Here are some notes about the new safedisc version to clear up some rumors spreading the web! As most of you may have already noticed Red Alert 2 uses a completely new version of Safedisc protection. I guess it's the long announced Safedisc 2. At the moment it is NOT possible to create a fully working copy - not even with CloneCD - and moreover even the ORIGINAL CDs refuse to install/run in many CDROM drives. If one creates a copy with the usual settings the copy only runs in the CD-Recorder it was created in and maybe a few others. But it does not run in most CDROMs (the setup or game start fails with an error in a .tmp file).

The .icd file (the safedisc loader) is gone, the loader is now integrated in the exe files (in case of RA2 in the game.exe AND the setup.exe) and has nearly doubled in size. The game seems not to use subchannel data - I created a copy on a CDROM not being able to read subchannel data and also had subchannel data reading OFF. The copy worked fine - but only in my CD-Recorders. Creating a copy on a drive being able to read/write subchannel data didn't change anything.

Anyway - DAEMON Tools' PHANTOM CDROM still works fine. I tried with a ClonecD image as well as with a CDRWin image. Both images work fine. The safedisc emulation for unperfect 1:1 copies and the fastdump ability of DAEMON Tools do of course not work anymore!

This new protection was partly beaten before it was even out and it won't take long and it's fully beaten like all the others - maybe this circumstance helps that one day the game companies wake up and stop this shit. They'd better spend the money for creating better and bug-free games instead of licensing copy protections keeping LEGAL USERS from playing the game they spent a lot of money for!