Copying CD

[Helle]

I have a question.

Can I take a copy of my original game CD and play with the copy?

I want to do this because i have children with no respect for CD's and I dont want my CD to get ruined. I dont want to cheat i just want to make sure my kids dont ruin my CD. Its too pressious.

[MarkDuffy]

Try it & report back!

[Helle]

I did and it asked for the original cd.

[Amenirdis]

Edit: sorry again for posting it.

[Manni]

Amenirdis is right.
There are programs available to generate VIRTUAL-CD-drives.
I have never used it myself yet but some swear on them.

[Helle]

Thanks guys, but i dont want to start installing a lot or learning a lot new. Its not that importent. I was just trying to easily save the money for a new game if they ruin it. Not worth a lot of work to save a few $.

[Vizier]

Thanks guys, but i dont want to start installing a lot or learning a lot new. Its not that importent. I was just trying to easily save the money for a new game if they ruin it. Not worth a lot of work to save a few $.

I actually bought two copies of CotN. Let me tell you a sad story. When Pharaoh came out, I bought a copy. A few months later my CD drive went kaput. I replaced the drive and threw the old one away ... with my Pharaoh cd still in it :mad:
So I had to go buy the game again..

[Helle]

This is why i want a copy for safe keeping. I spend 8 month looking for Cleopatra and im afraid this game gets sold out and then my game CD get ruined.

But to buy 2 copies now is a bit much.......I think :D

[Keith]

The use of these kinds of programs shouldn't be mentioned here since they bypass the copy protection, especially on the official forums.

[Helle]

The use of these kinds of programs shouldn't be mentioned here since they bypass the copy protection, especially on the official forums.


Witch is why i turned them down. I am not interested in copying the CD for other use than protecting my game.
I love this game and i would really cry if i couldnt play it because my CD is broken and the game is sold out.

[Manni]

The use of these kinds of programs shouldn't be mentioned here since they bypass the copy protection, especially on the official forums.

Sorry, but that is not quite true Keith......

By law it is forbidden to make a copy of the CD (in some countries, Germany too).
And so it says on most packets.

There is no word on ANY game-packet that says that the customers is NOT allowed to install the CD on a virtual-drive of his pc.
Virtual-drive-programms are completely legal.

Installing a game on a virtual-drive DOES NOT MEAN that it is copied. Neither can one "make" a second CD with the contents of the virtual-drive.
It just saves you to insert the CD every time when playing.

Using an installed virtual-drive is allowed everywhere and the software-programms are free to buy and also come along with nearly every burn-programm nowadays, like with Nero.

[tobing]

I would not be so sure to claim that virtual CD software is legal - or so is the use when it should emulate copy protected CDs. The point is, if the virtual CD software CAN fake the CD, that would include copy protection, so the software has to break copy protection, which is not legal. You COULD then burn the data the virtual CD software is using on another CD or DVD, so that would be some kind of copy really.

[MarkDuffy]

You all don't EVEN wanna know how many copies of the original Sierra games I have.

Some don't even have the plastic removed... :D

When the greatest hitz combo came out, I went absolutely CRAZY!

I even began giving them for presents. Some said they didn't like the games. So, they gave them back to me the following Christimas! :D

[Keith]

It's an open secret that most of these programs are being used to pirate software. A few people may not, but I'm sure they are in the minority.

Let's put it this way...it's not good form to be talking about programs to get around the copy protection on Children of the Nile here on their own forum. It's like a slap in their face.

[MarkDuffy]

Pirates suck, Keith! They are THIEVES!

I have no problem with people doing a SIMPLE copy for their own use from an original that they bought. If it works, then the manufacturers should have known, or they made it possible for just that reason.

If you install other software to copy, then THAT is immoral.

My 2 cents

[Amenirdis]

Whoa, I'd never have posted about that program if I thought it could be used for pirating the originals. I apologize to TM for bringing it up. I hate pirates, too. And I own two original sets of CotN (the one sent by sps arrived rather crushed so I bought a second one).
A question though: my dvd-drive is quite old and some disks spin awfully even after opening the tray (like, after finishing a game). Would reducing the reading speed reduce the spinning as well and would that help my cd's and dvd's to 'live' longer? Or might a new drive be necessary?

[Jeff Fiske]

Keith is right in the sense that two honest people discussing how to 'bypass' a security check is not something that you want to do in front of a random crowd of people.

Our policy about copy protection is really in the veins of 'lets keep the honest people honest'. When Piracy become easy, then people who would never have considered Piracy before, might be tempted- just because it was easy.

You guys are both right. On one hand I would love it if our customers figured out ways they did not have to keep the CD around all the time, after they had purchased the game.

On the other hand, I don't want detailed instructions on how to do this in our forum, as that information can be used for purposes other than making a copy of a cd they already purchased. So I appreciate Keith’s suggestion not to talk about it here.

[Helle]

Feel really bad about starting this thread now. I never intended to get a discusion about piratcy or not. I was looking for an answer like....no you cant copy it because it is protected against that.

I dont want a software solusion or anything else than an extra copy of the CD i can put in my CD drive, so it will be the copy the kids ruin and not the original. I gathered from the posts in this thread that this cannot be done, and thats really all i needed to know.

Now i can instead purchase an extra copy for safe keeping, and that solves the problem just as fine. I just needed to be sure before i spend any money, since i dont like to spend unneeded money.

[slaponte]

I salute Jeff and Tilted Mill for not deleting the thread but allowing the conversation so far and listening.

I am one of those that would rather not have the CD in the drive all the time. I think it is good for TM to know how we, the purchaser of their products, feel about these measures.

Unfortunately, a search on the web shows anybody (even if not spoken of here) what is available out there. So that we legal owners of the product put up with the copy protection and placing the CD in while the hacking/pirating masses seem undeterred. So the logic is to keep honest people honest... humm.

I would think a CD check at install, with Key/SN etc hidden away etc would be enough to then let me put away my CD and play happyly.

Oh well, my 0.02

(P.S. : for those who might comment, yes, I bought a "European" version on eBay that turned out to be ilegal and since then I bought a legal US copy at the mall.)

[tobing]

There are other methods of protection as well. I don't know why they are not used for games: One Product requires the CD on the first start of the program. After that, no more checks. Well, I admit, this is not especially well protected. But yet another software keeps asking for the CD once in a while - about 2 months I guess. So if you have that opn a laptop, you could force a CD check and know that the next check will be in 2 months again, so you would not need the CD until then. I would like something like that for games.

[Keith]

(P.S. : for those who might comment, yes, I bought a "European" version on eBay that turned out to be ilegal and since then I bought a legal US copy at the mall.)
You should have reported that person to eBay, if you didn't already.

[Amenirdis]

So if you have that opn a laptop, you could force a CD check and know that the next check will be in 2 months again, so you would not need the CD until then. I would like something like that for games.
That really exists? I had no idea. That would already be so much better than to have to keep the cd in the drive constantly.

[cpicking]

I swear that all this copy protection only makes life hard for genuine users - in other words, trying to keep honest those people who already are honest. It's the easiest thing in the world to find cracks on the internet - so pirates aren't going to be deterred one iota. There really needs to be some system (some kind of activation??) whereby honest users aren't p*ssed off.

In my case, I have bought every game I ever play (or played). I also cracked every single one so that I don't have to fiddle around with CDs. But I'm *HONEST*!!! I don't pirate stuff! Publishers deserve to be paid, yet pirates succeed without difficulty - and honest users are the only ones really getting hassled by it all.

Oh, and the CotN crack crashes the game at intervals too... ;-(( Still less annoying, IMO, than shuffling the CDs around every time I want to spend a bit of time on a different game.

Mind you at the moment, come to think of it, it's CotN every spare moment.....!!

[slaponte]

Another thing I like and support : any patch or fix should require an original CD check. Hey, why should anybody benefit from the fixes and support if they didn't buy the game? This is a very acceptable requirement that forces a CD check every now and then, when fixes become available.

In the end, I think the best deterrent to illegal copies is the right price/value. There is a price at which most people would just buy the game/music cd/ whatever than copy it, specially if copying it is a hassle. When I found my legal copy of CotN at $30 I was more than glad to pay that to get an original/legal. I don't like to pay $19 for a music CD, but around $10 I have no problem buying originals because as a consumer I feel I am getting a good value for the price and they usually sound better. If the price is too high, I think it increases the ocurrance of illegal trading.

Again, just my 0.02

[TEN0X]

I read at the FBI website that it is legal to make a backup copy of your game or dvd. As long as when you sell or give the original media to a different owner, you destroy or give the backup along with it.
It is illegal to create a backup and then sell the original media.

[tobing]

Do you have a link to that? Afaik, you may make a backup copy, but are not allowed to bypass copy protection - so that is pretty useless these days. Or does that only apply to music cds?

[Olympus]

That's funny! Somehow my german version works without CD! Cool! But my english version doesn't. Hmpf!

Olympus