Total newbie - where to start with C&C First Decade

[darth_careful]

hehe. By the way, if you can borrow a DVD device (not the same brand you are using )...

I doubt it... the area I live in is so remote that even telephones are viewed with suspicion. If people realised that I have a computer then I'd probably be suspected of witchcraft...
But EA are on the case! I've also found a few websites that follow adamcirillo's suggestion and disable the IDE controller. So if official channels don't help then I'll try that.
Whatever happens, I do really appreciate the help. I was quite hoping to buy C&C3, but it looks as if that will have exactly the same problem - so being able to solve this will also help with that game, too.
I'll also make sure I post the final solution (if we find one) so that anyone with similar issues in future doesn't have to do so much detective work!

[Reef]

I was quite hoping to buy C&C3, but it looks as if that will have exactly the same problem - so being able to solve this will also help with that game, too.

C&C3 is protected by SecuROM, not Safedisc. So there might be hope

[adamcirillo]

Both the drives in my computer are liteon 's and sony drives are all liteon's with sony's name on it. on my old sony burner i loaded liteon firmware on it and it worked.

[darth_careful]

Both the drives in my computer are liteon 's and sony drives are all liteon's with sony's name on it. on my old sony burner i loaded liteon firmware on it and it worked.

That's really interesting... even more evidence for it being a problem that affects Sony hardware. Did the firmware upgrade solve the problem for you? Or was your DT/disabling IDE controllers fix something you had to try even after the firmware upgrade?

Reef, well spotted with C&C3. I might just buy it after all!

[adamcirillo]

what i was trying to point out is liteon and sony are the same and that my solution might work with sony drivers. i don't have the sony in my system anymore.

[darth_careful]

what i was trying to point out is liteon and sony are the same and that my solution might work with sony drivers. i don't have the sony in my system anymore.

ah, OK - I got very excited there - I thought the solution was in sight!
No word from EA today. I guess they're working hard on the problem....

[Kinlaadare]

Borrowed to a friend to make some tests...

Vista business 32 bit edition, plextor 760A

Runs without asking questions.

Maybe there's something to dig here...

[darth_careful]

Borrowed to a friend to make some tests...
Vista business 32 bit edition, plextor 760A
Runs without asking questions.
Maybe there's something to dig here...

yey! Great news!
Kinlaadare, we've been absolutely right all along - these programs have been falling down because of drive problems, not Vista!
I rigged up an old DVD drive and got everything working.
There were some issues with Vista compatibility on generals and Zero Hour. Here's how I fixed them:
- set up the 'generals' application in the generals and zero hour folder to run as admin - but NOT in compatibility mode
- create a config.ini file in the generals/zero hour subdirectories of the \documents folder. See here for more details... (this guy TRIGRHAPPY deserves a medal...)

http://www.cncgeneralsworld.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7451

- run the games from the individual game .exes, not the splash screen
This doesn't solve the Sony problem - I'll update further if I hear any more about that. This is obviously a bigger problem, and hopefully EA will have listened to my pathetic cries of despair and will test for this in future releases! Well, they said they would, anyway!
Finally, this guy seems to have a DTools fix for for the Sony drive thing, although I haven't tried it myself...

http://members.shaw.ca/pholland/tfd/faq.htm

So, thanks (big time) to everyone who's helped. I plan on playing C&C an unhealthy amount this weekend!
Moving out!

[echo_03]

i suggest u buy c&c 3 it is really gr8 from all aspects