SmarteSECURE strikes again!
| Submitted by WyrdForge on Sun, 2022-04-10 14:01 | ||
I recently got hit twice with this problem on Win10, original DS & LOA unmodified in any way, OEM discs. I get the message "SmarteSECURE has trapped a windows resource error. Please re-run the application." Found one entry in this forum about this, with various suggestions, none of which worked (but have yet to try last one). This started after crashing in LOA Utraean Peninsula solo (with no save!) where the map suddenly became a very tiny set of nodes (like an unfinished map) and then my system froze and rebooted. From then on, I got that message. I was still able to run LOA with the Administrator account. I don't recall where on the map I was and what actions immediately preceded the map shrinkage/crash. I "fixed" it this first time by uninstalling and re-installing both DS and LOA, and creating a new standard user (my regular user account, with full Admin still did not work [to this day]). This worked well enough to progress a single character to level 44-ish (dying several times -- but gaining the Sickle of Cicatrix!). I'm aiming to progress a character all the way to Elite. But then, yesterday it happened again in Redwood Gap (by the Mana Shrine). I knew as soon as I saw the map become disconnected. Sure enough, now this new user gets the same message. I would like to do a thorough uninstall, wiping anything from the registry, but I'm concerned I'll lose my high-level character (I know the def is in My Documents, but maybe something in registry is also required. Dunno) My system is quite old, 32-bit going on 14 years, so maybe that partly explains it. Any ideas, suggestions? It's disappointing to spend all this time on a character and have it go to waste. Thanks! |
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These errors sound creepy.
But the character should be safe. Do you have another Windows computer? Maybe an old laptop? You could install DS there & check if your character loads properly. Then you could wipe around on your main system as much as you want.
Try this.
Copy anything to do with DS and LOA out of the Documents folder and into a folder on your desktop, re-install the games but do not install them into the Programs Files folder or the Programs Files (x86) folder, they're known as Win 10 protected system folders and most problems can be avoided by not installing anything into those two folders.
What is SmarteSECURE copy protection.
This issue may occur if the game that you are starting has the SmarteSECURE copy protection schema built in to the CD-ROM. The game uses SmartSECURE copy protection to read information off of the disc. (I'm sure this is what is causing your error)
Install the games but before you do make sure you run them with administrator privileges, open the CD\DVD and navigate to the setup exe "RIGHT CLICK" it and select "Run as Administrator", make sure you also install the Directx files as the games need them and Win 10 doesn't have them.
Get the games latest patches, they should be available on this site.
If that doesn't work you'll need to get the DS and LOA cracked exe files which doesn't need the disks to always be inserted to play the game, make sure you get the correct one's to match up with the latest patches, I'm not going to give a link to those files as I'm not officially supporting this but I use them on my Win10 pro x64 machine and I have never had a problem with them.
Last thing to do is run the games, if they both work then exit the game and copy the new DS and LOA folders into a new folder somewhere as a safe backup, copy your old saves back into the Documents folder and overwrite your new DS and LOA folders and if you've done everything right your old games should work without any errors.
If this works you can send me millions of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for all my hard work.
Thank you for the suggestions. My x64 Win10 Pro machine has DS/DS2 with Legendary mod installed, so I believe that rules it out for running stock DS/DS2. Unless I dual-boot (like I need more headaches!)
On this latest crash, I was able to re-instate the character without issues (for that new local user I created), but my usual personal account (with Admin privs) still fails since the first crash, in two different ways. If I launch LOA (as non-Admin) it hangs after showing the DS splash screen (with the dots at the lower left) and if I launch as Admin it fails with "SmarteSECURE has trapped a windows resource error" or I get an even more bizarre "Fatal exception occurred (can this object be used in this manner?)". I think that first crash knackered my user profile (my Quick Launch bar was missing, amongst other things -- no big deal on their own, but tell-tale signs...)
Anyway, I had another thought: I've been re-installing using discs from a ISO image I got a long time ago (which has worked perfectly on 4 machines for the last 10+ years). Instead, why don't I install from my legit genuine OEM discs? Well, nope, same fails.
So I'll hunt down a no-CD crack and see how that goes. I found one, but it seems... small (6KB), just a launcher that will fires off the actual download, I suppose. Still, makes me uneasy.
That's all I can do for now, if you have any further problems write them in this thread.