Unable to auto-mount protected mdf/mds - file as scsi drive with DTLite command line arguments

[nietzsche666]

Ran into an annoying problem using DTLite for an auto-mount batch file with an old Windows 98 game that otherwise runs fine with some tweaks on Windows 10 64. I hope someone around here might have a clue what I am doing wrong.

 

The game runs off an mdf/mds - image file created with Alcohol 120% (current 2.1.1 trial version) from the original game cd I own. That was necessary, as the game has an ancient cd check copy protection relying on unreadable sectors. Additionally, It's one of those dated install pests that needs a windows install (creates an 80MB folder on the harddisk), but still leaves the majority of the game data and video and music files (about 500 MB) on the cd that has to be inserted for playing. It doesn't have a "maximum install" option like other games of that era, it's really the only way to play it. (No NOCD file or patched version of the game is around, as it is a pretty rare version and never had wide distribution.)

 

So playing it from original cd will create hiccups and little breaks because it constantly has to read via physical drive from the original game cd. Using that mdf/mds image it runs smooth, though, so I absolutely want and need to run it via image file, and I also don't want to be dependent on that 20+ years old game cd for preservation reasons.

 

It needs a scsi virtual drive for the game to accept that mdf/mds file as original game cd. I use Daemon Tools Lite 11.0 and re-enabled sptd drivers for WIn1064 via registry tweak, so I can mount a scsi virtual drive for the mdf/mds image. Regular dt virtual drive doesn't recognize the file as original game cd and the copy protection sets in. 

So far, so good - everything works fine when I manually mount the mdf/mds in a virtual scsi drive created by Daemon Tools Lite.

But when I try to start a batch file to automatically mount the image file and start the game exe, I'm able to auto-start the game and have the game recognize the mounted image file, but it doesn't recognize it as scsi drive and the copy protection sets in again.

 

@echo off
cd C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite
start dtcommandline.exe -m -t "scsi" -l "D" -p "C:\GAME ORIGINAL ISO BACKUPS\gamename\imagename_xxx.mds"
cd C:\GAMES\gamefoldername
start game.exe

 

I tried a lot of different ways of mounting drive and image but this is my most basic command line argument that should work to set up a new scsi virtual drive as drive D, mount the mds/mdf image in this scsi drive, then start the game. Should work, but somehow doesn't.

It acts as if the drive mounted is STILL a dt drive.

After this failed batch command start, though, I can leave the image in the new d drive (which DOES gets depicted as SCSI drive within Daemon Tools Lite) and start the game exe manually and it works again, virtual drive is treated as scsi drive, and I can play the game without the copy protection setting in. It's only when I use the command line batch file it doesn't work.

 

Am I missing something, some option or parameter I should have used?

Or is this about some restriction for the free Daemon Tools Lite version for command line options that isn't explained on their info site?

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by nietzsche666

[nietzsche666]

Ok, I actually solved the problem and am able to run the game via auto-mount batch file now.

 

I don't understand the technicalities of WHY it works like this at all. But the trick was to set the mounting procedure as start /w, so the initiation of the game.exe waits until the mounting process is fully done with.

 

It just takes a few seconds more to load, and for some reason the virtual scsi drive is only able to use its raw data reading / copy protection work-around abilities (or whatever this is about) if it waits for the image mounting to scsi virtual drive process to be fully terminated.

 

So DTLite IS able to auto-mount these types of images in virtual scsi/ide drives via batch file, if you know what to do.

 

This is my working batch file now, it's set up in a way that I already mounted a virtual scsi drive as "K" before I run it and that it ejects the image file after quitting the game:

@echo off
cd C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite
start /w dtcommandline.exe -M -l "K" -p "C:\GAME ORIGINAL ISO BACKUPS\gamename\imagename_xxx.mds"
cd C:\GAMES\gamefoldername
start /w game.exe
cd C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite
start dtcommandline.exe -u -l "K"

 

Also, it works the same for setting up a virtual drive as ide drive (ide drive is able to read protected mds/mdf files, too, I'm not too sure what the pros and cons of both drive types are for dealing with images like this).

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by nietzsche666