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 <dir> Instructs scloader2b to start searching install.exe in the

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

-/+xmod <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 <dir>, <mpq>, and <dll> 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 of
scloader2b when you use it with some of the non-english versions of StarCraft. For
example the
French versions refused to load install.exe data from scloader2b. This means that
you have to put an
install.exe in your StarCraft folder if you use that buggy version of scloader2b
for example with
French StarCraft versions. The bug is fixed in this release.

Good gaming! ^^

Regards,
XeN

mail: xenomails|at|freemail|dot|hu
June 2, 2007