While I can empathize with individuals wanting to take part in the wonderful world of warez (nice alliteration, eh?), I want to make a few points clear to new users of iSONEWS and its forums. Hopefully this little tirade will benefit newbies and regular forum users alike, and in this regard, I ask that users simply post the url to this text in response to relevant newbie questions.
First, I'll talk a bit about iSONEWS.
You cannot find copies of copyrighted software with the information found at iSONEWS.com. iSONEWS may provide the who, the what, the when, and sometimes the why and how, but it will
never tell you where. So don't ask where to find pirated software. While iSONEWS provides information that relates to software piracy, the staff of this site does not endorse nor condone piracy practices.
For purposes of clarification,
WHERE includes:
-location of software (specific or general)
-serial numbers
-cracks
-anything you can't get from the software developer
* Do not be offended if forum users trivialize your questions or comments. Your query may violate forum rules (see above) or may indicate that you did not put enough effort into finding the information you seek (use the forum search feature to see if others have already discussed your same question(s)). The people that post in these forums are fairly knowledgable, but they also have little tolerance for laziness. In other words, ignoring forum rules and not taking the time to find the answer on your own are signs of undesirable sloth that really aren't appreciated in these forums.
* Do the forum administrators and moderators a favor and post in the proper forum. Do not post game questions in the General Chat forum or Nintendo GameCube problems in the VCD forum. If a forum category doesn't exist for discussion of your query, understand that that category may not exist for a reason.
* Do not start threads if:-you want to introduce yourself, or just say 'hello'. This started to get out of hand and it just gets annoying afterawhile with new posters constantly doing it. Furthermore, the threads quickly wind up turning into mindless posts. People will eventually come to know you and accept you into their lives, once you start posting frequently, so no need to make individual broadcasts anymore.
-you want to obtain contact information for release groups or individual users. If they wanted you to contact them, they'd let you know.
-you want to know when a product will be released. iSONEWS reports. It doesn't predict.
-you are simply responding to another thread that has been locked/deleted by a moderator.
-you are asking why a previous thread was locked/deleted by a moderator.
-you want to inform the world of matters that really have nothing to do with software piracy or copyright issues.
(e.g. "I am so drunk. Look at me type while I am drunk.")
-you want to know if you have a bad release because you received CRC errors during extraction or because a program won't run. If releases are bad, they will get nuked and be posted as such.
-you solely want to complain about the behavior of forum participants or content. In doing so, you are only creating another pointless thread.
-you want to advertise warez sites or pretty much anything. iSONEWS does not exist to help you get hits, make money, etc.
-you have already posted the same question/comment in another forum.
Do not Double Post!-----------------------
Now about some general and hopefully useful instructions about how to utilize the software you have in your possession. (Remember, this site will not help you obtain possession of software.)
What are ISOs and RIPS?For basic purposes, an ISO is an image replica of the cdrom you are copying. RIPS refer to software that has been edited by release groups in order to keep file sizes and download times smaller. Many users prefer to use ISO images over RIPS because they wish to possess a product in a condition that is as close as possible to its original condition. Because ISOs contain all of the content of a cdrom, most ISO sizes are fairly large (600 megabytes +). RIPS, on the otherhand, are desired if one wants smaller downloads or doesn't care about "extraneous" features like movie cutscenes in a game, for example. If released properly, both ISOS and RIPS should function as the original product. ISOs are intended to be burnt to cdr/cdrw's in order to be used, while RIPS will simple run off of your hard disk.
What are RAR/ARJ/ZIP/ACE/.##, etc. files?Release groups compress the data of their ISOs and RIPS in order to make packaged files smaller and more easily transferred. The above mentioned file types are all examples of different compressed file formats that must be uncompressed before they can be utilized. Probably one of the easiest and most useful uncompression programs available to Windows users is WinRar. (If you're a *nix user, you should be smart enough to figure this stuff out. If you're a Mac user, you obviously have something wrong with you, but Stuff-It Expander should handle any releases you will deal with (.sit files).)
Install Winrar and let the program associate itself with all of the file types it can handle. Once you do this, you normally will only have to double-click on the first compressed file of your release (The first file will always be the extension that is the name of the compressed format, or if none exist, the smallest number.) Allow Winrar to extract files from all of the compressed files in whatever directory you are working in, and you should end up with some form of ISO image or the ripped contents of whatever software product you downloaded.
If you receive error message during uncompression, you may have either not downloaded the entire release (missing files), have downloaded a bad release (release groups packaged improperly), or received CRC errors during transfer. Take the time to actually read all of the error message and this should give you a big clue as to where the problem lies. If Winrar complains of missing archives, you are probably missing some of the release files. To test your compressed files for CRC errors, simply highlight all of the compressed files within Winrar and press the Test button. If Winrar reports CRC errors, the extracted file is corrupt either because of archive damage or problems with hardware. If an archive is damaged, but has a recovery record, you may try to repair it, otherwise it is impossible to restore damaged data. Note that in the case of solid archive all files after a damaged file will be lost. To learn more about recovery records and solid archives, check out the nifty help file that comes with Winrar.
What are .NFO files?.NFO files provide information about the group that released the product you downloaded and instructions on how to extract/burn/install the product. If your software requires a serial number or must be burnt on an 80 minute cd, the .nfo file will inform you. READ NFOS TO ANSWER A LOT OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
What do I do after uncompressing the release files?The answer to this question has a lot to do with the type of program you downloaded and what group released it. I will try to be as general but as informative as possible.
BIN/CUE (most common)If you extracted a .bin and a .cue file from your compressed archives (what you downloaded), you will need burning software that recognizes these formats in order to burn the program. The BIN file is the ISO image of the program you downloaded. The CUE file is simply a text file with instructions for your burning program on how to properly create a working ISO on a cdr/cdrw.
If you would like to test the integrity of the bin file, I suggest using either BinChunker or CDmage. With either program, simply drag the CUE file into BinChunker and have the program test the BIN. If you don't receive any errors, your release is ok to be burnt. If you do receive errors, chances are the release itself is corrupt and you will need to find a repacked version of it.
Some of the more common and easy to use burning programs that recognize bin/cue files are Nero by Ahead Software, Fireburner by IgD Software and CDRWIN by Goldenhawk Technology. If you choose to use Fireburner, the program will associate itself with CUE files, so all you need do is double-click on the CUE file and then right-click in the program and tell the program to burn the image. If you choose to use CDRWIN, open the program, press the Record Disc button, press Load Cuesheet, and locate the cue sheet on your hard disk. Note that lazy releasers will have the CUE file point to a location on their hard disk that isn't the same as where you have the BIN/CUE stored. To solve this problem, open the CUE file in Notepad and remove all path information before the BIN filename. Linux users may wish to use a program called cdrdao (
http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/ ) for their bin/cue purposes.
ISOIf you extract an .iso file from your compressed files, use CDRWIN, Adaptec Easy CD Creator, or Nero Burning Rom to burn your program. .iso files are not as common as bin/cue packaging because they do not provide the cue information or integrity checking capabilities of BIN/CUE releases.
CracksBecause most CD Burners cannot duplicate some of the security measures encoded in CDs, release groups often provide game cracks to bypass the security measures. If you install a game without problems but are prompted to insert the cd when double-clicking on the executable, check the CD contents for a Crack folder. If one exists, copy the cracked executable into the folder you installed the game. You may want to backup the original executable in the event you need to install an update patch or whatever to the game. If you do update the original executable, you will need to locate an updated crack for the game as well.
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I might add on to these instructions if I find them to be inaccurate or vague. I wrote these instructions to help alleviate some of the problems in the forums while answering some of the basic questions asked by those unfamiliar with software compression and cd burning matters.
