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Check out Bohemia Interactive's watery FADE anti-piracy

by Griffin McElroy on Nov 9th 2011 11:00PM

We're so inspired by Bohemia Interactive's new implementation of its FADE anti-piracy software, we've decided to adopt it ourselves. See, FADE is designed to cause illegally downloaded versions of Bohemia's titles (starting with Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis back in 2001) to experience a rapid decline in performance. The latest game to feature the safeguard is Take On Helicopters, which gets all wiggly and wobbly as the game progresses, as seen in the screenshot above.

We're still figuring out how to get that safety protocol on our website, but we're pretty sure it's going to have to involve getting the pirates to spread Vaseline on their monitor. We'll have no way of enforcing that, of course: It'll be on the honor system, which should go pretty well.

Via: VG247
Source: Bohemia Interactive forums

Tags: anti-piracy, bohemia-interactive, operation-flashpoint, operation-flashpoint-cold-war-crisis, pc, take-on-helicopters

Reader Comments (28)

Man they should of had this for CoD4 lol

@(Unverified)

When I was young, we woulda killed to have games look that good. :(

Huh, most scene groups are capable of removing anti-piracy obstacles such as this.
Maybe this is one that actually works... Ubisoft would benefit from this.

@Special Agent Steve Maybe the pirate just ran the game without the crack the torrent came with (if any).

@Special Agent Steve

If they miss it the first time around they'll just release an updated crack that circumvents things like this.

Batman (Arkham Asylum) had a bunch of places where cracked copies of the game would basically be stopped from progressing. that didn't stop the scene groups from fixing their crack and just circumventing that as well.

@Draugdraugr
That's true. It would be nice though if there was a perfect DRM that didn't upset paying customers but still forced people to give money developers such as Bohemian Studios who are more dependent on game sales.

@Draugdraugr

I remember the Arkham Asylum one. All it did was entirely remove the ability to glide, and the tutorial message explaining it, if you had a cracked copy. So pirates couldn't progress at all, but they had no idea why.

Sure, these get patched out by pirates, but it's damn hilarious to see an obvious pirate bitching on the forums when his screen turns blurry. And it doesn't impact legitimate customers at all.

@Colin

Actually, some AA players did have issues with this method of DRM, while I'm sure it wasn't a lot, and I guess it's possible they were just SAYING they were legit customers, but it did effect some of their customers.

That being said I consider it more of an issue of shoddy implementation in this case then a bad DRM scheme. This method in itself I don't considered flawed.

What? I can't read that, my screen is too blurry.

That's interesting... so people who torrent just to "try it out" can get something out of it I suppose...

@Fugaku If you steal a game to try it out, you are very likely not to pay for it. You have the game, the full game, and it's on your computer. You have little to no reason to go back and pay for the real deal.

Hence, these anti-piracy tactics. I like it. :)

Ubisoft's vuvuzela anti-piracy system for the DS Micheal Jackson game is still better.

It would play the song like normal, but the game would lock you on the screen and nothing other than the background would render as a vevuzela sound loop played over everything.

Bohemia makes quality products, for example ARMA II which you never hear anyone mention. Just buy their damn games.

@Special Agent Steve
I recall reading this post about a Dev who's game had a similar type of DRM and it worked out the other way around.
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=42663

I think an anti-pirate protection that involves the game deteriorating or fubars the gameplay in some way works much better than forcing all gamers to a strict code of gaming.

Forcing legitimate gamers to only have gameplay while online white pirates and hackers laughing at them with their cracks hurts everyone. Let the pirates play the game but have it in a f'ed up condition that they are forced to purchase the game to play it.

Reminds me of GTA4 and the constant drunk-o-vision.

I ran into it a few times trying to mod my legal bought copy for that shiny graphical overhaul and to fix the driving mechanics.

Hopefully DRM like this works but doesn't completely inhibit modders.

You know what would have been awesome?

A video.

first, you have to make a game worth hacking...

just because the game isnt flying off the shelves, doesnt mean that everybody is hacking it.. lol

@(Unverified)

Yeah but its easier when talking to your investors how it's all piracy's fault and not your bungling of the project.

on a side note, I haven't played this game, a chopper sim that doesn't involve attack choppers ripping through things just doesn't appeal to me, personally.

I love how it could entirely brick the game, but instead it gradually makes it worse. It's brilliant, and that forum thread is awesome!

Yes Griffin, let us applaud stupid DRM practices that no pirate would ignore. Fact of life, publishers will NEVER beat pirates, it's a waste of effort to even try at this point. If they want to steal it, they are going to. Look at Assassin's Creed 2.

@Jennacide

You sound like a pirate...

@liquidsoap89

She's just stating facts. I think its a good point to make too, as there are plenty of times where DRM can be intrusive and ruin the experience for legit customers, and in turn also potentially waste money trying to implement DRM schemes that will ultimately fail. No one here is saying people can't protect their investments, but their are reasonable levels.

Personally I'd say on its face this looks pretty well implemented.

I prefer the garrys mod style. The one where you create an error message that only the pirated copies will see. Then pursue to ban/laugh at those who reach for the forums for support.

Bohemia's one is pretty cool, but the best anti-piracy strategy of all time? Earthbound.

Lol only one huge problem with this as with every other DRM. Pirates cracked it immediately and did not have to deal with it whatsoever.

Yes, very cute. However, pirates won't have an issue with this for very long, if they've been inconvenienced at all.

Breaking News

Check out Bohemia Interactive's watery FADE anti-piracy

Reader Comments (28)

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:13PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 1:54AM Cavall said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:18PM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:25PM nerdydesi1 said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:27PM Draugdraugr said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:38PM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:48PM Colin said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 12:44AM Draugdraugr said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:23PM IAmTheBabyJeezus said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:26PM Fugaku said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:46PM mguniverse said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:32PM TRONdll said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:35PM Ratfoot said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:35PM Nordoyle said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:36PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:51PM Lekko said

Posted: Nov 9th 2011 11:54PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 12:16AM Breakdown said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 12:28AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 1:01AM Draugdraugr said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 12:32AM Warlock234 said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 1:36AM Jennacide said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 1:46AM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 4:27AM Draugdraugr said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 1:43AM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 6:00AM Azurist said

Posted: Nov 10th 2011 12:11PM thenutman69321 said

Posted: Nov 11th 2011 9:22AM chokeabow said

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