Converting 4 Disc PC games, to 1 DVD PC Game

[George_K]

I'm wondering... if you wanted to do the 7 cd's, what if you made a directory and named it the same as the CD... and do that for each one and burning the directory's to a DVD?

[allegro16]

Hi,

As i have written, i tried that option:

"1.Use IsoBuster to extract the cd's to to an empty folder on the HDD (the folder has the name of each cd, so "XFILES1", "XFILES2", etc. Then include the autorun.exe and inf. (So folder contains files autorun.exe, autorun.inf and folders XFILES1 until XFILES7)
Burn it to DVD.
"

So i have basicly a temporary folder E:\XFILESDVD\
with the contents of each cd. (Each folder name is an extracted cd)

So:

AUTORUN.EXE
AUTORUN.INF
XFILES1 (cd 1)
XFILES2 (cd 2)
XFILES3 (cd 3)
XFILES4 (cd 4)
XFILES5 (cd 5)
XFILES6 (cd 6)
XFILES7 (cd 7)

*of course folder is without (cd *) info*

This i burned to a DVD, but i tried to install from the HD aswell.
No luck.

So, i don't know what to do next. I identified the installer as "InstallShield Setup Launcher 5.10.146.0", Copyrighted '96-'97.
(Opened Setup.exe with eXeScope 6.30)

But that's as far as i got.

Tnx,

Allegro.

[Morglum007]

Cracking Installshield INstallation packets can be pretty easy or almost even impossible. In this case, i see in the first CD a data1.cab and a data1.hdr files, so i suppose it is a pretty old version of the installshield engine. No data2.cab or anything else is available. That data.tag file is so suspicious, so try to open with notepad. I think you have a game with a lot of CD check on it for certain "Disc" label. There is no way to solve that without rebuilding the installation packets. You can also do that with the Installshield Developer 8.0, but will need to shield yourself with a lot of patience. Learning how Installshield works took me 6 years. Reversing installshield packets is pretty easy, know how is working is harder and control it is almost imposiible even with a lot of experience. There is a lot of calls and the way installshield works can get crazy everyone.
You should try a tool for unpacking the data.cab named i5comp and look for all the files the installer copies into your HDD. Using the "i5comp L data1.cab" call in a DOS box should give you enough info about proceeding or leaving. I suppose that version of the game do not install a lot of movie files and read them from the CDs, so a lot of identical files in name but not in size are present. In the DVD, those calls have been removed and "updated"( is supposed).
Try it and please let us know.

Good luck!

[allegro16]

Hi, i opened data.tag in notepad, but only got this:

[TagInfo]
Company=Fox Interactive
Application=The X-Files
Version=1.00.15
Category=Games
Misc=

So, that's of no use..

I try some other things later today..

Thanks,

Allegro.

UPDATE

I opened SETUP.INS with notepad, and i think i found the call for the cd:

"
CD_INSTALL_PROMPTR–ÿ$
R–ÿb–ÿa
$
Ršÿb–ÿb›ÿ* bšÿA
ÿÿ! 2•ÿA
 )
(
2”ÿB•ÿA A
" pI •B”ÿA  R™ÿb
a AÒ 2™ÿR™ÿ/ b™ÿ! 2™ÿB ! 2˜ÿA / a XFiles#! 2”ÿB (
2”ÿB™ÿA B”ÿ" pF •B”ÿA ! 2—ÿA 
2”ÿB™ÿA
 (
2“ÿB—ÿA B”ÿ" pF •B“ÿA y R˜ÿA R™ÿB—ÿA
 R›ÿa
y "

Noticed the # after the word XFiles? Looks likes thats where the cd number is placed. However, if i change it in notepad and resave it (saved as SETUP.INS, All files, ANSI) (remove the # for instance) it seems to install, but after some time get the message "corrupted setup.ins" And install fails.

Tried with various other programs (Hex Editors, etc), but everytime get the error: "I:\XFILES\SETUP.INS file has become corrupted. Unable to load installation instructions. Error 704"
It looks like it should work (change the path it looks for) but there seems to be something that checks the integrity/checksum of the file. Even if i just open it an resave without altering it..

[allegro16]

Hi,

I tried everything, but editing the setup.ins file (where the cdpath/names are located) only corrupts the file.
Even if i don't alter it but resave it. Maybe some kind of file protection?
It contains the path "XFiles#!" the # is the cd number it asks for.
Changing that to "Xfiles!" (remvove the call for a specific cd, but looking for all files on "XFiles" path/cd instead. Or replace the whole path in for instance "XFilesDVD!" should work i think, but now i only get the corrupt file thing. If i replace it with the original setup.ins it works..

If only someone could tell me how to edit the *.ins file without corrupting it..

Or supply me with files from the DVD version of The X-Files Game..
(the setup files, and possibly the *.nav and pff files..)
(Then i could check the differences and possibly create a patch or crack for it)

Allegro.

I mailed the creators of the game aswell, no reaction..

[allegro16]

Hi,

I tried some other things but did not get it to work. The key seems to be the SETUP.INS file. I can edit it, but it becomes unusable/corrupted after that.
If there is something to get it to work or to unpack/repack and or convert the original setup files and create a new uncorrupted SETUP.INS with the new filepath.. That would be great, but i have no idea how to accomplish that.
I've basicly given up. If someone has an idea?

Even the creators of the game (HyperBole Studios), tried to help but couldn't get it to work, their 2nd mail:

"Nils-

We're glad to hear you enjoyed The X-Files Game. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any way to do what you're attempting on a PC. If you were on a Mac, you could make a Disc Image of each CD and keep the disc images mounted (which would be exactly like having 7 CD-Roms online).

The good news is that on a PC, you only have to do the Full install (swapping CD's) one time - from then on it will run directly, and completely, from your hard drive (which, ironically, would probably have taken less effort than everything you've tried - but we like a challenge as well). The installer will prompt you when to switch discs and will then copy all the necessary files to your hard drive.

If you have a utility that will, like Apple's approach, mount a virtual disc image so that it looks like a discrete cd drive for each disc, then that might work - but we're not aware of any utility that will do this on a PC.

The DVD version is, more or less, identical to the CD version, but certain non-interactive video sequences are encoded/decoded using MPEG2 and the DVD hardware, so there is an improvement in the quality of some of the video on the DVD version.

Anyway, best of luck and thanks for your interest. If you do find a scheme that will work - please let us know!

best

-Greg



Greg Roach
CEO HyperBole Studios"

Well, for now that's it..

Thanks,

Allegro.

*UPDATE*
Used MkCrc.exe to recalculate the crc after editing it.
Now it seems to work, and install. However it STILL askes voor the next cd, even i remove or change the call.
To be continued..

[Dragunov]

yeah, want to know this aswell, cause I have the 7 cds version, want to install one dvd aswell

[BarryB]

Look at the post dates Dragunov, only 4 1/2 years ago!!

[acal3000]

Are Grumpy & Luciel still on this business?

[BarryB]

Closed!

No point dragging up old topics when there's a CD2DVD conversion forum to post in!

[Grumpy]

Wow!! I didnt even know this thread exsisted?
Good to see the original ideas discussed here have progressed a lot further these days.

And yes acal3000, Luciel and I are still around but I dont have the x-files game and as far as I am aware a proper conversion for it has never been done.