Hey, gang--
Speaking of "burning" a down-
load to a DVD disc, how is this
done anyway? I recall this being
discussed before, but this was
some time ago.
Any suggestions on how to do
this?
Thanks, everybody!

Aser

You purchase the media you want to use - DVD or CD - decide whether to use re-writeable media or not and use your burning software to copy the file to the media.

Which CD or DVD Format Should I Use

How to actually burn the data to the CD or DVD depends on what software you are using. If you have Windows XP or later, you can use that to burn files.

Question, Draclvr.

If a game is too big to fit a DVD-R, do you just pop in another disk when the first one is full?


Gil.

Jenny has given some instruction here on how to break up a large file, but I don't remember where it is.

Drac,

You-don't-know-everything?
Oh, dear, I have to go lie down.
The shock....

Gil.

I'm simply very good at Googling, Gil! And sorry for being so abrupt, but hubby needed me to help shuck a wagon full of sweet corn!

I'm fairly good at googling, too, Drac, but the answers I find are not always that great, or maybe I should say easily understood, so I took a shortcut and asked The Expert.

Gil.
Waving her battleax at the heavens.
Lotta good it will do.
They say if it rains on St. Swithin's day it will keep on raining for forty more.
I now believe it.

Ah, but now my secret is out! I'm busted!

If a file is to large to fit on a DVD, you can always use a file splitting utility to divide it into two or more smaller files and burn those to DVD's. You can get a file splitting utility from a site like tucows or softpedia. This one might be good
http://tucows.com/preview/196049/KFK?q=file+splitter
or you could get it here
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/KFK.shtml


However I've never downloaded a game installer file that was more than 2GB, and two of those will fit on a DVD. Usually sites like GOG will divide extremely large game files into files of no more than 2GB.

There may be a DVD burner program that automatically splits files for you, so all you have to do is insert the DVD's when prompted. But I use a free one that doesn't have that capability.

Thanks, Jenny, I appreciate the answer.

So, if I do have a very large file from GOG but it's in a couple of dozen .bin files (mostly), I just continue from one disk to another?
I know, I'm dense but I want to get it clear.

Gil.

I'm with you, Gil... I'd like to know for sure too.

Get yourself a good Blu-ray burner, you can store up to 25GB on a standard single layer disc. The price of blank media has come way down lately - although it's still no where near the price of DVD's.

What is 'blank media', Inland? I gather it's not a DVD so what is it?

That's why googling doesn't always do it, Drac. People assume I know things I don't.

Gil.

Blank media is "ready to write" - it can be CD, DVD or Blu-ray.

I'm sorry to be so obtuse, but if by "the price of blank media has come way down but it's still nowhere near the price of DVDs", yet a DVD is blank media, I'm not following you.
Did you mean Blu-ray's price has come down?

Gil.

Yep, I was talking about the price of Blu-ray media.

I see no one answered your question directly. Your guess is basically correct.

This is the biggest single game file set I have from gog and it fits on a single dvd.

Book of Unwritten tales

Files (BOUT)

Windows installer, English pt 1 of 4 2mb
Windows installer, English pt 2 of 4 2GB
Windows installer, English pt 3 of 4 2GB
Windows installer, English pt 4 of 4 108 MB
Universal Update English 1MB

The above are all the ones needed to install the game

Additional files not needed to install game

Wallpapers 11MB
Avatars 1mb
Artwork 1mb

As you can see the entire GOG file list will fit on a single DVD.

When burning this on DVD The best result when you want to install your burned files would be to copy the collection from your DVD and paste it on your hard drive.

Make sure to make a new folder name it anything you want don't put anything else in that folder. Copy all installer files from the DVD and paste them into the new folder. install from the hard drive, not the DVD. The install will be faster from the hard drive than from the dvd. You must do it this way if using more than one dvd to store the game

To install the installer files have to be in the same place because installer 1 looks for installer 2 to continue and so forth. they need to be in the same place so the process can locate all files.

If you were to encounter a file collection larger in total to 4.5 gigs you can burn files that do not fit on a single disc to another disc. Just remember the entire set must be pasted to your hard drive in the same folder.

There are also Double Density DVD-R and DVD+R disc that hold 8.5 gigs. They are most used for hollywood movies your burning program generally will read them. Warning not all disc burning programs recognize double density disc. I have been using a burning program from Ashampoo for many years. Their thirty dollar burning program recognizes double density disc. some programs do not. Ashampoo allows free trial downloads of complete program without restrictions. If you are interested. Presently they are offering a free copy of a burning program that has been discontinued. It is version 6 many years old and they want to sell you version 12. I am using version 9 and am very satisfied with it. Version 9 also works with lightscribe disc and will print graphics and text on lightscribe disc.

Ashampoo


Here is a link to get an idea for a price on Double Density disc. Not that expensive but more than reg dvd

Super Media Store

oldmariner, thank you.
Your explanation is very clear and I'm keeping it.
At the moment, Ashampoo does a good bit more than I need but I'm keeping that link, too.
I really appreciate your taking the time to be so thorough.

Many thanks,

Gil.

That's usually the case -- most games will fit on DVD. However Night of the Rabbit will not:

Windows installer, English (part 1 of 5) 1 MB 2.0.0
Windows installer, English (part 2 of 5) 1.5 GB 2.0.0
Windows installer, English (part 3 of 5) 1.5 GB 2.0.0
Windows installer, English (part 4 of 5) 1.5 GB 2.0.0
Windows installer, English (part 5 of 5) 723 MB 2.0.0

My bonus content:
wallpapers 7 MB
avatars 1 MB
artworks 8 MB

So here's an example where the game is about 5.2 GB in size and won't fit on a single DVD:

In the case of Night of the Rabbit, you'd need two DVD's (unless you had a dual-layer burner and dual-layer DVD's, which most people don't). So in this case you'd burn the first three files to one DVD and the rest of the files to the 2nd DVD.

In order to install the game, you'd first have to copy all the installer files from both DVD's to a folder on your hard drive.

The "bonus content" is optional and not needed for the install, however it is very small at only 16 MB total and you may want to back it up.

Note I'm saying "DVD's" even though they're actually DVD+R's or DVD-R's -- or possibly DVD+RW's or DVD-RW's. If you have dual layer DVD's, they are DVD+R DL's or DVD-R DL's. There are also DVD-RAM's which can be dual or single layer and need a burner capable of using them. Usually people use DVD+R's, or occasionally DVD-R's.

Something else to keep in mind, the blank DVD/CD will have to be formatted before anything can be put on it. I can put things on a DVD-RW that is being formatted as those things are written to disk. This may not be the case for all the software used to burn DVDs/CDs.

I've never had to worry about formatting a blank DVD or CD. Maybe some DVD burning programs ask you what type of formatting you want. Mine just burns at whatever is the default. You just open the program and click the appropriate buttons.
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=screenshots

I've never had to format one either - I always assumed the burning software did the proper formatting.

I believe formatting only becomes a question if you want the disk available for adding additional files in the future.
I think that requires a different format from the standard music or movie disk.

That's the case, Robert.

I put a blank DVD/CD into my DVD drive and a window opens giving me the option of using the disk for regular files, movies, or music. Because I don't create movies or record music I always chose the flash drive style option. The burner program then starts formatting the disk for read/write regular files, and will burn when enough space has been formatted. It does all this on its own without my input.

Homer- Just logged on- haven't
read all of the info on this sub-
ject but notice you've had ex-
perience with this procedure--

Can you tell me, once I've down-
loaded a game to my PC, what I
would need to do to transfer it
(or burn it) to a DVD in my DVD
drive?

For instance, if I have a game on
my screen now and the DVD in my DVD
drive-- what next, Homer? Do I need
certain software to do this?

I'm not as tech-savvy as some of
the gamers here, I am WAY behind on
experience. But I would really appre-
ciate a step-by-step explanation if
you have the time.

Thanks, Homer!

Aser

AserID,
What you do to burn a DVD is going to vary with what DVD burning software you're using. If you want to use the burning software built into Windows 7, check the pictorial instructions here
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/burn-cd-dvd-windows-7-tutorial/

You mention having a game on your screen - you won't burn an already installed game to optical media. I assume you want to burn the downloaded files so you won't have to download them again...

Drac- That's exactly
what I mean-- downloading
a game that I can play later.
I can't always play my games
right away.

Jenny- I have Windows XP,
not Windows 7. Not yet,
anyway.

Thanks, guys,

Aser

aser, at one time I could write the steps involved in burning a CD under XP but that was several years ago. I did a Google search and came up with this from Microsoft Support.

While the help page doesn't say you need burning software I do remember using one, and I think it was Roxi. But don't hold me to this, as I said, it's been a few years.

Perhaps someone still using XP will know for sure if a burning software is needed or if XP has its own CD burning software.

The disc burning capability built into XP will burn CD's.
It will not burn DVD's.

You need to get separate burning software if you want to burn DVD's with XP.

I only burned CD's once using the burning capability built into XP, and I would not recommend it. My experience was that it created an image to burn, and held onto it even after you'd burned the disc. So next time you wanted to burn a disc, it would want to burn the same disc as last time. I eventually figured out how to delete the old images, but I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. Third party disc burning software is much easier to work with.

The free burning software I use is Imgburn
http://imgburn.com/

It doesn't have all the capability that pay software like Nero would have, but it will burn files to a CD or DVD.

Here are screenshots
http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=screenshots

After clicking the icon to start Imgburn, you'd click the Write Files/Folders to disc button seen in the top screenshot. Then you browse for the files or folders you want to burn. You can either open the browse by clicking the file or folder icon or by choosing it throught the menu. Once the files are all listed in the box you click the button to burn. There is a pdf how-to ***here*** which shows the various things Imgburn can do. Check the "Write Files/Folders to Disc" section.

If you're confused, just experiment with it a little. It's not going to try to burn until you click the burn button. If you think you messed something up, just close Imgburn with the red X in the corner and reopen it.

Homer-

Thanks for your efforts
in trying to help me.

By what I've read thus
far, burning DVD's with
my XP won't be possible--
I'll need burning software
to do it.

Again, for
responding to my post.

Aser

Jenny100-

I appreciate your
suggestions -- this is
what I've been wanting
to hear!

Thank you so much!

Aser

One thing to check is does your computer have some software on it that would work. My Hewlett Packard. XP came with a program called Sonic on it . I burn DVD's with that. Make sure you don't already have something.

aser I just Googled "free dvd burner software for xp" and found several sites offering free software. Maybe this is something you'd like to look into.

Winfrey-

My XP doesn't have such
a program installed, un-
fortunately. But I really
appreciate your suggestion.

Aser

Homer-

Thanks, again, for your
help!

My computer's at the PC
shop right now, but I'll
certainly look into these
sites as soon as I can.
I"m posting this from a
friend's laptop!

Aser

You're welcome, aser.

Hey, gang--

After you've burned a game
to a DVD, does the disc play
the same as the original game--
that is, will the disc respond
to the same commands as in the
original, i.e., saving, loading,
selecting options, etc.?

Obviously, I'm referring only
to games that are allowed to be
burned.

What do you think, guys?

Aser

Aser,

What you burn to the disk are the game files "before" installation.
You don't play the game from the disk.
The disk you create will be just like one you get in a boxed copy.
In other words, when you put the disk in your computer, the process of installation on your hard drive starts.
Clear as mud?
Sometimes I think I'm so clear and I'm really just confusing.
If so, take heart, Draclvr or Jenny100 or InlandAZ will be along!


Gil.

Gil-
Thanks for responding to my
post. And you've come across
loud and clear -- the failure
of clarity lies with me, not
you.
I burned a disc a few days ago
and the disc wouldn't respond to
certain commands. I was hoping,
after a little feedback, that I
could pinpoint where I went
wrong.
But, maybe I'll figure it out
one of these days. Thanks for
getting back to me, Gil.

Aser

What commands were they? I'll bet we can still help you figure this out.

You're not giving us much to work with.
What type of disc did you burn?
A movie disc?
A game disc?
Did you use burning software to copy the disc directly?

If it's a game disc, what did you burn to disc?
Did you burn the files for installing the game?
Or did you try burning the files from a folder that was already installed?

Most games will not play directly from a DVD, though they will install from a DVD. Running a game involves temporary changes in files, and this can't be done if the files are in a game folder that's on a burned DVD.

Most games on DVD have copy "protection" built into the DVD (should be called copy prevention). Unless the game files are altered before burning (using NoCD's and sometimes altered dll files or other files), these discs will not run the game without the original DVD in the drive -- not the copy.

Most movie DVD's also have copy "protection."

Without knowing what you're trying to copy and run, it's hard to know where the problem might be.

Drac-
Thanks for trying to help me.

Jenny-
A few days ago, I uninstalled
both my game and burning software,
reinstalled them later and started
all over again. I also uninstalled
a couple of downloaders from my sys-
tem (which I should have done from
the very beginning) in the event they
were contributing to my problem.

Apparently, something worked here,
because the game is now playing as it
should with all of the commands being
responsive. Was the problem caused by a
glitch in my system, or the downloaders?
I think the latter. But, I don't know.

I used burning software for my game
and a DVD+RW disc. Also, I don't in-
tend to, nor will I ever, burn movies,
albums or anything else unrelated to
games; and any game that I burn will be
hassle-free, so I'm not worried about
"copy protection."

Thank you, Jenny.

Aser

Glad you managed to fix the problem.
If the downloaders were something that runs in the background, then they may have interfered with the burning.

Thanks, Jenny.

Aser