Rise and Fall Civilizations at War

I've managed to make a backup of my original disc. However I've got only the CD-Rom version and not the DVD-ROM version. So.. I'll explain how I did it and if you've got the DVD, you can give it a go but I can't guarantee anything regardless. For me however, it's working fine so far. The only difference is, is that it takes slightly longer to check the disc on a copy than on my original.

01. Firstly make a copy of Disc 01 using Alcohol 120% using the minimum version 1.9.5. Build 4212. Any build earlier will most likely not work. My build is 4521.

When ripping it from the original onto your hard disk drive; Make sure the read speed is the lowest you have on your drive.
Check (tick) "Skip Reading Errors", "Data Position Measurement (Precision High)" and "Read Sub-Channel Data from Current Disc". On the bottom where it says data type, Select "Securerom *New". Make sure its exactly as I wrote and not the "Securerom *New (4.x/5.x)".

Go ahead afterwards and make the image onto your hard drive.

02. Once the image has been done, click on the "image burning wizard".
Open the image you just saved onto the hard drive and configure it like
this.

i. Set the CD/DVD writer to your current writer.
ii. Set the write speed to the lowest speed possible. (I burnt mine at 4x)
iii. Set the write method as "Raw Dao"
iv. Put a check(tick) in "Write" and "Enable Buffer Underrun Technology"
and leave everything else unchecked.
v. At the bottom set data type to "Securerom *New". As above exactly
like this and not the "Securerom *new (4.x/5.x)".
vi. Insert compatible CD-R or DVD-R and burn.

03. Once burnt, re-insert the burnt copy and wait for autorun. Let it run and
install the game from the burnt disc. Restart the computer when
requested by the game. and then after that, tis luck if everything works.
Important: Disable any and all emulation and protection bypass programs. Make sure all emulation is turned off. To be safe, just close down Daemon Tools and Alcohol
As these two programs and maybe others are blacklisted by starforce.


As I said before it will take longer for it to check the disc for whatever reason. Another thing is, Its media code. Apparently it wont work on the sony cd-r for the cd-rom version. From other sources, Phillips CD-R and TDK CD-R's work. For me I used a TDK CD-R 52x of which i bought from my local supermarket suprisingly. For the PC-DVD-ROm version, unfortunately I cant suggest any certain brands that will be compatible. Its just a matter of trial and error. Blanks are cheap these days anyways so experiement.

You dont need no expensive burner either. My burner i used to rip and copy is a Pioneer DVR-110D Firmware version 1.41.

The system specs,
-AMD Athlon X2 4200+
-1Gb Dual Ram DDR 400.
-Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 Rev2.2 NForce4 Chipset
-160GB Seagate SATA (System)
-200GB Western Digital UATA (Backup & Games)
-Palit nVidia 7900GS 512mb On board.
-Pioneer DVD-Writer DVR-110D Firmware 1.41
-Sony DVD-Rom DDU-1615 Firmware FYF2
-Running NO pagefile.
-Latest drivers

I am certain this method works for this protection of this version because I've tested it out myself and confirmed its success.However I cannont guarantee it'll work for anyone due to hardware,software and methods used in making the copy. Also, I do not endorse nor condone the use of pirated games. Ive used an original of which I bought to make my backup. If you're downloading it from somewhere, well its your problem. I just wrote this because the law states that you're allowed to make backups for private use. But if protection companies are gunna be a b*tch about it, well two can play that game.

Goodluck.

I must also credit to "The True Werewolf" from another forum which I wont mention because I dont know if i'll get kicked for alledgedly spamming another forum into this one. It was his method of which i just re-edited.

[sylvio]

You are "lucky" with the CD-version, becouse the StarForce DVDs are very
buggy and the protected CD are the easiest way to make your Backup
(from the Original Media). Ofcourse sometimes holds 3-4 hours (!!) to make
a good copy from the DVD. Sure with the CD-version was only bad to
swap the CDs more times under the installation... So I only make a good
CloneImage from the CD and make a CD to DVD conversion, includes the
perfect CloneImage on the DVD.
So, I have the DVD version of Rise and Fall. 1st I make a CloneImage and
write it to a DVD (MDF/MDS, in UDF file-format). Yep, next arrived the 1st
patch version 1.09 and it HAS WORKS with my created CloneDVD.
BUT 2nd v1.12 and 3rd v1.15 are NOT!!! This is terrible, but I COULDN'T TO
MAKE a 2nd GOOD CLONEDVD with Alcohol/Blindwrite 6 for the new updates.
(after 18-20 hours of tries I lost my brain). This is my looong story with my
RNFCAW DVD....

[Joe Forster/STA]

I was told that, currently, Pioneer DVD-burners are the best ones for gamers who want to make usable copies of their original games!

I've always trusted the Pioneer drives. Haven't failed me yet. I'm definately a happy Pioneer Writer user. Being a computer tech as well, I've always recommended my customers to Pioneer. Being a big audio electronics based company, always have been suprised with their work in writers. Can't say much for Gigabyte. I can say that their really good with motherboards, but for graphics cards and network based hardware... chuck it in the bin lol.

And yes, CD's are a pain in the butt to change everytime. But partly my fault for not looking carefully at the cover when I bought it lol. I guess being unluckly in that sense i got lucky anyway