backing up game cds with dvd?

[veo-veo]

asking a dumb question here:
i tend to lose small things like cds easily so i'd like to back the sims2 cds up.
i'd really like to put all 4 into 1 dvd, how do i get about doing it?

(i'm under the impression that i've seen something similar before, but i can't find it, so sry if it's redundant)

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think there's a website somewhere with information, but a friend who builds computers and knows a fair bit about this kind of thing couldn't get it to work for Sims2.  I tend to leave the current CD in the discdrive unless I need to use the discdrive for something else, and then I'm careful to put the disc away in it's proper place.  I'm probably the world's worst at keeping most stuff tidy, but CDs, whether audio or computer, are a different matter!

[veo-veo]

hmm.. yeah. installation was fine. but i couldn't play without the original disc, so i'm dead if i lose it. 

[Kyna]

Like ZZ, my NL disc 1 is permanently in the drive.  In case I ever need to reinstall, I'm not likely to mislay the other CDs for a couple of reasons.

1. I keep my CDs in a CD rack on my desk, with most of the discs that don't fit in the rack (due to case size) neatly stacked on the shelves that are part of my desk.
2. My Sims2 games came in cases that are about the size and shape of paperback books.  They store easily in my bookcase, and are easy to find there.  Not so small they'll be misplaced easily, and not too big to fit in the bookcase.

Perhaps you could invest in a CD rack, or one of those wallets that hold CDs/DVDs.  CD wallets aren't expensive.  That way you'll have transportable music & movies and you'll always know where your game CDs are.

[Renatus]

CD wallets and taking care of where you put your things are the way to go. I know, that last bit seems self-evident but it really is worth stressing if you're worried about randomly losing things - always put things back in the same place and the chances they'll get misplaced are incredibly less. I'm a scatterbrain with sloppy tendancies, but I haven't lost a single game since I've forced myself to have good housekeeping habits about them. Now if I could only manage that with other things!

[Lythdan]

Same as the other people here, I usually keep my NL disc in my discdrive. My sim games are all in the sims cases- not all the right ones mind- but they're all still there. If only I could find my simcity3000 disc...

[ZiggyDoodle]

Why not just select a nice colorful box, go through all your programs, place the crucial CDs in the box and keep it in an obvious, but safe, place.  I learned that lesson the hard way when my office system crashed and burned last summer and it took me about four hours to track down the apps I needed to reinstall the OS and other stuff.  Plus I didn't even have a copy of the apps I had downloaded, so it was back to square one.  (Duh). 

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think you'll find that most people who are real sim-addicts are like this about general housework - it takes ninth place behind playing the game, downloading, sorting downloads folders, chatting about the game or visiting game forums etc. etc., but most of us don't lose our CDs - they are too important to us!  I'm lucky, my neighbour gave me a HUGE desk with two large drawers, so all my game CDs (Sims 1 as well) are in one of those.  But everywhere else in the room is a mess, except my bookcase and CD shelves!

[Kyna]

I think you'll find that most people who are real sim-addicts are like this about general housework - it takes ninth place behind playing the game, downloading, sorting downloads folders, chatting about the game or visiting game forums etc. etc.,

Wow, you give your housework a much higher priority than I do   But I agree about the bookcase thing, when I tidy my room the bookcase and desk are first to be tidied - then when those are done, it's time to read and play on the computer.

[ZephyrZodiac]

kyna, I think we are two of a kind!

[Ancient Sim]

With TS1 I had some sort of patch thing that meant I didn't need to use the cd and I just wish I could find one for TS2, but they all appear to have been removed from the Net.  I hate keeping my disc in the drive because the kids tend to take it out and sling it any old place (once it took me half-an-hour to find it).  It's no good saying "Put it away every night" because I've tried that and I only remembered to do it the first night.  Bearing in mind that the game only needs the disc to start-up (I've taken it out seconds after the loading screen has appeared and it's loaded perfectly), I think they should provide some sort of system that means the disc isn't needed, so we can protect them by not having to keep them in the drive.  My main reason for not wanting to do that is that they always get scratched in there.  My original disc is absolutely covered in scratches and that one never left the drive until I added University.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Mine have never got scratched from being left in the drive, Ancient, but if your kids are using them for frisbees, then what can you expect?  Ban the monsters from YOUR pc!

[Renatus]

Ancient, I believe game companies require the gamer to have the disc in the drive when they start the game to prevent piracy. Fat lot of good it does, considering I know that my friends who live in Malaysia who play the game just downloaded disc images - there's ALWAYS a way for a dedicated pirate to crack this stuff. It does a fine job of making the lives ofus who bought the game perfectly legally harder, though. *grump*

[Yay]

Maybe you can make .iso / .bin & .cue files with a program like Alcohol 120% or Ahead Nero (I think Ahead Nero has a protection program that won't allow you to do that.) and then burn them directly on a DVD. This won't let you install right out of the DVD but then you still do have copies of the game.

---

If you are the LEGAL owner of the original CD you can legally use no-cd cracks/hacks.
http://www.gameburnworld.com/termsofuse.shtml
They can be found under "Game Fixes."

[witch]

Last I heard, the no CD cracks disabled build mode in the game. Is that still the case?

[cwieberdink]

Last I heard, the no CD cracks disabled build mode in the game. Is that still the case?

Not necessarily.  I played Uni for a long time with a no-cd crack.  I just use the NL disc because I've been too lazy to make an image and mount it.  But build worked just fine for me with Uni.  My kids do use my computer and will take my disc out and leave it wherever.  They get scratched, get jelly prints on them, etc.  So for a while I didn't even use the disc just to protect it.  Hmmmm... maybe I ought to do that again!  But they haven't been playing anything lately that requires a disc on my computer so they've left it alone.

C

[SIMplyLisa]

I bought virtual CD software $ 50.00 from www.farstone.com called Virtual Drive. It creates a VCD image on the hard drive that Sims sees as a CD to key the game loading. My CD can stay safely put away at all times. I hate shuffling through disks to play a game!. 

[Yay]

Last I heard, the no CD cracks disabled build mode in the game. Is that still the case?

It's only if you use a Sims2.exe file to overwrite the original one that build mode is disabled. Virtual Drive, Alcohol 120%/52% (The bartender woud love this!  ) as well as Daemon Tools can use the Virtual/Mini Image files without any problem.

[witch]

Actually that's one of my pet peeves about the sims. If I have alcohol 120% or clonyXXL installed on my computer, sims2 refuses to boot. How DARE ea tell me what I can and cannot install on my PC. 

[Yay]

Does Daemon tools do that as well? I believe right now it's the most illegal of the image mounting software (illegal as in under-ground, not breaking the law) so it might have a better chance against those program police.

[witch]

I haven't installed any disk backup s/w lately, I do have Daemon tools and as I now want to make an image of The Movies as well as sims2, I guess it's time to try. Ta for the tip, I'll see if sims2 copes with Daemon tools.

[ZephyrZodiac]

What annoys me is that many software programs actually advise you to make a back-up copy - and presumably in those cases whatever you need to install it in the case of a PC crash would be on the copy so that if for some reason your disc is either damaged or missing, you would still be able to use what you paid for!