Software Defender always requires internet connection

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Thanks to Software Defender’s (SD) servers going down over the past few days, we’ve found out that it ALWAYS connects to its servers whenever it starts up. This means that it isn’t a “one time only” internet connection required. It is actually “EVERY TIME” internet connection is required. This is a big problem that many people had with V-Mate, which required you to be online for any product it was protecting.

I understand Peach Princess having to use an anti-pirate product to protect Princess Waltz (PW)— but if the product says “one time only online activation required” that should be the only time the product dials home. Otherwise, it is an “internet connection always required” condition. You’ve got customers who like to take their bishojo games with them on their laptops when they travel, and that is inconvenient at the minimum, and impossible at the extremes, so that’s one game they cannot play on the road. It is also bad or misleading information— if an online connection is required to start the protected product, customers need to know that. Go look in the “Bishoujo Games – Help!” forum. You’ve already had customers with problems due to it. (See: http://otakuism.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5626 for the actual thread).

Now, SD’s requirements wouldn’t have prevented me from buying PW. I trust Peach Princess (PP) will do whatever they can in the future to make sure PW will be a game I can install and enjoy in the futue, regardless of if SD is around or has gone out of business. Peach Princess proved that to me with V-Mate. As a loyal customer, I think Peach Princess needs to be much more careful in the information printed and claimed when they have to use such anti-piracy products in the future. “One time only internet connection required” means what it says… so that means no product should be making any more “calls home” after the initial licensing activation check.

I’m not out to make a huge stink— I’m aiming to alert PP that they should be correcting their information about SD for PW— and to keep that in mind for any future products they have to use SD to product.

Thanks for all the fun and interesting games, PP!

#2

:frowning: I hope this is a misconfiguration that can be patched out…

(For long and complex reasons, I don’t physically have my copy of PW to see how it all works. It was shipped to the US, I’m in the US sometimes and not others, it’ll get to me eventually. I’m in no rush, I have my shiny new Casual Romance Club that I haven’t started yet!)

#3

[This space intentionally left blank]

#4

It launches for me even without an internet connection, but it still has the freezing issue. But don’t worry Nandemonai. You’re not missing much.

#5

I’d rather have Bullet Butlers.

#6

Anytime Software Defender tries to connect to internet, my firewall asks me whether to allow it or not. I usually stop it, and I haven’t got any problem yet. From what I’ve seen, then, Software Defender acts exactly how PP told us.

#7

If you have an active Internet connection the software goes out and contacts the server. If you don’t have an active Internet connection, it gives up and just starts as normal.

You only need to active it once… but the program seems to make a routine check if it can. Honestly, Windows Automatic Update is more invasive (and I’ve got no real beef with that feature).

#8

So … wait. Did the game still start up when it couldn’t contact the servers? This is an important question, because it affects the ability to use the game after it’s activated even if their server has issues.

#9

The first time you start it, the program has to verify with the outside servers: after that it doesn’t need to anymore (unless you do a fresh reinstall).

The program continues to look for the outside servers if it can find them, but after the initial verification, you can have it start-up offline without Internet access.

#10

No. It would NOT start up when the servers were down. That was what made the problems. I experienced this, as well as start up times taking up to 20 minutes before SD connected (or gave up?) and was then allowed PW to start.

When they have enough bandwidth on their side, then dialing home isn’t an issue.

Next time (if there is), I’ll have to remember to disconnect the machine from the net and try again. Maybe SD is smart enough to skip calling home if it cannot find a connection when it normally can?

#11

Hmmm… sounds like a response problem. Your program started up, connected to the server, and got a “wait for verification” deal that never came… thus your game waited and waited, which resulted in it never starting. My iTunes does that whenever I connect from another country while on a trip (crazy DNS caching on my laptop).

I have my firewall block outgoing traffic that I don’t specifically specify, so I don’t get an issue like that in most cases. But yea… SD doesn’t hang on startup with an offline connection because it never gets a “wait” issue from the bogged or down server. It simply knows there’s no Internet and goes on as normal.

#12