GameDrive CD/DVD Emulator

What is GameDrive?

GameDrive is an innovative software program that emulates your physical CD/DVD-ROM drive, enabling you to run CD/DVD-ROM programs directly from your hard drive without the use of the physical CD/DVD-ROM drive or the actual disc. GameDrive is a “Must Have” for gamers, music lovers, travelers and laptop users. Its innovative technology allows you to create up to 23 virtual CD/DVD-ROM drives and an unlimited number of CD/DVDs on your disk drive.

Why does the game application still ask me to insert the CD when the virtual CD is already inserted?

You can resolve this problem by trying one of the following methods:

1. In your Windows Control Panel, make the virtual drive the first drive to be read instead of the physical CD-ROM drive.
2. Build this game CD by using intelligent extraction.
3. Some programs must run from the same drive letter with which it was first installed. For example, if you first installed the program using the “E” drive, then subsequently your file CD must be inserted into the “E” drive for the program to run properly.
4. If you have installed the game application from a physical CD-ROM, please remove it with its uninstall program, and then try to install from a virtual drive.

Our GameDrive engineers are constantly testing popular CD/DVD-ROM titles to ensure proper support for them. However, it is impossible to test all of them in any given time frame. If you know of any CD/DVD-ROM title that does not run properly with GameDrive, please let us know. Your feedback will help our engineers to know which titles are popular among our customers.

What do I do if a game won’t work with GameDrive?

To ensure the best possible game support, please ensure that you run live-update on your product to download the latest updates. And when building a VCD of a game disc, please use the SecuROM New option for games using SecuROM 4.84 and newer. All other games can be build using the Intelligent Read Method.

Does GameDrive work with DVD movies and copy-protected games?

GameDrive works with all four of the major copy protections used on the most popular CD/DVD-ROM games: SafeDisk 1, SafeDisk 2, SecuROM and LaserLock. Most DVD videos are copy-protected using CSS (Content Scrambling System). DVD videos that do not contain CSS protection will work with GameDrive.

Can I use GameDrive on a network?

No. There is no network version of GameDrive.

What kind of CDs need to be built using “intelligent extraction?”

CDs that are protected by SecuROM should be built using intelligent extraction.

Why is the time for building protected CDs much longer than the time for building other kinds of CDs?

Protected CDs are built using “intelligent extraction.” Without intelligent extraction, building a protected CD takes longer and the VCD is often unreadable after the building. The reason building a protected CD takes longer is that GameDrive slows down the speed while reading data from protected areas on the CD (LaserLock, SafeDisk, SecuROM). After GameDrive is done reading these protected areas, the building process starts to go faster.

Does the VCD building time vary depending on the quality of my computer’s CD-ROM drive?

Yes. Depending on the manufacturer, the reading speed of CD-ROM drives varies a lot due to their error-correction ability and other mechanisms. Therefore, the building speed mostly depends on the quality of the CD-ROM drive instead of GameDrive.

How do I uninstall GameDrive?

The GameDrive uninstall program will purge all of the files created by GameDrive except the .vcd files. You can “import” them into GameDrive again or delete them by using the “Explorer.”

I am upgrading from GameDrive 6 to GameDrive 7. I am sure I have successfully removed the old program but it still prompts me to uninstall it when I try installing GameDrive 7. How can I resolve this problem?

Search for and delete the following files from your system: cda.pdr, cdant.sys, and cda.sys. Then restart the computer and continue the install.

Why can’t I use Windows 98 CD player to play audio CDs?

You may have created too many virtual drives on your system. Windows 98 CD player is unable to recognize these drives. Please try other kinds of media players.

Does GameDrive 7 support IEEE1394 or USB CD-ROM?

Yes. GameDrive versions 7.03 or higher support IEEE1394 and USB CD-ROMs.

Does GameDrive 7 support Multi-Session CDs and CD-Extras?

Yes. GameDrive7.1 supports both.

How can I create more virtual CD drives? Why do I need more than one virtual drive?

To create more virtual CD drives, launch GameDrive Manager and click on Views-> Drives. After clicking on Drive, a dialog will open and you can choose to create additional virtual CD drives.

Should I remove GameDrive before upgrading to another version of Windows?

When you are preparing to upgrade your system from Windows 98 or Me to Windows 2000 or XP, please uninstall GameDrive from the computer. After successfully upgrading Windows, re-install GameDrive on the new system.

Can I convert a VCD file built by ’intelligent extraction’ into an ISO file?

No. The standard of VCD files built by intelligent extraction is different from the standard of the ISO9660.

Can audio tracks be compressed into MP3 format?

Yes. GameDrive 7 supports MP3 audio compression. If you are having trouble using this feature, please make sure you have installed Microsoft Windows Media Player MP3 groupware or other MP3 coding/decoding programs.
Download Windows Media Player

Can I use GameDrive to play audio CDs digitally?

Yes. However, remember that the building process must follow these two rules:

1. The CD must be built as follows: PCM wave format, 44.100kHz, 16kBit/s, stereo, 172kb/s.
2. All sound tracks must be included in the virtual CD.

To play digital CD audio, follow these steps: For Windows XP users, right-click on My Computer and select Properties from the drop menu, then point to Hardware >Device Manager to open the window as shown below:

Double-click on a virtual drive to open a new window and point to properties on it. Check the bottom box to enable digital audio for this virtual drive.

When I run a virtual CD in GameDrive, the system prompts me that the version of wnaspi32.dll is incorrect. How do I fix this?

In order to run a VCD on Windows 98/Me, you need the newer version of ASPI32. You can download ASPI32 from http://www.adaptec.com.

Why can’t I hear the background music when I play games with GameDrive?

The background music of many mixed-mode format games can be played normally only if they are inserted in the first virtual drive.

How do I use hot keys to swap CDs during a game?

First, you will need to define a hot key. You can define the hot key either when building the VCD or after a VCD is built. After a VCD is built, right-click on the VCD and select Properties. Tab down to the hot key box and press a key. For example, if you set up a hot key for the ”Sims“ game VCD, the hot key you set up is ”S“ while playing the game. When pressing Alt + Ctrl + ”S“, the ”Sims“ VCD will be inserted into the virtual CD drive.

How can I change the drive letter sequence? (e.g. change F: to E:)

You can assign a drive letter to a CD-ROM drive by doing the following:

Windows 98/ME users:

1. Click on System in the Control Panel window.
2. In the System window, select Device Manager.
3. Click on the CD-ROM item, then double-click the physical CD-ROM drive icon.
4. Select Settings, and then set the drive letter.

Windows 2000/XP users:

1. Right-click on My Computer from the desktop. Select manage --> disk management.
2. Identify which one is the virtual drive.
3. Right-click on the virtual drive icon. Select “change drive letter or paths” from the drop menu.

Some games require more than one CD for playing. How can I replace the CD without interrupting the game?

GameDrive enables you to use hot keys to insert CDs. Pre-set a hot key and a virtual drive for the CDs and you can insert them into the designated drive by using the hot key without stopping the game.

Why is the maximum number of virtual drives 23?

There are 26 letters in the alphabet. We assume that A: and B: are floppy drives on your computer and C: is the entire hard drive. This leaves only 23 letters (D-Z). Each remaining letter can be assigned to a drive.

After I set the number and position of virtual drives on Windows 2000/XP, GameDrive regards one of the virtual drives as the real CD-ROM drive. How can I correct this?

There are two ways to resolve this problem: (1) Restart your computer; or (2) Refresh in the Device Manager.

GameDrive automatically plays the content of a virtual CD at system startup. How can I stop the auto-play?

For users of GameDrive 7.10 or previous version, uncheck the ’Enable CD Autorun’ box located by clicking View-> Settings > Miscellaneous settings in the GameDrive menu bar. For users of GameDrive 7.11 or later version, right-click on virtual drive pane in GameDrive manager and select uncheck Autorun (all virtual drives) from drop menu.

Can GameDrive automatically eject all inserted VCDs from all virtual drives when the computer restarts?

Yes. Uncheck the ’Keep VCDs in Drive When System Boots’ box located by clicking View > Settings > Miscellaneous settings in the GameDrive menu bar.

Does GameDrive support command interface program?

Yes, with VDRIVE.EXE you can:

1. Insert a VCD file into GameDrive (by drive letter or ordinary number 1-9).
2. In a networking environment, the administrator can set up each CD title with a VDRIVE command batch file and double-click it from the client PC to start the CD-ROM.

Can I save my current GameDrive configuration and settings?

Yes. Selecting Export from File menu, you can save the list of the VCD files that have been added into GameDrive manager into a specified location. After reinstalled your GameDrive, you can restore the VCD list from the saved file using Import from File menu. You can also save your GameDrive s configuration backing up the two files as below. These two files can be found by running %Windir% Program Files\FarStone\GameDrive\Data from start menu. mgr.dat : VCD files included into GameDrive manager mgr.hky : VCD hot key settings

Does GameDrive support compression?

Yes. VirtualDrive’s average compression ratio is usually about 10-30%. For the uncompressed CD titles, the compression ratio can be as high as 50%.

How much memory does GameDrive use?

GameDrive is a new device for your system. It uses 64 KB of memory to cache the most recently used data for each GameDrive.

What is the maximum cache buffer size for RapidCache?

Unlimited. The only limitation is your physical memory.

What is the maximum number of files that can be cached at the same time?

Unlimited.

Will RapidCache speed up the CD access time from a physical CD-ROM drive and a virtual CD-ROM drive?

Yes.

Can I build a VCD from selected files on my computer, network server or CD-ROM disc?

Yes. You create an ISO9660 CD-ROM image file from the selected files by using a CD-R burning software (for example, Adaptec Easy CD Creator). And then use the “Convert ISO9660 image to VCD” function of VDN admin program, to import it into the VDN file CD jukeboxes.

What is the difference between the GameDrive evaluation version and the licensed version?

GameDrive Personal Evaluation Version Licensed Version 15-Day time limit Yes No Number of VCDs you can build 2 Unlimited Live Update NO YES

When I am launching GameDrive, a message saying “The number of users for this copy of GameDrive exceeds the number of licensed users!” pops up and the program cannot be started. What should I do to solve this?

This problem occurs when GameDrive is installed on more than one computer on a network with the same serial number. To solve this problem, you must purchase an additional serial number with more licenses from FarStone, and then select Help from the GameDrive interface and enter the new serial number to ensure multiple copies of GameDrive can be run simultaneously on a network.

I want to install GameDrive on Windows 2000. Is there anything I should pay attention to?

If you select multiple virtual drives while installing GameDrive on your computer, do not restart the computer (you will be prompted) until the setup process is finished.

After I installed GameDrive, I received an error message saying "Unable to initialize drive, you may need to reinstall". How do I fix this?

With GameDrive installed, open the control panel and open ADD/REMOVE HARDWARE. Select "Yes, I have already connected the hardware". Then select the entry “FS_SCSI7 FS_CDAWDM_2000CD SCSI CDROM Device”.

1. Try disabling your Firewall and Pop-up Blockers and attempt to re-launch Live Update.
2. Try rebooting your computer and pressing F8 before you see Starting Windows XP displayed on your monitor; when the Boot Options menu appears, select Safe Mode with Networking. After Windows has started in Safe Mode, proceed to re-launch Live Update, and attempt to retrieve the latest updates.
3. Some users have reported a conflict with Sonic software and that uninstalling the Sonic software allowed them to complete Live Update.
4. If the issue persists, please contact Technical Support.