Stronghold 2 Mini image [Archive]

crossmr

07-05-2005, 14:20

If anyone wants a mini-image for Stronghold 2 (to be used in the same way as a clone of the game) I just submitted it to GCW. I've tested it and it works identical to the clone I have, and no crash at the beginning of the war missions.
Compatible with version 1.1

Kakarott

08-05-2005, 02:52

u can also use a simply .exe crack to run this game without any problems, of course with patch 1.1 ...

And u need no cd ... ;)

Boerek

08-05-2005, 07:22

a miniimage is a good way to save mb's on your hdd. and why u laugh? whats is when patch 1.2 is released and u have to wait 1 ot 2 weeks again? this miniimage is a good opinion 4 everybody

Mickey Padge

08-05-2005, 07:36

Hi Boereki. I would be very interested in the mini image :)
Could you E-Mail me ?

Cheers!

EDIT: Boereki I sent you a PM ;)

crossmr

08-05-2005, 13:14

Not to mention the 1.1 crack from hoodlum crashes when you try to start the war campaign. Sorry, but I'd just prefer mini-images. Rarely are they bigger than the fixed exe's, and you can update like you can a clone.
Much easier, and less messy. I don't have to continually wait around for someone to crack it to update the game. I wished I'd learned about them so much sooner.

@Mickey Padge:I'm the one who made it so you'll have to get ahold of me if you want it before GCW posts it.

or I can attach it.. its about 6400K rar'd. Will this forum take attachments that big?

Mickey Padge

08-05-2005, 15:38

Oops! Rookie mistake ;)

PM sent crossmr!

and thanks :)

Boerek

09-05-2005, 03:07

no problem ;)

Kakarott

09-05-2005, 03:21

is patch 1.2 released?

I dont find him ...

@ Boerek

I dont know this advantage of a mini image, thx for information :D

Mickey Padge

09-05-2005, 08:23

Mickey Padge

09-05-2005, 10:14

OK I got trackmania working now :) with the image file at GCW, but still the same error with stronghold 2 :(

Can anyone else confirm if the image works? GCW have added it to Stronghold 2 downloads section now so its easy to get :)

Cheers

crossmr

10-05-2005, 20:06

Crossmr I get a message "original disc could not be found or authenticated"

Suffice to day that the image does not work for me at least.

I can use Heroes of world war II and Medieval Lords games with this method and a good image file, but not Stronghold 2 or trackmania for that matter.

All optical drives were off and reg tweaks done to hide D-Tools.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Did you follow ALL the instructions Mickey?
This includes:
Using starforce nightmare to disable your optical drives
making the registry change that is required.
(you have to make a second registry change if you have the absolute latest alcohol 120% installed)
mounting it with daemon tools, NOT alcohol 120%?

Just a note guys: For anyone who wants this, it is now up on GCW so feel free to check their latest updates. Follow the instructions and it SHOULD work. These steps have been used for other games that use the same protection, and I've verified it at least working on my machine. I can't see any reason it shouldn't work on yours unless starforce nightmare isn't disabling your drives properly. If this is the case you might want to grab anti-blaxxx and try that (a similar program)

Mickey Padge

11-05-2005, 05:18

BaumDoktor

11-05-2005, 12:48

Yep I followed the instructions to the letter. I unplugged my CD-Rom drive and tried SFNightmare, did the reg tweak.

It just gives the same message "original disc could not be found or authenticated"

It does try to authenticate the disc because a large cd-rom icon appears on the mouse cursor for a few seconds before the message appears.

I have clean re-installed my OS and get the same results.

same here (exactly the same) bothers me (although the crack works perfectly so far) becourse i like the mini image method better than cracks ...what os do you use ,mickey? windows 2000 (like me)? or xp maybe its os relaited

crossmr

11-05-2005, 14:54

That is a definite possibility. I'm not sure how the emulation works with 2000 vs XP (I use XP)
you may try searching generic starforce nightmare solutions in regards to windows 2000. I will look around and see what I can find. It may require a different utility or additional registry settings as opposed to what is required with XP.
Unfortunately I have no way to test anything. Both my PC and my wife's is XP Home.

mastergamer

12-05-2005, 02:27

good work guys

Mickey Padge

12-05-2005, 03:50

I am running WinXP SP2 here :)

crossmr

12-05-2005, 15:41

Hmm I'm at a loss for you Mickey. if I knew some more about your computer I might be able to come up with something.
Could you give me a run down of your set up and all your connected hardware?

Mickey Padge

13-05-2005, 11:05

I have an nforce 2 board with an AMD mobile XP CPU running 3000mhz with a Mach II cooler :D
768MB ram @ 400mhz DDR 2.2.2.11 Timings.
4x 36GB WD Raptor HDD on a 4 port rocket raid 0 setup giving about 140GB HDD space.
Chuck in an ATI X800XTPE for good measure and your laughing ;)

See: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8463070

I was just running to bench on that run :) I run the above speed 24/7 and have a real XTPE now, not a modded card. I won't be upgrading anytime soon :p

I think your version of the game is the US/Canada release where mine is the European release, thats where the problem may be.

Cheers

EDIT: I have an NEC DVD-RW, but I unplugged it when testing the image.

mojo8850

13-05-2005, 15:36

crossmr

13-05-2005, 16:00

Hi..

I'm Using The Hoodlum Crack On A 1.1 Patch Working Fine In War Campaign Mode.

Im In Chapter 4, :)

Thats interesting because everyone I talked to had the game crash as soon as they started the first mission of the war campaign. After they watched the cinematic, and went to select the 2 units, the game would crash.

mojo8850

13-05-2005, 16:07

Hmmm..

That Is Strange, Something Is Wierd. :(

Destabilizator

14-05-2005, 03:57

I've got the same problem, mini image doesnt work - Disc could not be authentificated...
Running WinXP Pro SP2, done the reg tweak (also the one for Alcohol120%, because I've got it), StarNm disabled my drives but still...
Using the Hoodlum crack now (yea, it crashed at the beginning of war campaign, but I started the game v1.0, finished first war mission and then updated), but after finishing chapter and seeing cut-scene the game crashes and corrupts my last saved game (cant be loaded, it crashes again, previous saves works)... I'm quite pissed off :D

crossmr

14-05-2005, 06:49

Game-Hacker

14-05-2005, 08:02

No problem with crack from hoodlum eaither for patch 1.1

RoNi*In@T.N.T>

14-05-2005, 11:54

I don"t know for you guys but the crack for v1.0 is working fine for me..Only the trainer doesn't work,but the game is easy so you don't want aany trainers..

crossmr

14-05-2005, 13:33

The 1.0 crack from hoodlum works fine last I heard, the problem was with the 1.1 there are random errors with it, but a specific error that most people seem to have it crash when starting the war campaign.
Regardless, this isn't a discussion of which is better, etc. I made this simply for people who didn't want to have to wait for a crack before upgrading.

For those getting errors, I need more information to try and diagnose your issue.
Specifically: What CD software do you have on your PC: Both emulation and copying
OPerating System

Different copy protections will try and blacklist different things.

Xeticus

14-05-2005, 15:35

I'm also having problems. I went into regedit and observed that I had no scsi port 3, just ports 0, 1 and 2. So I disabled port 2 read, and it didnt work. I disabled all of them, and it didnt work. I uninstalled alcohol just in case, with no avail. I have several CD copy programs, including Nero, CloneCD, others. I guess I should also note that when I restart windows, the permissions for the scsi ports revert back to read. Strange eh? Any help is appreciated.

Xeticus

crossmr

14-05-2005, 19:35

Remember you're not disabling read, you're setting the 'deny' box beside read.

The settings are supposed to revert on restart (this is why its helpful to bookmark the settings for those 2 registry entries)
There is one more solution that may help. You may need to change the name of your daemon tools virtual drive. I apologize that I've completely forgotten about this step (as its something you only do once, and I had previously done for another game)
To do this start daemon tools
right click the icon in the systray
goto virtual CD/DVD Rom
goto the drive you're using
choose "Set Device parameters"
change the vendor name to something else
change the revision to something else (I just made it 2.0)

Try again.
This only has to be done once.

Xeticus

14-05-2005, 19:54

Still doesnt work... I've deleted all of my copying progs except Nero, done the regedit thing, downloaded the latest daemon tools version, unplugged my cd-roms manually, used starforce nightmare and disabled CD ROMS, changed the device parameters in daemon tools as described in your last post.... nothing works. Any other clues? :confused:

Xeticus

crossmr

14-05-2005, 20:57

You remounted after you changed the parameters correct? (becuase it will unmount the image to apply them)
One thing you need to watch out for with certain applications is left over registry entries.

Is this working for anyone else at all, or was it some freak accident that caused it to work for me?

You might try running a reg cleaner to make sure any entries left over from say CloneCD are gone taht might tip the copy protection off.

Game-Hacker

14-05-2005, 21:14

I can run with hoodlum but it was lag. I played the Kingmaker path of war and it lag with AMD Sempron 2.8 and geforce 5200FX 128MB and Ram of 512. In some cases, it also said I ran out virtual memory.

So I tried your image and all your instruction but unforetunately it said I need the original CD. Do you use any anti-starforce software besides starforce nightmare?

Maybe you should try your image in other PC if you have one. I also tried using your image in my Acer Ferrari AMD 64 3000+ with 1 GB of Ram and the same thing happened, it needs the original CD. Thx for your attention and time by the way.

crossmr

14-05-2005, 22:38

I'm going to have to investigate what is going on here.
When I posted this, I had started 8 games in a row with this mini image (make sure anything else was unmounted) and had no issue. I haven't played the game actually since I posted this, and went to start it, and I'm getting an issue as well now. The only thing I did was stop the securerom service, has anyone else who's having an issue do the same thing?

And to top it off..reinstalling the game is not reinstalling the service..

That would be the uaservice7.exe If anyone still has this service installed and could hook me up wtih the sile (stored in windows\system32) please let me know. I only stopped this service when reading about it.. I didn't think I needed it, but I think I just realized WHY its needed.

It allows people without admin priveleges to run securerom7..
since you're denying all access to those reg entries, maybe without this service running, it croaks. So if anyone can hook me up for testing purposes please do so as reinstalling has not reinstalled the service (which makes NO sense again)

[edit]I've reinstalled again and for some reason its still not reinstalling that damn service. Until I can bring back this service for testing, i'm quite sure that this had something to do with the mini-image being able to run. Its the only thing I've changed in relation to securom on my PC and now it doesn't work.

Xeticus

15-05-2005, 10:34

I've been searching for that file... can't get it to reinstall, and I dont have that file in my windows dir. I did a starforce clean (used the prog from GCW), and still no luck. BTW, is it necessary to use starforce nightmare even after I unplugged the devices manually? SFN is really unstable, and about 70% of the time crashes. Let us know if you find out anything else.

Xeticus

crossmr

15-05-2005, 14:37

If you've unplugged your drives, there is no need to use SFN as it basically accomplishes the same thing. You should still need to make the registry changes though.
I can't imagine that I got 8 times in a row flukey luck with starting this game before I put up the mini-image for everything. There is something fairly obvious I must be missing (thats what happens when you take a few day break from a game) and forgetting here.
I apologize for the inconvenience here, I swear up and down this was working several times in a row with no issue.
I also tried reinstalling another securom game I had on the PC (Knights of Honor) but the service didn't appear after installing that either (its the only other securom game I think I have on here right now)

Xeticus

15-05-2005, 18:01

The patch comes out tomorrow, and I don't want to wait for the new 1.2 crack!!! Crossmr figure this out asap! :D

crossmr

15-05-2005, 19:03

The patch comes out tomorrow, and I don't want to wait for the new 1.2 crack!!! Crossmr figure this out asap! :D
Working on it :) I also found another Securom game I have running.. Act of War. I will try reinstalling that and see if it provides that service.

[edit] after much searching and redoing my steps, I'm convinced it was this uaservice7.exe service that allowed the mini-image to operate correctly. Its possible that this service which is supposed to aid the copy protection when the user doesn't have admin priveledges makes things easier for the mini-image to slip by. The only problem is that this service doesn't come with all Securom games (or for some reason the 3 games I've reinstalled now don't have it). I'm hoping that my manual removal of the service won't prevent it from being reinstalled. I would highly appreciate anyone who has this file to contact me and send it to me (regardless of whether or not you have this game). I've tried reinstalling
Stronghold 2
Act of War
Knights of honor

this could have come from a previous game I had installed and didn't get removed when it was uninstalled for all I know. I've got alot of CDs sitting here, but I shall find the game that it came from if someone can't provide it for me.

crossmr

16-05-2005, 15:37

I'm pooched. I installed Lego: Star wars which gave me UASERVICE7.exe running
but nothing.
I'm completely lost as to what permitted this mini-image to work.
I'm positive I've gotten the right copy of it (maybe I didn't, I'll try making another)
As I made several before hitting one that worked. (The non-working ones generally gave an error when trying to mount)

Xeticus

16-05-2005, 15:45

;) Went and bought the game. Thanks for you efforts Crossmr, it's appreciated.

Xeticus

crossmr

16-05-2005, 17:09

No worries it was as much for me as it was for anyone else. I'm a little ticked that its suddenly not working, now I have to keep a backup clone instead of a tiny mini-image until I configure out what the heck it was that I did that allowed this.
Now that Uaservice7 has been tested and found not to be the catalyst its back to the drawing board to see if I've changed anything else on my PC since I last ran it. I don't recall anything though, it had been a quiet few days on my machine. No mucking in the registry and no utilities installed or removed.
I did run my spyware scanner, but it didn't detect anything except a backweb-lite service from my logitech mouse.
I can't see that affecting it.

dj teac

16-05-2005, 20:00

Why need Mini Image ?
Ok Mini Image is nice because it doesn't take much space, but for me the Clone Version from Carbon works perfectly mountet in Daemon tools, without No-CD Patch.

I just mounted the Second Image, if game detects DTools just use "Anti-Blaxx" and it can't detect D-Tools.
Sometimes you gotta start, then it says Wrong CD, and then start again, maybee thats because Anti Blaxx needs some seconds to start working, but the game is faster ;)

crossmr

17-05-2005, 16:30

space is mainly the reason. If you keep 5 games installed and have clones for all of them, thats about 4.2 GB. More if any of those games are clones of DVDs (could be up to 20+gb)
Where with mini-images you're looking at a few mb.

Destabilizator

19-05-2005, 04:07

Could you give us a rundown on your system specs, any other CD software you might have installed (clone CD, nero, etc) Its possible there is another black list on this as well, I only have alcohol 120% and Daemon tools (you are running latest daemon tools correct?) and I run no others.
I know The Sims 2 black listed various programs and it was a pain to track down what was causing it.

My system is:
AMD 64 3500+
X800XTPE (original)
2GB RAM (2x dual channel) :cool:
250GB HDD Hitachi
Abit AV8 uGuru mainboard
Running:
WinXP Pro SP2 (totally up to date)
Nero Burning Rom+Alcohol 120%+Daemon+CloneDVD2+AnyDVD(starting only when it's needed, normally not running), everything the latest full versions
p.s.: when I'm doing the reg tweak, i have SCSI Port 0,1,2,3,4... I have to disable 2+3+4 or the game says "Emulation detected", am using SN to disable my optical drives, I also changed manufacturer and revision of my daemon drive
I'm really pissed of, cuz now when the game crashes, all my saved games are corrupted (cannot be loaded again, the game crashes after loading)..
if u wanna know some more details, u can catch me on ICQ :)

Jeffstaine

19-05-2005, 10:46

same here (exactly the same) bothers me (although the crack works perfectly so far) becourse i like the mini image method better than cracks ...what os do you use ,mickey? windows 2000 (like me)? or xp maybe its os relaited

Hi!
I am wondering about the need of an Mini-Image or a crack. Just use alc120 read-method by taking the rpms/dpm in combination with the wanted protection and it works perfectly from cd...

Bye

Jeff
PS: The most common way for doin´so is the use of RW´s ;-)

mojo8850

19-05-2005, 15:56

Hi.

I Dont Understand Could You Simplify It A Bit More :)

mpapad

20-05-2005, 10:11

crossmr

20-05-2005, 14:52

Not always an option for some people. We're trying to do something here to help other people, however they may want to do it.

dj teac

21-05-2005, 05:25

Buy a bigger harddrive!
Or use your originals.
Yeah and what if they use a Notebook like me ?
I got a 100GB in there but most Notebookusers will have about 40GB and those 2,5 HDD are damn expensive...

And yeah the Space safed with a Mini Image is really a good reason for it :)
Btw i installed it today on my Other PC and have tried your Mini-Image, for the first start after the Installation it worked ( with Anti-Blaxx to hide D-Tools )
But the other times it didn't work :confused:

Maybee im to stupid or maybee my PC wants to piss me off :o

nemesis.x

21-05-2005, 09:35

crossmr, could you explain how to make a SecuROM mini-image. I know it isn't easy like making a Safedisc MI, and I need to make MI's of some other SecuROM games.

edit: well I figured out how to get Alcohol to not report it as an invalid image when I shrink it. how can I determine which files securom checks?

Game-Hacker

22-05-2005, 01:34

hey, cross I think I know why your mini image is not working. Stronghold2 use securom not star force. Maybe you should make a new mini mini image. thx

dj teac

22-05-2005, 01:41

hey, cross I think I know why your mini image is not working. Stronghold2 use securom not star force. Maybe you should make a new mini mini image. thx

He know that it is securom.
That starforce Nightmare thing is only to hide your drives...

F2a

25-05-2005, 19:09

Has anyone tried this with the new patch?

head

26-05-2005, 01:59

Yes me, but it doesn't work.

Destabilizator

26-05-2005, 06:15

Hoodlum released patch v1.2:rolleyes:

medeni

26-05-2005, 06:33

Hoodlum released patch v1.2:rolleyes:
YES indeed :)
and who dont believe it look here :
http://www.nforce.nl/nfos/renderer/ls-black.php?id=91327&tprq=clean%20nfo

Hopefully the crack wont be buggy as previous releases from Hoodlum :)

doomerdgr8

26-05-2005, 08:32

YES indeed :)
and who dont believe it look here :
http://www.nforce.nl/nfos/renderer/ls-black.php?id=91327&tprq=clean%20nfo

Hopefully the crack wont be buggy as previous releases from Hoodlum :)

On the official site, the current game version is still v1.10...
This may be a little lame, but were's v1.2 (shoot me, if ur http://www.fileforums.com/images/smilies/mad.gif)?

medeni

26-05-2005, 08:46

On the official site, the current game version is still v1.10...
This may be a little lame, but were's v1.2 (shoot me, if ur http://www.fileforums.com/images/smilies/mad.gif)?
Read Rule #6
It takes time for a crack to pop out on GCW so be patient !!!

F2a

26-05-2005, 10:50

On the official site, the current game version is still v1.10...
This may be a little lame, but were's v1.2 (shoot me, if ur http://www.fileforums.com/images/smilies/mad.gif)?

The patch is here: http://www.take2games.com/index.php?p=support&product=220%2C3%2CFireFly+Studios%27+Stronghold+2% 2CPC%2C2K_Games%2Cstrong2&section=patches

doomerdgr8

27-05-2005, 02:16

Read Rule #6
It takes time for a crack to pop out on GCW so be patient !!!
I think I have memorized all the rulz but you may want to "read" my post before jumping to ideas...

doomerdgr8

27-05-2005, 02:31

Saw this in the another Stronghold topic (http://www.fileforums.com/showthread.php?p=281362#post281362) and hope it works...

Stronghold 2 No-CD Patches 1.1 & 1.2
Stronghold 2 Patches 1.1 & 1.2
Stronghold 2 Mapdump

Found Here (http://www.w3bma5t3r.com/)

Destabilizator

28-05-2005, 01:19

Hoodlum crack + patch 1.2 works gr8, even my corrupted saved games can be loaded now!
But it seems the minimage doesnt work with 1.2 (I saw it in another forums) :(

head

28-05-2005, 14:26

crossmr

29-05-2005, 14:23

Please learn to read the entire thread before replying head. We've already covered why mini-images are needed. There was a crashing issue with 1.1 that many people experienced, and sometimes the crack isn't released that fast. Look at Act of War. The patch has been out weeks and no crack.

Destabilizator

30-05-2005, 08:57

I fully agree with crossmr, it's nice to backup your game, put miniimage to work and update the games whenever you want (or patch is released) and you dont have to bother lookin' for cracks... miniimages are much more comfortable :cool:

mpapad

30-05-2005, 12:12

Yeah that's right. It doesn't work with this version, too. But for what would you need a miniimage when cracks will be released so fast like the 1.2 for Stronghold? And if it should take a little bit longer, you can also use the original cd. ;)

I don't know about the miniimages ( I haven't used them ).
I found an image from carbon that ( together with Anti-Blaxx ) works like a charm.
At last my original went into it's box. :p

Now to find a crack for trackmania... :rolleyes:

head

30-05-2005, 12:45

@crossmr: I have read the entire thread and I know why miniimages can be useful, however, if you have a legal copy, you won't need it... :p ;)
I know some people don't want to use their originals because of wanting to save them. But I think it's too complicated to disable your CD-Drives and so on just because to play the game without cd.

Scydow

13-08-2006, 05:29

Version 1.3.1
Ok I got this error:
A required security module can not be activated. This program can not be executed.

I don't have a scsi port 3 so I stopped the other 3 ( 0 1 and 2 ) and I did the Deamon tool device parameter options, still the same error...
Any suggestions?

Joe Forster/STA

13-08-2006, 06:34

This error message is mentioned explicitly in the forum FAQ.

Scydow

13-08-2006, 06:56

What do you mean? :S

Scydow

13-08-2006, 07:35

Ok the error is gone but when I input the mini image and start it I get this error:

Original disc could not be found or authenticated.

and when I put the original cd in it gives this:

Wrong disc inserted.
Please insert the original "Stronghold 2" CD/DVD.

Joe Forster/STA

13-08-2006, 11:06

The forum FAQ is linked to by my signature...

Scydow

13-08-2006, 14:06

I know, but please solve my error's :(

TippeX

14-08-2006, 00:50

erm i think he meant for you to read the faq, as it contains information to solve your problem, or at least gives more info on it...

Dieselbrad

14-08-2006, 01:12

Also note the FAQs mention of the SEARCH function, you opened a long dead thread when this game is detailed in a more recent thread...

http://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=73098

It's on Page 2 at the moment in the PC GAME thread....

Let's make a little more effot before asking.. ;)