#1 2013-09-04 16:00:21

Dynd
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Battlefield 1942 Portable

Is there ANY way to get this running on a PC (school) that doesn't allow writing to registry?
I'm trying to play LAN with some classmates but any 'portable' version I can find just gives the "invalid cd-key" error, probably because writing the CD keys to the registry is forbidden on the computers.

I tried every ''portable'' version but none seem to be truly stand-alone and not need the registry, I also tried the Origin version of the game with the http://par.nofate.me/ trick but it just closes the game after "Validating.".
Please help. hmm

Last edited by Dynd (2013-09-04 16:13:05)

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#2 2013-09-04 16:09:26

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Hi Dynd, BF1942.exe needs to read CD-key from registry. I will try to patch it to make it portable, but no promises it will be done.

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#3 2013-09-04 16:14:34

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

tuia wrote:

Hi Dynd, BF1942.exe needs to read CD-key from registry. I will try to patch it to make it portable, but no promises it will be done.

Alright, here's to good hope!

Me and my classmates have been playing the multiplayer demo of the game for the past two years pretty much every day instead, because that does work.
But we are getting kind of tired of it by now hehe.

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#4 2013-09-04 16:20:46

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

You can play BF1942 SW Demo instead, it should work too.

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#5 2013-09-05 00:42:08

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

try installing it on usb and running it from there. i used to do that with rome total war and counter-strike  until they changed firewall policies big_smile

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#6 2013-09-12 13:40:05

Dynd
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Thanks for your answers. I am not tech savy enough, nor do I think the bad school computers can handle bud's solution so we have just been enjoying ourselves with the BF1942 SW demo.

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#7 2013-09-12 13:45:51

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

why dont u try to join SiMPLE server big_smile?

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#8 2013-09-14 19:14:27

Dynd
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Denny wrote:

why dont u try to join SiMPLE server big_smile?

Outgoing connections are banned so only LAN is possible.
I found a small discussion on the topic here but no solution.

Last edited by Dynd (2013-09-14 19:33:18)

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#9 2013-09-14 20:21:37

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

well then ull have to listen in school and play bf1942 at home wink

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#10 2013-09-20 14:23:05

Dynd
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Denny wrote:

well then ull have to listen in school and play bf1942 at home wink

Meh, I'm sure there is a way. Today I tried Cameyo which promises a full virtual portable enviroment, including registry, by wrapping it all in a single .exe. But I sadly still got the invalid cd key error. I really thought that would work.

EDIT: Nevermind! Success! Turns out the program does work as I expected, I just booted a wrong snapshot. I now probably have the first full true portable version of bf1942 in the world. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Last edited by Dynd (2013-09-20 15:44:13)

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#11 2013-09-20 17:36:10

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Dynd wrote:

Meh, I'm sure there is a way. Today I tried Cameyo which promises a full virtual portable enviroment, including registry, by wrapping it all in a single .exe. But I sadly still got the invalid cd key error. I really thought that would work.

EDIT: Nevermind! Success! Turns out the program does work as I expected, I just booted a wrong snapshot. I now probably have the first full true portable version of bf1942 in the world. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Does that Cameyo virtualization impact performance? Anyway, I've managed with a very simple fix to make BF1942 not show the Invalid CD-key error message without any BF1942 registry entries, making it portable. I've tested in a local server and in SiMPLE server with two computers and seemed to work okay. I will upload modified BF1942.exe if you're interested.

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#12 2013-09-21 15:16:43

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Playing BF1942 from my 2GB USB pen drive. No need to install. smile
To make BF1942.exe v1.61 portable, just change byte at offset 0x0009510A from 0x75 to 0xEB. Or use BF1942 portable executable: http://team-simple.org/download/bf1942- … atched.zip

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#13 2013-09-21 15:21:12

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

tuia wrote:

Playing BF1942 from my 2GB USB pen drive. No need to install. smile

Say what, say what?

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#14 2013-09-21 15:23:03

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

It's portable. smile You can play it in any computer.

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#15 2013-09-21 15:45:09

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

tuia wrote:

To make BF1942.exe v1.61 portable, just change byte at offset 0x0009510A from 0x75 to 0xEB.

are you alien? big_smile

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#16 2013-09-21 15:48:30

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Aren't you studying Computer Science?! Hexadecimal values should make sense to you.

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#17 2013-09-21 20:10:58

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

No im studying economics, but now wish i studied anything else xD what i study is useless in my country..

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#18 2013-09-21 21:18:22

joint
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

i can advise to you study psychology, Denny, you'll be better understanding ppl and yourself, knowing ppl is worth a lot, but living in peace with yourself is priceless!:p

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#19 2013-09-21 21:58:16

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Denny wrote:

No im studying economics, but now wish i studied anything else xD what i study is useless in my country..

it's useless in any country ;-)

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#20 2013-09-29 19:43:32

Dynd
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

tuia wrote:

Playing BF1942 from my 2GB USB pen drive. No need to install. smile
To make BF1942.exe v1.61 portable, just change byte at offset 0x0009510A from 0x75 to 0xEB. Or use BF1942 portable executable: http://team-simple.org/download/bf1942- … atched.zip

This is even easier. Thanks.

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#21 2013-12-27 23:00:38

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

I know this thread is old ,,,,,,but I have been using BF 1942 portable for years. Just install game as normal.  Then install the no CD patch. Play the game..  Then just go to C:\Program Files and copy the EA games folder to a flash drive. Move the folder to the desired computer. With the BF CD key changer put in your CD key and play from the BF1942.exe inside the folder. This won’t work with Road to Rome but will with all the other mods, DC final etc. All setting and names will go with the folder to the new computer.

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#22 2014-05-21 16:48:51

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Updated BF1942 portable executable. Now, it works also with Road to Rome and Secret Weapons. With this executable inside, you copy your BF1942 folder and can play it in any computer, from a USB drive, for example. However, it may crash the game in Wiindows Vista and above, because you probably have no administrator rights. Mind that, this BF1942 portable executable is just a hack, because it won't exit the game, if it cannot read the registry or there is no BF1942 information in the registry, and your CD-key assigned will be whatever there is in that memory address reserved, most probably the empty string. The right way to make it portable, would be to read the CD-key and game language value from a text file, but that involves some larger changes in executable.

rukus wrote:

I know this thread is old ,,,,,,but I have been using BF 1942 portable for years. Just install game as normal.  Then install the no CD patch. Play the game..  Then just go to C:\Program Files and copy the EA games folder to a flash drive. Move the folder to the desired computer. With the BF CD key changer put in your CD key and play from the BF1942.exe inside the folder. This won’t work with Road to Rome but will with all the other mods, DC final etc. All setting and names will go with the folder to the new computer.

It won't work, unless there is a CD or DVD drive and you are able to modify registry in that computer, because old BF1942 No CD patches, missed some CD drive checks and they have not skipped registry checks in the executable.

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#23 2015-08-26 11:16:28

ridgeraiser
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Dynd wrote:

Is there ANY way to get this running on a PC (school) that doesn't allow writing to registry?
I'm trying to play LAN with some classmates but any 'portable' version I can find just gives the "invalid cd-key" error, probably because writing the CD keys to the registry is forbidden on the computers.

I tried every ''portable'' version but none seem to be truly stand-alone and not need the registry, I also tried the Origin version of the game with the http://par.nofate.me/ trick but it just closes the game after "Validating.".
Please help. hmm

It would be funny to play BF 1942 included Mods via a Tablet or Mobile.
I think it needs a tool to converted it from DVD Retail or Origin to Mobile?
Is the any development to actually?
Or is the idea back to the dust bin?

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#24 2015-09-25 01:31:29

GoodDayToDie
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Yes, try the Interstate 82 mod @ is82.com
You will get a hoot from it no doubt!!

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#25 2015-10-15 00:06:50

ridgeraiser
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

a cool thing were be, if you can play BF1942 via Samsung or Iphone Smartphone , or play via ipad maybe? Phantastic to win players and push the community. Because we dont have to sell shit. We present real old school gaming, without casino gamble off. Free content from free artists. What want the people more?

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#26 2016-06-21 23:33:32

ridgeraiser
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Now there are some Portable Versions Released which included a Mod inside:

Forgotten Hope 0.7 Portable:
Download

Silent Heroes 1.2:
Download

PR1942 DRK v18a, included a Launcher:
Download


I would like this package, because you can added all your favourite mods you like.:-)

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#27 2016-12-20 18:57:34

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

The only problem I can see with the portable version (already been touched upon by tuia) is that if you run it on a machine with no cdkey value in the registry, everyone doing the same as you will have the same cdkey (a null value in this case). If you try and play on the same server together then you cannot.

While the 'patched' versions of the server no longer validate CD keys, it appears that the server still does not allow players with identical keys to play on the server at the same time (although you can on LAN servers). You get a 'cdkey in use' message. I don't know what would be involved with changing this or even if it can/should be edited.

The fix is to simply manually make that registry value and change it to something that is likely unique. It certainly does not need to be a valid cdkey as explained above.

For this reason I would not say the game is truly portable, but pretty close. Most people will have installed the game via CD and then replaced the required files with the 'patched' version. Because of this everyone will have a unique (and probably valid) cdkey.

tuia wrote:

The right way to make it portable, would be to read the CD-key and game language value from a text file, but that involves some larger changes in executable.

Last edited by fatfewl (2016-12-20 19:00:15)

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#28 2016-12-20 19:16:13

tuia
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Correct. It can be made truly portable changing those Windows Registry functions to some file functions, I have not touched this up again. Server can also be modified to allow multiple players with same CD-key, but this would probably create a mess.

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#29 2017-08-03 19:58:04

iCQ
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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Isnt it possible to boot from USB stick or sd card? In that case u can boot in portable windows or linux and have reg keys installed. Maybe also connect outbound to internet or home VPN.

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#30 2017-12-23 18:02:06

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Re: Battlefield 1942 Portable

Do you guys know the CDkey locations for both BF1942 and its two expansions in the registry when playing on windows 7 or windows 10. I believe they change for these later operating systems. Simply I need to know how to manually change the cdkey

Thanks

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