Problem starting game from MDS/MDF image

[stealth81]

Hello

I am using Daemon Tools Lite version and I have a strange problem regarding a game.
I have the original disk of Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, and I know that this game is protected with Starforce. I tried on one of my computers to create a backup image of the game DVD.
I tried withe blindwrite but it didn't work and then i tried with Alcohol 120 and it finished successfully to create the image. I installed the game from the image, it asked about the serial key I copied from the case of the DVD, restarted my computer and started the game.
Surprisingly ....it worked, the protection screen was checking to see if original medium is present and the game has started.
I have to mention that mds/mdf image was inserted in a SCSI virtual drive (the lite version of Daemon Tools does not create IDE virtual drives). The Daemon tools Drive was on the letter "F" and F was the first optical drive in my computer.The physical drive was on letter "Q" and it wasn't disabled or hidden in any way. The operating system i was using was Windows XP Professional SP3 - 32bits.

Now it gets interesting...
I took the image that worked on that computer on another computer of mine and tried to install the game there. Same Daemon Tools version, same drive letter for the virtual drive, same windows xp professional sp3 32bits.

I hope somebody here can explain me this behavior
thank you

[stealth81]

I forgot to say that the image didn't work on the second computer and it didn't work on a third computer either. When game is launching is says to insert the disk in another drive.
what could be the problem?

[Terramex]

Success on running those Starforce versions also depends on the chipset and how the controller & OS classifies your real optical devices.

I have this Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Complete edition where Chaos Theory isn't protected with Starforce:
Splinter Cell - Complete [Software Pyramide]: Pc: Amazon.de: Games

Maybe the attached unprotected v1.05 exe works with your version.

[stealth81]

Thank you for the information. I will keep that image and when I will reinstall the os on that computer i will try it again.
As for the unprotected exe that was not a problem I found one on the internet and it worked.

It is just frustrating that there were only two copy protections i wasn't able clone until now, Starforce and TAGES. And by cloning i mean to create an image that is playable using Daemon Tools virtual drive alone or with the help of some utilities/tricks (Y.A.S.U, A.C.I.D, asigning first optical letter to the virtual drive, disabling the physical drive via Device Manager).
The image i have created for Splintercell was the first image with Starforce protection that worked for me (without unprotected exe) and I tried to clone a lot of games protected by Starforce.

Last weekend i had around 45 original games (DVDs and CDs) to clone (mostly protected with various versions of Securom) but the most difficult was Space Siege protected with Safedisk 4.90.000. I managed to clone it in the end using Alcohol with DPM=high setting.Now it works perfectly hiding the drive with A.C.I.D.