Nice Newbie Faq, But......

[GullyFoyle]

Thanks, StylinProfilin, for that great faq, but I'm more than just a newbie, I'm a dumb newbie, so try to follow me here:

I get this sig2dat for a game. It gives me a .bin file, and sometimes a .cue file. In order to get the game to play, I guess I gotta put the .bin on a CD, is that right (And then play it from there?)? So when I use this program, Nero, it's gonna take the info from that .bin (the image) and magically produce a perfect copy of the original CD? Have I got it right? Seems like I'm missing something here... but if that's how it works, let me know. If I got it wrong somewhere, please correct me.

Thanks!

[jay973]

Transfer the bin accross to the left side of screen(to burn) then click File>Burn image,Then select the correct cue file(that came with the bin) from the list which appears and it will burn. :)

[Nightwolf]

You got most of it right, but you are missing something. A .bin file is never an exact copy of the original disk. While you can almost always install the game from a copy, not all games will actually play from the copied disk. That's where a No CD crack comes in handy. That's simply a copy of the games executable (.exe) that's been hacked to remove the CD check many games use to verify authenticity. Sometimes they're included in the .bin or .iso file you've downloaded. If not, you can find them at several other websites (gamecopyworld, megagames, etc.).

Another thing you should know is that for most games you don't even need to use a CD-R. If you have WinISO (which you can get from Kazaa), you can simply extract the files from your .bin or .iso to a temp folder on your hard drive, and run the installer from there. Then, once again, if the game asks for the original CD when you try to play it, you'll simply need to find a No CD crack.

As for .cue files, they're really not necessary. They just provide Nero with some instructions for how to burn the .bin. But you can either adjust the settings manually, or use WinISO to extract the .bin or convert it to .iso format which Nero can burn easier.

[Kevhead2]

Dont forget about Emulators...he can install a BIN or ISO without buring it ... i use Daemon Tools ...many of the games i download and install are not worth wasting a CD on. so i test all my games first by insatlling them with a Virtual CD Rom, then if i like them i burn them.

And many games will play right from the Virtual Rom without a crack (if you have emulation options checked)

[Nightwolf]

Originally posted by Kevhead2@20 May 2003 - 04:33
Dont forget about Emulators...he can install a BIN or ISO without buring it ... i use Daemon Tools ...many of the games i download and install are not worth wasting a CD on. so i test all my games first by insatlling them with a Virtual CD Rom, then if i like them i burn them.

And many games will play right from the Virtual Rom without a crack (if you have emulation options checked)
Right, I forgot about that. Alcohol 120% can create a virtual drive, too. Personally I never use them, but I know a lot of other people prefer to do it that way.

[GullyFoyle]

Okay, its starting to become clearer to me (I was wondering how I was gonna get more than 700 megs on a CD, as some of the files I've seen are larger than that). I can use Nero to extract the files I need to play the game from the .bin file to my hard drive, then?

What if the file comes in two parts? Do I put both .bin files in a temp directory & let Nero have at them?


Thanks for being patient with my ignorance.

[Kevhead2]

Ok , the game is NOT over 700MB, i know its hard to understand because i thought the same thing at one time.

If you try to burn it like you do music, then yes ,the bar that shows you how much data you are trying to burn will be over 700MB.

But when you chose the option to "Burn Image" you will notice that the actual size is under 700MB. when the ISO or BIN was created the extra MB were added. the game came from a 700MB CD.

And if you want to use a emulator, (a virtual CD Rom) download Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120% , Alcohol is also the best buring software you can get.

If you have Alcohols emulator go to the new CD-ROM in my computer , right click and Mount your Image

If your using Daemon Tools , right click on the icon in your task bar, go to emulation and check everything. then right click on it and go to Virtual CD/DVD-ROM< Device<Mount Image. then find the place where you put your BINs and load CD1 (you dont need cues when using a emulator) that will install just like a CD in a CD-ROM.

If you have more than one CD and it asked for CD2. if your entire screen is covered and you cant see your desk top, hit the windows icon on your keyboard, that will allow you to see your task bar and then you can right click on the Daemon Tools icon and load BIN 2

[Nightwolf]

Originally posted by GullyFoyle@28 May 2003 - 18:52
Okay, its starting to become clearer to me (I was wondering how I was gonna get more than 700 megs on a CD, as some of the files I&#39;ve seen are larger than that). I can use Nero to extract the files I need to play the game from the .bin file to my hard drive, then?

What if the file comes in two parts? Do I put both .bin files in a temp directory & let Nero have at them?


Thanks for being patient with my ignorance.
I think you&#39;re getting confused. You basically have three options for installing a game from a .bin file...

1. Use Nero (or other burning software) to burn the .bin to a CD, then install the game from the disc. The only drawback is that some games which require the CD to be in the drive while you play might not work from a copied CD. Usually you can install it OK, you just can&#39;t play it. If that happens, you can either search for a No CD crack (easily found on the Web), or use option 3 below.

2. Use WinISO (or other imaging software) to extract the contents of the .bin to a Temp folder, and install the game from there. Again if it requires a CD in the drive, you will either need a No CD crack or a virtual drive (see below).

or

3. Use Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools to create a virtual drive from the .bin and install it from there. The virtual drive takes the place of the game CD.


Personally I prefer option 2, but in answer to your other question - if a game has multiple CD&#39;s, I usually go with option 1. You might be able to extract all the .bin&#39;s into the same Temp folder and install it from there, but CD-R&#39;s are so cheap and my burner is so fast, I think it&#39;s just as easy to make a copy of each individual disc and install the game that way. But no matter how I install it, I always find a No CD crack because I hate having to dig through my pile of discs and insert the right one whenever I want to play a certain game. If you can&#39;t find a crack (which I always can), then you&#39;d have to use option 3.


I hope I didn&#39;t make that too hard to understand. :unsure:

[stoi]

@ Nightwolf, you must have a lot of free space and a lot of time to waste if for every cd-image you use winiso to extract the .bins and then install the game from the temp drive, lets just say that for every cd you extract with winiso it takes 10 minutes, and lets use enter the matrix 4cds as an example (a bit extreme i know :P ) so thats 40 minutes to extract them, then look at the space on the hdd your taking up, 800meg*4 = 3.2gig in your temp folder *2 (for the original bins) 6.4gig and then lets say once its installed it takes up 2gig (i havnt got it so not sure how much it takes up once installed), so thats 8.4gig of hdd space gone and 40 minutes + say 20 minues to install from the temp dir.

so 1hour and 8.4gig of space used up just to install the game.

now with a virtual drive, 30meg to install alcohol, set it so you have 4 virtual drives (same with daemon) alcohol has a max of 31 and daemon 6 virtual drives. mount the .cues onto the virtual drives cd1 will auto boot with the install screen click install and they should all install in one go from your 4 mounted virtual drives (you shouldnt need to mount on the same drive, even some games can be funny about this)

so 5 minutes to install alcohol/daemon and mount the cues and 20minutes to install the game and only 3.2 gig for the bins and 2gig for instalation so 5.2 gig used up.

sorry if im beating around the bush here but 5.2gig and 25 minutes compared to 8.4gig and 1hour just to see if a game works before you burn it is surly better.

stoi.

P.S if it takes longer to install then add the time onto both, also alcohol reads at 200X so instalation might not even take 20 minutes.

[Nightwolf]

First of all, as I said in my post, when a game uses more than one disc I usually just burn them. That only takes about 2 minutes per disc. But even when I do extract to a temp folder, after I install the game and apply the No CD crack, I can delete it. The way I see it, using a virtual drive is more of a waste of space. Even if you only do a minimum install, there are still going to be duplicate files on your PC - those in the install directory and those on the VD.

I believe my way of installing games makes more sense, but to each his own.

[stoi]

thats the whole point of a virtual drive though, its virtual so it isnt realy there, therefore when you mount a .cue/.bin on it its isnt using any space at all on your hdd, basically its exactly the same as burning it and installing from a cd, when you put the cd in your cd player your not using any space on your hdd until you install, well its exactly the same with a virtual drive, you should give it a try, ive done it your way many moons ago and i must admit this way is a hell of a lot easier esp when you can burn it straight away if you have alcohol installed, which is imo the best burner/organiser/virtual drive application out there, better than nero/clonecd and daemon tools.

[StrikeNinja]

Woah do i actually have to read all that? :rolleyes:

[Kevhead2]

When i first was learning about BINs and ISOs. i learned through my own research how to extract files with ISO Buster and WinISO. and thats the way i did it for months untill i heard of Virtual CD Roms. .. in fact if there is a setup.exe file after you extract the contents to a folder you can just click on it to install

Then i started using Daemon Tools and Alcohols. its just a waste of time to extract all the files first, then burn them.

Thats like puting a Real CD in your Rom, extracting the files from it, then burning all the files you just extracted(re imaging it) just to install it.

You already have the Image with the ISO or BIN. just mount it and install it.

And its not a good idea to burn images without testing them for corruption first, unless you have CD-Rs coming out of your @ss and you can afford it.

I install everything on a emulator first. if no errors and i like the game/program , then i burn it.

P.S. many games have cracks put on the BINs and they dont get transfered over in the install, and you need ISO Buster to extract the Crack folder after you do a install

[GullyFoyle]

Okay, thanks all, I&#39;m starting to understand.

One thing, though, is the terminology: What does it mean to "mount the bin/iso"? How is that accomplished?

[Nightwolf]

Originally posted by Kevhead2@29 May 2003 - 16:12
And its not a good idea to burn images without testing them for corruption first, unless you have CD-Rs coming out of your @ss...
As a matter of fact I do. I haven&#39;t paid for a blank CD-R in four years. :lol: I always get the free 50 packs from Best Buy, Circuit City, or Officemax whenever they have them (which is pretty often).

And I still don&#39;t see any benefit in using a virtual drive. But to each his own, I suppose.

[Kevhead2]

Originally posted by GullyFoyle@29 May 2003 - 21:15
Okay, thanks all, I&#39;m starting to understand.

One thing, though, is the terminology: What does it mean to "mount the bin/iso"? How is that accomplished?
Mounting a Image means you are loading the BIN or ISO or CloneCD image or a host of other images to your Virtual CD-ROM.

If you have not downloaded a Virtual CD ROM then you wont know what im talking about.

Download Daemon Tools (their site is down now) , you can get Daemon Tools from kazaa im sure. or Download Alcohol 120%...CloneCD also has a emulator

After you get one of those you will have a NEW CD-ROM in the my computer window..its a software CD-ROM.

Then you right click on your new CD-ROM and choose the option to mount Image, then you find the ISO or BIN and load it, it installs just like you put a CD in your PC

[SuperMarioMario83]

Hmm...interesting...

*runs off to download it*

[Kevhead2]

Try to get version 3.29 or higher of Daemon Tools...then check all the emulation options.

3.29 can emulate safedisk, securom, laserlok and RMPS

So you can play your game right from the Virtual ROM if they have one of those 4 protections...no need for the no CD crack

[GullyFoyle]

Cool, thanks.

I now have Daemon Tools (3.23 and 3.29), alcohol.120.1.4.3.410.exe, and WinISO 5.3.

Which do you recommend I use?

[Kevhead2]

I use Daemon Tools. i have Alcohols but never use it. but im sure its just as good
I just install, get the crack if needed and play the game.
Sometimes the crack is placed on one of the CDs and you need WinISO to browse the BIN and extract it

[GullyFoyle]

Okay, just ran into another problem. Got the following in the readme for Daemon Tools:

"KNOWN PROBLEMS
---------------

- System crashes and/or blue screen of death on some systems having (or had) Adaptec (Roxio) EasyCD installed. Older versions of this burning program are known to cause lots of trouble in combination with other burning soft or DAEMON Tools.
THEREFORE WE DO NOT RECOMMEND TO INSTALL DAEMON TOOLS ON A PC WITH EASYCD&#33;"

It just so happens that I have Adaptec EasyCD on my comp. You think I should delete it or use another program?

Thanks.

[GullyFoyle]

(... bump...)

[Kevhead2]

Absolutely , Adaptec is not the best software on the market. i use to use it myself because it was pre installed on my PC, but i removed it because of that warning.

I use Nero to burn Music and data and Alcohol 120% to burn Images

Or just Download Alcohol 120% and use its Emulator