Old Games and NO CD Drive

[Zepondrax]

So how do I solve this issue? I have a PC with no CD Drive and I have Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 (old games) on CD, What If i want to go back and play them? I tried to load up Diablo 1 it says insert the CD ROM, I dont have CD Drive? Is there somehow I can play the game again?

[shiel]

Postat inițial de Glimmer:

Postat inițial de cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Buy the digital versions on Battle.net or get a CD/DVD drive.

:winterbunny2023:

Could also try adding the keys to a Battlenet account. If memory serves Diablo 2 works, but I have no idea whether Diablo 1 would.

This is definitely worth trying, however, I ran into an issue with my copy of Warcraft 3 (bought back in 2002 when the game released) where the cdkey was apparently already in use. In the end I bought a $15 external drive to play it off the disk which honestly works out better as I believe activating WC3 on BN gives you the Reforged version which is awful. Regardless, Blizzard was not willing to help me out even though the game was bought in store, on release by me (although well over 20 years later I obviously lack proof of that) and the only email I used at the time I still have access to so the key was clearly compromised at some point.

[Piston Smashed™]

I recently bough a Asus ZenDrive V1M USB External Slim DVD Writer so I could get to some stuff on my old discs and some old games like Cool Pool. I'd forgot how slow they were reading and writing information too, glad I don't need to use it very often.

[crunchyfrog]

Postat inițial de Zepondrax:

People dont realise these days there are some users who still use CD ROMs so Technology gets left behind and removed

Postat inițial de crunchyfrog:

The thing to remember is that nobody truly gets left behind, as there's a cardinal rule here - if you want to do something, then I guarantee someone else also does and has solved the issue on the internet already.


When I first got on the internet one of the first things that I found out about was how easy it was to find out that old arcade games could be played through emulation and so on. Never thought that'd be a thing. But because I wanted to know about this, it showed that someone else had had the same thought and done something about it.

Nowadays, I repair and buy a lot of old tech, consoles, games, and so on. When I got hold of a load of old 8 track cartirdges, I got a player to test them out and ended up liking it.

As a result I picked up more cartridges and ended up wanting to know how to fix the cartridges as they're notoriously awful, And again, a quick google gave me all the tips I needed as someone had been there before me.

So as sson as DVD drives were removed from PCs I knew instantly there'd be USB drives for sale that did the job.

Still plenty of people that use music CDs too.

I'm one of them. I regularly buy CDs as they're still the best audio medium thus far.

I do buy vinyl too, depending on the master and the pressing of course.

But this is another of those weird examples where people read stuff on the internet and seem to think that's how everyone works.

[Iceira]

Postat inițial de crunchyfrog:

Postat inițial de Zepondrax:

People dont realise these days there are some users who still use CD ROMs so Technology gets left behind and removed

Still plenty of people that use music CDs too.

I'm one of them. I regularly buy CDs as they're still the best audio medium thus far.

I do buy vinyl too, depending on the master and the pressing of course.

But this is another of those weird examples where people read stuff on the internet and seem to think that's how everyone works.

agree with CF, but i also notice othe ways with Docking stations so you can use harddisk same ways as a plugin disk ( almost like hotswap just without coverbox box at disk drevs.

i was think maybe other want this info and still use them drevs as plug-in media storage as a remote disk. ( most i know still have a old disk at shelfes thats not in use

a search on the topic so ppl know what i mean. ( i have not investigate it further atm. )
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=harddisk+docking+stations&t=newext&atb=v409-1&ia=web

im try cover all disk, or raid or whatever here dont think it can do all.

[crunchyfrog]

Postat inițial de Iceira:

Postat inițial de crunchyfrog:

Still plenty of people that use music CDs too.

I'm one of them. I regularly buy CDs as they're still the best audio medium thus far.

I do buy vinyl too, depending on the master and the pressing of course.

But this is another of those weird examples where people read stuff on the internet and seem to think that's how everyone works.

agree with CF, but i also notice othe ways with Docking stations so you can use harddisk same ways as a plugin disk ( almost like hotswap just without coverbox box at disk drevs.

i was think maybe other want this info and still use them drevs as plug-in media storage as a remote disk. ( most i know still have a old disk at shelfes thats not in use

Oh I do this and have done for all my time on Steam. It's a really easy way to transport data and your library between computers (if that's relevant). It was for me back then and while it isn't so much now, it's so easy to use a dock and slam stuff if you want to use, and keep stuff on backup.

[Iceira]

yeah but i bet you know hotswap from old days, and actual use them disk as storage as we see fit until they die. ( most pc person i know will have disk they dont use...lol

[crunchyfrog]

Postat inițial de Iceira:

yeah but i bet you know hotswap from old days, and actual use them disk as storage as we see fit until they die. ( most pc person i know will have disk they dont use...lol

Ah now, I know of it, but back in the day I tended to steer clear of PC gaming.

It's mostly because I'm rather lazy :)

So I didn't really want to get on board with PC gaming much until plug n play and much easier use was on the go.

[MonkehMaster]

when i built my pc i bought and installed an internal dvd/cd rom burner im my desktop, cause like OP, i have bunches of games, movies and more.

internal drives are very cheap now a days, but then again not many people have towers with 5.25in drive bays, mines a "full" tower and has 3 drive bays, with the rom drive and my asus rog strix front base (over clock screen/panel).

externals are ok, but they are subject to usb speeds, while the internal runs on sata, so it will be faster data transfer.

but, like mentioned you can get digital copies for kinda cheap, D2 on blizzard and D1 at go.

though like you OP, i have both of those same games on disk as well (battle chest with D1 and D2), the starcraft battle chest and many other games.

think the only one i have never been able to figure out how to get working was balders gate 1 with expansion, as it always gave me an error installing, saying something about redundancy error and now that im talking about it... i feel like trying to mess with baldergate 1 again to see if i can get it installed lol.

i also, because how D2 was played, went and bought a second copy from blizzard (digital) so i could run 2 instances of the game, for transferring loot, among other things, back when i played it a ton, i didnt play vanilla though, i played POD (path of diablo - mod) and PD2 (project diablo 2 - mod).

now i just play diablo 2 resurrected mostly.

that being said, i still find myself not using the rom drive very much and im reluctant to run the disks and scratch/break them as i have had 3 starcraft cd's break on me, luckily they were copies and not the original.

your best bet is to rip them on copies and look for the color fix and no cd patches, so you arent running the disks.

[Jerry]

A completely different piece of computer hardware, I find myself missing quite often nowadays, would be a reset button. Going for a full shutdown, when my system freezes, feels so brutal.

[Zepondrax]

Newer computers dont have reset buttons now, thats another thing missing from most machines

Postat inițial de Jerry:

A completely different piece of computer hardware, I find myself missing quite often nowadays, would be a reset button. Going for a full shutdown, when my system freezes, feels so brutal.

[Piston Smashed™]

Postat inițial de MonkehMaster:

when i built my pc i bought and installed an internal dvd/cd rom burner im my desktop, cause like OP, i have bunches of games, movies and more.

internal drives are very cheap now a days, but then again not many people have towers with 5.25in drive bays, mines a "full" tower and has 3 drive bays, with the rom drive and my asus rog strix front base (over clock screen/panel).

externals are ok, but they are subject to usb speeds, while the internal runs on sata, so it will be faster data transfer.

but, like mentioned you can get digital copies for kinda cheap, D2 on blizzard and D1 at go.

though like you OP, i have both of those same games on disk as well (battle chest with D1 and D2), the starcraft battle chest and many other games.

think the only one i have never been able to figure out how to get working was balders gate 1 with expansion, as it always gave me an error installing, saying something about redundancy error and now that im talking about it... i feel like trying to mess with baldergate 1 again to see if i can get it installed lol.

i also, because how D2 was played, went and bought a second copy from blizzard (digital) so i could run 2 instances of the game, for transferring loot, among other things, back when i played it a ton, i didnt play vanilla though, i played POD (path of diablo - mod) and PD2 (project diablo 2 - mod).

now i just play diablo 2 resurrected mostly.

that being said, i still find myself not using the rom drive very much and im reluctant to run the disks and scratch/break them as i have had 3 starcraft cd's break on me, luckily they were copies and not the original.

your best bet is to rip them on copies and look for the color fix and no cd patches, so you arent running the disks.

My Asus ZenDrive V1M has a USB Type-C connector, something I made sure it had when I was looking for one. So, USB speeds aren't too bad, however the speed of a disc drive are not just dictated by its connection but also the media (disc) the data is on, how fast the data was transferred to the media etc. All of which can affect a data transfers performance no matter if it is an internal or external drive.

[Zepondrax]

Ok

[Anonymous Helper]

Diablo + Hellfire are also available DRM free on GOG:

https://www.gog.com/game/diablo

[Zepondrax]

oh cool. I did copy Diablo 1 from my oLd PC To the new one but it says CD ROM Required so guess I can get Diablo 1 +2 from GOG

[NaughtyFOX]

intrstng