Installing UT2K3 problems

DarkFoss · Oct 9, 2002, 03:29 AM

Hi all
I loved the demo of UT2k3 so much I went out and bought the game. After trying 20x times to install it I returned it for another copy. Unfortunately I get the same results after install about 45% I inevitably get the same error message
Critical error failed reading source file D:\ut\maps\br-bifrost.ut2(the operation completed successfully)
The source media may be bad if installing from cd try cleaning the media ect.

It sometimes gets farther sometimes not as far into the install I've tried switching cables installing from the second cdrom, disabling as many background processes as possible, installing from safe mode and copying the files from the cd to harddrive(s) same results. As of late I've gotten low mem warnings and upped the page file to 768-768 to avoid swapping. Could only having 256 megs of ram be the cause of this? I've run virus scanning and diskcheck memtest86 Sandra all reports fine.
Any thought tips greatly appreciated

GravY · Oct 9, 2002, 03:58 PM

what os are you running?

DarkFoss · Oct 9, 2002, 06:49 PM

I'm running win XP home with SP1 final.

Mr cairo · Oct 9, 2002, 09:41 PM

try copying the cds contents to your hard drive and run the setup from there if you can

DarkFoss · Oct 9, 2002, 10:51 PM

I've tried that even from safe mode same results

DarkFoss · Oct 13, 2002, 04:38 AM

Well so far I've done a complete clean install.Added another 512 megs of Corsair xms 2700 C2PT to the system. Upgraded from the stock antec 303 to an antec 350 smartpower. Changed all ide cables to new round ones. Took out my retail hsf and installed a Volcano 7 with silver thermal compound dropped my cpu temp from 50c to 40c

and system temps from 41c to 36c. Still can't get UT2K3 to install

The Cd's are fine they'll install on the rig I made for my stepdaughter out of my old parts

..I'm at a bit of a loss as what to try next. Should I remove the 256 ddr stick and lower my mem settings? Swap out CD-Rom&cable from my old rig ? Grasping at straws here .. any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Shaith · Oct 13, 2002, 07:29 AM

It's always failing at the same exact place? That's unusual, but it does point out one potential problem: Your CD reader. Since you've replaced media and tried it with a new set and gotten the same problem, a good thorough cleaning may be in order. Failing that, you MAY have a CD reader that's needing to be sent off for the "big nap". And since reader prices are dirt cheap these days, if that's the fault, it won't kill you financially (though you can always try taking it apart and giving it a good cleaning the old fashioned way before spending the $).

One other problem, if it's simply installing to the same location over and over, is your HDD may have some corruption. Run CHKDSK /R on it from start/run (it'll ask to be run at next reboot, tell it yes). If you've more than one drive, do CHKDSK C: /R (where C: is the drive letter of each HDD in the box). This will cause the drive to be checked thoroughly - so it could take some time (good idea to start it when you're going to sleep) on bigger drives. This will correct errors from corrupted entries to bad free space reporting to errors in the MFT etc.

Beyond that, it's POSSIBLE that the copy protection used for UT2K3 isn't working with your drive and it's bombing. I don't remember the copy protection kicking in during install, but you would need to check with Epic on that. If that's the case, you're better off replacing your drive anyway.

DarkFoss · Oct 13, 2002, 09:53 AM

Thanks Shaith
I took the dvd rom out of my old rig where it installed fine and put it in the new one same results. It doesn't stop at the exact same spot just anywhere in the first part of the cd ..I've never gotten more than 65% disk 1 installed. Both dvd roms are less than a year old. I don't have a problem reading any other cd's/dvd's just UT2k3.I even forced pio mode instead of using the dma settings.

I'll do another scandisk but I'm beginning to doubt it's that.

I did some reading through the UT2k3 forums and some people are having disk 1 install problems that seem to be related to the secure_rom copy protection on the disks.Several people seem to have gotten around it by something they call a no-cd crack

I'm wondering if it's possible that the copy protection detects my ez cd creator I have installed. I use it to back my system up and install it right away to reinstall my drivers. It's late I'm going to run that ck disk again and uninstall roxio tomorrow and give it a whirl if not guess I've got 3 more frisbees

Anyways Thanks again.

Well took the game back exchanged it and bought a new dvd rom player and still refuses to install past the animations

Time to fire off a letter to Unreal tech support ..I hope there putting out a patch soon this is rediculious.

DarkFoss · Oct 14, 2002, 11:04 PM

Well got my first response from Tech support here's what they told me to try;

We may need to make sure you're not running in DMA mode for your harddrive
and cdrom drives.

Open the Control Panel.
Double-click on System.
Click on the Hardware tab.
Click on the Device Manager Button.
Click the plus (+) next to IDE/ATA.
Double-click IDE Chain 1.
Click the Settings tab.
If DMA is listed for the second device then change it to PIO Mode.
Click OK.
Double-click IDE Chain 2.
If DMA is listed for the second device then change it to PIO Mode.
Click OK.
Close all of the windows.

Usually this can be fixed by deleting the folder C:\Program Files\Common
Files\InstallShield\Engine\6\Intel 32. This will allow the Install program
to reinstall the InstallShield Engine and allow the rest of the program to
install.

If that doesn't fix it, we need to empty the C:\Windows\Temp folder. This
is where Windows will store temporary files that are not permanantly needed.
If this folder has too many files it can cause problems like you are
experiencing.

To clean out the Temp directory do these things.

Click on Start, then Programs, then Windows Explorer.
The C: drive should be highlighed, scroll down through the list of folder
untill you see the Windows folder.
Click on the Plus in front of the Windows folder. A list of new folders
should appear directly beneath the Windows folder. Scroll down through these
new folders until you find one called Temp.
Click once on the Temp folder itself. On the right hand side should be a
list of files in the Temp folder.
Click once on any of the files so that it is highlighed.
Click on Edit in the upper menu and chose Select All. All of the files
should now be highlighted.
Click on File in the upper menu and chose Delete. You will be asked if you
are sure you want to delete these items, click Yes.

You may recieve a message that states "Cannot delete ~filename: Access
Denied" hit OK.

This may also be caused if you're missing a file called STDOLE32.TLB. It's
a core component of windows, and missing it can cause exactly this sort of
problem. See if you can copy it to your system from your Windows
installation disc, or contact your computer manufacturer to request their
help in installing this file.

Select all the files again and then hold down the CTRL key. While holding
down CTRL click once of the file that could not be deleted, usually the very
top one. This will unselect that file, it will not be highlighted in blue.
Try deleting the files again. You may recieve that warning several times,
simply unselect all the files that can not be delted and delete the other.
We need as few files in this folder as possible. You can also try rebooting
your computer and try deleting those files again.

Alex
Technical Support for Infogrames, Inc.
(425)951-7106
Visit our international gateway web site at:
<http://www.infogrames.com/>
Or our North American site at:
<http://us.infogrames.com/>
for more information on our products

Did what they said and still can't get past \maps\br Anubus
Hopefully the next round will be more helpful. I'll update here once more when they give me something that works, so others will have a place for a fix if/when this happens to them

UberLord · Oct 15, 2002, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkFoss
I did some reading through the UT2k3 forums and some people are having disk 1 install problems that seem to be related to the secure_rom copy protection on the disks.Several people seem to have gotten around it by something they call a no-cd crack I'm wondering if it's possible that the copy protection detects my ez cd creator I have installed.

Several people on the NWN forums have reported that if Securom detects a CD burner then it will not load the game. BioWare removed Securom in a recent patch and all the loading issues have gone away.

But thats with loading the game, not installing it

DarkFoss · Oct 15, 2002, 02:23 AM

Thanks Uberlord

I'm going to try something a bit different while I await tech support round 2 . I'm going to try and copy all three disks to my second hd but am going to try and use the set-up exe from the demo instead of copying the one from the cd.Doubt it'll work but I've got nothing better to to do at the moment..There's also a second set-up exe in the system folder on the cd so I'll replace that one too. Who knows maybe I'll get lucky

Oct 17, 2002, 11:49 AM

Try this :

there is a proggy out there called "Virtual Cd Creator"
that makes a virtual cd drive on your HDD where you can add your cds and run them from there (its like no-cd cracking) but more helpfull.

If it reads the cd correcty (its done raw i think) then im sure it will install from there but this is if its your CD drive thats causing the problem either by bad reading or the protection of the media.

Also try installing on another partion incase of bad sectors etc as stated above by Shaith.

Ihad a similar problem today with my "backup" of Serious Sam 2 but as i put the cd up to the light i saw a nice little whole in the top layer....hence a new
coaster for my coffee mug.

Kelsenellenelvian · Oct 17, 2002, 11:58 AM

Here is the link for virtual cd it's a great program and I have used it for quit a while.

Get It Here

Oct 17, 2002, 12:08 PM

Here are some links:

Cd emulator

Paragon CD/dvd emulator

Note: Do a defrag of your partions before installing and adding cds to it(workd much better)

This stuff is a must for gamers that need the damn game cd in the drive to play.

Also in most cases not having to crack your games resulting in problems when you want to patch the game later and waiting for that patched no-cd crack..etc.

DarkFoss · Oct 17, 2002, 11:06 PM

Woot Thanks GreekRage & Kelsenellenelvien

This just might be the answer I've been looking for got my second response from tech support was looking kinda grim.
__________________________________________________ _________________________
Alex
Here's my system specs
Athlon XP 2000 Volcano 7 hsf not oc'ed
Ga-7VRXP f10 bios
XP home SP1 clean install all patches via 443 drivers
2 maxtor 40g hdds ata133 7200rpm no raid
Pine dvd
Hp 9500i cdrw
Radeon 9700pro
SB Audigy X-gamer
1 stick corsair xms 256 2700 C2pt 1 stick corsair xms 512 2700 C2pt Ultra,
2 3 6 3 1T command 3 3 in advanced settings

I've tried everything you suggested in first corrospondence plus the
following
I've tried switching dvd roms(buslink to pine) tried an older memorex 32x
cd-rom
Tried 8 different ide cables 4 ata 133 2 ata 66-100 2 ata 33-66 both on
hdd's as well as cd-roms
changed the bios settings for the ata cables from auto,to ata66-100, to
ata33 as well as all the different dma settings using the various cables and
pio with all the cables
Also lowered the mem settings in bios from 333 to 266 Normal, 2.5 3 7 3 2T
com 3 3 with all the above
Took out each stick and tried installing with just one, switched them around
bank1&2 b1&3
Cds are ok they installed on the computer I built from parts for my
step-daughter took out that dvd-rom and cables and tried installing
Tried installing from the cdrw's as well. All told 6 different optical
drives that install EverQuest, Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious and all 3
disks of Shadows of Luclin just fine+ Giants, Windows XP, Office 2000
Professional and FrontPage
All on a fresh install no Norton's system works, anti-virus or internet
securities or old drivers.
I've run ckdisk several times no errors and I've tried memtest 86(standard test 9 hours 15 passes) no errors
I've tried installing from safe mode
I'm at a loss for any explainations why it will not install on this machine.
Larry

__________________________________________________ __________________________

Larry,

Given your more than thorough analysis of the issue, it sounds like you've
got the sort of incompatibility that's a complete headache to deal with. Is
there any component common to any of the systems that couldn't install the
game? Have you tried reinstalling the latest drivers for your motherboard?
Not the BIOS mind you, but the actual Windows software that controls your
motherboard components?

Alex
Technical Support for Infogrames, Inc.
(425)951-7106
Visit our international gateway web site at:
__________________________________________________ __________________________

I was going to enable the promise raid controller next and put the dvd rom on ide 3 since there is a limitation in the chipset that limits all cd-roms put there to 16x speed to see if thats a factor. Then try appying the new f11 bios, (comp runs great with the f10s so I didn't want to mess with it) then start working backwards through the 4'in1's. Your suggestions will save me alot of tedious work not to mention the potential of messing up my current config

Thank you both for taking the time to post answers and links

DarkFoss · Oct 19, 2002, 01:34 AM

So far no luck with any of the 3, Trying virtual cd one more time using advanced mode raw build, read sub channel data, disabled fast sector read and fast error skip. If this doesn't work guess I'll reformat and try installing from scratch once then try Daemon Tools, read it has security emulation but I'm afraid I'm a bit out of my league with that one. Had ez cd creator installed and saw in the read me that even when removed the residuals will cause crashing when DT is installed. Grr I really hate the thought of being defeated by some software.

Oct 19, 2002, 03:46 AM

A little question:

Is it possible to try to install it on another system before you do the "dreaded" format ?

Oct 19, 2002, 04:08 AM

OK i did some research and have read alot of the dedicated to the game forums.

Conclusion:

Alot of people are having problems in general with the game.

Also saw that in most cases the failing to install is mostly caused by the drives(cd/dvd).
And the problems are not XP related as the 2 i saw had win 98sec.(DON'T FORMAT YET)
If possible borrow a friends drive(maybe someone that has successfully installed the game)

Here is the forum thats dedicated to it.

UT2003 Forum

But note that to read or post you have to register first(only takes 20 secs and use your isps email not a freemail account.).

DarkFoss · Oct 19, 2002, 04:14 AM

Yep I can install it fine on the comp I put together for my stepdaughter with my old parts.
1gP3
768megs crucial 133 sdram
Tyan trinity 400 1854 rev M
8500 64 meg retail
SB live 5.1 x-gamer
maxtor 40g hd
unknown dvd-rom
hp8100 cdrw
xp home
I tried taking out the dvd player and cables putting it in this rig still wouldn't install. Thought perhaps the windows installer in this rig was corrupted somehow and copied the file onto here . I was wondering if I unhooked from cable and connect the 2 comps through the network cards, enable filesharing and try to install the game through her comp? Would the copyright protection prevent this ? Since both comps are running xp home I should be able to just run the network wizard right? Or would I be unable to reconnect to the internet afterwords ?
Sorry if these seem like dumb questions but I bought my first comp 3 years ago and since have built 2 but I've still got ALOT to learn

Oct 19, 2002, 05:19 AM

In the above posted link in the forums there some guy did just that.

he installed it through a network connection to the problem machine but did a trick
with the reg files.

Go and read it cause something may get lost in the rewriting by me.

wait !! here it is (copy/pasted)

.................................................. .................................................. ...............
if you're like me and have encountered problems installing UT2003 because of "a dirty disc" or some other retarded error, here's a possible fix that involves basically only one variable.

1) Here's the variable- you must be on a network. Have another computer, perferably one with a DVD drive, regular CDR drive, etc, install to the target computer using drive mapping (ie represent the "good" PC's drive as some letter, lets call it z). Have the non-target computer install UT2003 to your target computer using this technique. You will notice that you have the files needed for installation, but not the registry entries, as these are always installed on the PC performing the installation, in spite of target drive.

2) Now go into the PC-that installed UT2003's registry, go to HKEY Local machine/software/Unreal Tech. right click on Unreal tech and click export, name it unreal.reg and save it to the "target" PC, the one with the UT2003 files now on them. Go to the target PC and double click on the registry file that you have saved (unreal.reg), it will install itself.
3) In my case, the CD still will not take despite completing installation. So go one step further and get the NO CD EXE for UT2003 at gamecopyworld.com. It's there. Install this, and you are as far as you need to get to beat the "dirty disc" errors, and any other CD reading problems UT2003 can present.

Nighthawk

.................................................. .................................................. ....................

good luck

DarkFoss · Oct 19, 2002, 06:24 PM

Thanks Greekrage

I've posted in that forum myself Nighthawk must have posted that while I was here lol
deant also posted that if you map your networked drive from the other comp to the main you won't have to do the registry stuff. I'll try it tonite after I do some researching on networking.
I was way to tired to respond last nite. Thanks again for your help

DarkFoss · Oct 19, 2002, 11:34 PM

WOOT I can finally play

Tried networking and failed so I took the second hd outta this rig and put it in my stepdaughters installed and used the registry export . Small bugs like I have to strt from the cd can't use a shortcut get some core dll error

Won the first match and crashed

Guess it's time to upgrade from the 6166's

Thank you all for your suggestions

Oct 26, 2002, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cairo
try copying the cds contents to your hard drive and run the setup from there if you can

you can't do that UNLESS, you get a program like CD Ghost, which is what i have, i to had your problem you see, i couldnt install it, 'twas then i decided to get cd ghost and copy my cd, and it worked. perfectly

Kelsenellenelvian · Oct 26, 2002, 01:28 AM

Virtual CD works good also!

reno · Oct 26, 2002, 02:42 AM

This is the EXACT same error I got when I burned this without disabling Securom2!

Are you sure it's a legit copy? I've installed this game on my 750 duron with cruddy 20x CD-rom that I bought in 1998...hehe.

Oct 26, 2002, 12:24 PM

I think the problem is in the NEWER drives.

Maybe they have been limited compared to the older ones where the new copy protections didnt even excist then.

Also a "backed up" game would install easier since the copy protection is allready bypassed...correct ?

DarkFoss · Oct 26, 2002, 04:48 PM

Anyone's guess as to why it wouldn't install..Couldn't even get it installed using the various virtual progs.
Only thing that worked for me was taking out the slave hd on this rig putting it in as slave on the comp I made for my stepdaughter. Installing the game onto it and exporting the 4 registry files then editing them to reflect the proper hd letter and clicking on them to install the registry into this comp. Once the game and registry was installed the dvd/cd-roms have no problem reading it while running the game..
I'm sure the secur_rom has something to do with it ..or it could just be the nut behind the keyboard

Either way game now runs great ..only problem left is a gpf exactly every 2 hours and not the same one. I'm guessing there's some background process that kicks in every 2 hours causing the game to crash. Haven't had the time to track it down yet, but I will eventually

reno · Oct 26, 2002, 04:51 PM

I always back-up games using clone cd 4, which basically copies everything exactly. It doesn't bypass copy protections, it writes them exactly as the original cd so you can use the cd like it was the original.

Problem is, UT2003's protection has to be something more than just corrupt sectors/sub-channel data...

Try it on a DVD-drive, my pioneer 106s had no problems.

Spydertech · Oct 26, 2002, 08:37 PM

UT2003 and some newer games are using the newset version of Securom (version 4.83something)
Nothing out there in public release is supposed to be able to create a perfect backup of the originals.
I know of some beta software that is supposed to work, but I personally haven't tried it.
The new Securom uses a sub channel and some other little goodies.
In theory, a 1:1 copy would work. Apparently not. And some CD-writers will never be able to write the sub-channel information due to hardware or firmware limitations.

The next problem with UT2003 is that it also checks to see if the media is a CD-R, if it is it won't play.

My problem is that sometimes I can't play using the master disk. Both my CDwriter and DVD drive don't like this new securom they are using. It took me a while to figure out how to create a good virtual cd that works. I really hate using no-cd cracks, although they appear to be the easiest work around right now.

Spydertech

reno · Oct 27, 2002, 05:13 AM

Yeah, Securom sucks. UT2003 is the first game that I haven't been able to burn in a 1:1 copy. Discs 2 and 3 work, but 1 has some corruption so I have to copy to HD, then burn...which means crack city...

Go go ricoh 12x10x32x!

Oct 9, 2002, 03:29 AM	#1
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Installing UT2K3 problems Hi all I loved the demo of UT2k3 so much I went out and bought the game. After trying 20x times to install it I returned it for another copy. Unfortunately I get the same results after install about 45% I inevitably get the same error message Critical error failed reading source file D:\ut\maps\br-bifrost.ut2(the operation completed successfully) The source media may be bad if installing from cd try cleaning the media ect. It sometimes gets farther sometimes not as far into the install I've tried switching cables installing from the second cdrom, disabling as many background processes as possible, installing from safe mode and copying the files from the cd to harddrive(s) same results. As of late I've gotten low mem warnings and upped the page file to 768-768 to avoid swapping. Could only having 256 megs of ram be the cause of this? I've run virus scanning and diskcheck memtest86 Sandra all reports fine. Any thought tips greatly appreciated __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 9, 2002, 03:58 PM	#2
GravY Master Shake Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Michigan Posts: 199 Rep Power: 0	what os are you running? __________________ Amd 2400+ @ 2415mhz 11.5x210, Vantec Aeroflow, 512mb Pc3200 5-2-2-2, 9500np->9700 [color=red]17697[/color] 3dmark2k1 [color=red]5630[/color] 3dmark03, Epox 8rda+ Mobo, WD Special 8mb cache 80gig, Plex 48/24/48

Oct 9, 2002, 06:49 PM	Thread Starter #3
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	I'm running win XP home with SP1 final. __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 9, 2002, 09:41 PM	#4
Mr cairo F0rum For Humans Only Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Slightly to the left Posts: 1,763 Rep Power: 87 System Specs	try copying the cds contents to your hard drive and run the setup from there if you can __________________

Oct 9, 2002, 10:51 PM	Thread Starter #5
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	I've tried that even from safe mode same results __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 13, 2002, 04:38 AM	Thread Starter #6
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Well so far I've done a complete clean install.Added another 512 megs of Corsair xms 2700 C2PT to the system. Upgraded from the stock antec 303 to an antec 350 smartpower. Changed all ide cables to new round ones. Took out my retail hsf and installed a Volcano 7 with silver thermal compound dropped my cpu temp from 50c to 40c and system temps from 41c to 36c. Still can't get UT2K3 to install The Cd's are fine they'll install on the rig I made for my stepdaughter out of my old parts ..I'm at a bit of a loss as what to try next. Should I remove the 256 ddr stick and lower my mem settings? Swap out CD-Rom&cable from my old rig ? Grasping at straws here .. any suggestions greatly appreciated! __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 13, 2002, 07:29 AM	#7
Shaith HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 916 Rep Power: 0	It's always failing at the same exact place? That's unusual, but it does point out one potential problem: Your CD reader. Since you've replaced media and tried it with a new set and gotten the same problem, a good thorough cleaning may be in order. Failing that, you MAY have a CD reader that's needing to be sent off for the "big nap". And since reader prices are dirt cheap these days, if that's the fault, it won't kill you financially (though you can always try taking it apart and giving it a good cleaning the old fashioned way before spending the $). One other problem, if it's simply installing to the same location over and over, is your HDD may have some corruption. Run CHKDSK /R on it from start/run (it'll ask to be run at next reboot, tell it yes). If you've more than one drive, do CHKDSK C: /R (where C: is the drive letter of each HDD in the box). This will cause the drive to be checked thoroughly - so it could take some time (good idea to start it when you're going to sleep) on bigger drives. This will correct errors from corrupted entries to bad free space reporting to errors in the MFT etc. Beyond that, it's POSSIBLE that the copy protection used for UT2K3 isn't working with your drive and it's bombing. I don't remember the copy protection kicking in during install, but you would need to check with Epic on that. If that's the case, you're better off replacing your drive anyway.

Oct 13, 2002, 09:53 AM	Thread Starter #8
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Thanks Shaith I took the dvd rom out of my old rig where it installed fine and put it in the new one same results. It doesn't stop at the exact same spot just anywhere in the first part of the cd ..I've never gotten more than 65% disk 1 installed. Both dvd roms are less than a year old. I don't have a problem reading any other cd's/dvd's just UT2k3.I even forced pio mode instead of using the dma settings. I'll do another scandisk but I'm beginning to doubt it's that. I did some reading through the UT2k3 forums and some people are having disk 1 install problems that seem to be related to the secure_rom copy protection on the disks.Several people seem to have gotten around it by something they call a no-cd crack I'm wondering if it's possible that the copy protection detects my ez cd creator I have installed. I use it to back my system up and install it right away to reinstall my drivers. It's late I'm going to run that ck disk again and uninstall roxio tomorrow and give it a whirl if not guess I've got 3 more frisbees Anyways Thanks again. Well took the game back exchanged it and bought a new dvd rom player and still refuses to install past the animations Time to fire off a letter to Unreal tech support ..I hope there putting out a patch soon this is rediculious. __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 14, 2002, 11:04 PM	Thread Starter #9
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Well got my first response from Tech support here's what they told me to try; We may need to make sure you're not running in DMA mode for your harddrive and cdrom drives. Open the Control Panel. Double-click on System. Click on the Hardware tab. Click on the Device Manager Button. Click the plus (+) next to IDE/ATA. Double-click IDE Chain 1. Click the Settings tab. If DMA is listed for the second device then change it to PIO Mode. Click OK. Double-click IDE Chain 2. If DMA is listed for the second device then change it to PIO Mode. Click OK. Close all of the windows. Usually this can be fixed by deleting the folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Engine\6\Intel 32. This will allow the Install program to reinstall the InstallShield Engine and allow the rest of the program to install. If that doesn't fix it, we need to empty the C:\Windows\Temp folder. This is where Windows will store temporary files that are not permanantly needed. If this folder has too many files it can cause problems like you are experiencing. To clean out the Temp directory do these things. Click on Start, then Programs, then Windows Explorer. The C: drive should be highlighed, scroll down through the list of folder untill you see the Windows folder. Click on the Plus in front of the Windows folder. A list of new folders should appear directly beneath the Windows folder. Scroll down through these new folders until you find one called Temp. Click once on the Temp folder itself. On the right hand side should be a list of files in the Temp folder. Click once on any of the files so that it is highlighed. Click on Edit in the upper menu and chose Select All. All of the files should now be highlighted. Click on File in the upper menu and chose Delete. You will be asked if you are sure you want to delete these items, click Yes. You may recieve a message that states "Cannot delete ~filename: Access Denied" hit OK. This may also be caused if you're missing a file called STDOLE32.TLB. It's a core component of windows, and missing it can cause exactly this sort of problem. See if you can copy it to your system from your Windows installation disc, or contact your computer manufacturer to request their help in installing this file. Select all the files again and then hold down the CTRL key. While holding down CTRL click once of the file that could not be deleted, usually the very top one. This will unselect that file, it will not be highlighted in blue. Try deleting the files again. You may recieve that warning several times, simply unselect all the files that can not be delted and delete the other. We need as few files in this folder as possible. You can also try rebooting your computer and try deleting those files again. Alex Technical Support for Infogrames, Inc. (425)951-7106 Visit our international gateway web site at: <http://www.infogrames.com/> Or our North American site at: <http://us.infogrames.com/> for more information on our products Did what they said and still can't get past \maps\br Anubus Hopefully the next round will be more helpful. I'll update here once more when they give me something that works, so others will have a place for a fix if/when this happens to them __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 15, 2002, 02:23 AM	Thread Starter #11
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Thanks Uberlord I'm going to try something a bit different while I await tech support round 2 . I'm going to try and copy all three disks to my second hd but am going to try and use the set-up exe from the demo instead of copying the one from the cd.Doubt it'll work but I've got nothing better to to do at the moment..There's also a second set-up exe in the system folder on the cd so I'll replace that one too. Who knows maybe I'll get lucky __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 17, 2002, 11:49 AM	#12
GREEKRAGE Guest Posts: n/a	Try this : there is a proggy out there called "Virtual Cd Creator" that makes a virtual cd drive on your HDD where you can add your cds and run them from there (its like no-cd cracking) but more helpfull. If it reads the cd correcty (its done raw i think) then im sure it will install from there but this is if its your CD drive thats causing the problem either by bad reading or the protection of the media. Also try installing on another partion incase of bad sectors etc as stated above by Shaith. Ihad a similar problem today with my "backup" of Serious Sam 2 but as i put the cd up to the light i saw a nice little whole in the top layer....hence a new coaster for my coffee mug.

Oct 17, 2002, 11:58 AM	#13
Kelsenellenelvian Master of my own Destiny Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: EverDawn Kingdom,TruEarth Posts: 1,395 Rep Power: 0	Here is the link for virtual cd it's a great program and I have used it for quit a while. Get It Here __________________ [color=#0000ff] Download Windows Post-Install Wizard v4.3.8 and WPI Lite v1.2 Here [/color][color=red][color=blue][/color][/color]

Oct 17, 2002, 12:08 PM	#14
GREEKRAGE Guest Posts: n/a	Here are some links: Cd emulator Paragon CD/dvd emulator Note: Do a defrag of your partions before installing and adding cds to it(workd much better) This stuff is a must for gamers that need the damn game cd in the drive to play. Also in most cases not having to crack your games resulting in problems when you want to patch the game later and waiting for that patched no-cd crack..etc.

Oct 17, 2002, 11:06 PM	Thread Starter #15
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Woot Thanks GreekRage & Kelsenellenelvien This just might be the answer I've been looking for got my second response from tech support was looking kinda grim. __________________________________________________ _________________________ Alex Here's my system specs Athlon XP 2000 Volcano 7 hsf not oc'ed Ga-7VRXP f10 bios XP home SP1 clean install all patches via 443 drivers 2 maxtor 40g hdds ata133 7200rpm no raid Pine dvd Hp 9500i cdrw Radeon 9700pro SB Audigy X-gamer 1 stick corsair xms 256 2700 C2pt 1 stick corsair xms 512 2700 C2pt Ultra, 2 3 6 3 1T command 3 3 in advanced settings I've tried everything you suggested in first corrospondence plus the following I've tried switching dvd roms(buslink to pine) tried an older memorex 32x cd-rom Tried 8 different ide cables 4 ata 133 2 ata 66-100 2 ata 33-66 both on hdd's as well as cd-roms changed the bios settings for the ata cables from auto,to ata66-100, to ata33 as well as all the different dma settings using the various cables and pio with all the cables Also lowered the mem settings in bios from 333 to 266 Normal, 2.5 3 7 3 2T com 3 3 with all the above Took out each stick and tried installing with just one, switched them around bank1&2 b1&3 Cds are ok they installed on the computer I built from parts for my step-daughter took out that dvd-rom and cables and tried installing Tried installing from the cdrw's as well. All told 6 different optical drives that install EverQuest, Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious and all 3 disks of Shadows of Luclin just fine+ Giants, Windows XP, Office 2000 Professional and FrontPage All on a fresh install no Norton's system works, anti-virus or internet securities or old drivers. I've run ckdisk several times no errors and I've tried memtest 86(standard test 9 hours 15 passes) no errors I've tried installing from safe mode I'm at a loss for any explainations why it will not install on this machine. Larry __________________________________________________ __________________________ Larry, Given your more than thorough analysis of the issue, it sounds like you've got the sort of incompatibility that's a complete headache to deal with. Is there any component common to any of the systems that couldn't install the game? Have you tried reinstalling the latest drivers for your motherboard? Not the BIOS mind you, but the actual Windows software that controls your motherboard components? Alex Technical Support for Infogrames, Inc. (425)951-7106 Visit our international gateway web site at: __________________________________________________ __________________________ I was going to enable the promise raid controller next and put the dvd rom on ide 3 since there is a limitation in the chipset that limits all cd-roms put there to 16x speed to see if thats a factor. Then try appying the new f11 bios, (comp runs great with the f10s so I didn't want to mess with it) then start working backwards through the 4'in1's. Your suggestions will save me alot of tedious work not to mention the potential of messing up my current config Thank you both for taking the time to post answers and links __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 19, 2002, 01:34 AM	Thread Starter #16
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	So far no luck with any of the 3, Trying virtual cd one more time using advanced mode raw build, read sub channel data, disabled fast sector read and fast error skip. If this doesn't work guess I'll reformat and try installing from scratch once then try Daemon Tools, read it has security emulation but I'm afraid I'm a bit out of my league with that one. Had ez cd creator installed and saw in the read me that even when removed the residuals will cause crashing when DT is installed. Grr I really hate the thought of being defeated by some software. __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 19, 2002, 03:46 AM	#17
GREEKRAGE Guest Posts: n/a	A little question: Is it possible to try to install it on another system before you do the "dreaded" format ?

Oct 19, 2002, 04:08 AM	#18
GREEKRAGE Guest Posts: n/a	OK i did some research and have read alot of the dedicated to the game forums. Conclusion: Alot of people are having problems in general with the game. Also saw that in most cases the failing to install is mostly caused by the drives(cd/dvd). And the problems are not XP related as the 2 i saw had win 98sec.(DON'T FORMAT YET) If possible borrow a friends drive(maybe someone that has successfully installed the game) Here is the forum thats dedicated to it. UT2003 Forum But note that to read or post you have to register first(only takes 20 secs and use your isps email not a freemail account.).

Oct 19, 2002, 04:14 AM	Thread Starter #19
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Yep I can install it fine on the comp I put together for my stepdaughter with my old parts. 1gP3 768megs crucial 133 sdram Tyan trinity 400 1854 rev M 8500 64 meg retail SB live 5.1 x-gamer maxtor 40g hd unknown dvd-rom hp8100 cdrw xp home I tried taking out the dvd player and cables putting it in this rig still wouldn't install. Thought perhaps the windows installer in this rig was corrupted somehow and copied the file onto here . I was wondering if I unhooked from cable and connect the 2 comps through the network cards, enable filesharing and try to install the game through her comp? Would the copyright protection prevent this ? Since both comps are running xp home I should be able to just run the network wizard right? Or would I be unable to reconnect to the internet afterwords ? Sorry if these seem like dumb questions but I bought my first comp 3 years ago and since have built 2 but I've still got ALOT to learn __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 19, 2002, 05:19 AM	#20
GREEKRAGE Guest Posts: n/a	In the above posted link in the forums there some guy did just that. he installed it through a network connection to the problem machine but did a trick with the reg files. Go and read it cause something may get lost in the rewriting by me. wait !! here it is (copy/pasted) .................................................. .................................................. ............... if you're like me and have encountered problems installing UT2003 because of "a dirty disc" or some other retarded error, here's a possible fix that involves basically only one variable. 1) Here's the variable- you must be on a network. Have another computer, perferably one with a DVD drive, regular CDR drive, etc, install to the target computer using drive mapping (ie represent the "good" PC's drive as some letter, lets call it z). Have the non-target computer install UT2003 to your target computer using this technique. You will notice that you have the files needed for installation, but not the registry entries, as these are always installed on the PC performing the installation, in spite of target drive. 2) Now go into the PC-that installed UT2003's registry, go to HKEY Local machine/software/Unreal Tech. right click on Unreal tech and click export, name it unreal.reg and save it to the "target" PC, the one with the UT2003 files now on them. Go to the target PC and double click on the registry file that you have saved (unreal.reg), it will install itself. 3) In my case, the CD still will not take despite completing installation. So go one step further and get the NO CD EXE for UT2003 at gamecopyworld.com. It's there. Install this, and you are as far as you need to get to beat the "dirty disc" errors, and any other CD reading problems UT2003 can present. Nighthawk .................................................. .................................................. .................... good luck

Oct 19, 2002, 06:24 PM	Thread Starter #21
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Thanks Greekrage I've posted in that forum myself Nighthawk must have posted that while I was here lol deant also posted that if you map your networked drive from the other comp to the main you won't have to do the registry stuff. I'll try it tonite after I do some researching on networking. I was way to tired to respond last nite. Thanks again for your help __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 19, 2002, 11:34 PM	Thread Starter #22
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	WOOT I can finally play Tried networking and failed so I took the second hd outta this rig and put it in my stepdaughters installed and used the registry export . Small bugs like I have to strt from the cd can't use a shortcut get some core dll error Won the first match and crashed Guess it's time to upgrade from the 6166's Thank you all for your suggestions __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 26, 2002, 01:28 AM	#24
Kelsenellenelvian Master of my own Destiny Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: EverDawn Kingdom,TruEarth Posts: 1,395 Rep Power: 0	Virtual CD works good also! __________________ [color=#0000ff] Download Windows Post-Install Wizard v4.3.8 and WPI Lite v1.2 Here [/color][color=red][color=blue][/color][/color]

Oct 26, 2002, 02:42 AM	#25
reno Painlord of Ichor Join Date: May 2002 Location: bloinkin! Posts: 1,610 Rep Power: 0	efuu This is the EXACT same error I got when I burned this without disabling Securom2! Are you sure it's a legit copy? I've installed this game on my 750 duron with cruddy 20x CD-rom that I bought in 1998...hehe.

Oct 26, 2002, 12:24 PM	#26
GREEKRAGE Guest Posts: n/a	I think the problem is in the NEWER drives. Maybe they have been limited compared to the older ones where the new copy protections didnt even excist then. Also a "backed up" game would install easier since the copy protection is allready bypassed...correct ?

Oct 26, 2002, 04:48 PM	Thread Starter #27
DarkFoss HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Downers Grove IL Posts: 688 Rep Power: 0	Anyone's guess as to why it wouldn't install..Couldn't even get it installed using the various virtual progs. Only thing that worked for me was taking out the slave hd on this rig putting it in as slave on the comp I made for my stepdaughter. Installing the game onto it and exporting the 4 registry files then editing them to reflect the proper hd letter and clicking on them to install the registry into this comp. Once the game and registry was installed the dvd/cd-roms have no problem reading it while running the game.. I'm sure the secur_rom has something to do with it ..or it could just be the nut behind the keyboard Either way game now runs great ..only problem left is a gpf exactly every 2 hours and not the same one. I'm guessing there's some background process that kicks in every 2 hours causing the game to crash. Haven't had the time to track it down yet, but I will eventually __________________ Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin, 1755

Oct 26, 2002, 04:51 PM	#28
reno Painlord of Ichor Join Date: May 2002 Location: bloinkin! Posts: 1,610 Rep Power: 0	asdfgas I always back-up games using clone cd 4, which basically copies everything exactly. It doesn't bypass copy protections, it writes them exactly as the original cd so you can use the cd like it was the original. Problem is, UT2003's protection has to be something more than just corrupt sectors/sub-channel data... Try it on a DVD-drive, my pioneer 106s had no problems.

Oct 26, 2002, 08:37 PM	#29
Spydertech DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 19 Rep Power: 0	UT2003 and Securom UT2003 and some newer games are using the newset version of Securom (version 4.83something) Nothing out there in public release is supposed to be able to create a perfect backup of the originals. I know of some beta software that is supposed to work, but I personally haven't tried it. The new Securom uses a sub channel and some other little goodies. In theory, a 1:1 copy would work. Apparently not. And some CD-writers will never be able to write the sub-channel information due to hardware or firmware limitations. The next problem with UT2003 is that it also checks to see if the media is a CD-R, if it is it won't play. My problem is that sometimes I can't play using the master disk. Both my CDwriter and DVD drive don't like this new securom they are using. It took me a while to figure out how to create a good virtual cd that works. I really hate using no-cd cracks, although they appear to be the easiest work around right now. Spydertech

Oct 27, 2002, 05:13 AM	#30
reno Painlord of Ichor Join Date: May 2002 Location: bloinkin! Posts: 1,610 Rep Power: 0	sadf Yeah, Securom sucks. UT2003 is the first game that I haven't been able to burn in a 1:1 copy. Discs 2 and 3 work, but 1 has some corruption so I have to copy to HD, then burn...which means crack city... Go go ricoh 12x10x32x!