Running Games Without DVD in Drive

jannowretired

I have bought myself a new computer because the DVD drive in the old one failed, well sort of failed, the drawer got broken

Not very moneysaving I know, but what's money for but to spend.

My grandchildren play a few games that need the the DVD in the DVD drive, so is there any way to play these games without a DVD drive?

They are not getting near my new computer.

Nor are they getting a new DVD drive to break again.

The old computer has Windows 7 and I can read my new DVD drive over my network on my old computer to install any software if needed.

Mista_C

There are sites on the web that offer 'No-CD/DVD' patches but I'm not sure if posting links here would be against the rules.

It's a bit of a grey area in terms of piracy. While I wouldn't condone piracy I don't see the harm in modifying a game executable if a game has been obtained through legitimate means but in many cases it goes against the User Agreement of the game to modify the game code in such a way as the modifications employed usually bypass software security and can be used to run pirated versions of the games.

While I wouldn't offer any www links I would say that if you have a game, that isn't a copy, then there's a world of .com sites with the patches available, if you know where to look. To use most of them you would need to know which version of the game is installed, i.e. v1.0.0 or v1.0.1 etc. You can usually find ths within the game or by checking the properties of the game executable.

Figment

Isn't it as simple as creating a disk image on the hard drive and mounting it in a virtual drive, or do games discs have some sort of security bit that doesn't copy and which the games look for?

jannowretired

Isn't it as simple as creating a disk image on the hard drive and mounting it in a virtual drive, or do games discs have some sort of security bit that doesn't copy and which the games look for?

I wouldn't know, that is why I am posting on here.

Figment

I don't know either, which is why I posted it as a question rather than a solution.

googler

Get a used drive or drives from eBay and let them loose on that or those. Shouldn't be too expensive.

TakeThis

If you cannot stretch to a new drive; Alcohol 52

Watch out for the ToolBar.

jannowretired

If you cannot stretch to a new drive;

I can stretch to a new drive, they are just not getting one.

This isn't the first drive they have broken.

Nilrem

Figment wrote: »

Isn't it as simple as creating a disk image on the hard drive and mounting it in a virtual drive, or do games discs have some sort of security bit that doesn't copy and which the games look for?

A lot of games do have security that checks the layout of the disc in the drive (they deliberately have certain sectors of the disc "bad" or similar), and some flat out refuse to run if they detect any virtual drive software - I had a legitimate game that wouldn't play for my nephew and it took me a while to work out why, it was finding the Nero burning suite, and refusing to load because Nero had a virtual drive.

andy2004

use Alcohol 52% freeware to make copies of the dvd, aka images of the disc. then mount in the same program.
making sure to select automatic for the protection, also depends on how old these games are.
I've been doing it for years, since i played Age of Empires which my nephew had bought. without the cd couldnt play the game, so i learned how to CLONE the disc. good job i did as he scratched the original and couldnt play it again, so i gave him my copy. lol.
technically not illegal due to the fact he wasnt playing it when i was and i had uninstalled when he decided he wanted to play it again. and I switch to Empire Earth.

as some one else had stated with getting a cracked exe game so you dont need the game dvd in drive.
depending on game you can create the file yourself using tools freely available from the Site mentioned. You need a program to identify the protection. then download the unprotection software for that type.
example would be safedisc protected and unsafedisc to remove it. create a file exactly the same size but you then dont need the cd/dvd to play the game.

gonzo127

steam and rebuy the game might be an option if tis only a few games