games..how can i play without putting cd in?

Use virtual drives.

Depending on the game, protection and what has been released you have the following options (ordered in my preference of use):

1) No CD/DVD crack - download and replace the exe (and sometimes other files) - remember to keep overwritten files (rename), they are often needed when patching.

2) Virtual drive - Mini ISO - download a mini ISO of the game and use with a virtual drive program like Alcohol or Daemon Tools, uses much less space for ISO storage, usually a few MB rather than a few GB.

3) Virtual drive - Full ISO - Create an ISO from the disk and run as per Mini ISO, uses a lot more space though.

No CD/DVD cracks and Mini ISOs are easy to find but I don't think NBF like the posting of links to these things...

The only problem with the virtual drive options is that some protections require another program to be run to hide the virtual drive from the game.

I would say there are two good options:

- NoCD/NoDVD cracks: If you can find them for the game(s) you are interested in, those are the easiest to use. You simply replace your executable (in most cases), and you're done. The caveat is that you have to be careful where you get these from; downloading EXEs of somewhat shady origins is a good way to catch a virus. There are a few sites on the web, though, that are trustworthy. Also, you may not find such cracks for the newest games, or versions including the latest fixes of a game. And as K9387 said, you generally need to keep the old executables to be able to apply patches, and you usually need to find a new version of the crack once you have patched (which may or may not be available, see above).

- You could take a look at Game Jackal, which is a piece of software that will trick your game into thinking the CD it is looking for is present. In order to do that, it creates a small file called a "game profile" that it stores after you have started the game once with its proper CD or DVD. The advantage compared to the above is that there is no security risk, and it works, in principle, with the newest games and fixes. Two downsides there: Some (very few in my experience, but check their website for details) games do not work well with it, and it is not free (but they often have specials, selling the software for as low as 10 bucks).

Other avenues, like CD-isos in connection with virtual drive programs are less reliable in my opinion. There can be general compatibility issues with the virtual drive programs, and many newer games by now also check for the presence, and balk at those.

I use Alcohol 120% Works great for me. Right now I have 14 virtual cd/DVD drives loaded with my games.

Best way to do it without using extra RAM using a virtual drive is to go to Game Copy World (posted above) and get a fixed EXE. This file patched the EXE in your games installation directory so that it doesn't look for a CD in the tray when you click the icon to run the game.

I personally prefer do-it-yourself methods...get alcohol 120, create 2 virtual drives and make your own mini-iso...(there are many ways to make mini-iso's)

If the game is on a dvdrom, you can always decrypt it to your hard drive.

i was gonna say use Acohol 120%... I use Nero Image Drive for mine...

Fixed EXEs are the worst way IMO because whenever the game gets patched you have to wait for a new one in order to play. Not to mention, if you have a game that uses Punkbuster anti-cheat I beleive Punkbuster's been mistaking fixed EXEs for cheats and has been getting people banned from game servers. Mini-ISOs are the way to go really. That way you don't have to worry about updating nor any anti-cheat measures.

This discussion is ok, so long as nobody starts discussion warez.

I am using Alcohol too.

Is there a way to run the game without first having to go to Alcohol to load the image and run it?

This is for my nephews, and it would be perfect if them could start gaming by just clicking in the desktop's game shortcut. For this to work, you have to first go to Alcohol and do as mentioned above, and the shortcut will work for as long as you don't shut down the computer, as when you start it again....got to go to Alcohol first.

Um... I never have to reload the images. They auto reload themselves on reboot. Go to options in Alcohol / virtual drives there is an option to remount on reboot.

That link has already been up and taken down (I guess, I remember it being there and now it isn't). A little thought would conclude that a site such as this would not like links to sites such as that being posted...

Thanks.
I checked and it was on. Much to my surprise, one of the games loaded with the desktop shorcut. I tried another one but this failed to load.

I will check carefully tomorrow, looking for a pattern, and will revert.

ok, Sakor deleted the first link to that site. I deleted the second. The next link to any related site I see in here gets this thread deleted. You can use Google can't you?

I am curious as to why??? mr moderators

Come on you are all big gamers?

You should know that in spitee of that site's missleading name, they preach against piracy and all the site has is information on how to run your own legally bought game without the cd/dvd drive. There is nothing to do with serial numbers or such shenannigans

Who the heeck pirates games anyway? The most a new game is is only $60cdn

And I would like to point out, that the same information is available in the top sticky on this very page since I first posted it on 15th of May this year LOL

Now that is funny!!

(Just have fun)
Just have fun

I agree with why you can't have such links, but you could have put some kind of note (such as this) the first time. People aren't physic and without and explanation will just keep thinking "oh, they really should look at this site, will post a link..." with the intention of helping others - and for that everybody gets punished?

ZX81, although I can't comment for NBF this has been a problem on many of the more respectable forums for ages and the end result is usually that it would be best just not to post such links, as has been said before they aren't hard to find...

The reasoning goes something along the lines of the amount of reverse engineering needed, especially with anything that requires the breaking of encryption and the changing of original code. All this breaks the licence you agreed to when opening the box and installing, it is not just the fact that many people wouldn't have had a box to open in the first place.

Although the legality can be argued forever the most obvious point is that these sites distribute files with contain code that is not theirs to distribute.