kind of a stupid problem w/ thief premiere patch...

toad_02 on 29/12/2005 at 04:43

I just downloaded T2X and it said I needed to put a CD in the drive when there was clearly one already in there. So I looked around here a bit, found the thing about the Thief premiere patch on the FAQ, and started downloading it. Then, after a little while, realized what my real problem was and canceled the download of the patch. There's an icon for the patch on my desktop now, so I guess maybe it's partly downloaded, but when I go to delete it, I get a message saying I can't delete it 'cause some other program is using it. I looked in my add/remove program list, no patch. I hit alt+ctrl+delete and couldn't find the patch on that list, and can't figure out which of the many processes might be using it. Restarting did nothing, and I can't find anyone on these forums who's had the same problem. So, um, how do I delete it?

(dunno if this is the right forum for this, but thought I'd start here...)

Incidently, T2X looks great, I can't wait to get into it :thumb:

-toad

DarkThiefsie on 29/12/2005 at 05:04

Well, try downloading a program called 'smartclose' - it closes all programs in the background (processes included) - you can rig it to not close programs you want open (such as Norton anti-virus or anti-spyware software, SUPER(tm) Porn Downloader etc).

Apart from that, what I do is to rig the game so it doesn't use the Thief II CD. Not sure if I should mention it here though...may constitute a crack (I do own the original Thief II CDS - well, not original, it's 'red-ant' sold-out software) and, from what I've heard, Cracks = 'bad' or cracks = 'makes us suspicious that you try steal software.'

Finally - sorry, but what you wrote seemed kinda ambigious - you downloaded T2X, but it needed the Thief II cd to install? Well, it needs the CD to play - but installation must be directed towards a Thief II installation directory on your computer (e.g. C:\Program files\LGS\Thief 2). I guess you must patch Thief 2 before you install Thief 2x, but i'm pretty sure such instructions come with the Thief 2x setup. BTW, there are 2 types of patches depending on your copy of Thief II. The premier patch, i think, is used for 'sold-out' brand software copies of Thief II.

EDIT: (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartclose.html) http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartclose.html

ZeroFlight on 29/12/2005 at 05:05

I'm sure you've already thought of this, but restarting usually works for me since the process is automatically killed that way. If worse comes to worst, you can always boot into the dos prompt (windows recovery console) and delete it that way.

DarkThiefsie: The way I understood it, toad fixed the needing CD issue and was just trying to delete the partial file which I assume is covered under your first issue. Anyway, the no-cd crack is legit. Companies allow people to make back-ups for their own use (so as not to damage the original disc) and so no-cd patches are required to play them. A lot of companies make some kind of no-cd patch themselves for this reason. You're right though... makes us suspicious.

toad_02 on 29/12/2005 at 05:20

Hmmm, well, I don't really know what that all means (except the restarting thing, which I tried and it didn't work), specifically the DOS prompt thing, though I'll ask my brothers if they know. I know pretty much nothing beyond the basics when it comes to computers, and don't like to go messing around with stuff if I don't have to. And since everything, T2X included, seems to be working just fine with this partial file on my desktop, I'm just gonna leave it there. I might give that Smartclose thing a try, assuming it's relatively fool proof. I wouldn't want to accidently close my Porn Downloader, after all... ;) The whole psudo-legal CD 'cracking' stuff is way, way, way beyond me, I'd probably just end up melting my hard drive into a puddle of goo.

Guess I'll just mark this one down as yet another strange thing my computer does (or doesn't do) for no apparent reason... yay, technology!

Thanks much for your suggestions. Maybe I'll casually mention this to people at work, see if anyone wants to stop by to take a look for free...

-toad

DarkThiefsie on 1/1/2006 at 00:33

Actually, for T2, you don't really need to download a crack or a nocd Patch. You simply make a couple of changes to INSTALL.CFG and DARKINST.CFG - get rid of all references to D: (Or your CD Drive). For example, my Install.CFG looks like this:

install_path c:\ashes\thief\Game\Thief II
language english
resname_base c:\ashes\thief\Game\Thief II\res
load_path c:\ashes\thief\Game\Thief II
script_module_path c:\ashes\thief\Game\Thief II
movie_path c:\ashes\thief\Game\Thief II\movies

With no references to D:\ - effectively a 'crack' for T2.