playing kids games w/o cd's

[jarinehart]

Okay, I just sprung for a bright and shiny 20" iMac and while i was at the store my kids enjoyed some of the games there, so i bought those too (I'm a sucker). Anyway i would like to install the games and be able to play them without using the games cd. I figure there is a way to make a disc image of the original cd, but i don't know how to get the game software to point to the image instead of the actual cd.

If you have wee ones, then you know having them take the cd in and out to switch games isn't necessarily a safe practice for the computer or the actual CD. So if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

 

[mick4394]

Okay, I just sprung for a bright and shiny 20" iMac and while i was at the store my kids enjoyed some of the games there, so i bought those too (I'm a sucker). Anyway i would like to install the games and be able to play them without using the games cd. I figure there is a way to make a disc image of the original cd, but i don't know how to get the game software to point to the image instead of the actual cd.

If you have wee ones, then you know having them take the cd in and out to switch games isn't necessarily a safe practice for the computer or the actual CD. So if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

I'm not sure if this exists in the Mac world, but in the PC gaming world there are NOCD hacks that you can download that allow you to play games without the CD. Google whatever the game is with NOCD and Mac and see what pops up.

I wouldn't be optimistic, though. Mac gaming isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Okay, I just sprung for a bright and shiny 20" iMac and while i was at the store my kids enjoyed some of the games there, so i bought those too (I'm a sucker). Anyway i would like to install the games and be able to play them without using the games cd. I figure there is a way to make a disc image of the original cd, but i don't know how to get the game software to point to the image instead of the actual cd.

If you have wee ones, then you know having them take the cd in and out to switch games isn't necessarily a safe practice for the computer or the actual CD. So if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Try using Disk Utility to make an image of the disc, then mounting the image instead of inserting the disc. I've fooled one game into running without the disc by doing this.

 

[Markleshark]

I'm not sure if this exists in the Mac world, but in the PC gaming world there are NOCD hacks that you can download that allow you to play games without the CD. Google whatever the game is with NOCD and Mac and see what pops up.

I wouldn't be optimistic, though. Mac gaming isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

There are a few knocking about, so I've heard, so I couldn't tell you where, but they are real.

I would try making a disc image and mounting it though. Works 9 times out of 10 for me.

 

[Totty]

There are a few knocking about, so I've heard, so I couldn't tell you where, but they are real.

I would try making a disc image and mounting it though. Works 9 times out of 10 for me.

Agreed. However, when using Disk Utility to make the image, make sure that you make the image of the actual disc, not of the session on the disc. Further, it would probably be helpful if the image type was set to CD\DVD gold master.

 

[lamina]

Agreed. However, when using Disk Utility to make the image, make sure that you make the image of the actual disc, not of the session on the disc. Further, it would probably be helpful if the image type was set to CD\DVD gold master.

Precisely. That'll work.

I don't blame you for not wanting the kids at the original copies

 

[balamw]

I have used Disk Utility or a lower level utility like dd to make images of all my kids' edutainment games. As reported 90% of the time it works without NOCD crack or anything like that.

The problem I have not found a great solution to is mounting/unmounting the right images on demand.

B

 

[jarinehart]

I have used Disk Utility or a lower level utility like dd to make images of all my kids' edutainment games. As reported 90% of the time it works without NOCD crack or anything like that.

The problem I have not found a great solution to is mounting/unmounting the right images on demand.

B

And that is the problem that i can't figure out. I was hoping that someone would have a script or something that after the icon was selected it would mount the appropriate cd image and start the program just as if a cd was in the machine. I have never written an apple script and don't know if this is the first project i should try to take on.

 

[balamw]

And that is the problem that i can't figure out. I was hoping that someone would have a script or something that after the icon was selected it would mount the appropriate cd image and start the program just as if a cd was in the machine. I have never written an apple script and don't know if this is the first project i should try to take on.

I did find some Applescripts someone had written, but I found them harder to configure than my previous way of doing things in Windows with Alcohol120%

Let me see if I can find the link.

EDIT: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040905112951299

I may give it another try since my 3 year old is starting to want to play by himself without his older brother (5) helping set things up.

B

 

[dukebound85]

could you save the disc as a dmg and simply mount it via toast or something?

 

[acearchie]

could you save the disc as a dmg and simply mount it via toast or something?

I have tried this method alot of times with succcess, the thing that annoys me is my COD 2 disc is almost 4gb! Thats alot of hardrive space considering its doing nothing!

I wish someone made making NO cd cracks easy!

 

[balamw]

could you save the disc as a dmg and simply mount it via toast or something?

The "or something" is what we're doing with Disk Utility, since Macs are smart wnough to mount images out of the box.

Does Toast do anything intelligent with managing images?

B

 

[aj98]

Okay, I just sprung for a bright and shiny 20" iMac and while i was at the store my kids enjoyed some of the games there, so i bought those too (I'm a sucker). Anyway i would like to install the games and be able to play them without using the games cd. I figure there is a way to make a disc image of the original cd, but i don't know how to get the game software to point to the image instead of the actual cd.

If you have wee ones, then you know having them take the cd in and out to switch games isn't necessarily a safe practice for the computer or the actual CD. So if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Some programs will not work with images; they'll still want to touch the physical CD to ensure it is a valid, not pirate, copy.

That said, this is especially useful on a multi-CD game:

Create your disk images as needed.

Write an applescript to:

tell finder
open disk1 image
open disk 2 image
open application.
here, you can tell the script to pause
on exit,
dismount disk1 image
dismount disk 2 image

I don't recall the exact syntax, but you can tell the applescript program to record your actions. Perform the steps in order, and away you go

 

[xparaparafreakx]

Use toast to make the image and mount it. It always works for me.

 

[dukebound85]

The "or something" is what we're doing with Disk Utility, since Macs are smart wnough to mount images out of the box.

Does Toast do anything intelligent with managing images?

B

I know that sometimes I couldn't get it to work with disk utility but toast was able to. However, I do not know exactly why