Having an issue with old game CDs

[Tuxflop]

My computer will recognize that a game CD (Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Driver from 1998) is in the disk drive. It'll give me a notification like usual, but running the game itself just results in a "please insert disk" screen. This happens with this game as well as its sequel, so I imagine it's for most if not all disks. I have Windows 10.

[hawkeye]

I suspect that it is unlikely to work off the CD due to the protection software that was used back in the day. You will have search the web for solutions. Or set up a boot disk with the correct operating system.

[Tuxflop]

Not sure if this matters, but the disks read fine when I was using them a year ago and earlier.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

possibilities:
a windows 10 major/minor update broke things.
the disc is damaged
the cd/dvd-rom drive is damaged.

---
try out in another windows 10 machine and you will have your answer.

[Bastet]

Often a Windows update can prevent a game from working.
I have the same problem with a Big Fish game, although the game installs it doesn’t run.
If running &/or installing the game using compatibility mode doesn’t work then there’s no solution.

[emoticorpse]

Even if we were to try troubleshooting this, we'd need to know more information like did you actually install the game? what letter is the optical disc drive? What is the usual notification you're talking about? and stuff like that. Doubt you'll give all the information as we ask for it so basically I'll chalk it up to Windows 10 not being compatible with the game.

[Magma Dragoon]

check if the developer has released a no CD patch

[Tuxflop]

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

Doubt you'll give all the information as we ask for it

You're on.

1. The game is installed. It has been for a while, and it ran fine before a few months ago.
2."DVD RW Drive (F:) Sle"
3. The "usual notification" is this. https://imgur.com/a/votjWoZ

[_I_]

securom was disabled in win10
to play games that require it need win 9x-7

or check if the game has a nocd patch
or rebuy a digital copy of the game

https://www.howtogeek.com/230773/how-to-play-pc-games-that-require-safedisc-or-securom-drm-on-windows-10-8.1-8-7-and-vista/

[Tuxflop]

Oh man, what? Come on...
That’s strange. The article says that SecuROM was disabled back in 2015, but this issue only began for me this year. Is that really the cause of the issues then? Whatever the case, these games are way too under the radar to find on a digital store, so I might have to look into somehow plopping it into a version that can run without a disk, unless there’s still another fix.

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by Meteor:

Oh man, what? Come on...
That’s strange. The article says that SecuROM was disabled back in 2015, but this issue only began for me this year. Is that really the cause of the issues then? Whatever the case, these games are way too under the radar to find on a digital store, so I might have to look into somehow plopping it into a version that can run without a disk, unless there’s still another fix.

Has your dvd drive always been f:?

Try changing it to d. You install any extra drives lately? Any virtual drive programs? I'm assuming it's the authentic game cd?

[Tuxflop]

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

Originally posted by Meteor:

Oh man, what? Come on...
That’s strange. The article says that SecuROM was disabled back in 2015, but this issue only began for me this year. Is that really the cause of the issues then? Whatever the case, these games are way too under the radar to find on a digital store, so I might have to look into somehow plopping it into a version that can run without a disk, unless there’s still another fix.

Has your dvd drive always been f:?

Try changing it to d. You install any extra drives lately? Any virtual drive programs? I'm assuming it's the authentic game cd?

I looked at some video I had lying around, and it seems you're right. My DVD drive apparently used to be H:. I'll look in to that.
I'm not super knowledgeable about computers, but I'm pretty sure I haven't installed any extra drives or virtual drive programs or anything. And yeah, this is the authentic CD. It's got the case, manual and all that.

[Tuxflop]

I looked, D: isn't an available letter in Disk Management. Neither is H:. Should I try some others?

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by Meteor:

I looked, D: isn't an available letter in Disk Management. Neither is H:. Should I try some others?

D should be available. I'd look into why it isn't, but sure you can try other letters.

[Tuxflop]

I tried X: and W:, still getting the same screen on startup..
Maybe the issue is the SecuROM thing? Or maybe it needs to be D:?

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by Meteor:

I tried X: and W:, still getting the same screen on startup..
Maybe the issue is the SecuROM thing? Or maybe it needs to be D:?

For old school compatibility, you're really sabotaging your chances of getting a game to run straying from common old school setups. From what I remember most optical drives were D: and it was probably so common that they programmed some games to just expect D: as the main drive. This is what's going on through my mind. No guarantees that's the actual issue but I think is quite possible. Most times when disc is inserted and software is not recognizing it, it's because of some confusion of drive letter.