Complete newbie instructions - which site

[AFCChris]

Hi

I want to get into this stuff but can anyone point me to a site which has instructions for a complete newbie, that explains what it's all about. I'm so green about this stuff I don't think I really know what I can do. For instance, can I download full games and play them or are the .exe files available for download only for when you have the game already?

I know some of you will read this and think "what an idiot" but I need to start somewhere!

Hope someone can help me out..

Cheers

Chris

[DigitalJunkie]

There is no one site that covers all games available! You may want to use Google to search the forums for type of game platform(s) for your games you like. Nothing good comes easy, but many here will help. So, welcome to ZP! :)

[AFCChris]

Hi

I am talking about PC games. I just thought there might be somewhere where I can read about the whole thing of downloading complete games and how I use them. I have searched for this but not found one page which doesn't assume the person knows a lot about how to do all this stuff.

I just need to know how it works.

Cheers anyway.
Chris

[hawkburn]

You can download complete PC games from many a private tracker, or if you prefer not to use BitTorrent, then ed2k is very much still alive and well.

I won't go into how to actually get the files, since there are many guides available (depending on how you want to go about it) but usually PC games are packaged as image files, where you unpack it from the RAR files and then burn it to a CD using Nero, Alcohol 120, or a similar program. You then install the game as normal, and then before playing it, go into the crack directory that is usually located on the image of the CD, and replace the original .exe file with that one.

I know it sounds complicated, but it's become second nature for me, and I don't even download PC games. Keep in mind, you can't play any games you download online in multiplayer avenues. To do this, you need a unique multiplayer key that can usually only be gotten by buying the game. Thusly, I buy all of my games since I only play multiplay.

Goodluck.

[AFCChris]

Thanks for the response. This has answered the basic question I had perfectly and now I understand. Off to search for some stuff now!

Cheers again

Chris

[AFCChris]

Just another quick question. I have got an .iso file and burned it to CD with Alcohol 120 but now it won't do anything, the CD just spins but the game install doesn't come up. I'm sure what I downloaded was a PC version but is there any chance it's for a console or something like that? Maybe I'm not doing something simple??

Chris

[DigitalJunkie]

Maybe it's a non-bootable CD, did you click on the setup.exe to install?

Usually, it should comes with a NFO file to give any instructions to install the game, use the Notepad to open the NFO file to read instructions first!

[AFCChris]

I solved the issue. There was an iso file downloaded but there seemed to be some other files which were .mdf and .mds files. I checked on some web page and it suggested buring these to CD. I did that and I have been able to install the game fine now!!

I am very confused but happy I sorted it out. Again, I'm a newbie so maybe what I'm saying isn't so strange to someone who is in the know but I would like to find out exactly why I had to do things like this to make it work so I know for next time. Appreciate if anyone knows what the .mdf and .mds files are and if I always need that rather than an .iso file?? The thing that I find strange is that both files were huge and when I downloaded the torrent it was only 700mb I thought..

Cheers

Chris

[Miniver]

Check the guide in my signature out.