Dragon Age Inqusition: Denuvo DRM apparently liable to destorying SSDs

The Lunatic

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Jun 3, 2010
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On the eve of the release of Dragon Age, some worrying information has come out about Denuvo.

Users looking at the read/write details for "Lords of the Fallen" a game that also uses Denuvo found that the DRM system was using "150000 copy/write iterations" in an hour. The user describes that as being "10000 times more than usual."

For those that don't know, SSDs have a limited number of Read/Write cycles, and as such, any program that uses a very high amount of these will lower the lifespan of this hardware, whilst usually this isn't too much of an issue with newer SSDs, older models have significantly short lifespans and as such, a program using this many writes will very quickly render the memory blocks of an SSD unusable.

This is particularly worrying, and I think I'll be installing the game on my hard drive myself, at least until the matter is resolved anyway.

At present, Bioware, nor Denuvo themselves have mentioned anything on the issue, however, it is quickly gaining conversation on various media websites.

Source: Here! [http://www.cheathappens.com/show_board2.asp?headID=124446&titleID=19120]

Update as of 22/11/2014: A lot of people reporting this is not the case. Some pretty believable evidence that none of this is taking place. Personally, I'm going to wait a little while long, but since the inception of this thread, it is seeming doubtful that this is the case.
 

Tacgnol9001

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Sep 8, 2014
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Link to the original source rather than a repost (in Russian):
http://gamemag.ru/news/drm-zashchita-dragon-ageinquisition-denuvo-antitamper-ubivaet-ssdhdd-101753

His before/after proof (in English):
http://i.imgur.com/V8wiLYR.png

Edit: The proof is 40 minutes of play.
 

akarnokd

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Mar 5, 2014
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This is concerning. I usually have 1-2 games on my SSD especially the slow loading types, but many games write to the c: temp directory regardless where they are installed. So the fear is that even if DAI is installed onto a HDD, this constant re-encrypting might still happen on the system drive (the SSD).
 

Jiggle Counter

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Sep 18, 2014
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Sounds like Minecraft.

You'd think they'd be more efficient in their coding and read and write to the ram only, and then flush the resulting data to the disk when the application is being shutdown.

Question, does Denuvo install to the game's folder? Or does it do one of those separate, "I'm gonna throw it into appdata or program files"

I usually install the OS to a mechanical HDD, considering how much writing is done, logging events, antivirus records, etc.

Then I'll direct all my steam and origin game locations towards an SSD for fast loading.
 

Czann

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Jan 22, 2014
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Will the dead brains at EA never learn? DRM is worthless. People will pirate your game in any system. Care only about the people who wants to buy your game.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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Sep 8, 2011
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Jiggle Counter said:
Sounds like Minecraft.

You'd think they'd be more efficient in their coding and read and write to the ram only, and then flush the resulting data to the disk when the application is being shutdown.

Question, does Denuvo install to the game's folder? Or does it do one of those separate, "I'm gonna throw it into appdata or program files"
It's in the .exe file most likely, which means that it should be installed where the game is. But this is just an educated guess. You asked a very good question.
Another educated guess is that this type of DRM, since it's from the same people that made SecuROM, installs a rootkit, which is usually placed on the same disc and partition as the OS. That would scare the shit out of me.
This DRM might be good, but it will be cracked eventually. That's just unavoidable. And yet again, legitimate customers have to pay. And this time it's their hardware that pays the price, not just their enjoyment of the game.

I wanted to buy this game when it is on a discount (because fuck EA and fuck AAA), but after this bit of news, there's no way that I'm letting any Denuvo game on my system. I did not pay almost $2000 for a PC just to let a corporation treat me like a criminal and destroy my stuff in the process.
I've been very happy lately with my decision not to buy AAA games on launch. I successfully avoided Watch Dogs, AC:U, Far Cry 4 and now DA:I. There's probably more but I can't remember.

MirenBainesUSMC said:
Mine is crashing like no tomorrow.
Dragon Age or Lords of The Fallen?
 

MirenBainesUSMC

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Aug 10, 2014
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Dragon Age - and my Rig isn't optimum level but it's close to the stated specs. I also got Far Cry 4 and was able to play it after download --- minus some frame rate drop issues.
 

NuclearKangaroo

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Feb 7, 2014
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"lets screw over our legitimate customers to prevent people who werent going to buy our game in the first place from buying it"

fucking EA jesus christ
 

veloper

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Jan 20, 2009
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Isn't this game on Origin? That's already DRM right there.

Why did EA add even more on top and what purpose could trashing the harddrive possibly have? The HD is not like a DVD that comes in the box and could be tested for the flawed tracks that only an original copy would have.
Fuck these guys.
 

Morgoth780

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Aug 6, 2014
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NuclearKangaroo said:
"lets screw over our legitimate customers to prevent people who werent going to buy our game in the first place from buying it"

fucking EA jesus christ
I don't get why publishers don't get this. More people are going to buy their games if they don't put DRM on them, especially DRM like this.

If this doesn't get changed, I don't know if I'll buy DA:I. And if I do I definitely won't be using the Origin copy since I don't my SSD destroyed.
 

BloatedGuppy

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Feb 3, 2010
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There's DRM, which is its own bugbear for people, but there's never been any actual evidence linking the DRM in question to destroying SSDs, other than one post off an RPG forum, about a different game (a terribly coded disaster of a game at that). FIFA also used that DRM, and by all accounts behaved fine on PCs. If the DRM in question was indeed ritually destroying hard drives, it would have been reported on by now by at least one reputable tech site.

So while I have no iron in the fire one way or the other whether or not someone wants to flip out over EA double-dipping on DRM, freaking out about the game ninja-killing your hard drive is probably just a shade away from hopelessly alarmist.
 

RandV80

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Oct 1, 2009
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First time I've heard of this Denuvo thing, they've really slipped under the radar this time as everyone's heard of SecuROM. And Wow, I can't believe it would put this crap on their own Origin platform. Isn't that enough 'DRM'?
 
Apr 5, 2008
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Another thing that user's of illegitimate copies of a thing don't have to put up with. Legitimate customers can buy a product and have their SSDs ruined while pirates can play without any such issues.

DRM at its finest: inconveniencing legitimate owners and doing nothing to prevent or deter piracy. Bravo!
 

Knight Captain Kerr

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May 27, 2011
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Interesting if true.

If it is true then it's another sad tale of DRM screwing over costumers, like it often does. If not then good, I don't want to see people in this situation. Hopefully if there are problems EA/Bioware sort it out quickly.
 

RavingSturm

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May 21, 2014
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I was going to buy DA yesterday when I saw the reddit sub on this. I'll just wait til more info is available.