Computer Installation Guide - Dragon Clan Series

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▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ v1.1 - Shareware package - TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= 1)....................................Disclaimer 2)....................................General introduction 2.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER introduction 2.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM introduction 2.3)....................................CD-UTILS introduction 3)....................................Important features 3.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER important features 3.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM important features 3.3)....................................CD-UTILS important features 4)....................................Limitations 4.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER limitations 4.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM limitations 4.3)....................................CD-UTILS limitations 5)....................................Features on the future versions 5.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER future features 5.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM future features 5.3)....................................CD-UTILS future features 6)....................................CDCT vs other CD emulators 7)....................................Programs options 7.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER options 7.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM options 7.3)....................................CD-UTILS options 8)....................................Instalation of programs 8.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER instalation 8.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM instalation 9)....................................Troubleshooting 9.1)....................................CDROM CHEATER troubleshooting 9.2)....................................VIRTUAL CDROM troubleshooting 9.3)....................................CD-UTILS troubleshooting 10)...................................INTERNET sites where CDCT can be found 1) Disclaimer ────────── In this document I will talk a lot about copying programs onto harddisks, avoiding copy protections of games but i do not encourage the use of these programs as pirate tools, because it's imoral and mostly because it's illegal. So, any use that is against copyright laws is not my responsibility and the user is the only responsibil for it's illegal actions. Even if i've tested these programs with many games and even if i'm trying to improve them it could exist some games that will not work fine or not work at all. Normaly, these tools will not damage data from your HDD but if they will do so i decline any responsibility. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ All program names or companies names that i will use in this │ │ document are registered trademarks of they owner companies or persons │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 2) General introduction ──────────────────── This programs are helping you to emulate CD from a HDD in order to gain speed, more reliability and much more. The package consists of three programs, CDROM CHEATER v2.3, VIRTUAL CDROM v1.1 and CD-UTILS v1.1. On this document i'll use CDCR for CDROM CHEATER, VCD for VIRTUAL CDROM and CDU for CD-UTILS. Please read very carefuly every section and especially troubleshooting sections, and if you still have problems running a game or these tools please send an e-mail, a snail or make a phone call to: Snail: Andrei Gavra Str. Victor Eftimiu, nr. 5-7, ap. 10 Bucharest, Romania E-mail: argavra@pcnet.pcnet.ro Phone number: (040)-(01)-6156831 PLEASE DO NOT SEND REGISTRATION REQUESTS TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS! All three programs are shareware, so you are allowed to use them for free only 30 days and after this time period you should register or stop using them. See more information about how to register on CDCRINFO.REG file. In the document i'll use the term image file fragments. For those who do not know what it means, when you copy a file, especially a large file (like the CD image file), the DOS is writing it on the HDD in data fragments because of the uncontignous HDD space. Of course, the user can't see it directly but if you use a defragmenter program (like Speed Disk or Defragmenter) you'll see what i mean. 2.1) CDROM CHEATER introduction ────────────────────────── This program is designed to cheat games that are not using special copy protection routines, to be able to copy onto HDD only some of the CD files and still run the program and to be a lot quicker in executing programs. CDCR is emulating a CD by creating a new logical drive from a specified directory and by emulating some MSCDEX functions and its behaviours in DOS and Windows OS. 2.2) VIRTUAL CDROM introduction ────────────────────────── This program it should cheat any CD program because it is a fake device driver with behaviour like any normal CD device driver. VCD is using MSCDEX or CORELCDX (the last program is much prefered to be used than MSCDEX) and a CD image file created with CDU program. Because VCD is accessing image file sectors directly through BIOS using the BAFAS algorythm, all CD programs will run at the speed of HDD and even better. Why even better? Because, for example DIABLO game, some CD programs contains large data files (DIABDAT.MPQ from DIABLO game has above 500Mb) and because these files reside on HDD the DOS is reading files data through READ+SEEK DOS functions which are very slowly (because DOS needs to find the requested cluster in the chain), while VCD is returning to DOS, like any other CD device driver, the data sector(s). 2.3) CD-UTILS introduction ───────────────────── This program is useful for CDCR program and needed for VCD program. Also, it can be used as a CD tool ( to get CD information, to enable/disable some CD functions etc.). 3) Important features ────────────────── Below are the features which distinguish them from other CD emulators and some needed important features in order to work with CD programs. 3.1) CDROM CHEATER important features ──────────────────────────────── - Supports volume label obtained through INT21 or INT2F - Principal CD specifications can be modified by user ■ emualated CD drives ■ MSCDEX version ■ volume label of CD disk ■ copyright file name of CD disk ■ abstract file name of CD disk ■ bibliographic file name of CD disk ■ creation date of CD disk ■ first track and last track of CD disk - Can create logical drives (with CD attributes or SUBST attributes in order to work under WINDOWS GUI) - Program is supporting FAT32 specifications - Emulated drives are write-protected and report 0 bytes free, but this features can be disabled through command line options - CDCR is able to use a .CDU file for more CD information emulated - Multiple VTOCs are supported even if .CDU file is missing - Sector access is supported even if .CDU file is missing - Supports CD transfer rate feature - Loaded before entering to Windows GUI, CDCR may work very well - Ability to be activated from its GUI or by command line options - From CDCR GUI you can launch up to 20 different CD programs - It can be activated through TSR or EXECUTE CD FILE features - While running a CD game from HDD that supports audio tracks (e.g. DESCENT II) you are able to play a CD audio in order to have some music - It will display your desired registration name (only registered version) 3.2) VIRTUAL CDROM important features ──────────────────────────────── - Because of slowly access file DOS functions it is used the BAFAS (Bogdan and Andrei File Access System) algorithm to access CD file image - BAFAS special features ■ the file sectors are read directly through BIOS (through INT13) so the resulted speed is the same as the HDD speed ■ even FAT32 is supported (only registered version) ■ is compatible with Windows 95 (see installation section) ■ for greater speed and less memory allocation is using an internal dynamical cache algorithm - CD positions can be specified as sector numbers (HSG mode) - CD positions can be specified as MM:SS:FF (Red Book mode) - Is supporting CD-XA format (only registered version) (without this feature some games, e.g. CIVILIZATION 2, will not work) - It will display your desired registration name (only registered version) 3.3) CD-UTILS important features ─────────────────────────── - Displays CD drives and CD device driver informations - Makes CDCR.CDU supplemental information file for CDCR - Makes needed CD image file for VCD - It will display your desired registration name (only registered version) 4) Limitations ─────────── Below are the limits of programs features and some imposible (or at least not in my knowledge how to make them) needed features. 4.1) CDROM CHEATER limitations ───────────────────────── - CDCR is not running very well with MSCDEX already installed - You cannot emulated CD drives from a MSCDEX CD directory - This program has been tested with MS-DOS 6.xx, Windows 95 OSs (4.00.950, OSR 2.x and Memphis) and under any other OSs, such as OS/2, the program may not work - In TSR mode the program takes 12k of memory and in EXEC mode takes 14k of memory, but in EXEC mode it is a lot easer to use (check out PgDn key) and besides that a real CDROM device driver + MSCDEX takes at about 40k of memory 4.2) VIRTUAL CDROM limitations ───────────────────────── - VCD is supporting only ISO 9660 format - VCD is supporting only one CD session - Multiple CD drives are not suported - VCD is not supporting anything besides FAT16 and FAT32 systems - VCD is supporting maximum 4 physical drives on a system - Registered version of VCD is able to manage maximum 4000 image file fragments - Shareware version of VCD is able to manage only 10 image file fragments - Registered version of VCD is able to manage maximum 200 tracks data - Shareware version of VCD is able to manage only 10 tracks data - VCD has been tested only under MS-DOS 6.xx and Windows 95 systems - The program will take at least 3k of memory, the amount of taken memory depends of the number of image file fragments of HDD. The formula of how much memory is taken is the following: Amount_of_memory = 3640bytes + (8bytes * number_of_file_fragments) NOTE: It is recommended to defragment your HDD (with programs like Defragmenter, Speed Disk) after you created the CD image file (this way your program will take only 3640bytes + 8bytes = 3648bytes) 4.3) CD-UTILS limitations ──────────────────── - CDU is supporting only ISO 9660 format - CDU creates a image file only from CDs with only one ROM track or with one ROM track (always the first track) and multiple audio tracks - CDU is making the CD image file using only one CD session (CD disks with more than one session are very, very, very rare)_ - This program is not working very well under WINDOWS 95 GUI; use it only under the MS-DOS 7.x session (the session before entering GUI) 5) Features on the future versions ─────────────────────────────── Below i've written some features that i want to implement in the future releases, some of them are already in developement. 5.1) CDROM CHEATER future features ───────────────────────────── - New and more useful GUI - New TSR engine - More powerful supplemental information file - More informations about how to use and how is working 5.2) VIRTUAL CDROM future features ───────────────────────────── - Support for multiple image files in order to manage multiple CD games (e.g. Privateer 2) - The allocation of memory will be done through HIMEM.SYS, so it will take only 3k of base memory and the rest from XMS - More informations about how to use it and how is working - Full support for RAW reading mode 5.3) CD-UTILS future features ──────────────────────── - In order to create the image file you will be able to specify a directory where are hold all CD file and directories (you'll not need the CD disk anymore) - More informations about how to use it and how is working 6) CDCT vs other CD emulators ────────────────────────── Here i've tried to make a comparasion of my emulators with the most known CD emulators, such as 0CD, FakeCD etc. In process of makeing these tops i was considering only the power to cheat the programs because i think that the friendly shell or the easy-to-use options are relative from a person to other. The number of points can be from 1 to 15, 12 is meaning that the emulation is like MSCDEX and 15 is meaning that besides perfect MSCDEX emulation is working as the speed of HDD, is working very good under Windows 95, it doens't need the CD drive and stuff like that. - CDEMU2 = 1 point - FAKECD v1.0c = 2 points - BCD v1.386 = 2 points - TBNCD v1.7 = 3 points - 0CD v9.7.4 = 4 points - CDCR v2.3 = 5 points - FAKEDR v0.9 = 10 points - VCD v1.1 = 13 points 7) Programs options ──────────────── This section explain in detail all programs options and make some observations about how to use some of them. 7.1) CDROM CHEATER options ───────────────────── Main menu options: F1 = displays two help screens, where you can find a very short description of menu options F2 = displays 'About' screen, where you can see the version number and your name if you have registered the program F3 = reads short useful information from the CD and saves them in CDCR.CFG; because of the 20 different posible configurations the saved information differs from one configuration to another; the 'Drives available' field and the 'MSCDEX version' field are the same for all 20 configurations; if you launch CDCR with command line options the program is using current configuration information F4 = first creates one or more drives specified in 'Drives available' field using the directory specified in 'File to execute' field (after the '[' character) and after this executes the specified file in 'File to execute' field; 'File to execute' field data is overwritten by command line data F8 = removes the program from memory if it was installed as TSR; if you are in executing COMMAND.COM this function will not work F9 = installs the program as TSR if it is not installed and if it is, updates all informations in the CDCR copy from memory F10 = exits from GUI to DOS PgDn = displays a window from which you can select a configuration which is known from the specific filepath and/or directory path f = activates 'File to execute' field; if you want to execute a file with F4 function you have to have a filepath specified; you must specify a directory path from which a new drive will be created; CDCR will know to consider entered text as a directory path if you will put '[' character at the beginning d = activates 'Drives available' field; this field must have at least one drive letter specified; if you specify an already existent drive, CDCR will overwrite it but the recover of it when you remove CDCR from memory may not work very well s = activates 'First track' field t = activates 'Last track' field v = activates 'MSCDEX version' field; this tells CDCR to return specified version; there are not differences between versions n = activates 'Creation date' field; this tells CDCR to return specified date of the CD creation; this option is not very important (i didn't find any CD program that check it) v = activates 'Volume label' field; this tells CDCR to return to CD functions the name wanted; if you use the 'v' command line option this label will be returned to DOS functions too; this name is not usualy needed by a program c = activates 'Copyright filename' field; this tells CDCR to return to CD functions the name wanted; this name function is not usualy needed by a program a = activates 'Abstract filename' field; this tells CDCR to return to CD functions the name wanted; this name function is not usualy needed by a program b = activates 'Bibliographic filename' field; this tells CDCR to return to CD functions the name wanted; this name function is not usualy needed by a program Field menu options: Enter = accepts entered text Escape = renounces entered text Delete = deletes current character Insert = toggles insert mode to off in order to overwrite characters Home = moves cursor position to the begining of text End = moves cursor position to the end of text Backspace = deletes previous character Cursor keys = moves cursor position forward or backward Command line options: i = disables hook on INT21; through this interrupt CDCR is fooling programs in order to think that the drive is write-protected, it returns 0 bytes free and stuff like that; is useful if you wish to write or delete something from the CD emulated drive, but only if CD program is not checking the access to the drive, 0 bytes free and stuff like that c = disable create drive(s) feature; if this command is specified CDCR will emulate only CD functions and don't try to create the logical drive(s); is useful for some systems in which the CDCR create drive(s) routine is not working and is useful if you copied the CD files to the root of an existent drive and want to use this drive as a CD drive. a = sets SUBST drive attributes instead of CD attributes; this function is mandatory under WINDOWS 95 GUI (and not under MS-DOS 7.x) because if you'll not use it the CD emulated drive will display the root contents of the source drive and not the directory contents of the source drive v = tells CDCR to use entered name in 'Volume label' field from GUI not only as the volume label obtained through CD functions but as volume label obtained through DOS functions too mf = tells CDCR to use some of the basics features of the already installed MSCDEX (audio support, tracks info support etc.) ma = tells CDCR to use only audio support feature of the already installed MSCDEX w = tells CDCR not to use Windows 95 specific features; usualy CDCR should know when to use Windows 95 specific features, but if you're having running problems please use this option s = tells CDCR not to use MS-DOS 7.x specific features; usualy CDCR should know when to use MS-DOS 7.x specific features, but if you're having running problems please use this option e{FILE [DIR}= tells CDCR to creates a new CD drive using DIR as source directory and then to execute FILE; if it is used 'C' option than the source directory after '[' character is ignored and CDCR is only executing FILE without creating a new CD drive (if the drive doesn't exists than it must be created with 'SUBST' program); instead of using fullpath of FILE or DIR you can enter only the filename of FILE, CDCR will look for this file in current directory, and you can enter only '.' character, in this case CDCR will use as source directory the current directory; between '{' and '}' are allowed maximum 54 characters t{ [DIR}= tells CDCR to creates a new CD drive using DIR as source directory and to remain resident in memory (TSR); if it is used 'C' option than the source directory after '[' character is ignored and CDCR is only remaining resident in memory without creating a new CD drive (if the drive doesn't exists than it must be created with 'SUBST' program); instead of using DIR you can enter only '.' character, in this case CDCR will use as source directory the current directory; between '{' and '}' are allowed maximum 54 characters u = removes CDCR from memory if it is has been installed as TSR drv:LETTER = instead of using specified drive in 'Drives available' field from CDCR GUI it is used LETTER as the new drive f{FILE} = uses FILE as the supplemental information file created with CDU program ?|h = displays command line help 7.2) VIRTUAL CDROM options ───────────────────── f{filename} = uses specified filename as the CD image file; this option must exists and filename can be at maximum 59 characters long; VCD needs the fullpath of image file d{name} = uses specified name as the device name (MSCDEX is use it) instead of default name, VCD001; the name can be at maximum 8 characters long 7.3) CD-UTILS options ──────────────── do:? = opens the CD door of drive ? dc:? = closes the CD door of drive ? dl:? = locks the CD door of drive ? du:? = unlocks the CD door of drive ? di:? = displays CD door status of drive ? vt:? = saves all VTOCs of drive ? to CDVTOC.CDU in current directory; maximum 100 VTOCs are allowed cr:? = saves supplemental data of drive ? used by CDCR v2.3 to CDCR.CDU in current directory; maximum 100 VTOCs are allowed i = displays information about CD device and drive(s); CDU displays device informations only for the first device driver ap:?:XX-YY = plays audio tracks of ? drive from XX track to YY track; ap:? = plays all audio tracks of ? drive as:? = stops playing audio tracks of ? drive ar:? = resumes playing audio tracks of ? drive ti:? = displays tracks information of ? drive v{filename} = verifies the integrity of filename image file; blocks of 2048000 bytes are checked and errors occured are shown at the positions in image file; the filename can be with or without fullpath f:? = saves CD data of ? drive to IMAGE.VCD file in order to be used with VCD v1.1; because some CDs are poorly written or because of existence of gap-space between tracks the LEAD-OUT track or the first audio track are not at the end of CD data track and therefore CDU could report some errors in reading the last blocks, but do not worry because everything is OK; usually these errors are not important (they are in data area) but in some cases (like a scratch on your CD) they could be real n2 = reads the number of CD sectors through a less good method; this option is useful with some bad written CDs from which CDU is not able to read the correct number of CD sectors through default method; the reason for this error is because some CDs have a bad written lead-out track and therefore CDU must reads the number of CD sectors from VTOC ?|h = displays help screens 8) Instalation of programs ─────────────────────── This section explains how to use all three programs, using an example, and how to get and use all needed supplemental CD information. 8.1) CDROM CHEATER instalation ───────────────────────── Instalation for a DOS game called Descent 2: - Make sure you're under the real MS-DOS session (not under 'MS-DOS Prompt' from Windows GUI) - Copy CD files to a directory, let's say C:\DESC2CD - Rename HDD label (the C: drive in this case) to the CD label you see with 'dir' command or Norton Commander, Dos Navigator II (in this case DESCENT_II) - Press F3 to read some CD data - Use CDU program to obtain a supplemental CD data file called CDCR.CDU and place it to the directory where you will install DESCENT 2, let's say to C:\GAMES\DESCENT2 (this step is not needed for the most of games and for DESCENT 2 too). The command line of CDU is (if the D: is the CD drive) : CDU CR:D - Remove the CD disc from drive (you do not need it anymore) - Boot without CD device driver + MSCDEX installed,or if boot with them make sure you do not have any CD disc inserted in drive - Enter in CDCR GUI, activate 'File to execute' field (press 'F'), insert the following text and press ENTER: [C:\DESC2CD - Activate 'Drives available' field (press 'D') and enter, for example, G: as the new drive - Press F9 to remain resident - Go to G: drive and install the program, let's say to C:\GAMES\DESCENT2 - From now you can run it from C:\GAMES\DESCENT2, if i remeber well with DESCENT.BAT file - In order to be much quicker in running DESCENT 2, instead of use TSR feature from CDCR GUI and so on, you can create a batch file with the following command line and run it before entering to the game: CDCR E{C:\GAMES\DESCENT2\DESCENT.BAT [C:\DESC2CD} DRV:G WARNING: Usualy CDCR is working with MSCDEX if you move MSCDEX letter above CDCR letter, but sometimes programs may try to find with which device driver MSCDEX is communicating (in this case the CD device driver) and use it NOTE: Usualy you do not have to rename the HDD label the same as CD label because F3 command is reading it and, even if is activated by command line, CDCR knows to use it, but in some cases it couldn't work and if you change the current selection field from CDCR GUI the program doesn't use it Instalation for a WINDOWS game called Entomorph: - Make sure you're under the real MS-DOS session (not under 'MS-DOS Prompt' from Windows GUI) - Copy CD files to a directory, let's say C:\ENTOCD - Press F3 to read some CD data - Use CDU program to obtain a supplemental CD data file called CDCR.CDU and place it to the directory where you will install ENTOMORPH, let's say to C:\GAMES\ENTOMPH (this step is not needed for the most of games). The command line of CDU is (if the D: is the CD drive) : CDU CR:D - Remove the CD disc from drive (you do not need it anymore) - Boot without CD device driver + MSCDEX installed,or if boot with them make sure you do not have any CD disc inserted in drive - Enter in CDCR GUI, activate 'File to execute' field (press 'F'), insert the following text and press ENTER: [C:\ENTOCD - Activate 'Drives available' field (press 'D') and enter, for example, G: as the new drive - Press F9 to remain resident - Enter in Windows GUI (with 'WIN.COM' command) - Go to G: drive and install the program, let's say to C:\GAMES\ENTOMPH - Now you can run the game - In order to be much quicker in running ENTOMORPH, instead of use TSR feature from CDCR GUI and so on, you can create a batch file with the following command line and run it before entering to the game (assuming that you have Windows installed in C:\WINDOWS directory) : CDCR E{C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM [C:\ENTO2CD} DRV:G WARNING: Usualy CDCR is working with MSCDEX if you move MSCDEX letter above CDCR letter, but sometimes programs may try to find with which device driver MSCDEX is communicating (in this case the CD device driver) and use it 8.2) VIRTUAL CDROM instalation ───────────────────────── Instalation for a DOS game called Daggerfall (Arena 2): - Make sure you're under the real MS-DOS session (not under 'MS-DOS Prompt' from Windows GUI) - Install your CD device driver + MSCDEX in order to see your CD drive (let's say D: is your CD drive letter) - Place in CD drive Daggerfall CD - Use CDU to make the CD image file: CDU F:D - Remove the CD disc from drive (you do not need it anymore) - Rename the IMAGE.VCD created file to a more specific name, like ARENA2.VCD - Put VCD.SYS line in your CONFIG.SYS with the specification of using ARENA2.VCD as the image file: DEVICE=C:\VCD.SYS F{C:\ARENA2.VCD} - Put MSCDEX.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT with the specification of using VCD001 as the device name: MSCDEX.EXE /D:VCD001 - Boot in order to install VCD and MSCDEX - From now everything will behave like ARENA2 CD WARNING: While you're running VCD.SYS do not move the image file to another directory or defragmentate your hard disk (boot without VCD installed and then you can do the above operations) NOTE: VCD and the CD drive can co-exist if you make sure that CD drive letter is greater than VCD emulated drive letter, but do not let ARENA2 CD inserted in CD drive Instalation for a WINDOWS 95 game called Diablo: - Make sure you're under the real MS-DOS session (not under 'MS-DOS Prompt' from Windows GUI) - Install your CD device driver + MSCDEX in order to see your CD drive (let's say H: is your CD drive letter) - Place in CD drive Diablo CD - Use CDU to make the CD image file: CDU F:H - Remove DIABLO CD from CD drive - Rename the IMAGE.VCD created file to a more specific name, like DIABLO.VCD - Put VCD.SYS line in your CONFIG.SYS with the specification of using DIABLO.VCD as the image file: DEVICE=C:\VCD.SYS F{C:\DIABLO.VCD} - Put MSCDEX.EXE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT with the specification of using VCD001 as the device name: MSCDEX.EXE /D:VCD001 - Boot in order to install VCD and MSCDEX - Enter to Windows 95 GUI with the following line: WIN.COM - From now everything will behave like DIABLO CD WARNING: Because Windows 95 is looking for CD drive every time you're entering in it you can remove CD cable data in order not to be detected the CD drive or, and this is much better, VCD and the CD drive can co-exist if you make sure that CD drive letter is greater than VCD emulated drive letter, but do not let DIABLO CD inserted in CD drive WARNING: While you're running VCD.SYS do not move the image file to another directory or defragmentate your hard disk (boot without VCD installed and then you can do the above operations) NOTE: Do not worry about the speed of the emulated drive (Windows tells that is using MS-DOS file access to this drive) because VCD is accessing the image file through BIOS (INT13) 9) Troubleshooting ────────────── This section explains some strange behaviours in some system configurations and the special requirements of programs to run well with some CD programs. 9.1) CDROM CHEATER troubleshooting ───────────────────────────── - This program supports multiple CDROM drives but because of poor programming some games will read only from the first CD emulated drive - Use the functions EXEC, REM, RES/UPD only under the real DOS sessions from Windows 3.xx or Windows 95 (use these functions before running Windows 3.xx or Windows 95 GUIs) - If some installs games will execute some special routines, such as CD speed, and CDROM CHEATER will not be enough to foolish them run install from CD and after that copy the CDROM games to hard disk - Make sure you have enough drives available for the OS (command LASTDRIVE=x from CONFIG.SYS) - DO NOT CONFUSE first track and the last one with first AUDIO track the last one (tracks data from the CD will be read through READ function or will be set to default) - SUBST drive attributes is needed for programs under Windows GUI - If you will execute a batch file the program will use another copy of COMMAND.COM to run it which means another 8k of memory will be used (it will not be used the first copy of COMMAND.COM because the sistem might crash) - Volume label of DOS functions could be read through READ function and it is put into a hidden buffer, different from the buffer for volume label of CDROM functions (the one you can modify in main menu) and it is used separated in CDROM emulation; anyway, if you don't have the CD from which you have to read the volume label of DOS functions (e.g. DESCENT II) but you do know the volume label of DOS functions (e.g. for DESCENT II is DESCENT_II) than you have to use DOS LABEL command to label the hard disk with DESCENT_II; in some cases you cannot modify the label of hard disk but you do know the 'bad INT21 label'(function 4Eh of INT21 has an error), for example volume label for DESCENT II DESCENT_.II, than you have to run CDCR.EXE with 'v' or 'V' option and write at volume label field from main menu DESCENT_.II - Be sure to have read-only attribute on all CD-files; be careful because Dos Navigator II is removing read-only attributes on all copied files to HDD - For a full support of a CD program please use CDU.EXE for creating .CDU file and use READ function from CDCR.EXE too - The following data fields will be modified by .CDU file: volume label, creation date, copyright filename, abtract filename, bibliographic filename; - It is recommended that CDCR should not be activated from any file and directory navigator; for example, DOS Navigator II is not giving full system access to any program under memory managers like EMM, QEMM. - Sometimes for a better emulation, if you use MSCDEX, you better specify the CDCR drive letter the same as MSCDEX letter 9.2) VIRTUAL CDROM troubleshooting ───────────────────────────── - Do not move any CD image files from their current directory or drive while you're running VCD.SYS - If you have the shareware version you'll have to defragmentate your HDD every time you make a new CD image file or move it from a place to another 9.3) CD-UTILS troubleshooting ──────────────────────── - CDU is not working very well under Windows 95 GUI, so please use it under the real MS-DOS prompt - Sometimes, because of the bad written CDs, CDU reads an invalid number of CD sectors through the default method so you'll need to use the second method of reading the number of CD sectors ('n2') - CDU will display a warning message if your CD has less than 1Mb data or more than 800Mb space; usualy CDs must have at least 1Mb data and CDs that have more than 800Mb data may not be handled well by CDU and VCD programs 10) INTERNET sites where CDCT can be found ────────────────────────────────────── Latest version can be obtained through my e-mail address or it can be found on FTP sites: ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utildisk/ ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/cdrom/ on WWW site: www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/cdrom/ The archive name is CDCTxxS.ZIP, where xx is the version number.