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Forza Horizon 3 is one the first games encrypted with Microsoft’s new DRM

Full story:
Last month, it was revealed that Windows 10 would get a more secure encrypted appx format. And it appears that the first games protected by this new encryption tech are already available on Windows Store as both Halo 5: Forge and Forza Horizon 3 use it.

But let’s take things from the beginning. Via this new secure encrypted appx format, when the user installs an application from the Windows Store, it will get encrypted on-the-fly using the Encrypting File System feature of Windows.

Once encrypted, these application files will not be accessible for modification even if full access permissions are granted.

This basically means that PC gamers won’t be able to mod the games at all. For example, modding Forza 6: APEX’s weather was really simple via XML files. This modification, however, won’t work in Forza Horizon 3 due to this new encryption tech.

The good news – at least for developers – is that via this new tech, developers are now protected against applications getting decompiled and against piracy.
In the other hand, a Reddit user found out the cause of the stuttering on PC version.
The reason of those stutters is the fact that the game uses EFS which consumes a lot of CPU.
Way to go to show your dedicated support for PC gaming, Microsoft. /shrug

Update: Maybe it's not related, maybe it is, time will tell. From a Turn10 Community Manager:
We are aware of in-game stuttering issues that have been reported by the community on certain configurations on PC. We have some performance improvements coming in the next update, but in the meantime if you're having problems we would recommend to try to allow the game to set the default video settings to see if it improves your experience for now.

To go to default settings, press Y on the video options screen then save.

Encrypt me if old.
 

mcrommert

Banned
Wow a reddit user said it was true...it must be so

Why then is there no stuttering on Halo 5 Forge?

Lets wait for some more reliable source to confirm this before we start the next witch hunt
 
However we know the game is having some sort of CPU utilization issues, it is not using all cores properly. People have been successful in eliminating the stutter via CPU core affinity and app priority changes so I dunno.
 

Chiggs

Member
Welp basically confirms the speculations in the PC performance thread if true.

I had to return the PC Ultimate Edition because of the surprisingly poor performance on my beefy gaming machine, along with constant crashes to the desktop.

This after doing a complete reinstall of Windows 10 (which shows you how much of a Forza nut I am).

Ended up going with the retail Ultimate Edition for $20.00 cheaper through Best Buy.
 
If true, would be hilarious concerning the DX12 push. We lowered your cpu use with DX12 and put it into our new UWA encryption!
 

cakely

Member
I'm sure the usual suspects will be here any minute to first deny this, and then to tell us what a great new feature appx DRM-encrypted files actually are.

I mean, really, who actually needs to be able to read the files installed on their own system? Silly PC owners, just leave all that worry to Microsoft.
 

Bsigg12

Member
I'm sure the usual suspects will be here any minute to first deny this, and then to tell us what a great new feature appx DRM-encrypted files actually are.

I mean, really, who actually needs to be able to read the files installed on their own system? Silly PC owners, just leave all that worry to Microsoft.

I got my pen and paper ready!
 

GHG

Gold Member
So the game has to de-encrypt itself on the fly?

Who really thought this was a good idea?

Its a shame because the xbox one version is stellar but from what I've read so far this doesn't seem to be worth the hassle to get windows 10 on my gaming PC just to see how shit it runs.
 
I think what a lot of PC gamers need to understand is at the end of the day, piracy prevention is more important than you being able to mod your games. I think people need to stop with the mentality that just because PC is an open platform doesn't mean the software has to be.
 

Hyun Sai

Member
I don't understand the "on the fly" segment. It sure doesn't mean there is always some heavy on going DRM process when we play right ?
 

Piku_Ringo

Banned
I'm sure the usual suspects will be here any minute to first deny this, and then to tell us what a great new feature appx DRM-encrypted files actually are.

I mean, really, who actually needs to be able to read the files installed on their own system? Silly PC owners, just leave all that worry to Microsoft.

Give people more credit tha--

Wow a reddit user said it was true...it must be so

Why then is there no stuttering on Halo 5 Forge?

Lets wait for some more reliable source to confirm this before we start the next witch hunt

sWpDo0O.jpg
 

Electret

Member
Wow a reddit user said it was true...it must be so

Why then is there no stuttering on Halo 5 Forge?

Lets wait for some more reliable source to confirm this before we start the next witch hunt

Well, one game is an open world game constantly streaming assets. The other is not.

I've no input on whether encryption is the cause for performance issues, but it's pretty obvious how different the situations between Forge and FH3 are.
 
Since I don't plan on really getting anything outta the MS store, besides their console counterpart exclusives...not sure if I care all that much.

However, is this really necessary for games from their store? Seems like a waste of time and resources. Also, if this is the reason for performance issues...they can kiss w/e interest from a wider audience they had good-bye possibly. MS big wig suits always seem to think they know whats best.
 

GHG

Gold Member
I don't understand the "on the fly" segment. It sure doesn't mean there is always some heavy on going DRM process when we play right ?


Yes, basically all of the game files are encrypted. While the game is running your computer needs to de-encrypt any file(s) the game needs to access at any particular time. It puts additional strain on the CPU.
 

rrs

Member
FH3 also seemed to have other issues that might play into the map decryption causing quite some lag. But, aren't most AAA games made in a way to keep out unintended modding in one form or another? System encryption seems to be the latest trick up publisher sleeves for such tasks
I don't understand the "on the fly" segment. It sure doesn't mean there is always some heavy on going DRM process when we play right ?
game wants map17.map, EFS handles decrypting said file then gives the game map17.map.
 

cakely

Member
To be perfectly clear, I have no idea if appx is causing performance issues in FH3. I would imagine that it wouldn't be. The code is decrypted from disk, loaded into memory, and run, correct? You would think that would only affect initial loading times.

What I am against is the idea of walled garden apps, on my own PC, encrypted from me, the user. It's sad to see two AAA appx games pop up so quickly.
 

Xyber

Member
To be perfectly clear, I have no idea if appx is causing performance issues in FH3. I would imagine that it wouldn't be. The code is decrypted from disk, loaded into memory, and run, correct? You would think that would only affect initial loading times.

What I am against is the idea of walled garden apps, on my own PC, encrypted from me, the user. It's sad to see two AAA appx games pop up so quickly.


Not in an open world gane where it constantly need to stream in more stuff. It can't keep that entire map in memory.

Wow a reddit user said it was true...it must be so

Why then is there no stuttering on Halo 5 Forge?

Lets wait for some more reliable source to confirm this before we start the next witch hunt

I'm not saying it is the encryption fault, but unlocking the FPS in Halo didn't matter much at all in the end because on my i7 4770k @4.4ghz and GTX 1080 the game still could barely run above 70fps in multiplayer games. And seeing how that game looks, something is definitely off there.
 
Unless this encryption is forced upon devs, what's the issue? A developer should be able to encrypt their files at will, and if they want to they can do just as easily on win32 as well.


Give people more credit tha--



sWpDo0O.jpg

He's not defending anything, unless saying that we should wait for more hard data until we blame this for performance issues is defending it.
 
To be perfectly clear, I have no idea if appx is causing performance issues in FH3. I would imagine that it wouldn't be. The code is decrypted from disk, loaded into memory, and run, correct? You would think that would only affect initial loading times.

What I am against is the idea of walled garden apps, on my own PC, encrypted from me, the user. It's sad to see two AAA appx games pop up so quickly.

Walled gardens are not all bad. For instance, the SFV rootkit debacle would never happened, and shows that having a store front with a low level access certificate can be potentially bad when that store front does not test/enforce some policies on the developers, and is capable of pushing updates to its users without any further user action other than installing the game.

You don't like walled gardens and that's fine. But that doesn't mean there are no value in them or that that aren't any downsides to having a complete open system. Though I think that the perfect solution would be a middle ground where the user has the final say.
 
If that's the case then whats the point of this system considering its not doing what it was intended to do?

Piracy?

I guess it's a good thing I got that Bone S from the Target deal. If it's awful on PC I'll just play it on the Bone instead.

It's not awful. It's perfectly playable without stuttering at 30fps. The problem lies when you're playing at 60fps.

Alright, maybe it's 'awful' for PC standards. But you'll still get 30fps on Xbox One version anyway.
 
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