System Shock Enhanced CD not readable on Mac 10.6.2?

[mezrabad]

Okay, bear with me on this.

I put a genuine original System Shock Enhanced CD (PC Version) into my iMac running 10.6.2 (2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). I get a "not readable on this computer" error. The purpose of doing this is to get it to run in DosBox via Boxer. Arena, Daggerfall and Fallout all work wonderfully with this setup and all were scanned in from their CDs using Boxer.

I put the SS CD in while running the Virtual Machine instance of WinXP (running on same Mac): it's readable, and many (but not all of) the files are copiable into the instance of WinXP. Key issue: not all files.

While it's possible that the disk is damaged (the disk "looks" flawless) it is completely readable by an old pentium laptop running Win98.

Yes, the obvious solution is to just play the thing on the laptop, but for various reasons this isn't a feasible solution. (The laptop's screen is broken so it outputs to an old CRT. Ideally, I'd like to get rid of this setup as it takes up a fair amount of space, but not if it leaves me with nothing to play System Shock on)

Anyone have any suggestions? (other than "let it go, man...")

[alec006]

Could be laserrot,because if you can see the files on Windows XP but some are not copying and giving a cyclic redundancy error then thats one possibility.

Usually Mac OS X,since its based of Unix,can read pretty much any file system that you throw at it,but you said its readable by Windows 98,so it might be the fact that Enhanced CD's sometimes are hard to read because they have regular data and music data all in one disc,usually DVD drives in my experence or drives with smaller lasers oddly have trouble with them.

Then theres the trouble of trying to copy it. Sometimes computer CD-ripping programs have problems ripping some enhanced CDs, especially those that have the data in a separate session after the audio section. These CDs have the data 11,400 sectors (2m32s) after the audio, but some CD rippers may try to rip this blank section with the last track; the end result is that the ripper stalls during the last track, or simply reports errors.

One last thing,maybe the drive is trying to access the data way to fast,sometimes older CD's like to be read at a lower speed,im willing to bet,that may be the problem. I have a Dragons Layer CD that when you try to copy the data at 48X it has way to many errors,but at a lower speed 8X to 24X,it actually copys correctly,and in extreme cases,ive had to copy or read perfectly well taken care of CD's at 4X,2X and even the dreaded 1X.

Hope some of this helps somehow.

[Ed Oscuro]

I wasn't even able to get the original Mac version to run on a 7.6.1 Mac (scratches could have been the culprit though). It may be time to remove the laptop's broken screen and use it as an ultraslim form factor desktop...LOL

[mezrabad]

One last thing,maybe the drive is trying to access the data way to fast,sometimes older CD's like to be read at a lower speed,im willing to bet,that may be the problem. I have a Dragons Layer CD that when you try to copy the data at 48X it has way to many errors,but at a lower speed 8X to 24X,it actually copys correctly,and in extreme cases,ive had to copy or read perfectly well taken care of CD's at 4X,2X and even the dreaded 1X.

Hope some of this helps somehow.

Thanks for your insights! I think what I may do is figure out how to make a disk image from a computer that can read it (one with a slower CD drive) and see what I can do from there. I also need to confirm that both my copies of the disk aren't readable on the Mac. I constantly get the feeling that I prefer the challenge of getting old games to run to actually playing them after I get them to run...


I wasn't even able to get the original Mac version to run on a 7.6.1 Mac (scratches could have been the culprit though). It may be time to remove the laptop's broken screen and use it as an ultraslim form factor desktop...LOL

heheh, that's an idea. The setup is that the laptop sits with it's screen open and all the way back and on a slide out tray under a shelf on which sits the old monitor, effectively making it a slim desktop case. The trouble is, that tray is attached to an Ikea shelf in a set of Ikea stuff whose sole purpose in life is to house that lap/monitor setup. :) I like it, because it's a functioning, patchwork of an eyesore, but if I could just get System Shock Enhanced CD to run on the Mac somehow (using dosbox) I'd be able to let it go... :D