Problem with CD Drive Letters: CONFIRMED!

ColdSteel · #1 October 11th, 2003, 07:16 PM

I just wanted to let Shrapnel know that I have confirmed that my own particular problem is NOT a bad disk. It is a code problem with the CD check of the CD driver letter.

Since I never use my CD writer to install software, I thought it would be safe to try remapping the drive from S: to H: and re-install the game to see if it would then work. Based on own suspicions and what Phoenix-D tried yesterday to confirm them, Any drive letter below J: should work.

Sure enough, after installing it from the remapped H: drive, the game now starts and runs just fine on my system.

I've not seen anything posted here from Shrapnel or MM confirming this, but based on my own experience, I think it's now pretty safe to say that this particular problem is indeed the CD check on all those PC systems whose CD drive letters are mapped greater than J:

-ColdSteel

gregebowman · #2 October 11th, 2003, 10:12 PM

How does one go exactly "remapping" drive letters? What do you do?

ColdSteel · #3 October 12th, 2003, 02:22 AM

gregebowman, it depends on which OS you have. In WinXP/2000, in Administrator mode, go the the Administration Tools under Setting, Control Panel, select Computer Management, then Disk Management under Storage. In the lower window, scroll down the list of drives until you get to the CD-ROM drive you want to change. Right click on it and select the "change drive letter" option. You don't have to reboot.

Under Win 95/98/SE/ME, you have to do it though the hardware config management screen. Right click the "My Computer" icon, select Properties, select the Hardware tab, look for the CD-ROM drive and right click on it. Select Properties and I believe you can change it there if I remember right. You may have to reboot.

If you have a CD Writer like I do, and just use it to burn disks and not to install software from, this is a pretty safe option. If you have only one CD drive, changing the mapping will screw up all the applications that you installed from that drive that require a CD in the drive to run.

Good luck, hope this helps, I feel your pain. I'm having a bLast playing the game at long Last.

-ColdSteel

gregebowman · #4 October 12th, 2003, 02:45 AM

well, I guess I'm screwed then. I only have the one cd-rom, which is also a writer and dvd-rom. I sent an e-mail from the guy I bought the computer from, since he probably configured the drive letter in the first place. Hope to hear from him soon. Thanks for the info though.

Richard · #5 October 12th, 2003, 03:28 AM

Greg,

What is that drive letter? Just follow the directions from the other gentleman and you should be able to change it.

Saltheart Foamfollower · #6 October 12th, 2003, 06:27 PM

I had my cd-rom on P: and my cd-writer on Q:, with the same problem as noted here. Changing the cd-writer to I: solved the problem.

As for gregebowman's situation, whether his applications will find the CD on another drive as Z: depends on the applications in question, some programs are looking at all cd-rom drives available.

When the Windows (98se) CD is required it will look at the drive it was installed from. When this fails it will ask for a valid location. You can give the new drive in this case, possibly with subdirectory. I installed windows from D: and renamed the drive later on to P:.

ColdSteel · #7 October 13th, 2003, 01:45 AM

gregebowman,

If you have only one CD drive, it doesn't mean you can't remap the drive. But, you'll just have to be very careful to remap back to Z: when you want to use one of the other apps you installed from Z: (ones that require the CD in the drive). You'd probably also want to remap back to Z: whenever you install new software. Also, just be careful because if you ever needed the Windows CD or MS Office CD in there for drivers, etc., your Windows registry will only recognize them coming from Z:

It's a bit of a pain but if you REALLY want to play the game now, mapping back and forth will tide you over until Aaron can patch it.

One final thing, if Aaron just removes the CD check in the patch, we're good. If he doesn't, but just fixes it to include all drive letters, we'll have to uninstall, remap our CDs back to where they were, and then reinstall. You'll need to make sure to copy your save games so they don't get wiped out in the uninstall. Needless to say, I hope he just removes the CD check.

-ColdSteel

[ October 12, 2003, 13:51: Message edited by: ColdSteel ]

gregebowman · #8 October 13th, 2003, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Richard:
Greg,

What is that drive letter? Just follow the directions from the other gentleman and you should be able to change it.

WEll, my drive letter is Z, and my system is Windows ME. I did attempt his method he described, but there's nothing in the properties to change the drive letter. I'll just have to wait for the patch, I guess.

Suicide Junkie · #9 October 13th, 2003, 02:32 AM

Right click "My computer"
Click Properties in the menu
Click "Device Manager" tab.
(wait a sec)
Click the plus beside "CDROM"
Click your CD drive in question.
-----

-----
Click the properties button at the bottom (or ALT-R)
Click the "settings" tab
Look at the bottom, and you will see "Reserved Drive Letters"
- "Start Drive Letter" and "End Drive Letter" should be set to whatever range of letters you want the drive to fall into. (Set them both the same to force a particular selection)

Fyron · #10 October 13th, 2003, 03:00 AM

Just for reference, that does not work in 2000 and XP. You have to use the Disk Management feature in the Computer Management administrative tool (it is in the right-click menu for My Computer on the desktop).