There are numerous threads about this already.
Alien Trilogy - cd detection issue

A .CUE file is a text file you can open with Notepad and will usually contain the name of a .BIN file which you should also have.

I guess what I am saying is that I had this working. I tried using the .BIN .CUE format like it said in the link but I can't get that to work either. So if anyone can make sense of the above I'll be interested to know
(Please note I didn't originally have a .BIN file when i got it working)

Details are needed. What did you do to get the .bin file? Are you mounting the .cue file with imgmount?

If you just downloaded this from the Internet somewhere, then there could be any number of random problems with the download.

ok so I tried to extract the .bin and .cue from an ISO I already had like it said in the link. The program I used was UltraISO which is good for stuff like this. Although it didn't seem to be able to extract a .bin .cue straight from the cd. When I try and start the game I open dosbox then IMGMOUNT the iso then mount the game directory and run it. I am also trying to IMGMOUNT the .cue file
I didn't mount the iso as a virtual drive within windows because I don't think you need to do this when you run the game .

I've never used UltraISO, but I have no idea why it wouldn't be able to create a bin/cue – and if it can't create a bin/cue, then I don't know why you would say it is "good for stuff like this".

I suggest ImgBurn, which is free.

tg11101 wrote on 2020-06-14, 23:55:

an ISO I already had

If this isn't an ISO you created from the original CD, then like I said, it could have any number of problems.

tg11101 wrote on 2020-06-14, 23:55:

ok so I tried to extract the .bin and .cue from an ISO I already had like it said in the link.

If you created a ISO first, you're missing the audio tracks, because ISO format can't store audio. And because the game checks the audio tracks, it tells you that the CD is missing.

Make a new rip from your disc and rip it directly to cue / bin format. UltraISO, which is what I use as well, is perfectly capable of that, it should even warn you that audio will be missing if you select a format which doesn't support it.

ok so i admit my 'cd' copy is just a data iso
but i managed to rip the .img file into a .BIN .CUE and I can imgmount this and run the game and I can get the music playing but no cutscenes as long as i don't use the default directory c:\acclaim\trilogy.

however if you suggest buying the original cd I could.

tg11101 wrote on 2020-06-22, 19:35:

ok so i admit my 'cd' copy is just a data iso
but i managed to rip the .img file into a .BIN .CUE and I can imgmount this and run the game and I can get the music playing but no cutscenes as long as i don't use the default directory c:\acclaim\trilogy.

If you downloaded this game from somewhere on the Internet, then it is entirely possible the cutscenes were removed to make the download size smaller. That is why it is pointless to try troubleshooting with anything other than the original disc.

however if you suggest buying the original cd I could.

That has been suggested several times now, yes.

The CD image format should be irrelevant for the cutscenes because those are just simple AVI files.

A very long time ago I had a bootleg CD (actual physical disk) of the game and had to do some weird stuff to make it work (DOSBox v0.63 it was back then), like mounting the directory where I installed the game as the X: drive or something. I don't remember the details now though, and it is probably not completely related to the current issue.

There is a file called PATH.TXT in the TRILOGY directory (I'm judging by what there is in the demo) which in the full version points to the CD drive. At any rate, it seems like a good idea to make a clean install of the game from your CD image.