NOCD suggestions for 3.6.29.0?

[hundreds]

Is it a no-no to ask about making it so I don't have to use the original CD to play for the newest beta?

[lDarKl]

You can use a program like Alcohol120% to make an ISO file of your CD, then mount the ISO in a virtual drive. That's how everyone is doing it. There is no such thing as a crack oslt for the newer versions of WA.

[hundreds]

Hmm.... how do I say this.

I actually am using a "nocd crack" that allows me to play without the CD. There are issues with it, though. One MAJOR issue is that if I do not have the CD in the drive, the game plays perfectly fine, but I do not have ANY music or ANY sound banks playing. No funny comments by the worms or anything. All the other sound effects work fine.

I tried the ISO method and for some stupid reason I was unable to just make one directly from the original CD. So I am currently copying all the files to my computer and then will try to make an ISO that way. Although having a 500+ meg ISO doesn't exactly enthrall me, I guess I am using approximately the same amount of space when I copy the DATA folder into my W:A install folder, so if this works, it may be the way to go.

Still, if anyone has a fix for the sound issues, that would be cool.

[thomasp]

I actually am using a "nocd crack" that allows me to play without the CD.

The discussion and use of no-cd cracks is strictly forbidden on this forum for obvious reasons. Any further discussion and bans will be issued as clearly stated in the rules.

As a result we do not provide tech support to anyone using no-CD cracks due to potential links with piracy.

[CyberShadow]

As far as I know, this guide (http://worms2d.info/NoCD) hasn't failed to work for anyone.

[hundreds]

Well, I am certainly not pirating. But I understand and that is why I asked if it was wrong to bring it up.

[lDarKl]

Well like I said, make an ISO of the CD. It's the simplest and most effective way. If you got HDD issues because of a >500MB file then that's tough luck.

[bonz]

Mounting a disc image as a virtual drive is the most convenient and legal way.
I use Daemon Tools for the virtual drive though, and creating an image can be done with almost any burning software.

And I'd have to think that a ~500MB image shouldn't cause any problems nowadays.
Especially since you're creating large scale maps where you surely have the uncompressed originals on your HDD, eating up lots of disk space.

[hundreds]

Yeah no kidding. Well like I said, I was used to copying the DATA folder to the hdd anyway, so... using an ISO ain't that bad. I just made one using NERO and have it mounted with Daemon Tools and it works like a charm - sound effects back and everything.

On a side note, the largest uncompressed file I have worked with for a worms level is currently 12.1 megs - consisting of around 3000 layers and objects.

[Plainplane]

What I did was that I downloaded the free version of Alcohol 52%, then I used it to create a .iso image of the CD. Then I uninstalled Alcohol 52%. Then I downloaded and installed Daemon tools, and I used that to create a virtual drive and mount the image.

[franpa]

wtf? you do know that Alcohol 52% and 120% use the same technology as Daemon Tools right?

[Plainplane]

Yes but Daemon can't create images (well the version I'm using can't).

My mistake still, what I actually did was use the trial version of Alcohol 120% because the free Alcohol 52% didn't work on the system. Then I uninstalled that after making the image and used Daemon.

I put the free Alcohol 52% on another system and I was thinking of that originally.

[DoC]

I'd like to know if it is at all possible for the next update to remove the CD check altogether.
There are quite a few other games out there which have been officially patched so as to allow play without the CD such as Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Unreal Tournament 2004, and NeverWinter Nights.
To me it doesn't really make any sense for the CD requirement to remain. Infact the CD requirement seems quite ineffective considering the virtual CD workaround (Which CyberShadow has even linked to a guide for).
Surely it would be much easier to remove the CD check?

[hundreds]

One major problem with that Doc... from the way I see it, Worms Armageddon is one of those old games that installs FROM the CD, but does not automatically copy all the content (data) to the hard drive. In fact, there is no option in the installation to do that.

So it is not merely a CD check, which CAN be cracked. It is also where you get all the data that the game constantly refers to. The installation itself would have to be altered for the lay-person.

[GreeN]

A patch would only have to place the files (Which would normally be located on your CD) onto the hard drive and update WA.exe to read from that location

I have no bias on either side though, I'm perfectly happy using Daemon Tools

[lDarKl]

I don't think this will work out. All the games you mentioned need a serial to be played online, but W:A doesn't. It would only support piracy and nothing else.

[Vader]

One of the things I like about the new Daemon Tools Lite (not sure how old my previous version was so this might not be that new a feature) is that you can associate image files to it. This means double-clicking the image in Windows will automatically mount the image in Daemon.

What I really like about this is that I no longer need to either mount the image each time I want to play or use multiple virtual drives and keep WA in one permanently. Oh no. Now I use a batch file instead of my WA shortcut which mounts the image and then launches WA. Since my CD's image is on the HDD the read times are much faster.

This method has obviously been mentioned numerous times bar the auto-mounting batch file but using the batch file is the closest you'll get to running a no CD crack without breaking the law.

Instructions (these instructions assume you have Daemon Tools Lite with images associated to it and a legitimately cloned WA CD image):
1.) Place your WA .bin and .cue file in your WA directory (typically C:\Team17\Worms Armageddon).
2.) Right click in your WA folder and selct New > Text Document.
3.) Rename the new text file WA.bat
4.) Right-click WA.bat and select Edit
5.) Copy/paste the following into the now open (and empty) file:


TITLE Unearthing Worms...
%your_WA_cue_file%
%your_WA_exe_file% /nointro


6.) Replace %your_WA_cue_file% with the filename of your Worms cue file and %your_WA_exe_file% with your preferred WA launcher.

For example:

TITLE Unearthing Worms...
WA.cue
Wormkit.exe


-or-


TITLE Unearthing Worms...
WA.cue
WA.exe /nointro


7.) Save the file and close Notepad.
8.) Navigate to you usual WA shortcut, right-click it and select Properties.
9.) Change the target to "C:\Team17\Worms Armageddon\WA.bat" or wherever you put WA.bat
10.) Optionally, set the Run drop-down to Minimized and change the icon to the WA icon by clicking Change Icon > Browse > navigate to and double-click WA.exe/Wormkit.exe > select the icon you'd like to use.

I hope this works out for you and stops people from request illegitimate no CD cracks.

[[UFP]Ghost]

can this be done with an .mdf and .mds ?

[hundreds]

Vader,

I wanted to try your method to make sure that the ISO is always mounted before I run Worms, since sometimes, even if it IS mounted, I have to re-mount the image before running WA.exe.

Anyway, it is not a big deal. But this would streamline things if it worked. At any rate, I did what you said... and my cue file, when I double-click on it to run it (as the bat file does), it says "Error in Command Line" - from Daemon Tools Lite. Any idea why it says that or how that could be fixed?

Or alternatively, is there any other way to auto-re-mount an image from a bat file?

Sorry.

[[UFP]Ghost]

Vader,

I wanted to try your method to make sure that the ISO is always mounted before I run Worms, since sometimes, even if it IS mounted, I have to re-mount the image before running WA.exe.

Anyway, it is not a big deal. But this would streamline things if it worked. At any rate, I did what you said... and my cue file, when I double-click on it to run it (as the bat file does), it says "Error in Command Line" - from Daemon Tools Lite. Any idea why it says that or how that could be fixed?

Or alternatively, is there any other way to auto-re-mount an image from a bat file?

Sorry.

i have the same problem. I also tried double clicking on the image and it says error in command line.

[CyberShadow]

My bad. Daemon Tools does not associate with anything but .mds by default.

(I rewrote the article half an hour ago to include instructions for Daemon Tools and LC ISO Creator)

[Vader]

You can ensure Daemon Tools Lite is associated with you image file type by right-clicking the systray icon, selecting Options > Shell Integration. Make sure your CD image's file type is ticked.

Oh, and make sure you're running the most recent version of Daemon Tools Lite.

edit: Sorry, on the newest version of Daemon Tools Lite you need to right-click the systray icon and select Preferences, then the Integration tab, and then tick you CD image's file type.

[[UFP]Ghost]

You can ensure Daemon Tools Lite is associated with you image file type by right-clicking the systray icon, selecting Options > Shell Integration.

I right clicked on the file and said to open with...ahhhhh. Thanks.

[hundreds]

I don't know if this is in CyberShadows article or not, but associating the CUE and ISO extensions in Daemon Tools did not do it for me. I still got a funny confirmation box about Secure Shell something or other.

Here is what I did. My BAT file code follows:

F:\Goobers\ISOs\PC\WA.iso -shellmount
C:\Progra~1\Team17\WormsA~1\WA.exe /nointro

I think the first time you run it, it will have that Secure confirmation box. I checked the box to turn it off and it mounts it fine now.

[CyberShadow]

I don't know if this is in CyberShadows article or not, but associating the CUE and ISO extensions in Daemon Tools did not do it for me. I still got a funny confirmation box about Secure Shell something or other.
If you check the checkbox for that dialog box, the dialog will not appear again. I thought that was pretty self-explanatory.
If you want to mount the ISO from a batch file, use:
"%ProgramFiles%\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe" -shellmount F:\Goobers\ISOs\PC\WA.iso

[Vader]

If you want to mount the ISO from a batch file, use:
"%ProgramFiles%\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe "-shellmount F:\Goobers\ISOs\PC\WA.iso

Does that work even without the associations set, then? I mean, mine works without all of that. In fact, here's what mine looks like (and it works and has for ages):

[CyberShadow]

That won't work with recent versions of Daemon Tools.

[Vader]

I'm using 4.30.3 (the most recent version of Daemon Tools Lite) and it works for me. As I say you may need to set up file associations (right-click Daemon systray icon, select Preferences, Integration, check the file formats you want to associate).

[hundreds]

If you check the checkbox for that dialog box, the dialog will not appear again. I thought that was pretty self-explanatory.
If you want to mount the ISO from a batch file, use:
"%ProgramFiles%\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe "-shellmount F:\Goobers\ISOs\PC\WA.iso

This works nicely for me:

C:\progra~1\DAEMON~1\daemon.exe -shellmount F:\Goobers\ISOs\PC\WA.iso
C:\Progra~1\Team17\WormsA~1\WA.exe /nointro

Integration was also applied though I don't know if it was needed. Probably was.

[Vader]

So long as it works, I think this solution should be stickied as a no CD fix, or something.

[CyberShadow]

That won't work with recent versions of Daemon Tools.Never mind. My method doesn't require having to turn on integration beforehand.So long as it works, I think this solution should be stickied as a no CD fix, or something.All this is only needed if you need to mount different images, and want W:A's to mount before you start W:A. Also, this is only an alternative to simply having multiple virtual drives.

[Vader]

Fair point.

[hundreds]

When it comes right down to it, Cybershadows comment is true. I only wanted an automatic method that would remount a WA iso if for some reason it was no longer mounted. Daemon Tools Lite seems to automount on boot as it is, without any batch files.

[SgtFusion]

If the image files are associated with the Virtual Drive, you could put a shortcut to the image in the "Startup" folder in the start menu.
EDIT: I just noticed that the direction for that is in the tutorial on worms2d.info.

[bonz]

Hmm.
Daemon Tools has had the auto-mount feature since I have been using it, which is about 7-8 years now.

Also, with a single click on the tray icon and a second click a virtual device, Daemon Tool will open the directory where you last opened an image.
So, if you keep all your disk images collected in one folder, you can quickly mount and re-mount images with two clicks.

[Vader]

That's actually 5 clicks (one on the tray icon, one on the virtual drive you want to mount to, double-click for the file you want to open, one click to run WA). My method requires just one.

[bonz]

That's actually 5 clicks (one on the tray icon, one on the virtual drive you want to mount to, double-click for the file you want to open, one click to run WA). My method requires just one.
Nitpicker!
You don't have to write batch files for every game you want to run with a mounted image.
Also no testing of said batch files and writing posts on forums because they don't work. :p

[Vader]

Not sure I understand your post but I'll do my best to respond:

You don't have to write batch files for every game you want to run with a mounted image.
Correct, I don't, and in fact WA is the only game I've done this for.

Also no testing of said batch files and writing posts on forums because they don't work.
My batch file works for me perfectly fine. I've been using it for months without a single issue (even upgraded Daemon since I made it nd it still works) so I didn't really think testing would be necessary. Meh!

[CyberShadow]

If you only use Daemon Tools for one game, what's the point of having a batch file if Daemon Tools remembers mounted images, even across reboots?

[Vader]

I use Daemon Tools for disc images other than WA which I have no need to keep mounted and I'd rather have just one virtual drive so that "My Computer" is less cluttered.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to help. Am I really doing a franpa? :(

[hundreds]

If you only use Daemon Tools for one game, what's the point of having a batch file if Daemon Tools remembers mounted images, even across reboots?

I wanted the batch file because occasionally WA asks me to insert the disc, (even though the ISO is mounted already). At which point I have tounmount and remount the image.

I have calculated the time it takes for me to do that (around 2 seconds give or take a second) and have decided that the batch file actually increases the boot time for worms to around 5 seconds from 1 second. Therefore I am currently losing 4 SECONDS per boot. I have thus returned to the occasional 2second loss and figure my net loss is around 1 second every 10 boots.

I am a busy guy man.

[CyberShadow]

I wanted the batch file because occasionally WA asks me to insert the disc, (even though the ISO is mounted already).That's odd. Can you read the mounted ISO with other programs? There was a similar bug in older Daemon Tools versions.

[hundreds]

Well I will say this... I recently updated DTools from 4.30.2 to 4.30.3 and I have not had the issue yet. I will keep tabs on this and see if it comes up again. Maybe it was just the DTools I was using.

[franpa]

That's odd. Can you read the mounted ISO with other programs? There was a similar bug in older Daemon Tools versions.
heh, same bug as Alcohol 120% (& I assume 52%) since its virtual drive technology is based on (or maybe derived from) Daemon Tools. It was pretty annoying ^_^