Ask the Experts / RCT2 without CD

Okay, after some further research into "SecuROM 4.83.11.0048" I found a way to do it. The trick is to get around what's called "Data Position Measurement (DPM)":

Data Position Measurement (DPM) is a copy protection mechanism that operates by measuring the physical location of data on an optical disc. Stamped CDs are perfect clones and always have the data at the expected location, while a burned copy would exhibit physical differences. DPM detects these differences to identify user-made copies. DPM was first used publicly in SecuROM 4.7.

^http://en.wikipedia....ion_Measurement

Thus, if you just burn a copy of RCT2, or copy its files to your hard drive, the DPM information will be lost and different from the original RCT2 disc. A nice way to counter illegal copying.

The only way I know in which DPM info can be saved is through alcohol 52%'s proprietary "Media Descriptor Image" (.mds/.mdf) disc image format. You can get it here.

When using alcohol 52% to make the image, it will let you select "SecuROM *NEW (4/5/7)" as your data type.

The consequence upon creating the image is this:

Wait for a while for DPM analysis.
- Data Position Measurement - 00:07:59
- Get DPM info from current disc successful!
- Writing image file: C:\[...]\RCT2.mdf

Feeding the game this image as the source of the CD worked. It's a bit of a workaround but it's a legal way of running RCT2 without CD and still keeping it in its original nature. Just also reinstalled WW and TT and the game still works without CD. This is a great relief. Startup time is also reduced a bit because the drive doesn't have to read the CD first to launch the game.

Great find my friend. You are amazing. Will try this as soon as possible.

I got a no-cd exe here. I can provide it to people if they want.
I use it to preserve my rct2 disk. cause it has the tendecy to not work after a while.

Posix, it tells me that it "Cannot get the right DPM info from the disc with current device"

 

I used the "SecuROM *NEW (4/5/7)" option but doesn't work for me.

I made an iso file from my CD with Iso Workshop, mounted in my Virtual Clone Drive and it works perfectly for me without a CD.