ISO for AL stops working after remount

[fightxsong]

Hello awesome Sims geniuses!
I loves me some Apartment Life ... but my Apartment Life ISO and every copy thereof that I try refuses to work!

No error messages. No autoplay. Nothing. All my other ISO files work fine (I uninstalled and re-installed everything else thinking that would fix the problem, and now I am unable to reinstall AL). I located two separate additional ISO files for AL, but none of these work either! I'm using Daemon Tools 3.47.

I suspect it happened when I unmounted AL to mount a different image like a moron, instead of just creating a new drive. Upon re-mount AL stopped working -- when I used the desktop shortcut, the launcher would come up, and when I clicked "play" it would briefly initiate a process that terminated before anything happened.

I have a vague memory of dealing with something like this before but I cannot for the life of me remember what I did! 

[morriganrant]

Are you tring to install the game or just run it? If running it is the issue, then my guess is Securom. This is probably(and most likely) what your issue is. Remove Securom completely and use a no-cd like everyone else. If installing is the problem, then it is probably still Securom. Or you can try a manual install.

[fightxsong]

Wow! Thanks for the speedy reply!

I don't think SecuROM is the issue ... I followed the Reclaim Your Game tute to remove SecuROM and they (any of the AL images) still don't run! I also tried using sd4hide, also to no avail.

I've never used a no-cd version - always just used ISOs with c racks. I'm getting a no-cd no-dvd version now ... hopefully this works! It seems a bit fishy that these are so small (<15MB when the ISO is ~1G ?!), but I guess I shouldn't knock 'em til I've tried 'em ...

[morriganrant]

Wow! Thanks for the speedy reply!

I don't think SecuROM is the issue ... I followed the Reclaim Your Game tute to remove SecuROM and they (any of the AL images) still don't run! I also tried using sd4hide, also to no avail.

I've never used a no-cd version - always just used ISOs with c racks. I'm getting a no-cd no-dvd version now ... hopefully this works! It seems a bit fishy that these are so small (<15MB when the ISO is ~1G ?!), but I guess I shouldn't knock 'em til I've tried 'em ...

They are so small because they aren't the entire game, they are just an exe file. Back up your original AL .exe and then just drop the new exe in it's place. Or you can leave the old exe where it is, change the no-cd .exes name so that it isn't the same as the original .exe, drop it in the same place, and point your shortcut to it, using that to open the game. What cracks are you using if it's not a nocd? If you don't know basic file types and some of the specifics for what you are doing with the files, you possibly shouldn't be messing around with ISOs.

Also, Reclaim Your Games instructions aren't going to be any use if you keep using the original exe to open the game with. That's what has the DRM. Everytime the original .exe is used, you'd put Securom back, unless for some reason your copy of the game has that stripped out. You can use a real CD to install the game and still avoid having Securom, so long as you use a no-cd when you play.

[fightxsong]

Ok, now I understand! I've always been using no-cd versions - I've just never heard them called that before (we just call them "cracked versions").

I know where to put the cracked .exe file once the game is installed. I can't back up my original AL .exe file though because it doesn't exist yet! Well, at least not on my c:\ drive. The problem is that I cannot "run" the disc to initiate installation. I CAN explore it and see all the contents, I just cannot get the install wizard to run (and when it was installed, the game wouldn't run). It's NOT an "insert original disc" problem. Basically, imagine putting a CD into a dead CD drive and double-clicking the drive icon -- NOTHING happens. I hoped that a no-cd version would be a version that didn't have to be mounted.

You say manual install -- I have never done this but the basic principle seems simple -- could I simply drag-n-drop the folder to c:\Program Files\EA Games and then put the cracked .exe file in?

[fightxsong]

Hooray! I copied all the files from the ISO to my machine and ran the Autoplay.exe -- now it works fine! Thanks so much for the manual install hint!