Advice/Help required.

[lord soth 75]

Hi guys.

As iv explained before on here i am pretty much computer illiterate.
And..for that very reason,i need your help please.

I want to download Championship Manager 2001/02 onto my laptop,and i went to the official forums for info.
Whilst there i saw that the game is available as a free download.

I clicked on the link,and it sent me to this page
http://do.wnloads.net/go/7zip?creative_ ... -728x90_v1

I dont understand what to do here...Do i just click on install....or will other things try to attach themselves to my laptop?

Thanks in advance guys (And once again..sorry for my dumb questions...i just want to be sure that this wont harm my trusty laptop)

[raixel]

I'm not sure what Champion Manager is, but if it's a non-indie(read, the type of game you can buy at Gamestop for 40-60$) game, the odds that an easily accessible free link to the full game is next to nil. If its an older game, try looking at abandonware sites, although be sure you are running a ral-time virus protector and malware blocker. If you don't have one yet, I or someone else on here could point you to some free good ones, im sure.

What the download appears to be is 7Zip, a compression program like Winzip or Winrar, not your game. If you are computer illiterate I won't bore you with the details, but basically its a program that squishes files into a smaller package and then unpacks them. For example you could download say, a 500meg file and have it be only 300 meg, thereby saving you download time.

Now, about that link. What freaks me out is 7zip, winrar ect are licensed (or at least open source)products. You shouldn't download them from anywhere besides their webpage, and this place is obviously not their webpage. Also, if you read at the bottom of the screen, you get this

"© 2012 do.wnloads.net All Rights Reserved. do.wnloads.net is distributing custom installers which are different from the originally available distribution. These new installers comply with the original software manufacturers’ policies and terms & conditions. Optimum Installer is an install manager, which manages the installation of your chosen software. In addition to managing your download and installation, Optimum Installer will offer free popular software that you may be interested in. You are not required to install any additional software to complete your installation of your selected software. You can always completely remove the programs at any time in Windows’ Add/Remove Programs. "

So basically, to answer your question, yes. It most likely is going to dump a bunch of junk you dont want on there. If you are looking for 7zip this http://www.7-zip.org/ is their main website where you can download it safely. But I would suggest using winrar, http://www.win-rar.com/download.html its formats are much more common.

Good instinct though! You were right in asking. If you have any more questions or concerns, go ahead and ask away!

[Jan]

Raixel explained it pretty well. I'll just add a few remarks:

1. Although I don't know anything about Championship Manager 2001/02, I ordered my trolls to make a fast Google search and they found that the game does appear to be free to download, for instance:
http://www.farlie.co.uk/championship-ma ... -download/ or
http://www.fmscout.com/a-championship-m ... nload.html
Also, my trolls found that Wikipedia, the Ultimate Source of Knowledge in the Universe, mentions a free download too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championsh ... ason_01/02) - the link is http://eidos.http.internapcdn.net/eidos ... cm0102.zip
I don't know, I didn't try it. Apparently, once you download the file(s) you have to burn them on a CD and then install your game from it.
Personally, I'm always very cautious when downloading various "free" things on my computer - you never know what might happen.

2. The link you sent doesn't lead to the game but to the 7zip packing/unpacking programme - and the link is rather suspicious.
And, as Raixel, I also prefer using the WinRAR.

[beowuuf]

You would need to use 7zip if you ever get a file with a .7z file extention, but for .rar and .zip files.

[raixel]

This link http://eidos.http.internapcdn.net/eidos ... cm0102.zip seems to be the most legit source. After all, Eidos is a video game company and the file it wants to download is "cm0102". But again, ALWAYS use a realtime virus and malware blocker. If you cant get a realtime one, make sure you scan everything before unpacking it. So lord soth, I would suggest using that one to get your game, but be careful. Might want to try Eidos' main site. If its available free there, that definately would be safe.

[cowsmanaut]

7zip is a free zip program that does rar, zip, and a variety of others, including it's own. It is not a suspicious program at all, as I've been using it for 6 years.. that is so long as they are linking to the 7zip home page..

[lord soth 75]

This link http://eidos.http.internapcdn.net/eidos ... cm0102.zip seems to be the most legit source. After all, Eidos is a video game company and the file it wants to download is "cm0102". But again, ALWAYS use a realtime virus and malware blocker. If you cant get a realtime one, make sure you scan everything before unpacking it. So lord soth, I would suggest using that one to get your game, but be careful. Might want to try Eidos' main site. If its available free there, that definately would be safe.

So....i download it using that link. and then i have to put it onto a disc to play?
Cant it just download to my computer and i play it,like i do with the Dungeon master rtc download?
Why does it have to go on a disc.

[raixel]

Hm. That I cant answer without actually d/ling the file and looking at it. I would assume (and don't take my word for it, I'm totally guessing. Some people on here Im sure would know way more than me), but I'm assuming that it's a direct CD rip of the compressed program as it was packaged to sell, instead of an actual executable (.exe file, a file that tells the computer to make a program 'go') and the files associated with it. It might also have some sort of anti copy thing built into it where it says 'Unless this program is intsalled off of a cd, dont run it'. Or something. See when you download RTC, you are just downloading the files and .exe that make up the game. Theres nothing built into it to protect it. But a lot of professional modern games have weird anti-copy protection built in that says 'unless the cd is in drive, dont install or run'.

But like I said, without actually looking at the program, I'm just guessing. I might be way off base (and I'm sure someone who knows would be happy to say I'm wrong! )

[Jan]

I think Raixel is right. Although I also don't know anything about this particular game, it looks like you download the contents of the installation CD, burn it and install your game from it as if you'd just bought it in a shop.

[Gambit37]

I downloaded it to find out more about it. Inside the zip file is an ISO file.

Extract the ISO from the zip file. Then you can use CD burning software to burn the ISO to a normal CD. Or you can use software such as Daemon Tools to mount a "virtual" CD-ROM. You can then load the ISO file into the VDCROM and access it as if it were a real CD-ROM. Once you have that running, you can simply install it from the autorun.exe found on the VCDROM. Note that you may need to keep the Virtual CD software running after you've installed the game. Hope that helps a bit...

[lord soth 75]

I downloaded it to find out more about it. Inside the zip file is an ISO file.

Extract the ISO from the zip file. Then you can use CD burning software to burn the ISO to a normal CD. Or you can use software such as Daemon Tools to mount a "virtual" CD-ROM. You can then load the ISO file into the VDCROM and access it as if it were a real CD-ROM. Once you have that running, you can simply install it from the autorun.exe found on the VCDROM. Note that you may need to keep the Virtual CD software running after you've installed the game. Hope that helps a bit...

How long does the download take Gambit?

[Gambit37]

It's a 277MB file. I have a 20Mbit connection, so it only took a few minutes. Your mileage may vary considerably.

[lord soth 75]

It's a 277MB file. I have a 20Mbit connection, so it only took a few minutes. Your mileage may vary considerably.

Thanks for the info.
Before i nervously download this. i have 1 more query, Will the game work on Windows Vista?

[Gambit37]

No idea, sorry, I haven't actually tried running it. There may be some compatibility issues, but you can often solve those by running games in XP Compatibility Mode.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... lity-mode/
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... of-Windows

[lord soth 75]

Damn.
Stuff like this is why i always play games on a console rather than a PC.

Is ANYTHING ever simple with PC games???


All i wanna do is play a 10 year old football manager game on my laptop,and its hard work

[Gambit37]

It's the cost of progress. We'd never get any real innovation if everything was infinitely backwards compatible.

[raixel]

I'd recommend getting DOS-BOX for old games that have compatibility issues with anything newer than win 98. Heres the download link http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 . The compatibility link at the top of the page is also good to see if your specific game is supported, and how well it runs. The latest version works great with 95% of old games. To start it, at the Z: drive prompt, type "mount c c:(you can use a foldername here, I usually use C:\games cuz thatas where my games are)" to mount the virtual drive, then c:, then navigate to your game folder and away you go!

If you have any issues, let me know. While I'm not a genius at using it, I can get pretty much any old game to run.

[lord soth 75]

I'd recommend getting DOS-BOX for old games that have compatibility issues with anything newer than win 98. Heres the download link http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 . The compatibility link at the top of the page is also good to see if your specific game is supported, and how well it runs. The latest version works great with 95% of old games. To start it, at the Z: drive prompt, type "mount c c:(you can use a foldername here, I usually use C:\games cuz thatas where my games are)" to mount the virtual drive, then c:, then navigate to your game folder and away you go!

If you have any issues, let me know. While I'm not a genius at using it, I can get pretty much any old game to run.

Im going to download the game this weekend,and see what happens.
I haven't got a freakin clue how to 'burn' the file to a disc and stuff.Just hope i don't manage to mess up my computer as a result of wanting to play a game that is over 10 years old.

Knowing my luck,my lap top will explode or something.

[Gambit37]

Don't worry about creating a real CD ROM. Use the Daemon Tools I linked to earlier to create a virtual CD ROM from the ISO file that you download. It's much easier. Google for "Daemon Tools tutorial" if you need help with that. Here's one I found:
http://tr1x.com/how-to-mount-iso-file-w ... tools.html

In general, googling for "subject" plus "tutorial" will usually find what you need. There's so much out there, there's not really any point any of us writing pages of stuff here, as someone else has probably already done it better, with videos and screenshots too.

As for using Dos Box to play Windows games -- I don't think that's right!? Are you sure about that Raixel?

[raixel]

Sorry. I was just talking about compatibility issues in general for older games, to give LS a tip if he had any issues with old games not running correctly, not this specific one. I guess I didnt make that clear. But a lot of games that were made during the 95/98 era can be run in Dosbox, at least in my experience. It was when NT/2000 came out that it changed everything. So yeah, LS' game is probably too new.

And, LS, can I recommend ditching Vista and getting 7 if you can. Vista is known for not being very backwards compatible, compared to XP and 7. Some disagree, but I had more headaches using Vista than pretty much my past two laptops and desktops (XP and 7) combined. And one of those I had for 5 years!

[lord soth 75]

@ Gambit37

Ok.I'll download that Daemon thing first using the link you provided.

Thanx for all the help so far.

Hopefully by saturday night i'll be able to play the game (Fingers crossed)

[beowuuf]

I've only used it once or twice, but it was reasonably easy to use. I think it runs as an icon, and you can just click on it and tell it what file you want to pretend to have in a pretend CD drive

[lord soth 75]

I've only used it once or twice, but it was reasonably easy to use. I think it runs as an icon, and you can just click on it and tell it what file you want to pretend to have in a pretend CD drive

So...essentially,when i download that Daemon (and twin it to the CM game file thing), i will have a RTC type situation....in which i just play the game by clicking on its icon (If that makes any sense)

[Gambit37]

You still have to install the game from the virtual CD rom (that you will have setup using Daemon tools). If you're familiar with installing games from normal CDs or DVDs, it's the same process, the only difference is you don't have the actual plastic disc to worry about Look for an "autorun.exe" on the virtual CD and click on that to install the game. After that, you should then have an icon for the game either on your desktop or in your Start menu.

[beowuuf]

It's more like when you have the daemon programme running, then tell it to look at that .iso file, it will be like you have a new CD drive and the game loaded in that drive. However you would install/run the game from CD will be how it will run. So you'd open a window and either insall to disk, or play it from an icon directly, just like RTC.

[lord soth 75]

It's more like when you have the daemon programme running, then tell it to look at that .iso file, it will be like you have a new CD drive and the game loaded in that drive. However you would install/run the game from CD will be how it will run. So you'd open a window and either insall to disk, or play it from an icon directly, just like RTC.

That will be fantastic.

I will be overjoyed if i manage to get through this without any problems.

Cant wait to play the best football management game EVER with all the new 2012 season stats.

[lord soth 75]

Iv just downloaded Daemon.

and during the install...it wants me to install something called 'Driver scanner 2012'

Do i have to install that? or can i decide not to?



**Edit**

I opted to not install the above.

Daemon Tools Lite has installed on my laptop. There is an icon for it on my desktop.

[beowuuf]

Too many programs now (some like Adobe ACrobat and Chrome) ask if you want to install otherthigns. No is always a good answer!

Hopefully yuou can just run daeomon now, then if an icon appears on the task bar, right click on it, and look for a 'mount a disc' option. Find the .iso file and fingers crossed you can then open the .iso file as if it was a CD drive window and play!

[lord soth 75]

@ beowuuf

Im just in the process of downloading the Championship Manager zip file right now.

Its going to take about 9 mins.


Im nervous as sh*t in case i get a VIRUS flashing message on my screen
Iv never done anything like this before

[beowuuf]

*Crosses fingers for you*