Play without CD - Copy videos/music to HDD?

[lrochfort]

Hello all,

Is it possible to play the game without the CDs?

Do I need to copy the videos and music to the Hardware installation directory?

Cheers,
Laurence.

[Captain Zedo]

Yes, the game only requires the CDs for music and the GDV videos. I seldom play with a CD mounted. If you copy the media to your hard drive you will need to change the file paths in <Hardwar Root>\Media.txt . There may be another file to fix. I'm not much of a programmer, but this comes up often.

[techno]

I believe the simplest way to remove the cd check is to delete the file "media.text".

[lrochfort]

Oct 29, 2014 9:47:10 GMT -5 Captain Zedo said:

Yes, the game only requires the CDs for music and the GDV videos. I seldom play with a CD mounted. If you copy the media to your hard drive you will need to change the file paths in <Hardwar Root>\Media.txt . There may be another file to fix. I'm not much of a programmer, but this comes up often.

I copied all the videos into the Hardwar folder and it worked without modifying the Media.txt.

Not sure why, but I'm glad it works!

[sushi]

It's a long time since october 2014... Anyway maybe someone else should find this interesting ?

You can copy all the gdv files to Hardwar directory including Hardstar.gdv (that's why it worked for u Irochfort) and you no longer need the cds to be mounted.

Hope this helps.

[Lee]

Aug 21, 2017 16:16:38 GMT -5 sushi said:

It's a long time since october 2014... Anyway maybe someone else should find this interesting ?

You can copy all the gdv files to Hardwar directory including Hardstar.gdv (that's why it worked for u Irochfort) and you no longer need the cds to be mounted.

Hope this helps.

Welcome back Sushi! 

It's been known for a while that one  

Here's an old post of mine with a couple of tips:

Some tips though, if you're using the same save file just make a shortcut with this as the target:

D:\Games\Hardwar\Install\HardwarW.exe /t:load "Untitled.sav"

Obviously using the path to your exe and your save game name.

This will bypass the Hardman setup and just load straight into your save.



Also, to run without CD, people say to copy HARDSTAR.GDV from the disc to the install directory or to remove the asterisks from the Media.txt etc or I think Zedo even went through the executable with a hex editor and removed all references to HARDSTAR.GDV once.

I personally find it way easier to make a new text file and call it HARDSTAR.GDV (without .txt at the end obv.)

Simple.

Even better, if you want the vids to play make a folder called GDV in the install directory and copy all the GDV's from discs one and two into it. (the reason for GDV folder is so you're not sticking 51 files directly in the install directory) then replace hardstar with the text file version, then open regedit.

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Refinery\hardman\Config

Change SourcePath to D:\Games\Hardwar\Install\GDV\ (that's my path but obviously use yours).

Sorted.


Music will still play if you insert a disc. I've tried various winmm wrappers (OGG_WINMM, _INMM etc.) to try and play the music without disc but they don't work. Using the disc is best if you have it. Otherwise just winamp in the background or whatever.

 

[sushi]

Regedit, hex editor, modifying text file ect.....

All this sounds quite boaring when you just can copy/past all .gdv (including hardstar.gdv) into the directory to do the job !

I've read those solutions but for me the simpliest is the best ! It can be useful to remind from time to time... Including to myself eventually...

[Lee]

The simplest one is right there in my solutions. Empty text file renamed to Hardstar.gdv. Done.

[sushi]

I don't understand your point.

You still have to mount the cd1 or cd2 to have the videos played in game.
Otherwise, it means you've already copied all the vids on the directory...

So...

your solution
1 copy all vids in the directory
2 create an empty .txt in hardwar dir
3 rename the empty .txt in Hardstar.gdv

Irochfort solution (that I highlight for the community in my message)
1 copy all gdv files to hardwar dir that's all.

Logically...

@+
Regards
Raf

[Lee]

The thread is about being able to play the game without the CD. Not about playing the videos.

[sushi]

Oct 29, 2014 5:01:08 GMT -5 lrochfort said:

Hello all,

Is it possible to play the game without the CDs?

Do I need to copy the videos and music to the Hardware installation directory?

Cheers,
Laurence.

I do not understand the same from Laurence's question. For me the objective was to have all the videos played without having to mount or insert cd1 or cd2 during the game.

Anyway, if you just want avoid using CD, you just copy/past the Hardstar.gdv in the dir and you're done. you can also use the Misc tab of the launcher to skip videos.
hardwar.ktsdesign.com/tips.php


@+
Raf