.0.1.1. However each company is different and may have different ways of updating version information.

[rikor420]

One more thing, if Steam does not accept your email and screenshots that you have provided then i would forward that email with all those screenshots to giants support email.

The current (new 1.3) Steam version for Mac has a broken anti-piracy or demo thing which intrusively and repeatedly spams you demanding that you pay for a full version, forcing you out of the game and forcing a visit to the GIANTS store page in an external web browser. I do own a full license for the game, bought through Steam, and there's no license key or opportunity to enter a license key. There are many others complaining about this on the Steam forum.

This is making the game close to unplayable for me and needs extremely urgent attention. Apart from anything else, I find it extremely offensive to be falsely accused of piracy (I don't care what the actual wording is, the underlying meaning of the message is clear and defamatory).

There is absolutely no issue with Steam claiming that I don't have a license for the game. The game is correctly showing up in my Steam library and purchase history. There is not anything for Steam / Valve to fix here. The problem is entirely down to broken GIANTS code embedded in the current version of the game on Steam which fails to recognise that it's a properly licensed copy of the game.

Ok you wanted help and i provided it you can take it or leave it totally up to you, giants software sends steam embedded key game, so when you buy it you automatically download the digital and POW you got it and you can play no key inserts. So where i am going with this, talk to steam about this issue because it is Steam is sending these Anti piracy warnings to you and not giant. I would suggest talking to Steam about it first, because when you talk to Giant they will turn around and ask you if you talked to steam first i am trying to help you because it will happen. but since you know the answer, then i wasted my time and effort to help you out.

[Murph]

Ok you wanted help and i provided it you can take it or leave it totally up to you, giants software sends steam embedded key game, so when you buy it you automatically download the digital and POW you got it and you can play no key inserts. So where i am going with this, talk to steam about this issue because it is Steam is sending these Anti piracy warnings to you and not giant. I would suggest talking to Steam about it first, because when you talk to Giant they will turn around and ask you if you talked to steam first i am trying to help you because it will happen. but since you know the answer, then i wasted my time and effort to help you out.

No, the crappy code generating this is part of the game itself. It is faulty code written and controlled by GIANTS, inside the game, only GIANTS can fix it. FS17 version 1.2 works fine (but with plenty of general bugs), something GIANTS changed in 1.3 is spamming in-game messages and forcibly pushing people out of the game into an external web browser trying to extract real-world money via their website. Steam is not sending any anti-piracy messages, GIANTS are generating them inside the game itself. As far as Steam is concerned, the game is fully licensed and there is no problem.

The help I want is for GIANTS to fix their bloody game so it does not spam paying customers, making false demands for payment, in a way that makes version 1.3 unplayable.

[TheWraith]

So I contacted Giants directly to see if they can look into the issue, and here's their reply:

Hello (name deleted for security),

this message appears when the transaction couldn´t be completed.


Please read this article:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... VDM-7057&l

Best regards,
Christofer Zoltán
GIANTS Software Support Team

I've looked through both my recent transactions on Steam and my bank account, and both agree that the payment was validated and the transaction was completed successfully. I knew this wasn't the problem, as did all of us, but it was worth a second look. I have replied to them, telling them this and letting them know this problem only arose with the 1.3 update and rolling back to 1.2 temporarily solves the problem. As long as you stay with 1.2, the message doesn't appear so that is a temporary fix, though you will have to deal with the NON-game-breaking bugs like the silage bunker not being clean. There is a mod that fixes that already called "Silage Bunker Cleaner" on modhoster so it's not a big deal.

[Murph]

1.3.1 seems to have fixed this problem. It had nothing to do with Steam, and was not anything that Steam / Valve could have helped with. As I concluded above, it was bad code or a bad build from GIANTS, only something they could fix, nothing to do with individual customer transactions / licenses.

[TheWraith]

Yeah, 1.3.1 finally fixed the problem! I kinda knew Steam had nothing to do with it because I've had payments be declined for game purchases in the past, and when that happens the game won't even start. This wasn't the case here, it was all Giants' but I'm glad they fixed it. I noticed they're being very quiet about anything having to do with that anti-piracy stuff, they never mentioned in the changelogs that they were adding it, and they never mentioned in the 1.3.1 changelog that they did anything to fix it. Very curious.