How to make old windows games see mounted ISOs?

[RedBaronK™]

So I've been on a binge of installing old windows games on the deck. Most of the time I install it on my PC, apply a no-cd crack, then just copy the folder over and add the .exe file as a non steam game, run proton and it works fine.

However, sooner or later I'll come across a game that does not have a no-cd crack, so eventually I'll need to learn how to mount ISOs.... Or use an actual USB optical drive, which I don't want to do. I'm currently at the point now of having a game without a no-cd crack. I have managed to get the deck to mount ISO images successfully using "mount unmount ISO" I got off of the discovery store, and I have no problem navigating inside ISOs on desktop mode using the file explorer.

My question is.... how do I make any of these old windows games execitabke files actually "see" the ISO so it can pass the CD check?? Btw I actually own these CDs legally.

[Prezidentas]

Neither a mounted ISO nor a USB optical drive would work due to the fact that Windows software sees a fake filesystem anyways. You could try using winecfg to add the directory with the extracted files into the fake filesystem as a new drive letter and hopefully that would work. Of course an ISO image does not contain CD audio anyways, so that might be problematic for some really old games, but for those you should use something like dosbox or another emulator.

[RedBaronK™]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Neither a mounted ISO nor a USB optical drive would work due to the fact that Windows software sees a fake filesystem anyways. You could try using winecfg to add the directory with the extracted files into the fake filesystem as a new drive letter and hopefully that would work. Of course an ISO image does not contain CD audio anyways, so that might be problematic for some really old games, but for those you should use something like dosbox or another emulator.

thanks for the response. i'm new to linux... is winecfg something we already have on the deck or a separate download?

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by RedBaronK™:

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Neither a mounted ISO nor a USB optical drive would work due to the fact that Windows software sees a fake filesystem anyways. You could try using winecfg to add the directory with the extracted files into the fake filesystem as a new drive letter and hopefully that would work. Of course an ISO image does not contain CD audio anyways, so that might be problematic for some really old games, but for those you should use something like dosbox or another emulator.

thanks for the response. i'm new to linux... is winecfg something we already have on the deck or a separate download?

winecfg is something that comes with the stock wine, a compatibility layer. I doubt you will see it on the deck. For non-steam windows software (excluding GOG and Epic) your best bet is a program called "Bottles". Bottles no longer uses winecfg and instead allows you to define drives thru individual bottle settings. (You create a "bottle" for every piece of software. With it comes a fake windows drive with fake drive letters, and the windows program lives in it)

[shadowboy813]

Depending on the game, a mere filesystem might not be enough--some of those cds had bogus ToCs on the CD that are intentionally wrong, so that a copied cd (which would correct the ToC), would be known to the game as a pirate copy. Therefore extracting the cd to an ISO might cause the game to fail a CD check ANYWAY, as extracting the ISO would "fix" the bogus ToC, unless you use a tool to use a bit-perfect extraction--copying "errors" too.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by shadowboy813:

Depending on the game, a mere filesystem might not be enough--some of those cds had bogus ToCs on the CD that are intentionally wrong, so that a copied cd (which would correct the ToC), would be known to the game as a pirate copy. Therefore extracting the cd to an ISO might cause the game to fail a CD check ANYWAY, as extracting the ISO would "fix" the bogus ToC, unless you use a tool to use a bit-perfect extraction--copying "errors" too.

ISO won't copy such copy protections anyways. it's always easier to just use a nocd or a crack

[RedBaronK™]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Originally posted by shadowboy813:

Depending on the game, a mere filesystem might not be enough--some of those cds had bogus ToCs on the CD that are intentionally wrong, so that a copied cd (which would correct the ToC), would be known to the game as a pirate copy. Therefore extracting the cd to an ISO might cause the game to fail a CD check ANYWAY, as extracting the ISO would "fix" the bogus ToC, unless you use a tool to use a bit-perfect extraction--copying "errors" too.

ISO won't copy such copy protections anyways. it's always easier to just use a nocd or a crack

Yeah I prefer the no-cd method for sure, but for this particular game because it is not as popular there's no no-cd crack.

So now I'm having another problem... All of a sudden mount unmount iso stopped working. Could using flatseal have had something to do with it? I hit the "reset" button on "all applications" inside flatseal... Maybe that took away the permissions to be able to mount iso?