how to remove safedisc 1?

I have an old game protected with Safedisc 1 that I'd like to get running without the CD, and if possible remove the whole Safedisc stuff with its system32 driver etc.

I've read at **link removed** that it should be possible to "unwrap" the game. Does this mean that the whole Safedisk stuff is bypassed and the driver is no longer needed?

I've tried Unsafedisc as suggested in the link, but it requires the game's ICD file and this game doesn't have one. Could this file be named differently? (only part of the game is installed on HD, the rest stays on CD)

Thanks...
Mike

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Last edited by Terramex; 04-01-2010 at 22:28. Reason: Link removed

Hallo mikewse,

the purpose of this forum is not to discuss the removal of protections but how to copy/emulate them.

I suggest the following procedure:
- download and install the free edition of Alcohol 52%
- start Alcohol and open Image Making Wizard
- select your device and set Datatype to Safedisc (image creation might take a while due to the typical Safedisc read errors)
- mount the resulting disc image in Alcohol's virtual drive

Maybe that title is hotwired to the drive it's been installed from.
So if it doesn't work uninstall the title and reinstall using the disc image instead of the physical media

Thanks Terramex. However, the Alcohol solution would still have the game install the Safedisc driver, right? Part of my problem is that this is an old game and I want to run it on my living room media center PC, which runs 64-bit Windows, and it seems the Safedisc driver doesn't work well with that. So my plan was to install the game on a 32-bit machine, somehow make the game run without the Safedisc driver, and then copy the game folder to the 64-bit machine. It's a simple 640x480 game for children so doesn't require particular hardware or registry hookups.

I'm really sorry, but our forum rules don't allow discussions like that
Have you already fiddled around with the compatibilty modes/settings in the properties of the executable ?

Would please tell us the game title ?

Sorry for breaking your forum rules, I wasn't aware of the distinction between protection emulation and protection removal (and sorry for the delayed answer).

The title is a Swedish game for children, "Bygg bilar med Mulle Meck" (Build Cars with Mulle the Mechanic), from the late '90s. I'm quite confident you haven't heard about it :-).

Regarding compatibility settings:
Unfortunately, these don't address the problem I'm having as they mainly (and to some degree) adjust the graphical environment to suit old programs. The problem here is that the game relies on its SafeDisc driver to be installed. 64-bit Windows only allows signed 64-bit system drivers to be installed on the system, and naturally none is provided with the game. 32-bit user-space code (applications and some simple drivers such as printer mini drivers) can run in 64-bit Windows, but 32-bit system drivers are completely locked out. There is no workaround to this.

I guess I will have to look into virtualization instead, running a 32-bit guest on my 64-bit machine and using the Alcohol method you provided. I was trying to avoid this kind of setup to keep things simple for my 7-year old daughter when starting the game, but I'll try to figure something out.

Thanks for your help!

@mikewse
Are you sure it's Safedisc ?
What kind of error message do you get ?

Just in case you overlooked; i was also refering to the OS compatibility modes.

P.S.: you have a PM

Yes, it's quite clear that it has SafeDisc. On a successful install on a 32-bit system, and starting the game without the CD inserted, there is a popup saying:
SafeDisc: Mulle32.exe - No disc
Please insert a disc in drive F:

It seems Mulle32.exe is some standard loader that executes SafeDisc, and then redirects to another (larger) exe.

As mentioned earlier, a driver is also added to the system (secdrv.sys). If disabling this driver and trying to start the game (with CD), the game will crash on startup.

Sorry, just wanted to make sure because secdrv.sys is also present in a standard Windows
installation (however i don't know if it's still included in Win 7).

Ah, I wasn't aware of that. It seems secdrv.sys is bundled with Vista (both 32- and 64-bit) but not with XP. As my 32-bit machine is on XP I didn't notice. Anyway, I tried to just copy the game and run on the Vista machine but it crashes on startup, same as when the driver wasn't installed on XP.