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phillryu · Jul 1, 2003, 05:01 PM

Anyone here up for making a fake disk image for frozen throne like they did for warcraft 3?

sideus · Jul 1, 2003, 05:51 PM

Wow, that didn't take long. How long was the download?

redJag · Jul 1, 2003, 08:18 PM

Actually the disk image made up for classic WarCraft III was like a megabyte or so (don't remember exactly). Very nice. So nice not to have to dig through my discs just to play a game.

Adam Betts · Jul 17, 2003, 10:26 PM

Here's the NoCD for both ROC and TFT:

Reign Of Chaos NoCD
500k

The Frozen Throne NoCD
3.5MB

icruise · Jul 18, 2003, 12:36 AM

Thanks!

theory · Jul 18, 2003, 06:25 AM

Just out of curiousty what is the principal behind
makeing the disk image.

Is it enough to have a disk that has the
same name and directory structure or is it
looking for certain files? I can't be bothered
downloading a 3.5Mb file to find out. It is
faster to just keep the CD in (I only play
TFT and I have a 56K modem

).

Adam Betts · Jul 18, 2003, 10:35 AM

Originally posted by theory:
Just out of curiousty what is the principal behind
makeing the disk image.

Is it enough to have a disk that has the
same name and directory structure or is it
looking for certain files? I can't be bothered
downloading a 3.5Mb file to find out. It is
faster to just keep the CD in (I only play
TFT and I have a 56K modem ).

It depends on the people behind it. Some games are looking for one file (sometime invisible file). Some just look at the cd's filename.

If you want to maximized your CD drive's life then it's recommended for you to use the disk image. Also, some people who are using laptop, leaving CD in the laptop will eat battery fast.

blizzard · Jul 18, 2003, 12:18 PM

The way the developers talk, most games don't even use the CD...it's just there as a form of anti-piracy (vastly unsuccessful, of course).

Big Mac · Jul 18, 2003, 12:46 PM

Anyone have one for Broodwar while we're at it? It's frustrating that the image made from Disc Copy doesn't work (although some report that it works for them).

11011001 · Jul 18, 2003, 07:30 PM

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
It depends on the people behind it. Some games are looking for one file (sometime invisible file). Some just look at the cd's filename.

If you want to maximized your CD drive's life then it's recommended for you to use the disk image. Also, some people who are using laptop, leaving CD in the laptop will eat battery fast.

Just a plain old ATA CD drive is $20, who cares? A burner is not that expensive either. I have yet to use a CD drive to the point where it has worn out.

But ya, having disk images of games is handy. I do it because I don't like having to get up, in the middle of the night, in a dark room, hunt around making a ton of noise for a CD, and then finding the tray for my tower under and behind my very messy desk.

Adam Betts · Jul 18, 2003, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by 11011001:
Just a plain old ATA CD drive is $20, who cares? A burner is not that expensive either. I have yet to use a CD drive to the point where it has worn out.

But ya, having disk images of games is handy. I do it because I don't like having to get up, in the middle of the night, in a dark room, hunt around making a ton of noise for a CD, and then finding the tray for my tower under and behind my very messy desk.

Ask any people who work in Customer Support and they'll tell you that high percent of cases are worned out CD drive.

Just trust me, it's that common.

phillryu · Jul 18, 2003, 10:44 PM

The Frozen Throne actually only looks for this support folder, but I couldn't get toast to image it successfully, meaning I had to do it with disk copy, meaning it copied some PC junk, bloating the image up 3 megs or so.

SciFrog · Jul 20, 2003, 11:12 PM

I still wonder why some games works with a 3md disk image, while others don't with the full disk image from Disk Copy...

As to legality/piracy, you could always do a copy of the original CD for 10c these days... then why bother even implement the CD "in" rule...

icruise · Jul 21, 2003, 02:11 AM

Originally posted by SciFrog:
As to legality/piracy, you could always do a copy of the original CD for 10c these days... then why bother even implement the CD "in" rule...

I don't understand this either. It seems like this does absolutely nothing to stop piracy and only inconveniences people who have actually paid for the game.

ginoledesma · Jul 21, 2003, 10:22 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
I don't understand this either. It seems like this does absolutely nothing to stop piracy and only inconveniences people who have actually paid for the game.

That holds some truth. Some PC game publishers use certain copy protection mechanisms such as SecuROM. I recall the Neverwinter Nights fiasco wherein some CD drives could not play the game because of the copy protection mechanism (even for legit discs). It came to the point where Bioware, the developer of the game, had to release a patch that overrode the copy protection mechanism.

mbotta · Jul 22, 2003, 08:35 AM

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
It depends on the people behind it. Some games are looking for one file (sometime invisible file). Some just look at the cd's filename.

If you want to maximized your CD drive's life then it's recommended for you to use the disk image. Also, some people who are using laptop, leaving CD in the laptop will eat battery fast.

So how do you figure out what the application is looking for?

Myself, I'm still walking around (I work on an iBook, hence the "walking around") with the disc for Dungeon Siege; it will not accept even the image of its entire disc.

Myth III must be looking for a file, as it will not accept an empty image, but an image of its CD works. Same thing holds for Diablo II and Warcraft III.

Civ III works with an empty image.

Cheers,

mbotta

Brad Oliver · Jul 22, 2003, 11:18 AM

Originally posted by blizzard:
The way the developers talk, most games don't even use the CD...it's just there as a form of anti-piracy (vastly unsuccessful, of course).

So you, as a moderator, let posts about how to circumvent anti-piracy measures thrive in the MacNN forums? Can I post serial numbers here too?

blizzard · Jul 22, 2003, 10:27 PM

I've always been a little fuzzy on how to treat these, because people crap all over me if I lock them since they're discussing 'legit ways' to 'play games they bought on the road'. I think it boils down to the fact that I can't prove that's not the case. Your concern is noted though...I'll post in the Mod forum to get a consensus on how to treat these posts.

icruise · Jul 23, 2003, 03:01 AM

The thing is, it really isn't a piracy issue. This isn't a case of someone trying to run a game without owning the original CD (all pirates would have to do is to burn the pirated disk image to a CD-R to get around this). It is, however, about people who legitimately own a game wanting a little more convenience and/or battery life (for portable owners). I don't see how the information here can possibly help anyone pirate anything.

DBvader · Jul 23, 2003, 04:48 AM

is there a Ut2K3 no cd patch?

macbain80 · Jul 24, 2003, 03:35 AM

If we're asking... does ANYONE know of a Baldur's Gate 2 noCD patch? The cd switching in that game is some of the worst I've ever seen... and unfortunately the "full install" doesn't actually work. It just fills up your hard drive... then asks you to keep swapping in the CD's. Tiresome to say the least.

Any help? Thanks!

theory · Jul 24, 2003, 07:09 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
The thing is, it really isn't a piracy issue. This isn't a case of someone trying to run a game without owning the original CD (all pirates would have to do is to burn the pirated disk image to a CD-R to get around this). It is, however, about people who legitimately own a game wanting a little more convenience and/or battery life (for portable owners). I don't see how the information here can possibly help anyone pirate anything.

Well really it does involve piracy. Why would
you burn a CD when all you need to do is
copy the game files and a crack. Then you
won't need to worry about any copy protection
mechanism. Yes?

icruise · Jul 24, 2003, 10:04 PM

I completely fail to understand what you mean.

a2daj · Jul 24, 2003, 10:42 PM

Originally posted by theory:
Well really it does involve piracy. Why would
you burn a CD when all you need to do is
copy the game files and a crack. Then you
won't need to worry about any copy protection
mechanism. Yes?

Using a cracked app is worse than using a disk image. Someone willing broke the EULA by cracking the app so it doesn't work as intended.

theory · Jul 25, 2003, 08:06 PM

What I mean is that if you make disk images
that let you play games with out the CD
you are a step closer to being able to play the
game illegally. Go borrow the CD from a friend
over the weekend install it get a disk image
or a crack and thats it you are done.