Intel Alder Lake CPU conflicts with DRM software, making users unable to play games

However, the excitement was quickly replaced by disappointment. Alder Lake-S CPUs clashed with the digital rights management (DRM) software of many titles. This makes the user unable to play the game as usual.

Regarding this issue, Intel said that some DRM software will not be able to correctly recognize the new power-saving cores of Intel 12th Gen CPUs. Therefore, DRM will determine that they are a different system. and prevent the game using that DRM software from launching successfully. The game may crash while launching or playing, or will automatically shut down unexpectedly.

Intel says that it has updated the microcode of its Alder Lake CPUs and has also alerted DRM software developers to the issue. But it is possible that at the time of Alder Lake's launch, the DRM software had not yet updated their algorithms.

Below is a list of games affected by this issue, highlighted in bold are affected games on Windows 11 while the rest are affected games on Windows 10:

1. Anthem
2. Bravely Default 2
3. Fishing Sim World
4. Football Manager 2019
5. Football Manager Touch 2019
6. Football Manager 2020
7. Football Manager Touch 2020
8. Legend of Mana
9. Mortal Kombat 11
10. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 and 2
11. Warhammer I
12. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
13. Far Cry Primal
14. Fernbus Simulator
15. For Honor
16. Lost in Random
17. Madden 22
18. Maneater
19. Need for Speed ​​– Hot Pursuit Remastered
20. Sea of ​​Solitude
21. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
22. Tourist Bus Simulator
23. Maneater

Intel said it is working with Denuvo and other DRM software vendors to release a patch for this issue soon.

On the other hand, here are the games that are only affected on Windows 10 and have a temporary fix:

1. Ace Combat 7
2. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
3. Assassins Creed Origins
4. Code Vein
5. eFootball 2021
6. F1 2019
7. Far Cry New Dawn
8. FIFA 19
9. FIFA 20
10. Football Manager 2021
11. Football Manager Touch 2021
12. Ghost Recon Breakpoint
13. Ghost Recon Wildlands
14. Immortals Fenyx Rising
15. Just Cause 4
16. Life is Strange 2
17. Madden 21
18. Monopoly Plus
19. Need For Speed ​​Heat
20. Scott Pilgrim vs The World
21. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
22. Shinobi Striker
23. Soulcalibur VI
24. Starlink
25. Team Sonic Racing
26. Total War Saga - Three Kingdoms
27. Train Sim World
28. Train Sim World 2
29. Wolfenstein Youngblood

To fix the DRM problem on the games you see above, you can upgrade your computer to Windows 11 or use a workaround called Scroll Lock that Intel provides. Steps to perform Scroll Lock:

1. Turn on the machine and access the BIOS
2. Switch Legacy Game Compatibility Mode option in BIOS to On
3. Save BIOS and exit
4. Boot into the OS
5. Press the Scroll Lock button on the keyboard to On
6. Run the affected game
7. Press the Scroll Lock button to Off after the game finishes running

Good luck!

Kareem Winters

Update 06 November 2021