Probably the game needs a noCD patch

Yeah I thought about that, but I'd like to know if there's a way to make the game work on its own as it should before resorting to such "shady" practices (as far as I can tell, there is no official "no cd" patch).

oldgamerIT wrote on 2023-11-08, 14:10:

Yeah I thought about that, but I'd like to know if there's a way to make the game work on its own as it should before resorting to such "shady" practices (as far as I can tell, there is no official "no cd" patch).

There is nothing called an official "no cd" patch. Developers generally won't make games work without CD (which people buy and they profit from). Whether you call it shady practice or not is purely your own view, it has more advantages to users than disadvantages.

On Windows 10, atleast SafeDisc is unsupported along with a few other disc protections. If inserting a real disc doesn't give any life to the game, the no cd patch is the way to go.

oldgamerIT wrote on 2023-11-08, 13:08:

I have read somewhere that this might be caused by some of the files and folders on the CD being hidden, for some reason;

What, like safedisc/securom? Those can't work on modern Windows, a crack is the only way.
Otherwise you could try editing your iso to unhide the files.
None of my sources mention any such problems with this game, so it's just you/your "collector" edition.
Edit: also make sure your optical/virtual drive's letter is the first one after hard drives and check that the registry is pointing to the correct letter:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Electronic Arts\Future Cop

feda wrote on 2023-11-08, 16:11:

What, like safedisc/securom?

PCGamingWiki (which I tend to trust) doesn't mention such DRM measures, only a simple disc check and, from what I can gather myself, it's just that.

feda wrote on 2023-11-08, 16:11:

Otherwise you could try editing your iso to unhide the files.

I actually tried copying the files from CD to hard disk, unchecking the "Hidden" box in Properties for all hidden files/folders, and then making an iso out of them with the same label as the original, but with no luck.
I looked for a way to directly edit the iso file, if possible, but I only found commercial products (e. g. PowerISO, UltraISO) whose trial versions only allow you to edit files up to 300 Mb (therefore useless in my case).

feda wrote on 2023-11-08, 16:11:

None of my sources mention any such problems with this game, so it's just you/your "collector" edition.

My sources:
https://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2014/05/23/ … uture-cop-lapd/ (comment section)
http://www.atpm.com/5.03/futurecop.shtml (comment section)
https://www.neoseeker.com/forums/2126/t384838 … dy-help-please/
https://www.neoseeker.com/forums/2126/t40154- … ure-cop-to-run/

feda wrote on 2023-11-08, 16:11:

Edit: also make sure your optical/virtual drive's letter is the first one after hard drives and check that the registry is pointing to the correct letter:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Electronic Arts\Future Cop

Thank you for the suggestion, I will try it out.

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-11-08, 14:22:

There is nothing called an official "no cd" patch.

I was thinking of something along the lines of the 1.4 patch for Prey (2006), released by its developer (Human Head Studios), that effectively removed the need for a disc check. That's what I would call an "official" patch.

There is no legal solution since 2002

http://www.atpm.com/5.03/futurecop.shtml

Yup, there it is: http://www.atpm.com/5.03/futurecop.shtml#5019
You have a permanently borked edition of the game.

@oldgamerIT I agree that is a noCD patch but we generally use it to mean cracks developed by a 3rd party.

Anyways after reading other comments the only solution looks like is to test the no CD available, there seems no other solution. I also wonder what this special security is anyway

So, being desperate to find a solution, I decided to take a look at how these CD checks work... maybe I could put together a noCD patch of my own?
With the help of a video tutorial I found on Reddit, I was able to alter the exe file and bypass the disc check... now the game starts!
The videos play, they are a bit glitchy but altogether enjoyable.
It wasn't easy... it was the first (and maybe last?) time I used a debugger and hex editor and I had no idea about 98% of the things I was looking at... now the tutorial could have been clearer about a couple of points, one in particular that would have saved me a lot of time and frustration. However, in the end, I made it.
Now it remains to be seen if the game is actually enjoyable, how to configure controls, video options etc. but that's a different job altogether.
Bye everyone

Don't forget to set processor affinity to cpu 0, otherwise it tends to freeze on the loading screen.

oldgamerIT wrote on 2023-11-08, 17:07:

I was thinking of something along the lines of the 1.4 patch for Prey (2006), released by its developer (Human Head Studios), that effectively removed the need for a disc check. That's what I would call an "official" patch.

EA doesn't follow the id software post-release check-removing point release update model that some licensees of their technology also had a like-minded honoring of - especially not in a time when EA would start putting Safedisc protection in their releases (with europe releases having them earlier)

oldgamerIT wrote on 2023-11-08, 13:08:

Hello, this is my first post here. I own Future Cop LAPD on CD; I'm talking about the "collectors" reissue (see attached picture […]
Show full quote

Hello, this is my first post here.
I own Future Cop LAPD on CD; I'm talking about the "collectors" reissue (see attached picture).
The CD is not scratched and looks fine to me; it doesn't seem to be affected by "data rot" since I can install the game just fine using the replacement installer provided by PCGamingWiki here: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file … lapd-installer/
I tried on a Windows 10 laptop and on an older Windows 8.1 machine.
After installation, when I try to launch the game I get a message window prompting me to insert the CD, even though it's already in the drive.
Clicking on "OK" just causes the prompt to immediately pop up again, and so on. I can't progress any further.
I even tried to install and launch the game using an iso in Windows 95, running inside DosBox-X: same result.
I took a look around the Internet, and found out that this is apparently a frequent problem with this game: many people were complaining of having the exact same issue. I have read somewhere that this might be caused by some of the files and folders on the CD being hidden, for some reason; I can confirm that this is indeed the case.
Can you offer any help? I would be very grateful if I could experience this great game for the first time.

check your game disc with A-Ray or ClonyXXL they will tell you what protection is on the disc.

Dancsi40 wrote on 2023-11-28, 05:25:

oldgamerIT wrote on 2023-11-08, 13:08:

Hello, this is my first post here. I own Future Cop LAPD on CD; I'm talking about the "collectors" reissue (see attached picture […]
Show full quote

Hello, this is my first post here.
I own Future Cop LAPD on CD; I'm talking about the "collectors" reissue (see attached picture).
The CD is not scratched and looks fine to me; it doesn't seem to be affected by "data rot" since I can install the game just fine using the replacement installer provided by PCGamingWiki here: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file … lapd-installer/
I tried on a Windows 10 laptop and on an older Windows 8.1 machine.
After installation, when I try to launch the game I get a message window prompting me to insert the CD, even though it's already in the drive.
Clicking on "OK" just causes the prompt to immediately pop up again, and so on. I can't progress any further.
I even tried to install and launch the game using an iso in Windows 95, running inside DosBox-X: same result.
I took a look around the Internet, and found out that this is apparently a frequent problem with this game: many people were complaining of having the exact same issue. I have read somewhere that this might be caused by some of the files and folders on the CD being hidden, for some reason; I can confirm that this is indeed the case.
Can you offer any help? I would be very grateful if I could experience this great game for the first time.

check your game's disc with A-Ray or ClonyXXL they will tell you what protection is on the disc.

Yet another option is BurnOut https://burnout.sourceforge.net/

Deleted post.
So called "abandonware" is not supported here.
Post your issue with your legitimately owned game in your own thread.

DosFreak wrote on 2023-12-27, 23:13:

Deleted post.
So called "abandonware" is not supported here.
Post your issue with your legitimately owned game in your own thread.

Many Years ago, I had this game on ps1 and PC. So yes I did " Legitimately" own it!