Running games off ISOs (via undisker)

I'm thinking of buying mass effect off ebay, then popping the disk in my roommate's laptop (that has a DVD drive), creating a .iso image of the game dvd via undisker, then transferring this image to my external hard drive and then to my m11x and playing it using daemon tools lite. Anyone know if this would work?

 

it should since Daemon tools or any disk utility emulates a Disk Drive.

 

Theoretically it should work, but why don't you just buy it on Steam and download it?

Mass Effect 2 on Steam

If it has copy protection, I don't think your method will work...

 

I can see this thread getting pulled. Since this is a very public forum it is policy not to discus anything that is questionable. (not trying to be rude).. just a heads up. I can't comment on the original post but I can say that the game is playable from external hard drive through legit install. Best wishes, stevenX

 

Hm.. I wonder if there's any way to find out if a game has copy protection other than buying it and finding out the hard way? Like maybe any online resources / lists or something...

Well I can understand why what I'm trying to do would seem sketchy, but actually the reason I want to do this is just because I like to buy games used then re-sell them when I'm done.. if the M11x had a disc drive I would just buy the game and play it normally through the drive, then sell it when I'm done. So I'm really just trying to work around the M11x's lack of disc drive while still being able to resell my games. And yeah I could buy an external drive, but a) I hate lugging around anything other than the m11x itself, and b) i actually am pretty tight on money right now so if I got a disc drive I wouldn't be able to afford some other stuff (like mass effect) until my next paycheck, and c) undisker has worked great as a cd drive alternative so far so i'd love to keep that going if possible.. there's also lugging around cd libraries to consider etc. I was just hoping there was a way around that

 

He is buying a legitimate, legal copy from eBay. If he were downloading a pirated version then it might be questionable, but I don't see anything wrong with what he's suggesting.

 

I think that it may still ask to add disk even when its mounted. Therefore you need to start looking at gamecopyworld for no disk exe. I imagine this is where this discussion probably falls fowl of the rules and will be able to go no further.

 

I actually forgot about the copy protection issue. If it does they for sure it will not work. Game manufactures actually put "errors" on the disk and when you rip to ISO windows will fix them. The game is looking for said "errors"so if it doesn't see them it will think you have a pirated version. Steam would be the best way to go or grab an external optical drive. Good luck

 

I use Daemon Lite to play Diablo I, Half Life 2, and Oblivion on my Asus 900 EEE PC using iso's which I created on my desktop. Works great. All the games are legally purchased so I don't see that there's anything illegal about that.
I think people are getting this confused with pirating or something which it is not.
In fact, this is how I thought you were supposed to play games on the M11x or am I missing something here?
Surely, they don't mean for you to play only Steam games.

 

It's completely legal to make copies of software you own. I install from a networked dvd drive and have used Alcohol 120 to make images for some games so I can run when I'm away on business.

It's far easier to go with the steam option though!

 

Can I play Oblivion with the Steam option? I thought you could only play Steam games through them?

 

If you buy it through steam. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition Deluxe is available. If you already own the game, as was my case with Mass Effect 2 then you have to look at the image/crack options instead otherwise you're stuck lugging your external drive around with you.

 

Most games will in fact work through ISO, but not all. For instance, I know I had issues with my copy of Viva Pinata. Not exactly sure why, though.

 

Yes, you are absolutely correct. In the United States, it is legal to make backup copies of software that you legally own, as long as you destroy or transfer all backup copies once you sell or transfer the original software to someone else. This is covered by the Fair Use Doctrine.

However, it is *NOT* legal to circumvent any kind of copy protection on the software in any way. This means that if there is some kind of disc check (which, as many people have correctly noted, will not correctly copy over if you were to make your own ISO), using a crack is not legal. If there is any kind of online activation that you somehow circumvent or crack, then that is also not legal. These are spelled out by the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act).

There are some instances where Fair Use and the DMCA are at odds with each other. In those cases, the DMCA will most likely win. The DMCA is an actual law, whereas Fair Use is simply a philosophy and doctrine held up by past court decisions and court precedent.

 

true kent. Some software is becoming fairly sophisticated at emulating the disk-check features though allowing you to rip your ISO and happily play along whilst still adhering to the philosophical ideal of fair use.

In owning the game though, my conscience is clear should I want to save a little space with a crack over a 4Gb Image for the sake of starting a game.

 

Spruce-

You will defintely not get any arguments from me about the points you brought up. You and I agree 100% on those. There are plenty of laws otu there which I think make no sense, or are obsolete, or are just plain stupid.

And the reality is that it is highly unlikely that you will get caught as an individual for copying copyrighted content, especially if you legally own that content and are just making copies for location-shifting convenience purposes. However, I just wanted to point out to people what the letter of the law has to say on this topic, so that they are well-informed should they decide to do something that gets them into legal trouble.

 

In my case I can't use Steam because I'm in a rural area with no broadband and have to use Satellite internet which limits users to 200 mb per day download or else your account is suspended for 24 hours.
But I didn't know Steam now sells all games through its system!

 

It doesn't sell all games Billy, but the list is fairly huge and growing fast. Check Welcome to Steam to see what's available.

If you can get around the original download of the game on steam (ie visit inet cafe with your laptop to download it or something) then you can at least play in 'offline mode' (with single player games). I think you have to have launched it at least once whilst connected to steam before it'll work, but there is potential.

 

Oh it appears that I misinterpreted one of the latest exemptions to the DMCA.

They recently added an exemption that says you can now legally rip your own DVDs for noncommercial use. It does not apply to games or music.

So technically it is still illegal to break encryption on games, even if you are the rightful owner.

 

The whole DCMA legal fight has been pretty interesting of late. Digital distribution, with fair DRM like Steam, is probably the nicest solution. You have to be connected to the internet to activate the game via Steam but after that first use you don't need the internet anymore to play.

Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Oblivion are all on Steam...just FYI.

 

The new provisions of the DMCA allow ripping of DVD's and breaking of the CSS encryption for educational, commentary, educational use, or documentary filmmaking. This is an expansion from the previous exemption, which was for educational use by the instructor only.

It is still not legal to rip DVD's for private consumer use.

 

Yeah, I agree... we are using 19th century copyright law in the 21st century, where computers can make perfect digital copies of content and distribute that content anywhere in the world via the internet. The laws haven't caught up to the technology.

As for Steam - I also agree that it's a great platform. Yes, it is DRM, and yes, it has its limitations. But it is relatively unobtrusive, and gives you a lot of benefit for living in the Steam DRM ecosystem (friends list, download your games anywhere as many times as you want, auto-patching, steam store, etc).

 

Yes, which is why I said I misinterpreted it. I had previously been under the impression that it was legal to rip CDs and DVDs for any noncommercial use, but upon reading the actual statement I saw the following...

Getting back to the original topic, while I don't think you will get into any trouble running the game off ISO, you might as well just download the game off steam. Sure, it will cost you a few more bucks and you won't be able to sell the game when you're done, but it's a hell of a lot easier than what you're suggesting, you know for sure that it will work, and it's 100% legal.

 

I would think there would be performance drops when using an external hdd to play your games. If there is not then awesome cause i would definitely start doing that.

Next question is, is steam gonna give me the boot (their VAC can sometimes get moody) for playing my steam games from a HDD. I will write Valve and check but just wondered if one of you have done this and it has worked well.

 

There is not a performance drop in terms of framerates, but you will most likely have longer load times. The USB 2.0 interface is relatively slow (30MB/s read speeds) compared to an internal mechanical hard drive (70MB/s - 80MB/s) or an SSD (200MB/s - 280MB/s). But again, that does not impact framerates or in-game performance once a map or level is loaded.

As for your question about whether Steam is going to give you the boot - I don't quite follow... could you elaborate?

Steam won't kick you out of a game if you were to get disconnected from the internet, nor will it prevent you from saving your single-player game if you lose internet connectivity mid-game. They definitely allow you to install games to other locations than your C:\ drive, including external drives. To Steam, an external drive just shows up as a regular drive letter - it makes no distinction whether that drive is an internal hard drive, an external USB drive, or even a mapped network drive.

 

Ok cool. IDK why i thought that they would. I am just really careful now cause i was VAC banned once for nothing, of course a week later i was unbanned along with over 12000 other people. But it made me pay closer attention to whats in my steam files.

I read a lot during that week about things VAC looks for, and if you dont take certain precautions you can get banned easily. Just wondered if using an external would be one of those. But it makes perfect sense that it wouldnt. Thanks a lot.

 

Well yeah I know, steam is very convenient for what it offers - but the truth is as time passes and the games you buy add up, and you can't sell any of them, the $$$ really adds up. Maybe what I'll do is just shell out the $30 for a DVD drive... although man that's kind of a pain...

 

Well, in all fairness, Steam also has some *INCREDIBLE* sales that you can't find at retail. I bought a crap ton of games during their sale that ended July 4th, where they wanted people to stock up for summer.

I have gotten:
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition ($10)
- Alpha Protocol ($33.49)
- Kings Bounty Gold Edition: $10)
- Puzzle Kingdoms (don't know what it is, but it was only $0.99!)
- Supreme Commander 2 ($7.47)
- Spectromancer ($4.99)
- Sid Meier's Pirates ($4.99)
- Space Rangers Pack ($9.99)
- Defense Grid ($2.49)
- Dragon Age Deluxe Pack ($45.99)
- Bioshock 2 ($36.99)

Out of all of that, I think I spent a total of $170 on all of those games. Yes, I can't sell them when I'm done. But I also never need to worry about scratched discs, lost discs, having physical discs around, losing CD keys, or downloading patches.

It's all a trade-off, and it's dependent on each person to decide which trade-off they are willing to live with. But for me, I really dig Steam's way of doing things.

 

Exactly, I will always use steam over the disks from now on. I dont resell games often anyways. (love to have the ability to go back and play classics.

And steam is great for that. I found some games that i used to play al lthe itme for cheap, and most in package deals. like the THQ one for 100 bucks. it comes with 300.00+ worth of games.

Plus you dont have to have any of them installed, you can always install and unistall at will to keep your HDD cleaned up.

So many perks.

 

I feel I need to add that in my experience it is getting harder and harder to resell games. Some have 1 off codes for online aspects, others can be limited to maybe 5 activations. I've had businesses not accept games as these features are generally hard to verify compared to a quick disc check as with console games.

 

Steam has changed the way i game especially since i've gotten the m11x.

 

When did HL2 ever need to use the disc, other than the initial install? I bought HL2 on the day it was released, and it was actually the beginning of Steam, and forced you to install Steam, and HL into Steam, in order to play the game. Since it forced that upon us, I hated it at first, not to mention the fact that in the Beginning Steam was really buggy, and forced updates on you. Being out in Iraq in early 2005, it really sucked, because the internet on a good day is horrible, compared to back home, and so the forced updates caused me to lose many days of gaming time, while awaiting an update to finish.

But, now a lot of those bugs have been worked out (you can set the games to not auto update, which is really nice out here) and the whole no disc required is a big bonus to it as well. As several people have already brought up, some of the sales Steam has are incredible, and I have purchased a huge number of games that are now in my account, very cheap as a reault. Plus, on my M11x, Steam is the perfect answer to not having a built in disc drive. Not as big of a deal on my M17x, but I still prefer to install games on it using Steam, as opposed to inserting the disc. I actually just purchased Crysis during this last Steam sale, so I did not have to insert my DVD any longer. I think it was like $14 or something, which was worth it for me to not be required to carry that disc around, and insert it every time I wished to play.

 

Install your game on your friend's PC with the disk drive and add it to your steam account on his PC.

Login to Steam on your laptop, and it will let you download the game for free because you added it to your steam account, as long as it is a game that is available on steam.

You will not be able to play the game on more than one computer at the same time.

It is 100% legal.

 

If you prefer buying games on discs you may want to look into a USB dvd drive. New ones can be had for as little as $30.

 

Seriously just install the game on any computer with an optical drive in it and make sure it gets added to your Steam account.

Then, so long as the game is available on Steam, you will be able to download and play the game on any computer through your Steam account.

As I said before, you will not be able to play the game online on more than one computer at the same time.

It is legal because the license for the game will be tied to your Steam account rather than to the computer(s) you install it on. It is, however, a violation of the license agreement to share your Steam account with another individual for them to access your games.

 

good to know whiplash, i'll give that a go. Thanks