Need information about best way to stop swapping discs?

[msi1337]

My gaming pc has many games on it right now, and I am constantly collecting more and more. Whats the best way to make each game run without the disc in the drive?

I have used no-cd patches and exe's in the past, but wondering if there is any easier way.

Examples of games I play are : Crysis, BioShock, NWN, NWN2, Jade Empire

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Maybe something like PowerISO that can mount the ISO as an optical drive. I haven't tried it for that yet, but it seems to be able to. It isn't free (I don't understand why everyone has to have free software now...), but it's a great program.

 

[msi1337]

I was thinking about doing disc images and mounting them, but it would take a serious amount of hard drive space up. I have 19 games and counting, and many are dvd-rom

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: msi1337
I was thinking about doing disc images and mounting them, but it would take a serious amount of hard drive space up. I have 19 games and counting, and many are dvd-rom

no-cd patches would be easier, unless you need to play online, then the ISO would be better.

 

[ForumMaster]

well yeah harddisk space is going to be a problem. but if you don't want to use no-cd patches (which is, frankly easiest) then use alcohol 120% to create a working ISO of the game and then mount it and as far as the game is concerned, it usually works. if not, a no cd patch is probablly you best option.

i really liked how epic games eventaully released a patch for ut2k4 that was basically a no-cd patch. you still had to have a legit serial to play online, but apart from that, nothing.

 

[skace]

Mini-images are usually the best idea. They are around 5MB each and they don't break the game executable the same way a no-cd patch does. However getting them to work can sometimes be a pain in and of itself.

A mini-image is simply a very small ISO that contains only enough information to trick the security into thinking you have the entire CD in the drive.

 

[duragezic]

Yeah mini images are the best way to go if available. Another nice thing about them is that they work through patches to the game, unlike a no CD .exe that is specific to each version. I'd go with mini images for as many games as possible, then use full ISOs or no CDs for the few games that don't have a mini image.

 

[mrblotto]

I've used Game Jackal pretty successfully, even with BF2142

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Yeah mini images are the best way to go if available. Another nice thing about them is that they work through patches to the game, unlike a no CD .exe that is specific to each version. I'd go with mini images for as many games as possible, then use full ISOs or no CDs for the few games that don't have a mini image.

Mini images are great. Also, Alcohol 52% is freeware now. Alcohol 52% is the same as Alcohol 120%, except you can't burn back images to physical media (which for modern copy protection schemes, the burned discs won't work anyway). For single player games like Bioshock, I'd suggest just using the cracked .exe file and be done with it. Same goes for Crysis, since there is not going to be further support past the v1.2 patch :roll:

Edit: This reminds me of the times at LAN parties, when I'd be the first into a Battlefield 2 match every time due to me mounting the .ISO from my hard drive (the map data loads from the disc).

 

[Chosonman]

How do you create a mini image?

 

[gorobei]

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: duragezic
Yeah mini images are the best way to go if available. Another nice thing about them is that they work through patches to the game, unlike a no CD .exe that is specific to each version. I'd go with mini images for as many games as possible, then use full ISOs or no CDs for the few games that don't have a mini image.

Mini images are great. Also, Alcohol 52% is freeware now. Alcohol 52% is the same as Alcohol 120%, except you can't burn back images to physical media (which for modern copy protection schemes, the burned discs won't work anyway). For single player games like Bioshock, I'd suggest just using the cracked .exe file and be done with it. Same goes for Crysis, since there is not going to be further support past the v1.2 patch :roll:

Edit: This reminds me of the times at LAN parties, when I'd be the first into a Battlefield 2 match every time due to me mounting the .ISO from my hard drive (the map data loads from the disc).

Alcohol 52% has adware. some sort of search bar or something.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: gorobei

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: duragezic
Yeah mini images are the best way to go if available. Another nice thing about them is that they work through patches to the game, unlike a no CD .exe that is specific to each version. I'd go with mini images for as many games as possible, then use full ISOs or no CDs for the few games that don't have a mini image.

Mini images are great. Also, Alcohol 52% is freeware now. Alcohol 52% is the same as Alcohol 120%, except you can't burn back images to physical media (which for modern copy protection schemes, the burned discs won't work anyway). For single player games like Bioshock, I'd suggest just using the cracked .exe file and be done with it. Same goes for Crysis, since there is not going to be further support past the v1.2 patch :roll:

Edit: This reminds me of the times at LAN parties, when I'd be the first into a Battlefield 2 match every time due to me mounting the .ISO from my hard drive (the map data loads from the disc).

Alcohol 52% has adware. some sort of search bar or something.

yes, but you can un-install it as soon as the install finishes. It is completely separate from the Alcohol 52% program.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
well yeah harddisk space is going to be a problem. but if you don't want to use no-cd patches (which is, frankly easiest) then use alcohol 120% to create a working ISO of the game and then mount it and as far as the game is concerned, it usually works.

I haven't seen this work in about 6 years. Battlefield 1942 came out in 2002, and that was the first game I played where an Alcohol image would not work. Since that time, none of my games have worked using an image.

1 - crack the game, or
2 - buy steam games (still has DRM, but no CD)

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
yes, but you can un-install it as soon as the install finishes. It is completely separate from the Alcohol 52% program.

No need to uninstall it if it is never installed. If one does not blindly click through the installation process, there is a checkbox that one can uncheck to prevent it from ever being installed.

Read more in the Alcohol 52% Free Edition Thread.

Alcohol 52% Free Edition also allows you to make the images (an advantage over Daemon Tools) and is very lean on system resources (when not ripping).

 

[derdrache]

I personally use daemon tools. 100 percent free and lightweight. You would still need software to make the iso's but daemon tools is free at least.

 

[manko]

Which methods/software cause the least trouble with installing Securom games, like Mass Effect, Bioshock and NWN2? I've had huge problems before just installing and running games normally with any kind of virtual drive software on my system.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: manko
Which methods/software cause the least trouble with installing Securom games, like Mass Effect, Bioshock and NWN2? I've had huge problems before just installing and running games normally with any kind of virtual drive software on my system.

Never had any issue with Alc 52% Free Edition being installed on my system at the same time as NWN2. You do need to keep Alcohol and the SPTD updated to prevent issues.

 

[manko]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Never had any issue with Alc 52% Free Edition being installed on my system at the same time as NWN2. You do need to keep Alcohol and the SPTD updated to prevent issues.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a try.

 

[postmortemIA]

buy 19 DVD-ROM drives

 

[duragezic]

Originally posted by: manko
Which methods/software cause the least trouble with installing Securom games, like Mass Effect, Bioshock and NWN2? I've had huge problems before just installing and running games normally with any kind of virtual drive software on my system.

Of those I only own Mass Effect but there was no problem with having Daemon Tools installed. And I haven't updated it in a long time. I'm not sure what other games I have that have Securom but I don't recall any problems with DT with any of my games. People tend to freak out over DRM.

 

[Eeezee]

Disc images do take a serious amount of hard drive space. It's worth it to me; if a disc ever breaks or gets lost, I have backups this way (not needing to insert the disc is an added bonus)

Have you tried various crack sites? There's nothing wrong with disabling the CD check, since you bought the game.

 

[Chosonman]

I tried making a backup of Grid and Gears of War using MagicISO and mount them using Daemon Tools but neither of them worked. Anyone have any ideas? They both run if I have the discs in and Daemon Tools running at the same time.

 

[manko]

Originally posted by: duragezic
People tend to freak out over DRM.

Well, I had a nightmare experience with NWN2. It never worked through legitimate means, despite trying all the tricks in the book, the support forums and weeks of official support tickets. I got it working once by uninstalling everything related to optical drive burning, mounting and utilities. Of course, after playing, then I had to re-install all my everyday utilities, which was a PITA (and which made it more trouble than it was worth to play). After future patches, it never worked again, no matter what I did and it was too late to return it.

I'm glad for all the people who have never had any trouble, but my personal experience leads me to be very wary of overzealous and buggy copy protection. As a paying customer, I don't expect to spend weeks of troubleshooting and re-configuring my system to end up with a useless, unplayable brick of a game disc.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Chosonman
I tried making a backup of Grid and Gears of War using MagicISO and mount them using Daemon Tools but neither of them worked. Anyone have any ideas? They both run if I have the discs in and Daemon Tools running at the same time.

Images made by programs like Alcohol try to make an exact 1:1 copy of the disc, whereas ISO only copies useful data. An ISO of a CD can be 300mb, but an MDF of that same CD can easily be 800mb.

 

[mrblotto]

Originally posted by: Chosonman
I tried making a backup of Grid and Gears of War using MagicISO and mount them using Daemon Tools but neither of them worked. Anyone have any ideas? They both run if I have the discs in and Daemon Tools running at the same time.

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