Fixed exe - blah. I want clean backups
 

New here, so forgive me if I'm OTL.

All the fixes on GCW seem to be fixed executables so you can play the game without sticking the CD in the drive.

I'm much more interested in burning fixed CDs so I can give them to my kids, and they can install and play without risk of damaging the originals.

I'm really not interested in tools that try to copy the original CD, because they always seem to need updating and mostly don't work on my old SCSI CDROM drives.

My approach is to take an image of the original CD, replace the protected .exe with one from GCW, then burn an unprotected CD for my kids.

Tonight I made a copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Safedisc 4), using only CDRWIN, WINISO, and a fixed .exe from GCW. It installs and runs just fine - much easier to do than the first Harry Potter game with SD2 protection.

Am I the only one who prefers to use CD backups? Will I get banned if I post recipes?

@P2B
I hope you backed up the original exe as you will need to put it back when an update is released for the games!
Why dont you just install the game into your kids machine, backup the original exe for future updating purposes, then copy the cracked exe to the install directory. That way the kids wont need to use the CD at all.
If it is a proper NoCD exe you wont need a CD in the drive to play. ;)

Sure, added an sd4 directory to the backup CD and stored the original exe there in case I need it in future.

What I'm trying to say is I don't ever want to use the original CDs - I make unprotected copies for installation purposes, and store the originals offsite.

@P2B
Cool, good to hear you backup the original exe, its amazing how many people dont!
In the CD2DVD thread, there are a few ways mentioned how to burn a game, and to swap the exe's so that the final result is a unprotected game sitting on a DVD, basically the same as you are already doing.
cdsteam.net (its temporarily down at the moment tho and is mainly in Spanish) is a site which concentrates on the more advanced methods of doing these types of copies. ;)

OK, thanks.

I guess if most people only want a fixed exe, that's all GCW needs to provide.

So I'll just keep doing it my way, and if anyone wants the recipe, they can ask me.

@P2B
The 'recipe' is now well known among the regular members (users). It is nothing secret so dont treat it as such. ;)

The thing to remember here is that 'GCW' doesnt create any of the cracks! They are sent in by others, GCW just stores them.
And not all games, especially the newer ones, have proper NoCD cracks available therefore a mini image or maxi image is the only choice on the menu if the chefs dont make proper cracks. ;)

The recipe seems to vary from game to game, e.g. sometimes you need to replace a bunch of files with ones from a full install (else you get CRC errors installing from backup), other games just the fixed exe is enough.

Is posting recipes for a particular game allowed? I write mine down as I go, and will post them if others would find them useful.

So how does one go about becoming a chef?

learn win32 api, learn assembly code, learn all about the chipsets, learn how to debug, make notes, reverse code, study it, make changes, test.. etc etc, not an easy learning curve and definately not something for the casual hobbyist