Help! Program cannot locate CD?

The only disc drive I have is an external USB Drive. Will the game work for this?
 
FlyPelican said:
No. CD2 is labelled as the play disk. You need to insert CD1 (Install) Disk for some reason.

Again, did anyone get there fold-outs in a foreign language?


My fold out is in a foreign lanuage too.
 
Does Civ 4 feature any sort of blacklist copy protection? Normally I won't touch blacklist protected games with a ten foot pole. I don't appreciate companies telling me what programs I can and cannot have installed on my computer - it's like the company is assuming you're a criminal simply because you have a perfectly legal program that *could* be used for something illegal. Hopefully that's not the case here.
 
Yes it does. It uses Safedisc V4 which blacklists many programs that are capable of CD/DVD emulation, no matter what you're actually using them for.

Some people have worked around this by disabling virtual drives, and some people had to actually uninstall the software (stuff like Daemon Tools, Alcohol 120%, CloneCD, etc.). There are also tools out there to "hide" the blacklisted programs from Safedisc, such as Anti-blaxx and Sd4hide.

I agree though, I hate it when copy protection goes overboard and assumes you're a criminal if you have more than one CD drive, certain programs installed on your computer, or an unorthodox setup that it doesn't recognize. I had this problem for a whole day (without any CD emulation tools on my comp) before I had to use a blocker to bypass the overzealous Safedisc. :rolleyes:
 
Nothing has worked for me so far on this stupid "Cannot locate the CD-ROM" problem. I downloaded SafeDisk 4 Hider but where do I put the files?
 
Just unzip it anywhere you want and run it. There are instructions that come with it. Run it, click 'Hide', then run civ. When you're done playing, click 'Restore'.
 
Thanks. I had to download WinAce to extract the .rar and then it fired right up. It still didn't work though. I've got Anti-Blaxx and SafeDisk 4 Hider running and still no luck. I tried both disks, downloaded drivers, uninstalled Nero, and uninstalled and reinstalled the game 5 times. I'm getting ready to make a Firaxis voodoo doll.
 
What got it to work for me was to disable Alcohol's virtual disks at bootup (normally I had 2 volumes), then do a reboot, then run SafeDisk4 Hider, then the game. I had no success with Antiblaxx at all, and ended up deleting it.

Good luck.
Loyd
 
I tried all of the above. Updated firmware, removed any possible cloning software, checked if my DVD drive was slaved, tried the different fixes, still no luck. I'm a 'proud' owner of the european DVD version of CivIV.

I happened to have a similar problem with FarCry but at least there was a NoCd fix so I could play that game.

So, will I have to wait for a crack to play my LEGALLY AQUIRED COMPUTERGAME? This really starts to piss me off.
 
This stinks, I have the same problem. So tradeing in the game for another one woulndt help would it.
 
same problems...it won't recognize my disc 1 at all, even though i've already installed (through safe mode) it will recognize disc 2 though (wish it was really the play disc).

I've done all the suggestions here...any other ideas...
 
I just wanted to say thanks to Loydb :goodjob:. I never posted here before now, but for the last few weeks I was stuck and getting really frustrated. I found your advice when I did a google search it lead me here. I bought the game and it worked for a while, then for some reason a few weeks ago it started giving me a lot of grief with XML problems and this "Error cannot locate the CD-ROM" BS. I own a legally purchased copy of Civilization 4, I tried both Disk 1 and "play"disc 2 over and over and couldn't figure out what was wrong for the life of me.

It's kinda unfortunate that an honest customer has to resort to using a program designed to override copyright protection but I don't care. I just want to play the game I bought.

Now I can get back to world domination! :lol:

loydb said:
Get SafeDisk 4 Hider, I've tested it, it fixed my problem. (Yes, I own the damn game).

http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware..._utils_8.shtml
 
Bardas said:
I tried all of the above. Updated firmware, removed any possible cloning software, checked if my DVD drive was slaved, tried the different fixes, still no luck. I'm a 'proud' owner of the european DVD version of CivIV.

I happened to have a similar problem with FarCry but at least there was a NoCd fix so I could play that game.

So, will I have to wait for a crack to play my LEGALLY AQUIRED COMPUTERGAME? This really starts to piss me off.
:mad: I'm in the exact same situation! Will I have to send the game back to Firaxis/2K?!
 
Okay - here is the steps undertaken before the silly thing worked:

- Installed full game for CD-ROM G:
- Installed patch 1.54
- Got error
- Changed CD drives
- Got error
- Un-installed "nasty" programs, un-installed Civ4, re-installed Civ4 & patch.
- Got error
- Ran down list of "common SecureRom problems" (played with DMA, turned off applications, etc).
- Got error
- Downloaded 'sd4hide.exe'.
- Got error
- Downloaded 'CureROM'
- Got error
- Un-installed game, re-installed on secondary DVD-R-RW H:
- Installed patch
- Did above
- Got error
- Now 4 hours into attempting to get the game to work
- Killed kitten walking down the street
- Made baby cry
- Downloaded 'no-cd' hack
- Game now works fine
- WTH ???
- :confused: :sad: :(

If I had not paid $100 for this game and just downloaded a crack, I would have given up 1 hour into it - no a very fun start to my Civ4 experence...

\/\/
 
Try the Latest version of CureRom. It has anti-blacklist features. It fixes the issues with Securerom for me at least (by hiding the programs on it's blacklist like Alcohol) in case you're playing from a Burner drive and don't want to uninstall alcohol or D/L a bo-cd crack for a game you paid for :-(

-Great wizard
 
GreatWizard said:
Try the Latest version of CureRom. It has anti-blacklist features. It fixes the issues with Securerom for me at least (by hiding the programs on it's blacklist like Alcohol) in case you're playing from a Burner drive and don't want to uninstall alcohol or D/L a bo-cd crack for a game you paid for :-(

-Great wizard

If your talking about version 1.3.1, then that's what I was using...

What really shits me is that the next time I install a game patch, it's going to break again until the cracking crew makes the next 'no-cd' app (read: days to months).

It also makes me wonder what type of funky trogen/virus is running in the background while I play...

:mad:

\/\/
 
I'm having this problem on a better computer when I didn't have it on a lesser computer! Strange! Frustrating! I got the game as a b-day gift in october and installed it on a dell inspiron 5100 with 32mb video memory but it worked. i suffered the black screen problem, the no skin just teeth problem until the patch was made available and i just used "update" feature in the options menu and it worked. i was able to atleast play the game to some degree, even though it was at the lowest settings possible and insanely slow. so i upgraded my computer, moved up to an all around better performer, but from the first time i tried to install the game i knew something wasnt right. the diskdrive, while working fine for dvds, cds and software disks, started to stuggle with the installations process. it took two tries to get it installed because it froze during the installiation of disk 2, and when i finally popped the play disk (the correct one, i'm became aware of the mislabeling months ago) the drive just makes struggling ssounds. i can hear its trying to read it, then after about 45seconds the "play - read me - exit" menu pops and after clicking play the drive continues to make its struggling sounds and the "loadin..." screen pops uo and stays. so disappointing. if any one can help please do so. sorry for the longwinded post but i figure the more information the better.
 
voodoochild said:
I'm having this problem on a better computer when I didn't have it on a lesser computer! Strange! Frustrating! I got the game as a b-day gift in october and installed it on a dell inspiron 5100 with 32mb video memory but it worked. i suffered the black screen problem, the no skin just teeth problem until the patch was made available and i just used "update" feature in the options menu and it worked. i was able to atleast play the game to some degree, even though it was at the lowest settings possible and insanely slow. so i upgraded my computer, moved up to an all around better performer, but from the first time i tried to install the game i knew something wasnt right. the diskdrive, while working fine for dvds, cds and software disks, started to stuggle with the installations process. it took two tries to get it installed because it froze during the installiation of disk 2, and when i finally popped the play disk (the correct one, i'm became aware of the mislabeling months ago) the drive just makes struggling ssounds. i can hear its trying to read it, then after about 45seconds the "play - read me - exit" menu pops and after clicking play the drive continues to make its struggling sounds and the "loadin..." screen pops uo and stays. so disappointing. if any one can help please do so. sorry for the longwinded post but i figure the more information the better.

By the sounds of things, your CD-ROM is broken. Try the install on a known working computer. If that fails with the same error, you may find that you CD set has corrupted and you need a new one. If it works fine, then try replacing your CD drive. If the error still occur, it may be your data cable, motherboard or windoze install.
 
Back
Top Bottom