The issue with “machine keys” (i.e. hardware profiles used as your auth key) is that if you change something - add a HDD, upgrade your GPU, etc - the key changes, and if the key generator went out of business, you’re screwed. If it’s a significant hardware change (upgrade CPU and RAM), then they hit you with a whole new license charge.
For every method to defeat piracy, there are 3 to defeat that. Give up, accept it as part of doing business, and trust that the people willing to pay for it will, and just unlock it with a serial. Do away with scheduled check ins like a parole officer. Do away with any requirement to ever connect to the internet to “verify” anything. Yes, it sucks that you can’t protect your property without causing paying customers a mountain of grief. Such is the world we live in.
It looks like maybe they took your suggestion to heart? I’m assuming the base BFD Player will include a couple kits and be free, but not sure about that.
I’m not certain about the swapping of internal HDD’s triggering a de-authorization though, assuming it’s not the boot drive with BFD3/LM on it, or a drive where BFD expansions are installed. I’ll have to remember to swap a scratch HDD and verify.
It has with Windows, in the past, as well as some other software that used hardware keys (been a few years, can’t recall which one it was). Obviously the system drive would cause it, but an internal non system drive shouldn’t.