Disk Problem
 

Just got the game. Went to install and my cd/dvd drive doesn't recognize that there is a disk there. I have a standard cd/dvd writer/player that has never had a problem with any other cd or dvd. Tried the game in my wife's laptop and it showed up but it doesn't work on my rig. Can someone please tell me what the problem is and how to fix it? Thanks.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Could be you have a faulty disk. It's not come up in the forum before, but presumably it would happen sooner or later. Check the disk for smudges, scratches and such and if none appear, contact Shrapnel tech support. If it is indeed a faulty disk, they will ship you a new one.

Re: Disk Problem
 

For what it's worth, I've had a similar problem on a Microsoft Windows XP box; the DVD player basically didn't recognise some of my CD/DVD some of the time, for no apparent reason. The discs themselves worked fine on another computer, of course.

Re: Disk Problem
 

You could just install the game to your wife's laptop and then somehow copy the Dominions3 directory to your computer. Since Dominions doesn't put anything in the registry from the looks of it, it should work just fine.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Strange. What OS are you using, and is the laptop a different OS?

One thing you may also want to try is popping some other discs into your drive and seeing how it's reading. I know you said you haven't encountered problems previously, but typically when one of my CD/DVD drives is giving up the ghost it starts having read problems, and this may just be the initial sign.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Interesting that it doesn't go to registry. How big is the installed directory? Maybe I can copy to a cd (she doesn't have a dvd writer) and then to my computer. I'll also see if it will read after I try another disk. Thanks for the ideas. I'll post on how they might work.

Re: Disk Problem
 

How old is your dvd drive? And are you sure you didn't buy it from ebay?

Re: Disk Problem
 

Putting a different disk (#1 of GalCivII) in didn't work. Oh, the GC disk worked fine. Don't tell MS but my wife and I use the same copy of winxppro. My drive is less than a year old and didn't come from ebay.

Anyhow, I got dom3 installed on her computer. Went to copy it and got an error from Nero that the copy at 8x wouldn't work (even though it worked for other files to that disk). The folder size is only 300meg. That screwed up the cd and it was the only blank one I had. Today has not been good. Going to town over the weekend and will get a few cdr disks and will try again. Theorically it should work. Then I can copy it to my "games" dvd.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Rich:

I was asking if Dominions copy is not from ebay or other strange place.

Re: Disk Problem
 

You can also try copying it to a USB drive.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Ah Zeldor I see. No. I ordered it from SG using my Stardock coupon.

A USB drive is a good idea. I'll have to check prices.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Could be the drivers for the drive itself are corrupted, or have been screwed with somehow.

You could try uninstalling the drive via device manager (best to do it from safe mode) then letting Windows reinstall it when you reboot. Should be able to do it itself.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Archonsod, that was a good idea. Unfortunately it didn't work. In the meantime I called Tiger about one of those usb drives. They are having a promotion where I got a 2gig drive and anti-virus all for free including shipping. Maybe things today are getting better. It'll be here in about a week. In the meantime, I'll have a chance to peruse the manual. Best I've ever seen.

Btw, just to make sure I have all the patches, I downloaded the latest and a 3.10 quickfix v3. Is there anything else I need?

And I'd just like to comment. You folks are very helpful and I appreciate it.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Wow, I'm proud. Thanks for downloading the quickfix! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

You should try the demo. It has few Early nations, and in the first games you'll probably lose any way. That's a good way to learn the ropes.

Re: Disk Problem
 

Good idea. Except that my satellite crashed a few weeks ago and I'm on dialup. The 6 meg patch download was a big deal. I'll just wait for the usb drive and go for the tutorial.