Recently I'm unable to load Poser Pro 11 unless I have my internet connected. A prompt says that it cannot renew my license. What's up?

Did you update your Poser 11 through posersoftware.com when it changed hands from SmithMicro to Renderosity/Bondware?

@hborre I bought Poser Pro 11 AFTER Bondware bought Poser and downloaded 11.3 as my first version.

The "Phone-home" concept was introduced by SM when they released PP2014 GameDev and, later, integrated into Poser/Poser Pro 11 to discourage piracy. When Bondware purchased Poser from SM, they retained the feature. It appears that this feature will remain in Poser 12, so it will be necessary to have an internet connection for your system in order to validate your license with the Bondware servers.

@hborre Does this mean that in order to open Poser Pro 11 each time I must be connected to the internet?

Yep, that's what it means.

@hborre Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me. In my opinion, that sucks harder than the #1 pornstar.

I know. It really took everyone by surprise when it was introduced. SM did grant those individuals with questionable network problems a somewhat 'permanent' license that could be used off-line. But, apparently, now those licenses no longer work under the new ownership. I do remember seeing an alternative fix in the manual but I believe that has been removed with the recent updates.

You don't have to be connected to the internet EVERYTIME you start Poser. Once you have started Poser and it has checked the license, this is valid for 21 days, so in that time Poser will open normally if you are not connected. (Just tried this by disconnecting my machine from the net and confirmed you can open Poser with no net connection)

I've been having this issue recently too. It expects me to be connected to the internet to "renew" Poser Pro 11. The computer where I have Poser 11 installed stays offline so I guess I will be uninstalling Poser 11 and putting Poser Pro 2014 back on. This activation crap started years ago I think by Adobe, and has become a major nuisance to users who have already paid for the software. I guess I won't be upgrading again.

It's not just a nuisance. Phone home means we don't actually own (ie. control) Poser, or any of our Poser assets. Nor do we control all the endless hours we've invested in our Poser projects, with the exception of whatever has already been exported. This can be compared to free software, DAZ, which has none of these issues best I can tell (except that the software is clearly inferior).

Bondware has every right to protect their property, but they are doing so by making it impossible for us to protect our property. I'm guessing that in the end such a policy will be seen to be self defeating. Or Poser will finally die, and it will be settled that way.

arifzhafir posted at 2:14PM Mon, 23 November 2020 - #4400296

@hborre Does this mean that in order to open Poser Pro 11 each time I must be connected to the internet?

Oh boy. is it each time? That would not be good. Previously it was a 7 day window. If it is every time that makes it unreliable. I haven't tested this yet but I hope its still 7 days. If im in the middle of a project and I can't get to a place with wifi how would i get work done? There needs to be a little grace period because life happens.

Check with Admin. IIRC, the length of time may have been extended to 21-days.