SpellForce 2 (EU Version)

[MalevolentD]

Wow, fast reply, nice.
Thanks for the correction, 'ring' isn't the correct context I was going for, 'area' would have been a little better.

TAGES sounds like a real bear....
How does one go about finding the affected sector(s), and once found, successfully creating an image to mount.

Dealing with this brand of copy protection, what is the chance of getting a no-cd exe, as opposed to a mini.
Assuming the game doesn't need any additional information from the CD, besides the protection required at the startup.

I'm far from expert in this area, I could be completely wrong, but it almost sounds easier to neuter the appropriate files to not look for the play disc.....
You guys are the Pro's, I'll believe whatever you tell me.
If theres any way I can be of assistance, by all means let me know.

[TippeX]

you're asking 2 different things....

1. no-cd exe = protection removed...
2. image of game... maxi or mini.. doesnt matter, there is currently no software at the moment that makes an image for tagés protected disks, it can be done however, but usually requires a lot of time , a lot of trial and error and (non public) dedicated software

the game DOES require extra information from the cd/dvd, some of the game code is actually located in these 'dupe' sectors, and loaded runtime, ie: as you're playing the game, so technically the cdcheck could happen whenever the coders want it to happen.. tagés is implimented at source code level

someone who makes a maxi/mini/whatever image is NOT a cracker
someone who removes the protection code and makes a working executable IS

there is a huge difference between the two

chances of getting a tagés crack / no-cd/dvd exe = same as getting a starforce crack or whatever.. all depends if the cracker could be bothered puting the time and effort into it...

any assistance... doubtful, no offence but you couldnt really assist given the fact that you know very very little about the protection...

all you can do is be patient and see if a crack ever does happen for the game, or if some software arrives that can make tagés images...

and before you ask, nope i cant get involved in cracking/helping to crack it.. sorry

[Grumpy]

@TippeX
I just had to say your last 2 responses in this thread were very well said.
Very educational and very diplomatic. Its great to see replies like that.

[MalevolentD]

I agree, I appreciate responses like that.
Only thing I can add is the speedy nature of them

You have told me exactly what I wanted to know.
Trust me, I'm patient if nothing else.
It's not a big problem to run the CD.
I just noticed that there hadn't been any thread activity in a month or so and figured it couldn't hurt to ask.
And share the miniscule bit of information I had to offer.

The way you talk, it sounds like if anything comes out, It'll be a maxi/mini image depending on the ammount of data the game needs from the CD.
Either way, patience is the key.
Thanks again.

[TippeX]

oh, almost forgot too.. if a maxi/mini/full (which probably wont be allowed on gcw) image of the game is made, burning it could be problematic too.. depending on how it was made... a while ago an image of moto racer 3 was released, it worked, but could not be burned due to the duplicate sector stuff, the situation might change later but chances are as/when/if an image appears for this game it probably wont be burnable and will have to be mounted.. there are rumors that daemon tools will soon be able to do tages.. so i guess patience is the key here

[MalevolentD]

Thats good info, thanks.
If there was a downloadable image, I would download it directly with the gaming pc and mount it from its destination.
As a rule, that always how I do it.

Patience isn't a big thing for me.
I'm splitting my time between 3 or 4 games already, and when battlefield 2142 is demo/beta released I'll be all over that.

Matter of fact, BF2142 is prolly the next game I'll be looking for a play disc image on.

[Nightmare]

There is finally a new crack out.
SpellForce 2 v1.02 [EURO/RUSSIAN] No-DVD/Fixed EXE

See also this thread.

Greets