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Scloader 2 A

Scloader2a is a no-CD loader that allows you to play StarCraft and Brood War without the game CDs. It extracts to the StarCraft install directory and launches the game without requiring the CD. It also allows loading custom MPQ and DLL files. To use it, extract it to the install folder and launch with parameters like -mpq to load mods. It works for single player and LAN games but not Battle.net without a valid CD key. Full installs of the games can also be played by copying install files to the directory.

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Katherine Noemi Herrera Mamani
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86 views4 pages

Scloader 2 A

Scloader2a is a no-CD loader that allows you to play StarCraft and Brood War without the game CDs. It extracts to the StarCraft install directory and launches the game without requiring the CD. It also allows loading custom MPQ and DLL files. To use it, extract it to the install folder and launch with parameters like -mpq to load mods. It works for single player and LAN games but not Battle.net without a valid CD key. Full installs of the games can also be played by copying install files to the directory.

Uploaded by

Katherine Noemi Herrera Mamani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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scloader2a: no-cd BNET loader for all versions of Original StarCraft and BroodWar

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This guide will show you how to play starcraft without your CDs in the drive, and
install
both Original StarCraft and Broodwar to your hard drive at the same time.

TODO:
~~~~~
- You must have Original Starcraft or BroodWar installed. If you don't have a cd-
key to
install starcraft, use this one which isn't a valid BattleNET key but is enough
to play
on LAN and easy to memorize:
key: 3333-33333-3333

- Patch up your starcraft or Broodwar to ANY version.


Note: the patcher programs can be downloaded from blizzard's website. The
patcher won't
upgrade your starcraft installation if some files (exe, dll, or scm/scx) are
modified,
or the installation isn't complete (for example you deleted and reinstalled
windows).
Then you must reinstall starcraft. If you are sure that you have any version of
a starcraft
or broodwar installation on your machine with unmodified files but the patcher
gives
one of these messages:
1) Older patchers: "ERROR: cannot locate the game to patch"
2) New patchers (at the details): "Registry error loading key
'Starcraft\InstallPath'"
...then try to edit the registry and set the
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Blizzard Entertainment\Starcraft]\InstallPath
string value to a string that represents your starcraft diectory.
For example: c:\games\starcraft
Now the patcher should work if your sc files are original.

The main point:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
how to set up the no-cd loader:

1) Extract scloader2a.exe to your starcraft install dir.


2) Launch scloader2a.exe and play! With scloader2a you will be able to play single
player
custom games and multiplayer games without CD in the drive, but there is no
music, movies,
and campaigns. Of course you will be able to install these features to from your
starcraft
and broodwar CDs to your hard drive as I will describe below.

scloader2a parameters:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

usage: scloader2a [scloader2a_parameters] [starcraft_parameters]

* scloader2a parameters:

-primarydir <dir> Isntructs scloader2a to start searching install.exe in the


<dir> folder
before all other possible locations.
-nocdcheck Scloader2a won't search for starcraft CD in the CD drives.
-noscdir Starcraft will not search your starcraft installation
directory and its
subfolder called bw for the install.exe data file.
-noembedinstall Keeps starcraft from loading data from scloader2a itself
instead of
another install.exe file.
-mpq <mpq> Load an mpq mod into starcraft. You can specify more than
one -mpq
parameter to load as many mpq mod files as you want. The
first specified
mpq file will have the highest priority.
-dll <dll> Load a dll into starcraft. Use as many -dll parameters as
you want.
They will be loaded in the same order as you specified
them on the command
line, but will be unloaded in reverse order before
starcraft exit.
Don't use this paramet unless you know what you are doing.
-?, -help Show a help window with brief description about these
parameters.

Notice:
~~~~~~~
- The <dir>, <mpq>, and <dll> parameters can be full path names, for example:

\my_mpq_files\mpq1.mpq
c:\mods\mpq2.mpq

- Unless you specify a full path name, it is always relative to your starcraft
installation
directory:

my_mpq_files\mpq1.mpq -> it means:


sc_installdir\my_mpq_files\mpq1.mpq
x\ -> means: sc_installdir\x\

- How to use scloader2a:

scloader2a -mpq mod1.mpq -noscdir -mpq mod2.mpq

This will start starcraft and load 2 mpq mod files into it. Install exe won't be
searched
in the sc_installdir and sc_installdir\bw folders (-noscdir parameter).
mod1.mpq will have higher priority than mod2.mpq, so if both mpq archives
contain 1-1 file
with the same name, starcraft will it from mod1.mpq. Starcraft.exe must be
always in the
same directory as scloader2a!

- The dll files are loaded when the main thread in starcraft.exe has already been
started and
after the process initialization. After loading all dll files the main thread
continues
running at the entrypoint of starcraft.exe.
Good to know:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- You don't need the CDs and can play on BattleNET too if you installed Starcraft
using a
valid BattleNet cd-key. Note that this loader isn't a BattleNet cd-key crack! CD
key
authentication can't be passed when you log on BNET. Don't install starcraft to
your mate's
machine using your original sc cd-key, and don't copy your sc to his machine if
you istalled
that game with your cd-key cause the key is encrypted into one of the starcraft
data files,
so they may steal it and one key can only be used only by one person on BNET at
the same time!!!
To avoid losing your cd-key use 3333-33333-3333 to install sc for your friends.
- This starcraft can be simply copied to another computer (without exporting
registry settings).
(this can be useful on LAN parties...)
- Where does starcraft search for the install.exe file(s) using this loader when
you start the
game or change form original starcraft to broodwar or vice versa in the main
menu???
1) The directory sepcified using the -primarydir parameter of scloader2a.
This step will skipped if you don't use the -primarydir parameter.
If no suitable install.exe found then...
2) Starcraft tries to load install.exe from the root directories of your CD-
ROM drives.
The check of the cd drives can be skipped using the -nocdcheck parameter.
3) If install.exe is not found yet, Starcraft tries to load it from your
starcraft installation
directory (where starcraft.exe is located) and from a subdir called "BW"
located in your
installation directory. You can keep scloader2a from searching these
directories using
the -noscdir parameter.
4) Starcraft still did not find the proper install.exe, so it will load the
data found in
scloader2a itself. You can avoid this using the -noembedinstall parameter.
Once starcraft
loaded the scloader2a-embedded data, the above locations are out of use
until you restart
starcraft.

- Notice:
~~~~~~~
1) If you wanna play campaigns, listen to sc music, watch the movies during
the game:
Insert a CD containing another (full) install.exe file before launching
starcraft, then this
file will be loaded instead of the ripped, cause starcraft searches the cd-
rom drives before
the sc_installdir and sc_installdir\bw subfolders. You can also use the
-primarydir parameter
to load an install.exe file of your choice. Full installation of starcraft
and broodwar is
also possible. Just copy them into your sc_installdir, and sc_installdir\bw
folders.
2) If you use the no-cd loader and the game runs properly without CD, but you
are still unable to
connect to BNET then it isn't the failure of the loader. It's sure that you
cant log on BNET
even you run the game without the loader, it may be the weakness of your
internet connection
or something else... I can only recommend you to browse blizzard's website
for technical help.
3) After installing a new patch, the patcher will automatically launch
starcraft.exe instead of
scloader2a.exe and you will get a popup window asking for the CD. Just
close this window and
restart starcraft with scloader2a.exe.

If you have problems with the loader feel free to mail me. (send some details about
the error)

Have a nice day! ^^


XeN - 2006 Hungary
mail: xenomails|at|freemail|dot|hu

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