scloader2b: no-cd BNET loader for all versions of Original StarCraft and BroodWar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1) Extract scloader2b.exe to your StarCraft directory.

2) Launch scloader2b.exe and play! With scloader2b 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 from your StarCraft and BroodWar CDs to your hard drive.

scloader2b command-line parameters:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ usage: scloader2b [scloader2b_parameters] [starcraft_parameters]

* scloader2b_parameters:

-primarydir Instructs scloader2b to start searching install.exe in the folder before all other possible locations.

-nocdcheck Scloader2b won't search for the install.exe file in your 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 scloader2b itself instead of another install.exe file.

-mpq Load an MPQ mod into StarCraft or StarEdit. 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. Do not use this parameter when you play on BNET.

-/+dll Load a DLL into StarCraft or StarEdit. Use as many -/+dll parameters as you want. Use -dll to specify a startup DLL and use +dll for non-startup DLLs. Startup DLLs are loaded after the main thread reached the entrypoint of starcraft.exe, and nonstartups are loaded after sc created the main window and the directdraw objects and passed it to storm.dll. DLLs will be loaded in the same order as you specified them on the command line, but they will be unloaded in reverse order before StarCraft exits. It is logical that the startup DLLs will be loaded befo

re all nonstartups, but the unloading will be done in reverse order. Don't use this parameter unless you know what you are doing.

-/+xmod Load an XMOD plugin into StarCraft. Use of an XMOD file is similar to the use of a simple DLL.

-nowarn Don't show error message when StarCraft fails to load a DLL/MPQ file and continue loading StarCraft. This parameter won't disable error messages about non-existing or damaged DLL/MPQ files that were caught before we loaded StarCraft.

-staredit Launch staredit.exe instead of starcraft.exe. This parameter is useful when you wanna load your dll and mpq files to staredit to build a map for your mod. You should use only the -mpq, -/+dll, -/+xmod, and -nowarn parameters with the -staredit switch, because all other parameters will be ignored.

-?, -help Show a help window with brief description about these parameters.

Notice:~~~~~~~ - The , , and 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 scloader2b on the command line:

scloader2b -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 StarCraft and StarCraft\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. scloader2b.exe should always be in your StarCraft directory!!!

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!!!

- 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 scloader2b. 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 scloader2b 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 scloader2b itself. You can avoid this using the -noembedinstall parameter. Once StarCraft loaded the scloader2b-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 all other locations (except the directory specified with the -primarydir parameter). You can also use the -primarydir parameter to load an install.exe file of your choice from any directory on your machine. Full installation of starcraft and broodwar is also possible. Just copy the install.exe file from the StarCraft CD into your StarCraft directory. If you wanna full BroodWar installation then create a subfolder called BW in the StarCraft directory and copy the install.exe from the BroodWar CD here. It isn't needed to make a full installation

of both StarCraft and BroodWar.

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 this prog, 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 scloader2b.exe and you will get a popup window asking for the CD. Just close this window and happily restart StarCraft with scloader2b.exe, cause it has very good chances to work with future StarCraft patches. :)

If you have problems with the loader feel free to mail me and send some details about the error.I can not repair errors when I know only that "It does not work for me...".

A recent release of scloader2b contains a bug that prevents loading the internal install.exe data ofscloader2b when you use it with some of the non-english versions of StarCraft. For example theFrench versions refused to load install.exe data from scloader2b. This means that you have to put aninstall.exe in your StarCraft folder if you use that buggy version of scloader2b for example withFrench StarCraft versions. The bug is fixed in this release.

Good gaming! ^^

Regards,XeN

mail: xenomails|at|freemail|dot|huJune 2, 2007