Ddeatth Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hey wonderful people, I was wondering if it's possible to rip Oblivion off of its CD and save it to my computer so it could run without the disk. And, not being a computer expert, I was hoping for some instructions on how to do this. Thanks for any help!! Ddeatth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smooth613 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Yes, it's possible. You'd need to create an image of your Oblivion disc and leave the image on your hard drive to later "mount" via software and you're good to go. It'll save wear and tear on your DVD/Blu-Ray drive and you'll have a backup in case you lose or damage your original disc. However, I'm not going into details on how to do this process since I'm unsure if this would be against the rules of this forum to discuss, since it's similar to some techniques used in illegal activities. Some searching around for some key words or terms I've used in the above sentences will provide you with the needed information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferryt Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I have no idea why you'd actually want to run Oblivion from a disk image, anyway. Note that the copy protection software which is part of the installation process won't even let you install Oblivion from a "virtual drive", much less run it from one -- not that there aren't ways to get around this, but I'm not going to discuss them because then we really would be talking about techniques used to pirate the game. What you want is a no-CD patch to the game. As far as I know, these are legal, so long as you don't redistribute a cracked copy of the Oblivion.exe file. Google is your friend. With a no-CD version of that file you can put your valuable CDs back in the their box and not worry about either them or your drive. You still have to install the game normally, though, and don't forget to back up your original Oblivion.exe before you do this just in case you screw things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hickory Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I have no idea why you'd actually want to run Oblivion from a disk image, anyway. Because it saves wear on both the disk and the drive. Note that the copy protection software which is part of the installation process won't even let you install Oblivion from a "virtual drive", much less run it from one Not so. I run Oblivion from a backup disk image. What you want is a no-CD patch to the game. Very bad advice. Oblivion will refuse to be patched with a cracked .exe file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferryt Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hickory, I used to run Oblivion from a virtual disk, myself, because I didn't want to keep my original disk in my drive, so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about. I had to install an additional program which tricked SecuROM into thinking that the virtual drive was a real drive, because it checks for the presence of any virtual drive software, terminates the installation process, and informs you that you have to use an original disk to install. The nice makers of this wonderfully intrusive and draconic piece of garbage assume that if you have certain kinds of software even installed on your computer (and this even includes a Task Manager replacement utility maintained and distributed by Microsoft!) such as virtual drive software, that you're a software pirate and it won't allow you to use any program it is "protecting". If you can't get beyond the point of installation, then you obviously can't actually "run" Oblivion from a virtual disk unless you're using a pirated copy you downloaded from the Internet that is already packaged and ready to go for you. I've run into this issue with both Oblivion and Borderlands and had to jump through hoops to get either of those games to install from a disk image. Once installed, Oblivion will run just fine because SecuROM only checks for authenticity on install and un-install -- at least with this game. It's not like that with all games. My comment regarding not using a virtual drive is based upon what I consider to be the better option which is running Oblivion with a no-CD version of Oblivion.exe and I can assure you that it runs just fine that way. Again, I had to do this on my old computer, which had a rather flaky CD drive and the game wouldn't always start with the original disk in the drive. Now, it's possible that things have changed in the year and a half since I had to go through all that trouble, so I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying that what I told Ddeatth is based upon my own experience and many hours of research. If there's an easier way, perhaps you can let us know how you did it. On my old computer I couldn't afford to keep a lot of disk images on my HD. That's not an issue with my new one, and I'd happily create a disk image and run Oblivion from that. As it is, I'm using my old no-CD hacked version of Oblivion.exe to play the game on my new computer. It works just fine. My only caution is that downloading any such file from the Internet is very risky business, because you never really know whether or not there might be malware hidden in what you think might be a legit no-CD hack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddeatth Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Okay people. Thanks for all your responses; however, as they are conflicting with one another and involve things I don't understand anyways, I'm simply not going to do it. Thanks for your help, though. :) Ddeatth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hickory Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Once installed, Oblivion will run just fine because SecuROM only checks for authenticity on install and un-install Which is what I meant. Obviously, I installed it from the original disk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferryt Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Understood. I misinterpreted what you said to mean that you began with no Oblivion installation at all, created a disk image, and then installed it using that disk image. So, basically, you're only using the disk image for the game's CD check on startup. As long as Ddeatth has the spare HD space that should work just fine for him, although he'll still need instructions on how to create and mount a virtual drive. Again, Ddeatth, Google is your friend. There is free software available to download that can create disk images and other free software that can create one or more virtual disks. You'll still have to install Oblivion normally, though. Hickory can probably do a better job than I can of walking you through this, since it's been almost two years since I've done anything like it. Just about anything is worth saving the wear and tear on your disks and drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddeatth Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Understood. I misinterpreted what you said to mean that you began with no Oblivion installation at all, created a disk image, and then installed it using that disk image. So, basically, you're only using the disk image for the game's CD check on startup. As long as Ddeatth has the spare HD space that should work just fine for him, although he'll still need instructions on how to create and mount a virtual drive. Again, Ddeatth, Google is your friend. There is free software available to download that can create disk images and other free software that can create one or more virtual disks. You'll still have to install Oblivion normally, though. Hickory can probably do a better job than I can of walking you through this, since it's been almost two years since I've done anything like it. Just about anything is worth saving the wear and tear on your disks and drives.Hmm... I think I'm beginning to understand, to a degree. I do need to install the game first, but then afterwards I create... A disk image? Or a virtual drive? Or a disk image on a virtual drive? I was inspired by the ability to install Xbox games to my new Xbox's hard-drive. This would also be great for some of my games since I have a computer at school and a computer at home. That way I wouldn't have to lug them around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferryt Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Well, we're getting into a very sensitive area when you even mention doing anything with your XBox, so let's not go there, OK? At least not if you want this thread to stay open and not get locked. Same for installing the same game on multiple computers. You're not supposed to do that, so you won't. Right? Good. Let's move on. Google "Windows virtual drive". Check out the first link, first. Then go from there. You'll be able to find expert advice and links to free and commercial software that can create disk images and mount them on virtual drives. Basically, though, you'll use an application which will create a disk image of your install disk. That's nothing more than a file that ends in the suffix ".iso". You use another program (usually) to create a special virtual drive and then "mount" the disk image on that drive. Your computer will then think that the virtual drive is an actual drive and you can do anything with it that you can do with a real drive. If you have it set up correctly and you launch Oblivion, the game will check to see if you have your original disk in your CD drive. Instead, it will see the mounted .iso file in the virtual drive, think that's the original disk and then allow itself to run. Still, a much simpler solution is to just use a no-cd version of Oblivion.exe and you don't have to do all that. How you acquire such a file though, is up to you and your sleuthing ability, because I'm not even certain we're allowed to talk about such things on this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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