Running a game off my flash drive?

[TheGreatSatan]

I don't play video games at all on consoles. I still own an N64 (StarFox FTW!), but that's the last game system I have ever used. I only play one game on my computers: C&C Red Alert 2/Yuri's Revenge. I'm getting an Asus Netbook 1000HE (as mentioned here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18114)). On low settings it'll play fine. I can install it with an external dvd drive, but would love to run it off my flash drive or memory card. Can I open up the disk contents with an ISO burning suite and then copy the contents to a flash drive/card?

Will that work?

[nevermind1534]

It might need a cr*ck to work run off of a flash drive, unless you mount the CD/DVD image so it thinks it has the CD/DVD ROM in the drive. This is if you want to run it entirely off of the flash drive.

[Bopher]

Maybe with something like magic ISO to mount the image. Some games will play like that and some won't. Have had a little luck with this on certain games.

[Spawn-Inc]

i did this for gta4 . just rip the dvd to your pc and use deamon tools to run a virtual cd/dvd drive.
its a good option is space isn't a issue

[Omega]

Yeah, I was about to say:

1. Rip the CDs to .iso format (it's legal for you to do this if you own the game)
2. put .iso files on flash drive
3. put .iso files on laptop
4. run Daemon Tools to mount .iso files as a virtual optical drive
5. Enjoy not only faster loading but not needing to lug an external optical drive around, too

[Luke122]

i did this for gta4 . just rip the dvd to your pc and use deamon tools to run a virtual cd/dvd drive.
its a good option is space isn't a issue

Seconded.

[TheGreatSatan]

Yeah, I was about to say:

1. Rip the CDs to .iso format (it's legal for you to do this if you own the game)
2. put .iso files on flash drive
3. put .iso files on laptop
4. run Daemon Tools to mount .iso files as a virtual optical drive
5. Enjoy not only faster loading but not needing to lug an external optical drive around, too

Daemon tools?

[Omega]

Daemon tools?

it's a proggie that allows you to mount .iso files and your computer treats them as if they're optical drives. really cool imo.

[Spawn-Inc]

Daemon tools?

should have linked to it.

http://www.daemon-tools.cc/home

here is what it looks like (googled image, not mine)

http://z.about.com/d/netforbeginners/1/5/g/5/daemon1.gif

[TheGreatSatan]

I did all that and mounted the image as you showed, but when I tried playing my game it asked for the DVD

[TheGreatSatan]

I can't get it to work, but no big deal.

[xRyokenx]

Sometimes I think you have to disable your real DVD drive to get the virtual one to work. There are other ways around that, though.

[Luke122]

Did you do the install from the virtual drive as well? If you installed from an external optical drive, then ripped the image to a virtual mount it may not work.

[TheGreatSatan]

I installed ImageBurn and Daemon Tools to my Netbook. I plugged in an external DVD drive and created an image of the disk which was saved to my C: drive. I unplugged the external DVD and ran Daemon to mount the image to a virtual drive on the netbook. I then launched the game and installed it from the image, but then when I tried to play the game it asked for the disk.

[Spawn-Inc]

you don't have to install the game with daemon tools you just need to copy the disc then mount it when you want to play the game.

[nevermind1534]

You have to have the copy protection related stuff enabled. And was it mounted as a CD/DVD-ROM?

[TheGreatSatan]

you don't have to install the game with daemon tools you just need to copy the disc then mount it when you want to play the game.

For C&C I like making my own maps to play on. If I don't install the game then I can't play those maps right?

[Luke122]

you don't have to install the game with daemon tools you just need to copy the disc then mount it when you want to play the game.

..unless the program uses the drive letter of the optical drive for verification of the disc, in which case you would need to install/mount it from the same place, otherwise the drive letter would be different, and verification would fail.

[Spawn-Inc]

i never knew that, i usually put the disc in either of my dvd drives and don't have problems.



For C&C I like making my own maps to play on. If I don't install the game then I can't play those maps right?

i just meant that AFAIK you don't have to install the game from the virtual drive. you can install it from your external dvd drive then copy the disc and mount the image of it when you want to play the game.

[Outlaw]

What about Slysoft's Game Jackel Pro? It's about 40 bucks

It has a 21 day trial and will do everything you are asking about but states putting it on HD instead of flash.

Link- http://www.slysoft.com/en/gamejackal.html

Description:
Game Jackal Pro is the ultimate "must have" killer app for the PC gamer! If you, like most gamers, find it annoying looking for and inserting the CD-ROM for your favorite game each time you play it, then Game Jackal Pro is for you.

Keeping your gaming investment safe: One major concern gamers have is the CD's life span. The CD-ROM for a popular game may be inserted and removed many hundreds of times, this of course leads to the inevitable "Unable to read" error and ultimately a trip to the trash.

Unleash your games and go gaming "cd free" in seconds: Using Game Jackal Pro eliminates the need to insert the CD-ROM before playing your favorite title, therefore allowing you to fire up your favorite game in seconds.

Easy to use: Game Jackal Pro provides the user with a powerful and easy to use interface to go gaming "cd free". It does this without modifying any of your game's files or installing any virtual drives on your system. Simply select the game you want to play from the Game Jackal Pro interface, or create a desktop shortcut for even faster access.

Image mode: Image mode adds support for games that need to stream data directly from the CD or DVD during game play.

Keep young eyes from playing games that may be not right for them: Game Jackal Pro comes complete with a feature called Guardian Control, this feature allows restrictions to be placed on game profiles.

Young gamers can make short work of a game CD: Being able to pack away the game CD has proven to be extremely popular with parents of young gamers, where a game can be destroyed in weeks!

There's no other product like it: The simple fact is that Game Jackal Pro stands alone. There's no other product on the market that delivers the flexibility and functionality that Game Jackal Provides.

Guardian Control
Ok... so Game Jackal Provides you with a way to protect game CD's from the little hands of a young gamer, but how do we then stop these same young gamers from playing games that may not be appropriate?
Game Jackal Pro contains a very unique and powerful feature called Guardian Control, this allows a game profile to be password protected thereby ensuring that only specific users (i.e. those knowing the password) can play the game. And because your CD-ROM's are now put away for safe keeping, there's no fear of accidentally leaving a disc in the drive for a young gamer to find.
So now that we have limited what a young gamer can play, wouldn't it be great if we could limit when games could be played? Well once again Game Jackal Pro provides a way... Guardian Control also allows rules to be created that detail when and how long games can be played. These rules can be as simple as defining a time (i.e. between 6:30PM and 8:30PM) during the week days in which games can be played to complex rules that involve many periods in which a young person can go gaming.
Features Pro Version

* Create profiles right from the desktop with the new "One-click" profile creation option. Simply right-click any game icon on you desktop (or anywhere else for that matter) and select "Convert to Game Jackal Profile", a much simplified creation wizard guides you through a 2 step process.
* Unused profiles can now be moved to an archive section allowing you to keep only your current favorites in the "My Game Profile" section.
* A new "plug-in" interface is now available, this allows third-party developers to create plug-ins for Game Jackal Pro.
* Right-click popup menu for profiles, this provides a faster and easier way to manage profiles.
* Improved reliability, support and performance for many games and hardware configurations.
* Support for multi processor hardware, including the ability to specify processor(s) on each profile.
* Image mode, for games that need to stream data from the CD or DVD during game play.
* An easy to use interface, providing the user with a single tool for "cd free" gaming.
* The creation of a Game Jackal Profile is performed while you are playing your favorite game!
* Using the auto update feature, your version of Game Jackal Pro will always be the latest version available.
* Guardian Control, this feature allows for the password protection of game profiles in addition to specifying when and how long a game can be played.
* No longer do you need to find and insert the game's CD-ROM.
* Preserve the original game's CD-ROM: one of the problems with having a favorite game is that the CD-ROM gets damaged over time.
* Game load times are dramatically shortened

System Requirements

* IBM-compatible PC with a minimum 500 MHz Pentium-class microprocessor and 64 MB RAM
* Windows XP/XP64/VISTA32/VISTA64
* 2 MB hard-disk space

[Bopher]

I used MagicISO to make a backup of Railroad Tycoon 3 and that had issues with reading the disk from USB. I tried in UIF format which actually gives you smaller files and I was able to install and run the game all from the USB thumb drive. When you mount the cd image though you have to wait a few sconds for the UIF to be check for integrity.