Oh God you're gonna make me go dig up a link from a few months back
.
I'll have a scan but I can't guarantee I'll find it. I remember reading it though, because I have also been equally as skeptical and critical of this DRM malarky! Oh and besides, if you download the crack from torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay (which is hugely popular already and 100% confirmedly works, safety guaranteed) then the DRM system cannot count how many times you have installed and/or reinstalled. So that solves your problem altogether.
May I suggest Googling the error and seeing who else has encountered the same error dialogue whilst playing? I know quite a few people experienced crashes and error messages, online Forums and troubleshooting threads were buzzing with their complaints. Perhaps there's a known cause and fix that won't require you to go through the hassle of reinstalling the entire game.
Here are some confirmed things I just found (although not strictly relevant):
Maxis wrote:
# We (Maxis) authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first
time.
# We’ll re-authenticate when a player uses online features, downloads new
content or a patch for their game.
# The new system means you don’t have to play with the disc in your computer. And if you are like me, always losing discs, this will be a huge benefit.
# You’ll still be able to install and play on multiple computers.
It's EA that are insisting on this 3-installs SecuROM crap. Most of the community seem to be adopting a 'Support Maxis and buy the game, then download the crack and tell EA's SecuROM concept to fuck off' approach. I heartily agree with this approach; condoned and encouraged
. It seems to be working somehow, the producer's of BioShock dropped the SecuROM install limit from their game, hopefully EA have/will do as well.
Last edited by Uzique (2008-09-06 18:38:43)