Workaround for hacked EXE and/or CD not found error after patch

[burbel]

Well, from reading some posts below, someone much smarter than me mentioned how to fix the "CD not found" error in Civ 3 after applying the 1.16f patch. It involved going into the registry and copying some settings from the old registry key into the new registry key.

In the process, you rename the CD_Path key (if I recall correctly), and put in the letter of your cdrom drive.

I tried a trick that used to work with Master of Orion II, namely, instead of putting G (or whatever your main CDrom drive letter is), instead put "C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III" or where you installed the game.

I did a full fresh install, complete, and the game worked fine. Patching the game gave me the CDRom errors. After making this change, I didn't get the CD error, and I assume that you could now play without the CDRom in the drive. This is a big bonus for me, as the laptop's CDRom drive is external, and a pain to use on trips.

Hope this helps someone out there!

[dexter4dxm]

uhhh, i thought that method solves the problem people get when they install Civ 3 from a secondary cd-rom drive, and then apply the patch, and then the game won't find the cd anymore because the patch set the default directory for the cd back to the primary cd-rom drive. in this case you can change the registry or do a fresh installation of Civ 3 and then apply the patch again, and it will look at the right drive.

[burbel]

Actually, the patch doesn't set any of the variables, unfortunately, but it then doesn't look at the old ones, either. A fresh installation and then re-applying the patch doesn't work again, in that situation.

The difference I did is rather than saying that the CD is located on drive G (I have 6 hard drives on this box, so G was the first letter available, and this is my only CDRom drive), I said that it was located in the directory where the game was installed.

I no longer have to insert the Civilization III CD to play the game. That was the point I was trying to make.

[dexter4dxm]

Re: Workaround for hacked EXE and/or CD not found error after patch

okay, now i understand what you are saying. you confused me a little by saying "In the process, you rename the CD_Path key (if I recall correctly), and put in the letter of your cdrom drive. "

anyways, i still don't see why this would work. i used to do the very same thing with master of orion 2, and yes it works nicely with that game, however that game had zero copy protection on it. civ 3 uses the new safedisc protection (in fact the patch uses the very latest version of safedisc, which is why there's no fixed exe yet). so how does this method get by the safedisc protection?

[burbel]

Hmm, it worked a bit, but now I'm having problems again. Ummm... Boy, don't I suddenly feel silly! I thought that this had worked before, I even played a game last night without the CD in the machine.

Nevermind, I guess...