[ShaMan]

Glad the info has helped and you're welcome, no sweat.

Yep, like I said before, a 1:1 copy is the best way to go, when possible.

If, you're familiar with the Windows register you should have no problem applying the reg hack to WinXP.

Only time you will need to use Hide CDR Media is when you use your burner to install/play the game, in brief, reason is burners can report ATIP info, readers do not report ATIP info.

CM8K, at least, the U.S. version is a bit of a weird bird though, if you visually inspect and prot scan the discs it looks like it's protected with SD2, but after install the game directory shows no signs of SD2, at all, there are no exes, dlls wrapped, icd file, etc, it's basically a cd-check after install. The SD2 check, if any, would be done before/during installation. Regardless of what prot it uses though, it's most definitely 1:1 doable but your hardware/software has to be adequate for the task, and IF, as you say, you can 1:1 Max Payne and Renegade, then you should be able to do CM8K, as well. Make sure and select custom at installation time, otherwise, some data will be dependant on the CD, which would make it ask for the disc.

If, you haven't already, I suggest you experiment a bit, maybe try a slower read/write speed (x4 or less) and experiment with the software/hardware/none correction settings and -/+AWS, as well, it's all trial and error with this stuff, and yes, CM9K is due for release around Sept 4th.

Well, that's it for me, I'm outta here, good luck!