Automount ISO/CUE with DAEMON Tools Pro

[Pyrometheous]

So, I'm slowly bringing back more and more older PC games to my library, and although I am accustomed to mounting iso/cue files for older games, in this case Star Trek Armada, I've grown a bit spoiled by launchbox's ability to do pretty much everything automatically, leaving me to just double click and let everything run. With Star Trek Armada, it doesn't break the game at all, it just doesn't load any cinematics. I found this post, discussing DAEMON Tools Lite and Sega Saturn emulation, but I can't seem to get the suggested fix to work for me.

I just wanted to know if there was an easy way to have Launchbox automatically mount the image via DAEMON Tools Pro, and then have Launchbox launch the installed game afterwards. It's certainly not a deal breaker if this isn't possible, I just think it would be convenient if this was something that could be done.

[Belgarath]

I just have the iso as the main application in launchbox, because the typical file extensions are associated in windows (.cue, ,iso .mds etc.) it automatically mounts the iso, no need for any command line. Then in launchbox when you edit the game, under additional apps I add the games executable and tick automatically run after main application.

Works fine for me, but I'm using Daemon Tools Lite and Windows 7 but hopefully it should work for you as well.

[SentaiBrad]

There are some instances where you'll need a script, Sega Saturn games needed that for a specific emulator (like @Pyrometheous found). The major issue is unmounting the game. If you keep mounting and mounting games, then they'll keep piling up. I believe that was the main need for the script, to unmount afterwards.

What exactly are you trying to do? I almost never need to mount anything, so I am curious.

[Belgarath]

31 minutes ago, SentaiBrad said:

There are some instances where you'll need a script, Sega Saturn games needed that for a specific emulator (like @Pyrometheous found). The major issue is unmounting the game. If you keep mounting and mounting games, then they'll keep piling up. I believe that was the main need for the script, to unmount afterwards.

What exactly are you trying to do? I almost never need to mount anything, so I am curious.

Star Trek Armada is a Windows game, I know he mentioned Saturn Emulation but I think Windows games are his main focus and if it needs the CD then you will have to mount the iso. I don't bother unmounting the isos, they don't do any harm being left in and if I mount a new one it just replaces the already mounted one, I don't have a string of virtual drives appearing, I do only use one virtual drive though so maybe it's an issue if you use more than one.

[Lordmonkus]

Not sure if this is applicable here or not and if it isn't please feel free to ignore me

I used this batch file for mounting and unmounting Saturn games:

@echo off
set game=%1%
set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe"
set emu="H:\Emulation\Emulators\SSF\SSF.exe"

%daemon% -mount 0, %game%
start /wait "" %emu%

%daemon% -unmount 0 

Whether or not this can be modified to suit the situation I don't know but it's here if it can be of any help at all.

[Pyrometheous]

1 hour ago, SentaiBrad said:

What exactly are you trying to do? I almost never need to mount anything, so I am curious.

So far, I'm not 100% sure. I've just noticed that Star Trek Armada doesn't do cinematics when the image isn't mounted, and I think (could be waaay wrong), that some other older games like Black & White also liked to have an image mounted. I don't have an optical drive anymore, so I was thinking that for games that want/need a disc image, it would be nice to have them mount automatically at launch. 

 

51 minutes ago, Belgarath said:

Star Trek Armada is a Windows game, I know he mentioned Saturn Emulation but I think Windows games are his main focus and if it needs the CD then you will have to mount the iso. I don't bother unmounting the isos, they don't do any harm being left in and if I mount a new one it just replaces the already mounted one, I don't have a string of virtual drives appearing, I do only use one virtual drive though so maybe it's an issue if you use more than one.

Yup yup. So do you have it automatically mount? If so, how? I've typically just been right-clicking on the image, and then select mount to drive. I think I can specify if I want it to be CD/DVD/BRD if I want to, but the defaults have always worked for me. I've never tried to automate the process before, so I don't know if it would end up stacking, or just ejecting the previous image or not.

32 minutes ago, lordmonkus said:

Not sure if this is applicable here or not and if it isn't please feel free to ignore me

I'll need to experiment when I get home and see. I've never done Sega Saturn emulation, so I don't know if it would differ or not.

[Lordmonkus]

Well the batch file was used to mount disks for the SSF emulator which required real disks in the drive or a mounted image, it can't read images like other emulators.

[Belgarath]

42 minutes ago, Pyrometheous said:

 Yup yup. So do you have it automatically mount? If so, how? I've typically just been right-clicking on the image, and then select mount to drive. I think I can specify if I want it to be CD/DVD/BRD if I want to, but the defaults have always worked for me. I've never tried to automate the process before, so I don't know if it would end up stacking, or just ejecting the previous image or not.

 

Like I said, the cd image is the main application in the launchbox game entry, so by starting the game entry it automatically mounts the cd, you add the game executable itself under additional apps

 

[Pyrometheous]

13 minutes ago, Belgarath said:

Like I said, the cd image is the main application in the launchbox game entry, so by starting the game entry it automatically mounts the cd, you add the game executable itself under additional apps

Oh, I see, I'll have to try that out when I get home. Thanks!