Can you Play with out the CD?

[Quatney]

I want to play this game on my Laptop (it's really old), but the CD Rom is broken. I was wondering is there a way to by pass the check for CD thing?

 

[BlueMonday]

Yes, just press the OK button. All you'll miss is some of the extraneous multimedia.

It works on my version (civ 2 classic). I don't know if you need the CD in for TOT, CTP, MGE, FW, or whatever version the rest of you play. If you do, you can find a No-CD patch on the internet.

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<FONT COLOR="blue">I take every day one beer at a time; every beer one sip at a time.</FONT c>

[This message has been edited by BlueMonday (edited June 22, 2001).]

 

[starlifter]

A no-cd patch will work fine. The limitation is that the movies, animation, etc. will not work with no-cd patch. I have Two icons set up... one is a no-cd, and the other is the normal Civ 2. If I want a quick start and not look for my Civ 2 CDROM, I just use the no-cd patched version. All a no-cd patch does is remove the program's access to a CD-ROM, which is why things like movies that need the CD-ROM will not work with a no-cd patch. You can find patches for your version (whatever it is) pretty easily by searching in the internet.

 

[GenghisK]

Starlifter, which platform are you playing on? Mac or PC?
On Mac you can make a shrinkwarp image of you cd than mount it as a fake cd to play with movies.
If you're on PC, I've heard that there exist a quite similar program, more limited but that works. It's a commercial software. You copy your cd on the HD and it simulates the cd for you. Otherwise if you're looking for no-cd patch, I think you can find them legally on gamecopyworld. There are also "stand-alone-no-cd" version (if you see what I mean) you can find on hotline servers. Hope I answered your question.

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[kundor]

For CivII classic, there are instructions in the manual to install movies, music etc. to play without the cd.
Let me get home and find my manual and I can tell you exactly what they are, but if you have yours its near the beginning in the install section.

 

[starlifter]

The MAC is a fine platform, judging by the limited time I have spent with it. But I use a homebuilt PC for Civ II.

I don't recall which site I got my no-CD patch from, but it may have been Gamecopyworld, or maybe Hambo.

There are 4 or 5 PC "simulated CD-ROM" software programs out there. Although I have over 40 G on 3 drives, I don't have the space at the moment to mirror game CD's to my game partition, plus I don't really care about the Throne Room, the Advisors, the animated diplomacy, or the wonder movies... so teh no-CD patch is a great solution. Anytime I want to run the original program file, I still have it too, but have to go get the CD, and turn on my CD-ROMs.

The no-CD patches are legal, because all they do is modify the original .EXE file with about 5 bytes on average. A no-CD patch is not a 'free' version of Civ II, if anyone is confused on that point (you still must buy the program before you can patch it).

Also, on pager v of the manual, it tells you the multimedia files to copy... it's the contents of 2 directories. I think, however, the program will still check to the game CD when it starts, even if you copy the MM files. The no-CD patch eliminates any access to a CD.

 

[kundor]

Here's what it says in the readme:
Most of the multimedia files for Civilization II are located on the CD ROM in the Video subdirectory under civ2 ( d:\civ2\video ) and the Kings subdirectory under civ2 (d:\civ2\kings ). If you wish to copy these files to your harddrive, create two subdirectories under civ2 ( c:\mps\civ2\video ) and ( c:\mps\civ2\kings ). Copy all the files in the Video subdirectory of the Civilization II CD to the Video subdirectory that you just created and all the files in the Kings subdirectory of the Civilization II CD to the Kings subdirectory that you just created.
(Note: just open a window with the cd and a window on the hard drive civII folder and drag the video and king folders, don't bother creating new ones first)
Yes, it still puts a dialog box saying there's no cd in the drive, but just click ok and you can play with all the movies. It doensn't play music, though, if you care about that.

 

[starlifter]

A dude named civfan has sent me messages asking for the entire Civ II game. For him and anyone else: go out and buy Civ II if you don't have it. Don't even think of ripping off Sid Meier's fine masterpiece. You can get it for about $9.99 on the discount racks at computer stores not (CD-only version), or $14.99 with the manual and poster and full box.

By the way, a no-cd patch requires you own the full game in order to install it. A no-cd patch without a legally bought game does you no good!

I can't fathom why a person (like you, civfan) would take the time to find this Civ board, presumably discover how great Civ II is, and then send multiple messages asking for a bootleg copy of the game. On top of that, only a village idiot would ask to e-mail a few hundred megabytes, LOL!

 

[Quatney]

Where can I get a no-CD patch on the internet. I've looked around, but I can't seem to find one. Do ya'll have any suggestions on a good site?

 

[starlifter]

I just checked. It is on the gamecopyworld site. You need to use its search function to locate your own version.
http://www.gamecopyworld.com/

 

[andycapp]

Originally posted by starlifter:
A dude named civfan has sent me messages asking for the entire Civ II game......

I can't fathom why a person (like you, civfan) would take the time to find this Civ board, presumably discover how great Civ II is, and then send multiple messages asking for a bootleg copy of the game. On top of that, only a village idiot would ask to e-mail a few hundred megabytes, LOL!

I had the same guy email me but he also wanted me to send him a copy of Civ3!!!

I might play Civ at diety level but I make no claims about performing miracles!

 

[starlifter]

That slimeball wound up sending me several messages, practically demanding that I send him Civ II. He said he "knew" I had a good copy, and it would make him "very happy" if I would "e-mail" him a copy of the game. Later, he began begging for a copy of Civ 3, LOL...

And he claims to be a "civfan"

 

[Quatney]

That one from Gamecopyworld.com won't work. I have the Gold edition, and I can't find one from there that will work. Do you know of any other places?

 

[starlifter]

I took a look using Astalavista:
http://astalavista4.box.sk/


And here is a Civ II Gold No-CD link:
http://www.8bn.com@45495915461/cgi-bin/gateway.cgi?41560


However, I did not check it out so you'll have to test it. As I recall 2 years ago, I found a small file from somewhere (gamecopyworld, I thought) that contained a little patch program that simply modified my CivII.exe file to never check the CD ROM. I also kept the original file, and just activate either one I want. Normally these days, I just use the NO-CD .exe, unless someone else wants to see the graphics or learn how to play.

You can also try a search using Copernic, or a manual search at AltaVista, Yahoo, etc.

 

[GenghisK]

You might find that on Hotline, I think... Search the tracker-tracker. With a bit of luck you'll also find a complete version of MGE or ToT.

 

[starlifter]

by GenghisK:

With a bit of luck you'll also find a complete version of MGE or ToT.

Don't even think of ripping off Sid Meier's fine masterpiece. Go out and buy Civ II if you don't have it.

You can get it for about $9.99 at computer stores or via the Internet (CD-only version), or $14.99 for the full box with the manual and poster.

 

[Quatney]

Originally posted by GenghisK:
You might find that on Hotline, I think... Search the tracker-tracker.

What exactly is Hotline, never heard of it. I tried to get the one off of the astalavista.box.sk but it didn't work at all.