Announcement: Issues with intel 12th gen processors (DRM)

hello,

reported problem with spec: 12th Gen processors
20/Dec/2022

the new generation of intel processors uses something called efficiency cores (e-cores), which causes many games to randomly crash, this is a well-known issue, and many games including pes21 and subsequently, football life v1 are affected by this issue.

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Intel Official Statment:
"Certain third-party gaming Digital Rights Management (DRM) software may incorrectly recognize 12th Generation Intel Core Processors efficient-cores (E-cores) as another system. This prevents games implementing that DRM software from running successfully. Games may crash during launch or gameplay, or unexpectedly shut down."
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we are glad to announce that after a lot of research, football life's new exe will be able to run in the next update without issues with 12th gen or newer processors, no action is required from the user.

thanks to users who helped test the new exe on various system configurations.

below are some boring technical details and a list of other games affected


intel introduced a two separate core architecture design in the new generation of processors, it includes 8 normal performance cores (p-cores) and a new 8 efficiency cores (e-cores)

the e-cores are new and many software are not made or designed to use them, this will result in DRM (Digital Rights Management) mistakenly identifying the hybrid design on Intel's Alder Lake CPUs as two separate PCs whereas they are part of the same chip.

this will result in a random crash in software that isn't designed for e-cores.

this issue occurs on windows 11, no problems using (un-updated) windows 10 as it's also not made for e-cores and will treat them as normal cores.

Intel has published a workaround for this and trying to coordinate fixes for all games, but it might be too complicated for the average user, and no guarantee it will work or that the system has the required hardware for the proposed fix.

Intel's proposed workaround:*
1- Power-up system and enter system BIOS. (F2 or DEL)
2- Switch Legacy Game Compatibility Mode to ON (one-time only) in BIOS.
3- Save BIOS changes and exit.
4- Boot to OS.
5- Toggle Keyboard Scroll Lock key ON.
6- Launch affected game title.
7- Toggle Keyboard Scroll Lock key OFF after ending game title.
* as described by intel's official website

Our solution for this is to force the game to run on the first physical cores only, without user intervention, this will not utilize any e-cores the processor might have, and this will not affect the performance as the game doesn't use e-cores anyway.

the new exe included in the update will run with a specific affinity set automatically and will run without using the e-cores.

* This solution works on most 12th gen CPUs, however, it's not guaranteed to work on all 12th gen systems


other games that have DRM issues with 12th gen:
- Pro evolution soccer
- Football Manager
- Legend of Mana
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Far Cry Primal
- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered
- Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
- see the full list here


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