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| Thread: HOMM3 Complete NO DISC on Gameranger-REQUIRES purchased (legal) copy (with disc)! | |
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MacMasterMC
Known Hero
Resurrected Loreweaver
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posted May 07, 2011 05:48 PM |
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HOMM3 Complete NO DISC on Gameranger-REQUIRES purchased (legal) copy (with disc)!
I am only posting this because it took me nearly a week to get this done, and I tend to be pretty knowledgable about computer workarounds, so this is for those who may not be as comfortable doing/attempting to figure out how to save wear and tear on a single paid for copy of their HOMM3 Complete play disc, because as we all know, original discs never wear out right? 
DISCLAIMER 1: I am NOT going to post my image online for anybody to download, not encouraging piracy in any way-simply wanted to save my disc from being unusable, and wanted the game to load the videos faster (as opposed to not at all with the no cd patches I have seen floating around-none of them let the videos play-some ppl might be able to live without em, but it takes away from the game without having the cutscenes. Somehow they set up or add to the story very nicely for me.  End Disclaimer.)
DISCLAIMER 2: I do NOT guarantee that this will work, only that I see no reason that it will not if you follow these steps. I am willing to help you try to get it to work for your machine if you find these steps do not work, simply post a reply here and I will see what we can do to get it to work.
Fist I had to find a program that would allow me to actually make a true copy of the disc, as it seems that there was copy protection on the disc-I attempted to make a copy using the free IsoRecorder protool for XP. BTW, I am running XP Pro, SP3. I don't think that it matters which you are running as long as your OS is compatible with HOMM3, but just for reference, it's the one I have that I was able to get it to work with. Will be testing on Vista 64-bit Home Premium when I get the chance, to see if it works the same(and therefore by extension, likely Win7).
This will all be done using free trials, no illegal or cracked versions of software here, as I mentioned.
Note: Will be using CNET.com for the downloads, still recommend scanning the downloads, but nearly impossible to get infected from them (but still can happen! came across a piece of software the other day that actually installed a trojan-glad I saw that from reviews and didn't actually try it out!). If you need a way to scan single files and you do not have any anti-virus software,
http://virusscan.jotti.org/en
is totally free, and I think allows you to scan up to 20MB file sizes.
Step 1: Download CloneCD trial version from CNET.
http://download.cnet.com/CloneCD/3000-2646_4-10753250.html
Step 2: Download Virtual CloneDrive (free full version!!!) from CNET.
http://download.cnet.com/Virtual-CloneDrive/3000-20432_4-173879.html
-I used the virtual drive, mainly due to the fact it not only works with ISO files, but it natively handles both the CCD and the IMG file extensions created by CloneCD, which made it simpler than this might have been.
Here is the only tricky part. Once you have installed the CloneCD trial version, you will need to make the image from your play disc. It is still really easy, but what I did to make sure the Image I created was fully functional was to copy it to another disc, which I wanted anyway as a backup in case my original disc didn't work someday. Every time you launch CloneCD, you will have to click try it, and then you can use it.
WARNING: You get 21 days to try out CloneCD, so be sure you do this before your trial runs out. Like I mentioned earlier, the Virtual CloneDrive is unlimitedly free, but CloneCD is not. Be sure to make your image and backup disc before the trial runs out, unless you plan to purchase CloneCD. (Though I might since it worked. )
Click on the file menu and click Read to file... and make sure you have your play disc in your disc drive. It will ask you which drive you wish to use when you click read to file. Once you have selected your drive and clicked next, the screen will come up asking which kind of disc you are making. We will be using a plain old CD, no RW or anything like that. Simple CD-R disc, 80min/700MB. Your mileage may vary with different discs, I wanted to keep it simple. Make sure you select Protected PC Game, and then click next. Do NOT let there be a check in the box called Create "Cur-Sheet". It is not necessary to make one to function with Virtual CloneDrive. Click OK, and it will make the image, which will consist of three files, all named image. I recommend putting them into their own folder named HOMM3 Complete or something like that, as I didn't know if renaming them would affect (not likely, but why take a chance) the ability of the Virtual program to use them.
Optional Step 2.5: If, like me, you want to make a backup of your disc, (or simply want to make sure that the image file was created successfully and works correctly), then while CloneCD is still open, click File, Write to file... and browse to where you have the image file you just created. Pop a blank disc into your burner (if you have one), and click next.
WARNING: There is an option to "Delete after a successful Write" on the Copy from image screen. If you do that, you will NOT be able to use the image file to mount HOMM3 to the Virtual drive to play without your disc, and will need to make it again! To save yourself time, (and money, if you waited till after the trial ended  ) make sure you do not have a check mark in that box!
Step 3: Install VirtualCloneDrive.
Easy huh?
Step 4: Once the VirtualCloneDrive is installed, open it, and it will have three tabs: Settings, Language, and Info. We will only worry about the first tab, Settings for this how to. I only allowed it to Show tray icon, and to Keep history (makes it easier to reload the HOMM3 image when you want to play/play online). Set it to how many drives you want, I only chose one.
We are almost done!
Step 5: Now that it the above program is in your tray, you can work with it without have to go run the program anymore. Right click on the icon for it, should look like a dark gray mousepad with a disc picture in the upper right area of it. It should have an option for a drive letter there, mine is called E:, since I have another disc drive already. There should be an arrow from the drive letter that when you mouseover, will popup another section, one of the options there being Mount... Click that. Navigate to the folder you put the three image files you found before, and voila!
Step 6: REQUIRES ACCESSING YOUR REGISTRY! Do NOT modify anything else beyond what I mention here! I in no way take any liability for what you do to your registry. I only know that the change I make ONLY changes the drive letter that HOMM3 looks for, and NOTHING else.
If you are not comfortable with this, get someone who is a little more comfortable with this, though anyone can do this step. In your start menu, click run, and type regedit. Once you have it open, navigate to the My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic III\1.0 folder. There will be many entries ther, some of which will be things like Animate Spellbook, Combat Ballista, and many others. The ONLY thing we are modifying is the one called CDDrive. Simply right click it and click on Modify. In the popup that comes up, you will see in the white box D:. Simply change the D to and E, (or whatever drive it was named in the Virtual drive program that you mounted the HOMM3 image to) and click ok. Close regedit.
Step 7: Open HOMM3, and have fun! Gameranger will auto-detect the mounted image as long as you have it mounted, though for obvious reasons I would unmount the image when you are finished playing HOMM3. It's in the same menu when you mouseover the drive letter on the right click menu like before when you mounted the image.
Well that should be everything! I am not going into setting up Gameranger, or getting the online interface working, as that was handled with great exhaustion in a thread above.
If this gets stickied so others can easily see wouldn't be a bad thing, but either way, I thought that if this can save one person a lost disc, hey, then it was worth it.
See you in game!
Edit: Fixed a typo. Wow, I thought this would only be a few paragraphs. Didn't realize how much it actually took to do this! 
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...a shimmer in the woods, with
an expectant feel to the air...
...a figure takes shape...
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gnomes2169
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Duke of the Glade
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posted May 07, 2011 05:56 PM |
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A great way for people using Mac's to play the good ol' days of HOMM. Well written, and informative. Good job man.
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Yeah in the 18th century, two inventions suggested a method of measurement. One won and the other stayed in America.
-Ghost destroying Fred
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MacMasterMC
Known Hero
Resurrected Loreweaver
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posted May 07, 2011 06:14 PM |
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I appreciate the compliment, Gnome. Just hope someone can benefit is all.
Edit: BTW, I am using an XP Pro machine lol...but I suppose it would work on Mac comps too.
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...a shimmer in the woods, with
an expectant feel to the air...
...a figure takes shape...
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