MA wont work: Program can not be run without original CD

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:02 pm

POSTED BY: angelghost (Matrix Forum Member)

:cry:

I have loaded the game but everytime i try and play it gives an error: This Program Cannot Run Without Original CD in Drive.
YES: The CD is in the drive!
YES: It is the original CD i bought, sealed in its original box from a PC gaming store.
HELP PLEASE!!!!
Im running WIN XP.

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:03 pm

Please, try the following:
Take the CD out of your CD-ROM Drive and then insert it again. The Autorun function should start the program. If it doesn't happen, please, try running "autoran.exe" or "autorun.bat" from the inserted CD via Windows Explorer.

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:04 pm

POSTED BY: angelghost (Matrix Forum Member)

I tried removing the CD etc, did not work. Those files were not found. I tried running autoRUN.exe as well. It still brought up the same error. Doing a search it didnt even find anything with .bat extentions.
please help!

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:06 pm

POSTED BY: Erik Rutins (Matrix Forum Member)

Angelghost,

How did you initially install the game? Has the autoplay menu ever come up? Did the problem only begin to appear after the game was installed or does this only happen part of the time when you put the CD in? Do you have another computer or a friend with a computer where you can try the CD out to help verify whether there is a bad CD or an incompatibility specific to your drive?

Regards,

- Erik

__________________
Designer / Programmer / Matrix Games

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:07 pm

POSTED BY: angelghost (Matrix Forum Member)

The screen comes up that says PLAY MASSIVE ASSUALT. Its the menu with TRUE UPDATE - MATRIX GAMES ONLINE etc on it. I installed the game just fine, the problem occured after installation. unfortunatly i do not know anyone else that i can try the CD on.

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:08 pm

POSTED BY: Erik Rutins (Matrix Forum Member)

Does the Massive Assault QuickLaunch icon in your Start -> Program Files -> Massive Assault folder work to get the game started? Are you comfortable with trying to launch it manually? If so, look for your installation directory (by default, I believe it would be in c:\Matrix Games\Massive Assault) and double click/run ma.exe . Let me know if those give you the same error messages.

Did any errors come up during installation?

Do you have more than one CD drive? If so, can you confirm that the disc is in the same one that you installed from? I have also heard of some issues with the master/slave configuration for some CD drives, I'll look to see if that could be an issue here. Info on your drive configuration would be helpful, if you have it.

Thanks for your patience, I'm sure we'll get this sorted out.

Regards,

- Erik

__________________
Designer / Programmer / Matrix Games

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:09 pm

POSTED BY: angelghost (Matrix Forum Member)
:cry:

i tried running it from all those locations. additionaly i reinstalled it, neither time did i have errors. It still does not work. running MA.exe skips the menu all together and goes straight to the error:

This program cannot run without the original CD in drive.

I have two drives, one is a burner that i only use as such. I am running the CD from the same drive I installed the game on. Also note that the drive does activate when it is searching for the disk, so i know its looking in the right place... and yes the CD is in there.

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:11 pm

POSTED BY: Erik Rutins (Matrix Forum Member)

Angelghost,

Thanks, I'm pretty sure this is related to the dual-CD setup. I'll look into this and get back to you later today with more info.

Regards,

- Erik

__________________
Designer / Programmer / Matrix Games

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:17 pm

POSTED BY: Erik Rutins (Matrix Forum Member)
Angelghost,

Please read through the below, I believe it will solve the problem you are experiencing:

Quote:

angelghost:

This particular flavour happens to have some issues running from CD/ROM drives configured as Slave devices within your computer.

All common PC's these days are IDE based, with capacity for 2 devices on
2 channels. Each Channel supports a Master and a Slave device.

If you have multiple CD/ROM/DVD/RW drives, you will probably find that one of them is configured as a Master, and putting the MA CD in that drive resolves your problem.

If you happen to be in the situation where you do not have a CD/ROM in your system that is configured as a Master, you need to adjust your devices around a little. In the worst case situation, you will have to go to your local computer store and buy a $10 IDE cable and shift your CD/ROM from the Slave position on the first channel to the Master position on the second channel.

Each of your devices (hard drive, cd/rom, dvd, etc) has some little jumpers that identify how to adjust between master and slave. If you cannot see a diagram on the unit, write down the part name/model and visit the manufacturers web site for the little chart of what the jumpers do.

Your first hard drive (the one your operating system is installed on) must be primary on channel 1. The other 3 can be mixed and matched as required as long as you do not configure a device as a slave with no master.

If this is too technical for you, you can find a local computer shop that can do the swap for a couple of bucks as it really is trivial for anyone who knows whats inside the case.

Just a FYI: This is not just a Matrix issue, Microsoft has the exact same problem as they use the same product for copy protection. Sooner or later you will have to have this fixed as you will buy a new game and find it does not work out of the box for this very same reason.

Trying to install/run from your other CD drive may help, but the best long term solution is to follow the arrangement described above. Let me know if this helps.

Regards,

- Erik

Designer / Programmer / Matrix Games

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:18 pm

POSTED BY: angelghost (Matrix Forum Member)

tried to play it from the other drive... and its working... thanks. Sorry for the trouble.

Vic · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:20 pm

OK, AngleHost... I guess, we may commemorate such a lucky resolution with having a proper online "shaking"...
... after you figure out how the game works with A.I. plaase, send the challenge to Victor... and you'll see if your efforts were worthy...

Victor

Maestro · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2004 7:31 pm

I am having this same problem. However, my CD ROM is on its own channel and is setup as a master. You have any other ideas?

Maestro

Maestro · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2004 9:51 pm

I tried the True Update from the main menu and it did not look like it found any updates. However, on the game's web page (which led me here via the Forums button) I found a link to a patch for version v.1.0.190

After installing the patch, now I have a new error. It says Illegal Copy Detected. After reading through the forums some, I thought I would add that this is a plane jane 52X CD Rom. Nothing fancy about it. It is on its own IDE port and set to master. I have a veritable library of games. They all work. If you want my dxdiag file and the ma.log (which looks rather empty to me since it will not even run the game to begin with), just let me know where to send it.

Maestro · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2004 11:17 pm

Cant edit the 2nd msg, so I guess I get to spam this thread. I was an idiot.. I ran the European version on my American version. Now that I used the right patch, it seems to be working.

The only problem I have is that the mouse sometimes disappears. I have to save and exit and then restart the program to get it back. Sometimes its kinda hard to save when you cant see the cursor, but other than that its working.

vadim · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:23 am

please change SoftwareCursor from 0 to 1 in settings.ini file

Rogs · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:47 am

Hi!

Theres a thing i dont undestand why do you(gamemakers) put copy protection and stuff on the cd's. The only thing that comes out of that is that me and the people who buy games suffers and have problem running game, and have to put in cd's to play the games while the one's who got a pirate copy of the game have no problem running games and don't have to have the cd's in the drive while playing.

As far as i know there aint any copy protection that works, they copy it anyway, so why make the legal guys who put there money in the games and support you, why make them suffer.

Just wondering.

Thanks for a great game. Someone who gladly pay for good games.

Would like am answer on this.
I know alot of people who doesnt buy game because of this they think its frustrating to have to change the cd for every game the will play.

vadim · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:08 am

To use or not copy protection is publisher's choice. And we (developers) are respect and support their choice.

Danack · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:30 pm

Before playing the game, go to and explore the CD drive - this gets the disc spinning up to speed and the filesystem initialised.

On my computer the game is then much happier starting.

obviously your mileage may vary....

Maestro · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:59 pm

Changing that value to a 1 in the settings.ini file worked great. Thanks.

Maestro

shoefish · **Posted:** Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:07 am

hi~

just bought the game in australia, demo was top notch n i bought it the day after i played it wd _b

im having similar problem to angelhost except it only happens after i apply the matrix patch.

publisher for australian version is www.red-ant.com.au
i tried the european patch but says illegal copy detected when i try to run it.

i've tried both my cd-rom drives. game works fine without patch installed.

any ideas please im dying to play~

MA wont work: Program can not be run without original CD

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