IMPORTANT MiG-21bis StarForce PATCH - MARCH 2017

Thanks Sporg. Great description.

I hope people read It

Then just read these two posts:

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3097340&postcount=5

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3098365&postcount=138

 

The point is:

Magnitude needed to update the DRM protection, StarForce, in order to solve the problems people have had with it.

 

However, StarForce applies activation to the whole PC, not only the version you are working in.

That means, when you activate or deactivate in one version, you do it for all versions of DCS present on the PC.

Sadly that also means, that if Magnitude changes DRM in one version, it affects all versions.

 

When Magnitude want to update the DRM, they would like to send out updates for all versions in one go, to avoid the problems we see now.

However, they need to wait for ED to send out updates.

And ED only sends out updates for one version at a time.

Magnitude has no influence on this process.

 

So that is why we have the situation we have now:

Magnitude has to send out updates to the DRM one version at a time.

They have now sent out the update to the 1.5 Open Beta.

 

That means that the users have the following options:

 

1. Deactivate MiG-21, update 1.5 Open Beta, activate and use Mig-21 in this version only!
   (do not use MiG-21 in 1.5 release or 2.0 NTTR, deactivate it in Module Manager in both versions)
   
2. Otherwise: Do not update 1.5 Open Beta.
   Keep using MiG-21 in 1.5 release and in 2.0 NTTR in its unpatched state.
   

We will get a similar situation with updates to 1.5 release and 2.0 NTTR, which will also be updated one at a time.

 

So, until all three versions are updated, you will have to choose whether to

 

1. update DCS version by version, not using MiG-21 in the unpatched versions.
   
2. continue using unpatched MiG-21, blocking update patches to the other versions
   

I hope this clarifies it a bit.

 

IMO, Magnitude is trying to fix the problem, but it means we will have to live with a transition period until all three versions have been updated.

 

In the mean time I would recommend that both ED and Magnitude clarifies these issues better to the costumers, in release notes and also in the pdf document, so that people have a better chance of realizing what is going on.

What if people update without being aware of any of this? I now can't deactivate the MiG-21 because I've already installed the update to 1.5.

Do what the PDF says in Page 8.

Do what the PDF says in Page 8.

Thanks, that helped! The document layout is the issue - On page 1 - "It is important to make these steps BEFORE the next DCS patch is released/downloaded to your PC." The first few pages only discuss deactivating BEFORE the patch - it should clearly state ("see page 8 for users who have already installed the patch").

I use open beta and can join servers which are on stable version...

That will work, some of the time, because the Open Beta and Stable versions are often at the same version. The bottom line is that if the version numbers match you can join the server, if they don't, you can't.

This is why Im still on the "release" version and planning to stay there as long as possible. I might switch to 2.X when they ship Normandy, but that will depend on which servers are available on which version of DCS World. I've been harping on an on about this in the forums, but, really, 2.5 can't get here soon enough :)

Question: I will wan't to reinstall the Mig21 module, when this update hits "release" branch. Will I have to jump through hoops? I think the last time I flew the Mig21 was over a year ago, and I don't remember what I did exactly with DCS, but I think I completely uninstalled it when I took a break but did not deactivate any of the modules.

OK. Now I understand why only my openbeta version of the Mig 21 now works. However, the PDF was not clear that your other versions of the Mig 21 will no longer work until they are updated with the new patch. A simple sentence in the PDF concerning this would have been nice.

The first post stated:

If you patch 1.5.6 openBeta first after doing the procedure, it is not required again for 2.0.5 openAlpha update.

If there is a 2.0.5 openAlpha update and you update that first ((doing the procedure) before updating 1.5.6 openBeta), then you do not have to do it for 1.5.6 openBeta.

The same as in 1.5.6 stable release. We will do our best to keep you informed in time.

Rightly or wrongly, I took this to mean "once was enough."

I think the last time I flew the Mig21 was over a year ago, and I don't remember what I did exactly with DCS, but I think I completely uninstalled it when I took a break but did not deactivate any of the modules.

Since you having only Release version - which is very good from the point of maintenance - here is what would I do:

- I would try to install the MiG in release,

- once the DCS starts, I would instantly know if my previous activation is still OK,

- if it is OK, I would deactivate it (Module manager -> Installed modules -> MiG-21, then hit "DRM" and proceed).

- this would save me one activation.

- I would also disable the MiG in Module management, to avoid "Activation" dialog spamming.

- then I would clean the Leatherneck registry, and wait for the patch.

If my previous activation is not valid anymore, I would disable the MiG module, clean the registry and wait for the patch.

Once the MiG patch is in DCS Release, I would update DCS, then activate the MiG in Module management, activate StarForce and play.

Whole purpose of this patching is to spare you - the users - of 99.9% of possible StarForce troubles.

Transition is painful for all of us, but we had to do this at some point.

Hi guys!

I got the module working again by deleting the entries under leatherneck in regedit. But now I can't play it. If I choose a quick mission I just get to the f10 map. Its like the player aircraft does not spawn. Anyone having this issue?

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Hi guys!

 

I got the module working again by deleting the entries under leatherneck in regedit. But now I can't play it. If I choose a quick mission I just get to the f10 map. Its like the player aircraft does not spawn. Anyone having this issue?

You have unfortunately just lost an activation life. You need to re activate the module again.

(Im not reactivating my mig21 for a few more weeks.)

This wouldnt have been a problem if ED had of sent out a the warning in the changelog.

This wouldnt have been a problem if ED had of sent out a the warning in the changelog.

ED does not have anything to do with this - we should have mentioned it in the changelog, it's our fault.

We put the information wherever we could: this forum (EN and RU), Facebook (2 sites) and Twitter. Unfortunately, our site was under re-construction, we could not make it there... Time was very short...

Our responsibility.

I'm afraid I, too, am having this issue, which also may be of my own making. For me it also involves movement to a new PC, so I made the mistake of thinking I'd be fine. I sent in an e-mail with the log as instructed, but thought I'd post it here as well in case this gets noticed first.

Thank you guys, as well, for your support! The MiG-21bis is one of my favorite modules for this sim.

Since you having only Release version - which is very good from the point of maintenance - here is what would I do:

- I would try to install the MiG in release,

- once the DCS starts, I would instantly know if my previous activation is still OK,

- if it is OK, I would deactivate it (Module manager -> Installed modules -> MiG-21, then hit "DRM" and proceed).

- this would save me one activation.

- I would also disable the MiG in Module management, to avoid "Activation" dialog spamming.

- then I would clean the Leatherneck registry, and wait for the patch.

 

If my previous activation is not valid anymore, I would disable the MiG module, clean the registry and wait for the patch.

 

Once the MiG patch is in DCS Release, I would update DCS, then activate the MiG in Module management, activate StarForce and play.

 

 

Whole purpose of this patching is to spare you - the users - of 99.9% of possible StarForce troubles.

 

Transition is painful for all of us, but we had to do this at some point.

Thanks for the indepth reply! :thumbup:

I'm mightily confused now.

I had no idea this was going on and carried out the last update on the release version leaving me with corrupt gfx on the Mig-21, but a reinstall of the files fixed that. Activation was not asked for.

V2.0 Is also fine and at the latest version.

I just had also updated the Beta, to see what was new, but only just started getting Mig-21 activation problems after I did a repair action - nothing before that.

I can't reactivate OR deactivate it at all in the Beta, and don't want to delete the registry keys, since they appear to cover all installs not just the beta.

Can someone please explain what happens to my beta mig-21 now?

Will it suddenly start working again when the next update happens?

Do I have to completely remove it?

How come we don't seem to get these problems with any other module? and am I wrong in thinking that users should not be required to hack the registry because they want to use a product. Not to say that I am not able to do this, but many users may not be quite so used to doing that sort of thing just to fly in a flight sim.

So if I'm right I'ld better wait with patching anything until the next 2.0 patch comes out. Otherwise I would render my Mig-21 in 2.0 inoperative.

Exactly.

The same with release 1.5.6.

Until ALL DCS versions are updated the Key System will not be fixed.

For now ONLY the OPEN BETA is fixed and is safe to deactivate-activate the Mig-21 on it. But doing so you are not going to be able to use it on 2.0 and release until patched.

I'm mightily confused now.

 

I had no idea this was going on and carried out the last update on the release version leaving me with corrupt gfx on the Mig-21, but a reinstall of the files fixed that. Activation was not asked for.

V2.0 Is also fine and at the latest version.

 

I just had also updated the Beta, to see what was new, but only just started getting Mig-21 activation problems after I did a repair action - nothing before that.

 

I can't reactivate OR deactivate it at all in the Beta, and don't want to delete the registry keys, since they appear to cover all installs not just the beta.

 

Can someone please explain what happens to my beta mig-21 now?

Will it suddenly start working again when the next update happens?

Do I have to completely remove it?

 

How come we don't seem to get these problems with any other module? and am I wrong in thinking that users should not be required to hack the registry because they want to use a product. Not to say that I am not able to do this, but many users may not be quite so used to doing that sort of thing just to fly in a flight sim.

1) Using the new beta

You should be able to deactivate it from the 2.0 or the release, since it's still the old version. If you do that, and then activate from the beta, you won't be able to fly the MiG in the 2.0 nor in the release anymore, until they're patched too (pretty soon from what they said). It's probably the easiest in your case.

If that doesn't work, it's not very hard to delete those keys in the registry, then activate from the beta.

2) Not using the new beta

You also have the option of reverting the beta to the penultimate version, fly the MiG in both beta and alpha until the alpha patch comes out.

Or simply leave it as it is now, and ignore the beta until all versions are patched (don't forget to deactivate before updating though!).

If you don't want to see the activate pop-up, in either version, disable the MiG from the module manager, it won't be uninstalled so you don't lose anything.

Thanks RedGlyph... so whatever happens, it needs to be deactivated before the next patch.

That will make 6 reactivations for no other reason than this module has messed them up since I bought it, compared to zero problems with much older modules.

I can live with that, but I expect there will soon be a lot of confused and annoyed people who don't read the forum, and haven't got the message.

I can live with that, but I expect there will soon be a lot of confused and annoyed people who don't read the forum, and haven't got the message.

Well, that's the 23rd page of this thread ;)

Hello Today will be another patch U2. I noticed the change. means that the user prior to the update again to deactivate the module? Thanks.

Hello Today will be another patch U2. I noticed the change. means that the user prior to the update again to deactivate the module? Thanks.

Please check this for more info.

There are instructions in English and Russian languages.

Thank you LN for your support.

I have a question though, is the stable update released yet?

When i launch dcs i always get my first launch notification and i dont know if

the game will update by itself.

Thank you.

Activation failed

After today's patch for stable, beta and 2.0 Mig21 can not be activated in any of these as according to the error message my key is invalid.

Manually deactivated and tried to activate didn't help.

What can I do now?

Clear registry - Delete activation data. ...and maybe repair dcs, then activate module

Clear registry - Delete activation data. ...and maybe repair dcs, then activate module

Done already. No effect.