The Sims 4's anti-piracy systems take pixelation to the extreme

[Scorpus]

If you decided to grab a copy of EA's recently-released simulation game, The Sims 4, without paying for it, you might run in to a few issues playing it. Player Attack reports that some pirates have found themselves battling against the developer's clever anti-piracy system, which doesn't prevent you from playing the game, but instead tries to censor it.

Normally, as has been the case in all past versions of The Sims, when a Sim hops on the toilet or enters the shower, a small patch of pixelation appears to ensure you don't see any virtual genitals. This pixelation disappears when the Sim puts clothes on, and you can go on playing the game as normal.

However if The Sims 4 detects that you're a pirate, the pixelation won't go away. Instead it begins expanding, eventually occupying the entire screen, making it very difficult to play the game. The only solution is to restart the game and ensure you don't enter a toilet or shower.

Some pirates have taken to The Sims' official forum to complain about the issue, calling it a 'bug' with the game. EA, however, has no plans to address the issue, stating that any gamers who run into widespread pixelation should buy a legitimate copy of the game.

A select few people are also reporting that the issue is occurring with their legitimate copies of the game, but with EA not planning to change the system, they're probably out of luck.

Meanwhile, the latest cracked version of The Sims 4 appears to have resolved the issue with pixelation not disappearing. As the game was released just a few days ago, once again cracking teams have showed that most methods of DRM simply aren't very effective or long-lasting.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57970-the-sims-4s-anti-piracy-systems-take-pixelation-to-the-extreme.html

 

[Kibaruk]

Go crackers!

Although I don't approve hacking or cracking through the efforts of others I hate EA games with all my guts. Specially when they started their Origin platform.

 

[9Nails]

"...once again cracking teams have showed that most methods of DRM simply aren't very effective or long-lasting."

Isn't that always the case? And a select few legitimate copies are suffering this problem with no fix in the future? I hate to say it, but it seems as though they should have pirated the game too. When legitimate customers are treated as pirates, your unable to enjoy the game that you've purchased a license to, that's when DRM is going to far.

 

[TomSEA]

"...once again cracking teams have showed that most methods of DRM simply aren't very effective or long-lasting."

Isn't that always the case? And a select few legitimate copies are suffering this problem with no fix in the future? I hate to say it, but it seems as though they should have pirated the game too. When legitimate customers are treated as pirates, your unable to enjoy the game that you've purchased a license to, that's when DRM is going to far.

Bottom line, it's the stealing that drives the DRM. No stealing, no DRM. Blame the thieves, not the company trying to protect it's product from theft.

 

[RH00D]

Go crackers!

Although I don't approve hacking or cracking through the efforts of others I hate EA games with all my guts. Specially when they started their Origin platform.

Do you hate Valve too since they started with their Steam platform?

 

[RustyTech]

"If you decided to grab a copy of EA's..."

Not a problem for me as I'm NEVER using Origin

 

[SirGCal]

"If you decided to grab a copy of EA's..."

Not a problem for me as I'm NEVER using Origin

Ditto.

Plus, to those legit people having the same issue which I fully believe; It is an EA game. Don't expect them to ever give a crap, let alone fix it. They refuse to fix/acknowledge/address so many bugs in so many games...

 

[loading]

"...once again cracking teams have showed that most methods of DRM simply aren't very effective or long-lasting."

Isn't that always the case? And a select few legitimate copies are suffering this problem with no fix in the future? I hate to say it, but it seems as though they should have pirated the game too. When legitimate customers are treated as pirates, your unable to enjoy the game that you've purchased a license to, that's when DRM is going to far.

Bottom line, it's the stealing that drives the DRM. No stealing, no DRM. Blame the thieves, not the company trying to protect it's product from theft.

It's a perpetual cycle. People won't pirate if there isn't invasive DRM. Developers continue to use DRM to prevent piracy. The cycle continues ad infinitum.

In the end, they only piss off loyal customers such as the case here. And until EA (and others) get their head out of their asses with DRM "always-online single player" people will continue to pirate.

 

[Guest]

Bottom line, it's the stealing that drives the DRM. No stealing, no DRM. Blame the thieves, not the company trying to protect it's product from theft.

Gabe Newell thinks otherwise.

 

[Nobina]

Not a big problem since not many people are going to download their stupid game. Heard it's bad.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

This would be a funny article if it wasn't peppered with the 'EA' word.

 

[misor]

Some pirates have taken to The Sims' official forum to complain about the issue, calling it a 'bug' with the game. EA, however, has no plans to address the issue, stating that any gamers who run into widespread pixelation should buy a legitimate copy of the game.

lol. are the sims 4 pirates the same as the batman game pirates who complained in the official game forum a few years ago?

 

[Puiu]

After what they did to simcity, BF and so many other games (even the new Sims 4) there is only one thing I can say: **** EA!

 

[Kibaruk]

Do you hate Valve too since they started with their Steam platform?

Steam has been there for as long as I recall and I don't hate them, since they have great discounts and a huge library of games of multiple developers.

 

[Deanster]

This was easy to circumvent simply by renaming a file, nice try though Maxis or should I say EA.

 

[turismozilla]

[A select few people are also reporting that the issue is occurring with their legitimate copies of the game, but with EA not planning to change the system, they're probably out of luck.]

There's my motivation to not buy it. DRM just makes legitimacy the way to go.

 

[Adhmuz]

Do you hate Valve too since they started with their Steam platform?

Valve did it first, and right, and has been consistently improving their own product. EA released Origin way too late in the game and tries to force people to use it by making their games only available on Origin, a far inferior platform in many ways. A product I refuse to install due to how terrible it is, many people share this sentiment, and have since stopped playing EA games. However it's easier to blame piracy for all video game related shortcomings. It's become as over used as "My Dog ate my Homework" or "I was stuck in traffic" All developers are facing the same problems, why do some not complain about piracy nearly as much as EA seems to? Maybe it's due to an inferior platform and buggy, unfinished games that after release are left for dead, or just down right stink and people are tired of wasting their hard earned money on them.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm not a fan of Sims, but if I was, this news would act as a deterrent. I would fear my purchase would degrade at any time.

 

[RH00D]

Valve did it first, and right, and has been consistently improving their own product. EA released Origin way too late in the game and tries to force people to use it by making their games only available on Origin, a far inferior platform in many ways. A product I refuse to install due to how terrible it is, many people share this sentiment, and have since stopped playing EA games. However it's easier to blame piracy for all video game related shortcomings. It's become as over used as "My Dog ate my Homework" or "I was stuck in traffic" All developers are facing the same problems, why do some not complain about piracy nearly as much as EA seems to? Maybe it's due to an inferior platform and buggy, unfinished games that after release are left for dead, or just down right stink and people are tired of wasting their hard earned money on them.

Tell me again how Valve doesn't force you to use Steam to play Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, or any other game Valve has made? Also Steam has no refunds, something they are currently in a lawsuit over in Australia. Origin offers full refunds on games within 24 hours of first launch or within 7 days if the game has not been launched. Maybe if you'd actually used Origin for more than your initial instance you would know what it's actually like today and not how it was 3 years ago.

 

[Darkshadoe]

 

[Lurker101]

Meanwhile, the latest cracked version of The Sims 4 appears to have resolved the issue with pixelation not disappearing.

While legitimate customers who are experiencing this, can bend over and whistle Dixie because EA couldn't care less about them. After all, EA has their money already.
When will people learn. Never buy EA. It won't end well for you.

 

[Darth Shiv]

"...once again cracking teams have showed that most methods of DRM simply aren't very effective or long-lasting."

Isn't that always the case? And a select few legitimate copies are suffering this problem with no fix in the future? I hate to say it, but it seems as though they should have pirated the game too. When legitimate customers are treated as pirates, your unable to enjoy the game that you've purchased a license to, that's when DRM is going to far.

Bottom line, it's the stealing that drives the DRM. No stealing, no DRM. Blame the thieves, not the company trying to protect it's product from theft.

That's what you want to think. The effect is actually very different. The *ONLY* people who get hurt by DRM are the people who pay for the product. As we can see, the pirates have already fixed the issue in the pirated version of the game. So who exactly is being inconvenienced by the DRM?

 

[RH00D]

That's what you want to think. The effect is actually very different. The *ONLY* people who get hurt by DRM are the people who pay for the product. As we can see, the pirates have already fixed the issue in the pirated version of the game. So who exactly is being inconvenienced by the DRM?

His point was not whether or not DRM works. His point is that if people didn't steal games then there wouldn't be such ridiculous DRM schemes in the first place. And don't reply back with a semanticist "piracy isn't stealing because it's a copy not an original" crap. When you pirate a game you're obtaining a for-money product without paying, bottom line.

 

[Red87]

People like to crap all over Origin, but it actually is decent software and they do often do pretty decent deals, just like Steam. I'm not a fan of EA either as they do often have questionable business practices but I've really had no issues using Origin or getting support when I've needed to.

 

[Darth Shiv]

His point was not whether or not DRM works. His point is that if people didn't steal games then there wouldn't be such ridiculous DRM schemes in the first place. And don't reply back with a semanticist "piracy isn't stealing because it's a copy not an original" crap. When you pirate a game you're obtaining a for-money product without paying, bottom line.

Wasn't getting into the debate about copying vs stealing. All I'm saying is the DRM is ironically an impediment to *buying* a game. Why would I buy a game that is dependent on a draconian DRM measure that might lock me out of a game I friggin paid for??? That is ludicrous.