Starcraft/Broodwar 1.15.1 & THINSTALL

[jman06]

So those of you don't know what Thinstall, it is a awesome portable app maker. Basically, it transforms all the system files into one single executable file. For instance, right now I got my copy of MS office 2007 and came out with 4 files (Word, Excel, Access, and Powerpoint) at 550MB. And the best part - it is completely portable. So I can take these 4 files and load them up on ANY computer (using their system resources). Get it now?

Anywho,
I installed Starcraft, and Broodwar. Then installed the 1.15.1 patch. Then I applied Razor's patch that says to copy the install.exe of both and rename them to bw.mpq and sc.mpq and then install the crack (which is a bunch of registry adds), and then you start the loader to start the game. Well, on the computer (while using thinstall) everything works (including the automatic switching from starcraft to broodwar in campaign which is really nice). But when you complete the thinstall process and build the actually file...there is a error that pops up and says to insert the CD. But I applied the patch and nothing worked. Thinstall basically takes a snapshot of the registry before and after all the setup and changes you do so why shouldn't it work? It works with other programs I make into portable apps. My guess is that thinstall isn't capturing Razor1911's registry crack and therefor doesn't work. I'm clueless otherwise...

Any ideas?

Think how cool it would be to have Starcraft & Broodwar 1.15.1 with automatic switching, no-cds, full music, and full videos, and battle.net (with your legit key) all under 1.3 GB - and of course you can put that on your Flash USB drive and take it anywhere you want to with no problems (it doesn't install anything - Thinstall takes care of that).

[jman06]

perhaps this would solve my problem:

if anyone knows what registry changes are happening with Razor1911's crack (1.15.1) that would most likely solve the problem.

But all supposedly registry hacks are contained in a .exe and have no idea how to look at them...

[jman06]

or perhaps a way to do the aforementioned without necessarily doing JUST registry hacks. IE. another gamefix for 1.15.1 that doesn't use registration entries. And Xepra.kch's version for Broodwar (hosted on gamecopyworld.com) doesn't work for broodwar - go figure. Is there another one I am not aware of...?

[DABhand]

Dont think you will get much help on this.

Games are only for 1 pc only, unless you have multiple licenses for the games, which I dont think you have.

And your portable idea, im assuming is you putting games onto multiple machines.

[Joe Forster/STA]

I think it should be allowed to install a single game onto multiple computers of your own (not the spouse, children, neighbor etc.) and play one copy at a time. (Probably, it is implicitly or explicitly against the EULA, though...)

[jman06]

hmm....okay, thanks for the tips. I guess a lot of members here don't mess with portable software......that's depressing.

[jman06]

well...I finally got it working, portable edition, that is. I got 1.15.1, automatic switching between Starcraft and Broodwar, no-cd (obviously), battle.net working (with a legit key - so you gotta buy it), full videos and music, all under 1.2 GB. Not to shabby eh? Or I got the same thing also, but with the music and vids taken out, but at 300Mb+.

The unfortunate thing is that it isn't a Thinstall file (which would make everything one file). Cause as its standing - there is a bunch of files in the one folder and I prefer one with no sandboxing upon exit. I almost had it too - but for some reason Thinstall just doesn't want to take into account Razor 1911's hack.

[jman06]

Well I finally located the problem I believe in why it's not working on thinstall.

Check this out...

So when you install Razor 1911's crack of Broodwar 1.15.1 (which allows automatic swithing, no-cd, battle.net, music and vids) everything will work fine on that computer where you do it at. And of course you have to start Starcraft with the loader he gives you as well.

But...if you copy that folder say it's on C:\Starcraft to your desktop so now it's C:\Users\John Doe\Desktop\Starcraft as well, everything will be okay - that's if you run the loader from the desktop copy of starcraft. I thought, at this time, that the loader is loading up the starcraft.exe from the desktop. Nope! I was wrong it loads it up from the C:\Starcraft where you first installed the crack.

So let's say you rename the C:\Starcraft to C:\StarBroodwar and click on the "loader" from the desktop copy. It won't work. neither will the original folder work.

So for everything to work you have to keep it the same name...which points my problem to the registration entries added by Razor's crack. So the problem isn't Thinstall, at all! I just need to figure out how to fix this so the loader loads up from any folder (so even if you make a million copies of that folder and rename them all - the loader should still work regardless of where the folder is on your computer and what the name is of the folder; not currently of when you click on the "crack.exe" file and installes and says "registration entires complete" and then click on "loader.exe" it will ONLY work in that folder such as C:\Starcraft )- not where you first installed the crack.

make sense? if not I will clarify better. My english is poor, sorry.

in a nutshell - its the registration entries that need to be changed to wherever the folder is and not where you first click on "crack" and can ONLY be run from that folder.

any ideas from here?

PS - I'm not breaking rules by asking how to change settings within a hack. I'm not asking for registration keys, files, etc - I have everything I need. I just don't know programming very well and Razor's hack is set this one way and I'm trying to change it.

[jman06]

Dont think you will get much help on this.

Games are only for 1 pc only, unless you have multiple licenses for the games, which I dont think you have.

And your portable idea, im assuming is you putting games onto multiple machines.

and I actually have 3 licenses of the game. I bought one and the other two where given as gifts (the starcraft chest) (what I asked for my birthday) many many years ago.

[Joe Forster/STA]

I'm not using thinstall but archiving my (installed) games with RAR, with the necessary registry entries, instead. And I take great care to modify the registry entries, config files and sometimes executables, too, to make these "rips" work from any directory of any disk. (UnRAR the rip; import the registry file, if any; run the config program, if any; launch the game.)

Most of the time, this only means changing the appropriate registry entry to ".", ".\" or similar. The rips need to be launched directly from the directory they are "installed" so that that directory becomes the working directory (see "Start in" in the Properties window of a desktop icon for what the working directory is).

[TippeX]

why is it i get the feeling this is a 'loose' advertisment of thinstall ?

[jman06]

TippeX: Don't get me wrong and all - it's actually a GREAT program! But unfortunately it's not for the Home-PC environmet - it's more business. A basic license starts out at $4000 or so I believe. It's evolution software. But if you mean a "loose" advertisment and I'm endorsing it - and supposedly it's against the rules - its the same as someone recommending BlindWrite or Daemon Tools - like I see all the time here. So no worries...

Anywho,

Joe Forester, thanks. I'll give that a try - it sounds much simpler anyways.

[TippeX]

okies, i just saw the post count, and more or less all your posts mention the soft.. so you can see my point i hope... $4000 for that soft is crazy money...probably out of the league of most people here, so i'll disregard the advertising thing :)...

still cant get over $4000 for a program that more or less hooks/monitors registry access, records keys, files etc... maybe i'll make one myself heh

[!HaGaR!]

Wow... Decades ago I was proud having 10+ games on one disc, ripped nicely to only decrunch them and play... But it´s nowadays to much pain in the ass to search the whole registry values, grab a working crack, raring it, maybe splitting it over severals discs ("ripping" correctly eats much more time, checkling if the game stops when content is missing) andsoon...

For me it´s "portable" enough to have DT Lite around, the complete image of the game and that´s it, folks. Installing it is in the most cases the same time as un-raring it... You have everything around wehen you need to patch the game and don´t see any "original not installed" messages because u missed a single registry value... No, thx.

Today I am proud of having a perfectly emulated image which contains everything the original games contains.

The tool metioned above sounds interesting, though. USB-Portable apps to run as standalone... Well, nice indeed. 40 bucks would rock. But 4.000? Whoaw. Well. Then I should better buy 4 real nice laptops and I carry these ones around^^

Hagar out

[Joe Forster/STA]

Registry values are quite localized into one or two groups at most. Also, you can use RegMon or some registry snapshot & compare software to find out the changes during the real installation. And, as games are not designed for slipstreaming, probably ripping is the only way to incorporate the latest official updates, addons, editors, tools etc. into them.

As for this thinstall software, it was meant to be used by software professionals, not for just running games in "unexpected environments", that's why it's so damn expensive.

[jman06]

well, good news. I finally got it working! I was missing ONE registry key that for some reason I forgot to implement as well. WOW - that took like 3 days to figure out. But now I got everything in one file! geez....

and actually I just checked a basic license (excluding distribution fees) is $4,995. So....Yea...I saw a XPS laptop (customized to my specs) that was that much and I rather buy that than a license...geez.

I actually used RegMon, Forester, to see what I was missing so thanks again. That saved me!

[Muyfa666]

This sounds like a good idea. Portable 100% working versions of SC & BW? I'm game. But, if I understand you correctly - I need to pay 4000$ to do this?

If so, sweet DT - here I come again.

[DABhand]

and actually I just checked a basic license (excluding distribution fees) is $4,995. So....Yea...I saw a XPS laptop (customized to my specs) that was that much and I rather buy that than a license...geez.



So pray tell how are you using the application right now?

[jman06]

So pray tell how are you using the application right now?


I work for Lucidiom and help manage the distribution of software to clients.

[nando2002]

New patch released for both (SC and Broodwar) today (1.15.2) removes the CD Check protection.
For those owners happy gameplay.

[BarryB]

I was just reading that on Blues News :) Looks like Thinstall is no longer needed, you just patch then game and copy over the INSTALL.EXEs from the CD's and rename them!

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=21150