Protection on DS2 and RCT3

[arthurdent1]

I recently bought 2 games, Dungeon Siege 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. Both require I have the CD in the drive while playing but this leads to wear and tear on the CD, of course. I'd like to make a copy of the CDs they require so I can save the original CDs.

I own Alcohol 120% (1.9.5 - build 3105) and would like to use this to copy at least the one cd required on each game but do not know
a) the copy protection used by each game and
b) the settings for Alcohol 120% so I can make good copies, not coasters.

I have been unable to find these game copy protection schemes on this web site.

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to get this to work?

Note: I am not making copies for giving away, selling, etc. These will be mine for using and for archival purposes alone.

[Crypton]

I recently bought 2 games, Dungeon Siege 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.

For Both, when getting rady to start making copies, enable RMPS in Alcohol 120%, you can right click the tray con for A120% or do it from options menu.

For Railroad Tycoon 3: (SecuROM (Old))
I am assuming it is a Standard CD, if so, Alcohol 120%, select for Datatype, SecuROM (not SecuROM *NEW*)

Speed, I would try a slow speed to start with such as 1x or 2x, if that does not work, increase by 2 until you find a good working image. Speed varies on drive/brand/model. no DPM, no Fast Skip Error

For Dungeon Siege 2: (Smarte/SmarteSECURE)
DVD I presume? Slow copy speed, no DPM, no Fast Skip Error
Depending on drive model/type, slow may not work, and may have to use mid range such as 4x-10x speed, you can adjust the speed for each protection type in A120% options > Profiles

After making copies, turn off RMPS in Alcohol 120%, close A120%, mount image to Daemon-Tool 4, don't enable any emulation, just mount and test.

[peacock]

May I proceed the same with DS2 on CDs?

[Crypton]

Copying CD's is a bit different than copying DVD's because of how the protection is implemented. The protections used on DVD's have to be implemented differently because of their Layers.

In this sense, in most cases, the same settings can be used, except for when copying certain protection such as SafeDisc.

Safedisc on DVD, generally you copy at a fast speed and dont do skip errors (because it contains no pysical errors)

SafeDisc on CD, mainly older version, contains read errors which are purposly pitted into the CD grooves. Thus, the copy speed usually is better at a slow copy speed. Hope that makes some sense.

I will eventually get around to writing a full guide, but as of late, I have not had much time not to mention, being online is somewhat limited atm.