PC Games ???

[Rijiny]

My computer is having troubles with installing PC games. It didn't have this problem before, I click "Install" and it acts busy for a minute then doesn't do anything. And these games are games I have downloaded before onto this computer. Is there something I lost when I reformatted and could download off the internet to make it install? I'm so confused.

[Sier]

Are these games from CDs, from files from Direct2Drive, or pirated cracked versions? Also, are you running xp or vista?

[Rijiny]

I had to go back to using Vista because my laptop's drivers wouldn't work with XP, annoyingly.

Sims2 is working
FF8 won't install, installed ok on Vista before format.
FF7 won't install, never could get it to.

They're real copies, not pirated, all on CD Rom.

[Savaric]

You can try disabling your virus software and see if that works. Your cd's aren't scratched or scuffed?

[Rijiny]

virus software isn't on right now, and no - one's brand new and the other one worked on another computer.

[Sier]

Well..from dealing with this problem before, offhand I'd say either you're not logged in as an administrator, or your cd rom reader might be acting up. I had a dvd rom drive that messed up and did that same thing, it would see the dvd and give the title but never read it or install anything.

[Kard]

Originally posted by Sier
Well..from dealing with this problem before, offhand I'd say either you're not logged in as an administrator, or your cd rom reader might be acting up. I had a dvd rom drive that messed up and did that same thing, it would see the dvd and give the title but never read it or install anything.

Yeah, I have to agree, this is probably the case if it is an older drive.

I had the exact same problem with mine with several different games; offhand I think they were Civ4 and Pirates! or something. Maybe Half-life2, too.

Anyway, to work around it, I had to pirate the game. How stupid is that? Software I legally bought, I wasn't able to install. The only way around it was to make an image of the CD, and install it from a virtual drive and then apply a NO-CD crack to it from a crack site.

Talk about irony. The piracy protection on the CD was so 'good' (which was already cracked by pirates anyway) it would have prevented a legitimate user of their software from enjoying it. I wonder how many people end up returning software with that complaint.

[Rosuav]

Is it piracy to copy the CD of a game you own? I think it's not. What you purchased was not a CD - it was a licence to use the game. In years gone by, a lot of licences used to explicitly say that you could make a copy for backup purposes; okay, so people will abuse it, and that's not good, but if you're doing it genuinely for *backup*, I don't see that it's a problem.

In fact, one of the most vicious anti-piracy companies - Microsoft - have a policy like this. If you buy a copy of Windows, you get two things: a CD that you can boot to install the OS, and a licence key printed on some kind of sticker or identifier. The CD means nothing... nothing at all. In a sense, it's the CD that matters most (because it's pretty hard to install an operating system from a 25-character code), but you can actually take copies of that and nobody cares. There are lots of web sites that show you how to (for instance) make a Windows install CD that has a service pack applied, etc. Microsoft doesn't mind, because you still need that all-important key.

So... piracy? Maybe. But if you have the physical CD there, you have the licence. If you stick that disc in the drive and then play the game from your virtual disc, can anyone even tell? (Well, you'll probably have markedly better performance.) You own it. Go ahead and play it.

[Kard]

You missed the point, but that's okay.

I realize I wasn't guilty of pirating something I already legitimately owned. That would be like saying I stole my own wallet and am now a pickpocket. So we are in complete agreement on that tangent.

My complaint was that the anti-piracy measures in place on the software forced me to take the exact same steps I, or some pirate, would have if I had simply downloaded the CD image to begin with instead of going out to buy it. The only difference being that I didn't have to go find a torrent tracker and wait an hour first, I just did the rip.

The irony in the whole situation is that the anti-piracy protection in those instances forces people into a piratical role and encourages them to simply consider the illegal side of obtaining entertainment. They would have to do the exact same thing anyway, minus the annoyance of failing to install it for x amount of minutes/hours first WHILE saving themselves the purchase price of the software and gas consumed.

In each of the named instances above, I ended up scanning message boards and FAQs for possible solutions and other legitimate means to figure out what the problem was before discovering it was a copy protection failure in each case. The 'official' line was to return the disc to the store and try another one or to handle it with the software company by mail. Starting to sound a bit like a hassle? Now consider it if you have no idea how to make a disc image or know what a virtual drive is or have the space to accommodate it or any number of other potential things your typical user isn't likely to understand, like the fact that your old DVD-drive is flat out unable to handle the newer protection schemes and detects like some crazy new hack device to them.

The entire ordeal honestly made me appreciate those companies that plain don't bother with copy protection or anti-piracy measures more, like Paradox. Especially considering that these supposedly robust and secure protections end up split wide open by crackers anyway, and the people who suffer are those who went out and bought the software legally.

Coming back around to trying to solve your problem, Rijiny, if you are in the same situation that I was in; see if your drive is still detecting the disc properly and if you can explore the files on it, etc. If so, and it isn't physically damaged in some way, you can likely make an image file (a straight copy) of it and operate it through a virtual drive (fake dvd drive your computer thinks you have with all the latest and greatest copy schemes active) as if it were a real cd/dvd in a real drive. That should allow you to install it fine.

[Rijiny]

Well my CD Rom is new, I just bought this computer at the end of last year. The games are older games, though I think one of them is actually a newer remake of the old copies. So I'm not sure if that'll be the case or not.