Civ3:Conquests Copy Protection Issue

[Videssian]

fortunately, the cost of storage drops in half every year.. just bought a 160 GB to go with my other identical 160 GB (both Maxtor).. I'll be using the old one as a backup for the first one, and down the line in a year or two when I upgrade my system I'll probably use them in a RAID setup..

[Videssian]

Ok, this is ticking me off..

I got in my 160 GB and I installed windows on it. Transferred my files, installed Civ3:C. Doesn't work (same issue as previous). I still have that image of it that I created (and that works in my wife's HD). Installed Alcohol 120% and used it to emulate a CD. Same problem. Installed Daemon-tools, set it to emulate, same problem. Told it to emulate Safedisc (what Civ3:C seems to be using) and tried again. Still same problem.

I'm upset at this point. I've never had this kind of an issue with anything else I've bought. I know it's not the disk media itself, since it does work on my wife's computer. That doesn't really help ME though.

Any other suggestions?

[vmxa1]

Actually it use SecuRom 4.8.x. Use Alcohol120 with the option for SecuRom NEW(4.8) and max speed at the lowest settings.
It works fine for me on CivIII, PTW and C3C. Make sure you have one of the last two versions of Alc120, prior to that IIRC it was on the list.

[Videssian]

Thanks very much!

The image that I have previously created (that works on my wife's HD) now will work on mine if I set daemon-tools to use securom emulation. Now I have a way to run this! thanks!

(Now if only Atari/Firaxis would ship this thing without the copy protection so all this nonsense wouldn't be necessary, but I know that's not going to happen)..

[Knight_ospr]

Have you tested another cd-rom, because it might be the cd-rom that cause the problem, check the idé cable, test another cable. It seems like the cd-rom have problem reading the cd. or bad drivers to the cd-rom.

Good luck, and hope you be able to fix the problem soon!!

[MrWhereItsAt]

You should report this in the bug thread if you haven;t already, or email Breakaway (think that's the correct group to contact) and tell them everything. There are often problems like this with games, and many times they are fixed in patches.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Try Alcohol120. I use it on all my games. I mount any game CD in the virtual drive and they work fine. CivIII/PTW/C3C.
The only problem is that some protection scheme require a long copy process and you have to have the entire CD image on your HD. After 20-30 games, that is a lot of space, so get a large drive.

You must end up with a lot of drive letters. I'm up to "I" on one machine without any virtual drives.

[Panag]

Originally posted by bongo
Disk space is cheap. As civ is the only game I play, space is not an issue.

hi ,

space does matter in the comp world , even if it aint used or it shows like it aint used , take a look at defrag , the more space one has , the faster the comp , the speed is also a big deal in this , .......

have a nice day

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by SpencerH


You must end up with a lot of drive letters. I'm up to "I" on one machine without any virtual drives.

No, I use F only. You must make the image with Alc120. Then install the game from the virtual drive. After that you can mount it any time on that virtual drive. Newer games are not concerned with what drive they were install from, but older ones will not run, if they are mounted on a different one.
I only mount one game CD at a time. Since it takes just a couple of clicks to change images.

I use only one HD on this machine and one burner and one reader. So it is C/D/E and F for virtual one. I had a second HD on my previous machine, but never used it, so did not get one this time. I intended for it to be a mirror of my C drive, but I was too lazy to keep it up to date.

[Backpack]

My install didn't even care about being installed from the virtual. I used the CD at first, then switched to the virtual. (hehe didn't want to wait the extra hour to make a copy when I got home)

[vmxa1]

It may not be required for some games, but I have had many not work until I installed from the image. I just do it that way on all now. It is one of the items mention on their web site.

[Zero]

this thread isnt necessary. theres nocd patch for virtually every game. And no, I wont tell you where to get it (nor am i allowed to) but its so easy to search for it that its kinda pointless for me to do so.

[vmxa1]

Probably most threads are not necessary, but that is not the cirteria.
Videssian may have found it useful, so may others using Alchol120. Some may not know where to find nocd tools, yes I know.

[bongo]

Zero , are you referring to an official nocd patch or a hack? I would leave the hack alone. That's just asking for trouble. Or do you trust the worlds hackers to not install malware in such 'patch'


Edit:typo

[MrWhereItsAt]

A problem with no-cd hacks is that they can cause unspecified errors later on. I am certain that, for games I have applied no-cd cracks to, savegames tend to get corrupt far more often later on (at the most annoying time possible of course!), then if I live with having to insert the CD all the time.