Really hate CD copy protection today

Give me an alternative!

from JoeUser Forums

Spent yesterday playing Oblivion. Very impressive RPG.

But today I wanted to go back to playing one of my other favorite games.  My desk is a mess and I managed to find the CD and put it in. So I try running the game and I get a "Cannot locate the CD-ROM".

Ack. So I dig up the other CD for it and try that. Same thing. I've played the game a zillion times before, never had a problem.  My Dell has two CD drives (one DVD, one CD). So I tried putting both CDs in the drive, same thing.  Then I tried disabling one of the drives and trying both CDs in turn. Same thing.

I then uninstall the game, reinstall it. Installs fine.  But I can't run it. I get that damn message every time. So what's the issue? There's only two CDs for the game in question. I've tried both. They used to work fine. They've worked fine for months. The only thing I've done new is install Oblivion which I don't see how that could affect anything.

I try logging on as another user, same problem.  I try deleting every other process I can, same problem.  Either the CD somehow got damaged in some subtle way (but had no problem doing a full reinstall of the game) or something on my system has changed that I can't figure out.

Either way, it's incredibly frustrating to be wasting hours on a Sunday trying to figure out why I can't play the game when I know, all the while, that people who warezed it had no problem. 

I've googled and the only other people who had something similar that I could find are people who put the wrong CD in the drive (due to a misprint) but that's not an issue here since I've tried both and played the game successfully for months.

Give me activation or some other mechanism. I just want to play the game without having to mess with some stupid CD ROM, especially if the checking is flakey due to whatever reason (it's probably not even the game's fault, it's probably something that's changed on my system).  All I know is that I can't play the game.

It's exactly the type of reason why I hate CD copy protection though. The game's using 1.5 gigs of hard drive space and I can't play it because the "dongle" doesn't work.  Heck, sadly, I would prefer a real life dongle. Give me a USB dongle I have to use or something. I have a zillion USB ports, I'd happily sacrifice one. I just want to play the game without inconvenience.

99,058 views 36 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I've had that problem before. The only thing I could find to do was to either uninstall the offending new game, find out its protection and then never use either again, or get the crack for the game that no longer works. I'm sure you'd know where to get an exe that won't be baffled by Oblivion's changes to your cd drives.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Is it a SecureROM system? There were problems with FEAR that required a patch for some drives. What gamne is it?
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I haven't heard any reports of Oblivion doing anything to the way Windows deals with drives.  Seems like people would already be making noise if there was.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Rootkit.  Arrgggghhhh!
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And Oblivion does NOT use Star Force. just FYI.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
What game was it, just asking? I've had numerous problems with dvd games from EA, as well the dvd edition of the movies. I've said it before and I'll say it again, CP should move away from the cd and more thru the company. Similar to how Stardock registers the games thru SDC that way pirated copies can't get updates and such.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I here that this can be blamed on stardocks minor modification of drivers in order to more fit its own games, (or that somehow stardock should infact take responsiblity) anywho, I have heard that unistalling the stardock central system, then reinstalling the game may fix this issue, (I think, I forgot but it is a post somewhere in the forums here)
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I feel your pain! It happens all to often & seems to be becoming more & more common.

The number of times I've had to resort to dubious cracks & fixes to get legitimate retail games I've bought to run is quite ridiculous!

Once, quite a few years ago now, I had problems with Mechwarrior 4 refusing to run & feeling just a little bit masochistic I rang the Microsoft help line for assistance. After numerous phone calls over a two day period that totaled to just under three hours the game still wasn't running.
So I tried a nocd patch & what do you know, the game ran perfectly. I then took great delight in ringing M$ back & informing them.
The response was that it was great that my game was now running, but that they could not condone the use of such measures & wouldn't log it as a solution.

I've not bought another Microsoft game since & added a few other names to the list along the way.
I do miss stomping about in my mech though......
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oblivion doesnt use TF thank god. I bought the CE & the strat guide. GREAT GREAT GREAT game.

Been a great year so far CE Oblivion & CE GalCiv2 . WOOT
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
Like others here, I feel your pain and join you in cursing CD Copy protection. I've never been a fan of it, and wish that all forms of copy protection would just die-die-die. I pay for my software, and support developers and their right to get paid, but I really don't need the hassles involved in copy protections - be it inputing code words from a manual (as if I should really have to keep the manual handy all the time), or having to insert the stupid CD. I plead for all developers to stop calling me a pirate, and stop harrassing me after I've paid for theri products.

I can't say how many games along the way I've given up on completely, or refused to buy because of crappy copy protection, but the numbers are staggering. Meanwhile, I know from 'back channels' that most piracy has never really been slowed by copy protection. It may stop neighbors and co-workers from sharing software, but the warez kiddies find the products easily enough. It's just a sad fact of life that copy protection doesn't stop piracy and only harrasses the legitimate customers.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I assume you're referring to Civ 4, as I know that they misprinted which CD is which for it, and also because I've had the exact same issue with the CD not being recognized by the game when trying to start it up. The only solution I found was to download a no-CD crack, it makes it a lot easier just being able to turn on the game anytime I want to.
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
It may stop neighbors and co-workers from sharing software, but the warez kiddies find the products easily enough.


I don't think it really does that anymore either. Most people who game have some idea of what a crack is, and where they could look to find it. It would be interesting to see statistics for just how many are downloaded per game within a set period of its release. Does anyone know if one of the major sites has those sort of statistics?
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Something I find rather handy is GameJackal : it isn't a hack / crack, but it does allow you to play a lot of your games without having the CD / DVD in the drive. Seems it builds a profile of what the game looked for on the CD, and copies that to the hard drive, at which point you just load GameJackal and tell it to run the game's profile.

No swapping CDs out every time you want to switch games, with possibility of scratching them, no having to _find_ the CDs, no wear and tear on the CD drive. Costs about $20 to register it, but you can get a trial version of it to test for free.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I here that this can be blamed on stardocks minor modification of drivers in order to more fit its own games, (or that somehow stardock should infact take responsiblity) anywho, I have heard that unistalling the stardock central system, then reinstalling the game may fix this issue, (I think, I forgot but it is a post somewhere in the forums here)

Well you heard wrong.  Stardock Central is simply a download manager.

I got the game to work by installing it to a different computer. So something changed with my main home PC that prevents the game in question from recognizing that it has the correct CD in the drive.  It worked fine up until yesterday.

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

gamecopyworld.com is a pretty good source for no-CD .exes, although you will possibly not be able to install patches because there aren't always updated no-CDs available for every game.

Unfortunately searching for the game you need to fix is hard, because apparently they're black-listed by google (and they use google for their search function). So it doesn't work. That's really bullsh*t as far as I'm concerned, because gamecopyworld.com does NOT help pirates; pirates already get no-CD patches or cracks within the zips they get the game in. I know this.

Gamecopyworld only helps actual legitimate users, because when you buy a game in a store it doesn't have a crack on the CD to disable copy protection.. To reiterate, pirates do not need gamecopyworld or sites like it, sites that ONLY host fixed .exes and utilities and not the game files themselves. When you pirate a game 99.9% of the time you'll get a crack included in the zip, so that site would be pointless for a pirate.

Oh and also make sure you're using a decently secure browser and take basic precautions and such. Hell I've gotten malware and viruses off Alakazam and mmorpg.com, it's not like gamecopyworld is particularly dangerous.. but searching around for CD cracks and such, you have to be careful. Wouldn't be surprised if misguided anti-piracy companies are actually behind some of those dangers.

oh and I know how you feel. Morrowind stopped working for me when I got my new DVD drive, basically I can install it (and both expansions which I paid good money for!) but no matter what it lags insanely. I think it's to do with the CD protection. The lag of the CD check was supposedly fixed in a patch but I don't believe it was. Thank Akatosh that Oblivion is here now.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
You're exactly right. If you completely lost the use of your house when your key gets scratched, people would call it idiotic. Because people can absorb the cost of a new box of software, though, people overlook it.

People suffer slower games because they are tied to CDs that are no longer necessary. Companies are just too threatened by the idea of people not needing a CD. When copy protection causes more problems to the consumer than the product itself, it's time for the consumer to refuse to take part. We have to stop making it profitable for companies to do this kind of thing.
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
Agh. I was thinking about getting Oblivion today, but in this case I probably won't. Well, I'm pretty busy playing GalCiv2 anyway.

Here in germany, the music industry, eh, of couse I mean the politicians, are about to pass a law which makes copying music CDs for your own use legal only if it has no copy protection. So, ripping a CD with copy protection so I can put it on my ipod or removing some &%$&# Sony rootkit would be ilegal.
Also, 'pirating' a music CD will make you face tougher punishment than actually stealing it.
It gets more and more stupid everyday. The only good thing is that the law is, well, quite impossible to enforce. Otherwise we'd had to put half germany in jail. And anyone with a tiny bit of technical knowledge will be able to work around this shit anyway. But I really reached the point where I'm seriously boykotting all copy protected/DRM stuff, be it software or music.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well drm was never about Piracy. It's always been about control over wallets. In the future the Riaa will run the government and give itself free access to your bank accounts...

Oblivion only does simple cd checks if you have the dvd version. The Direct2Drive version doesn't really have any protection other than intial activation.

Brad what was the game? Do you know what copy protection it was using? StarForce and Securom games can have that issue. FEAR has that issue as it fails to initialize the disc.
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
I here that this can be blamed on stardocks minor modification of drivers in order to more fit its own games, (or that somehow stardock should infact take responsiblity) anywho, I have heard that unistalling the stardock central system, then reinstalling the game may fix this issue, (I think, I forgot but it is a post somewhere in the forums here)

Are you speaking about Stardock or Starforce?
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sigh - the dreaded copy-protection monster stikes again, lol...

The problem with PC software, is that it's not really a good fit for normal 'standard' copyright protection - since the games are installed to a writable media for use - unlike music or most console games,..

With console games and music - it's the CD/DVD you are buying, with the data/music on it - not the code/music itself - similar to a book - you buy the paper - but you don't 'own' the words written on it. Technically - computer software is exactly the same - except the data needs to be copied first for it to work - not only that - but it gets copied to fixed writable media... This 'copy' is still protected by copyright law - but because it's on writable media, they feel they need to have some extra 'protection', to stop it being copied, and it's also vulnerable to being affected by other factors aswell - and if you lose the disk that it needs, then you're in trouble - which is pointless - if 'technically' it dosen't need much effort to make it not need it.

The REALLY funny thing about all of this - is that regardless of how and why all this is done, for profit/control/anti-piracy etc. - there's a BETTER system to use - one which is, and has been used for computer software for as long as it's existed - it's called LISCENSING...

Now, I know that most software comes with 'End User Liscense Agreements' etc. but the fact is, in most places - (for some reason it's not the case in California? (poor them)) - there should be no reason why they are binding - (except for a few cases - mainly MMORPG's using credit cards etc.) - for one main reason... Liscenses are not owned by computers etc. - but PEOPLE. If you don't know WHO the liscensee is, then it isn't liscensed. Likewise - if you haven't personally agreed to (signed etc.) a liscense agreement, then I don't see how it can be binding...

The only problem with a liscensing system is the infrastructure needed to support it - but if this was done as a standard, on a national level - it probably wouldn't take that long to pay for itself...

The upsides for the industry, once such as system was in place, is that piracy could be dealt with very easily - since you'd be able to trace whose copy it is which has been 'pirated' - (and therefore know who to sue) - developing download systems etc. should be pretty easy too - since the only 'anti-piracy' system needed is a way of (deep) linking that copy with the person who's bought the liscense.. Also - there would be a standard EULA, which this time WOULD be legally binding - though some companies may add a few things - (for better or worse) - to the EULA - I could imagine a 'standard' EULA sticker or something, lol.

Of course - the upsides for the consumer, is simple - no Copy Protection/DRM etc. - since it would be illegal - you've bought a liscense to use the code itself - not the media it came on/is installed to - and, at least in this country - the liscense lasts for the lifetime of the liscensee, (unless otherwise agreed), so being able to make back-ups is not just a good idea - it should be mandatory...
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Draginol,

I have seen this type of thing a couple of times. What i find is that sometimes two different copy protection systems might be conflicting with each other.

I had to remove a CD-Rom and switch it with another one to fix something like this.

What really bothers me is how these Developers can add crap like this and hose your system.

I definitely agree with your copy protection perspectives and i honestly think that the copy protection is to blame.

I currently live in the Philippines where most game are pirated because the original ones are not available. Gal Civ2 is available out here, sadly pirated as well, and i am so happy that you have a version i could download.

I am also very happy with the fact that i am not stuck having to protect so delicate CD.

Also, many of my friends out here could easily have bought a pirated copy but the paid for their copy.

Why? Because they love the game and they support Stardock because of they way you avoided the very mess you talk about in your thread. Bottom line is people have noticed what you have done here and i HOPE that the industry is listening.
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top

Drag, do you have Sony's Musicmatch installed on the machine?
I had a version on the machine that destroyed my access to the cd drive even though I had uninstalled the program


Just a thought.
Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top

Drag, do you have Sony's Musicmatch installed on the machine?
I had a version on the machine that destroyed my access to the cd drive even though I had uninstalled the program

Yea, that is a known nasty!  Read the link: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6012173.html

Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top

I had to remove the cd rom drive and install another one.
I'm sure Sony had a fix somewhere but I did not want to deal with their crapware anymore.
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top
I just want to mention that I use GameJackal as well. It requires you to have the original CD to copy the profile, I'm not sure of the legality but I've never got a game illegally in my life (in fact I've just bought GalCiv2 after ages of trying to deny myself) and I find it hugely inconvenient swapping cds all the time, especially if like me you find yourself with a short attention span and changing over to different games. Gamejackal's not perfect and doesn't work all the time for every game but it's one of the best app's for gamers to have. I personally don't see an argument for cd protection against piracy, I've never been tempted to get a warez game even if it comes with no protection at all (I'm thinking of Darwinia at the moment which doesn't require cd to play and has no activation). Of course maybe that's going too far the other way but I still don't understand why a $30 game needs more protection than a $1000 application.