Like many people, I've been thinking about physical media lately, and how our entertainment items -- movies, albums, books -- used to be things that sat on a shelf that someone else could see and say, "Hey I like this thing on your shelf."
PC games were one of those things, once. I have a few. And I've scrounged them up from their various moving boxes and parents' houses to see if they still work.
Does anyone here still play a game from an optical drive? A game where your regularly-played copy isn't the Steam version?
For me, Morrowind was the last game that I was still playing on a disc. I have newer games on discs, but just played those once or twice and then put them back on the shelf. But I was still playing Morrowind from a CD up until 2023, when it went on sale on Steam for $1, so I bought it. I almost didn't get it, since I liked the fact that I was still playing a game on a CD.
I plan on taking inventory of which games still work and what it takes to install them today.
What were (are?) some of your favorites?
58 Comments
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 1y
Bruh I haven't had a computer with a disc drive in like...15 years.
Last game I played with a disc was disc golf.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 3 pts · 1y
I almost went that route, but kept moving my disc drive from one PC to the next just for Morrowind. I didn't have room for it in my latest build, though (I put in a tower cooler for the first time), so I bought an external DVD drive.
So, how far can you throw those DVDs?
jordanlund@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1y
Guild Wars 2 was on disc for me.
lunarul@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
I have that disk too. But I don't need it if I want to install and play the game today. Same with my Elder Scrolls Online disk or my Assassin's Creed Unity disk. Neither GW2 nor ESO will even play with just the data on the original disks, forcing updates before becoming playable. Not sure about ACU though.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 6 pts · 1y
I haven't had a disk drive in my PC for over 10 years now. It's a PITA even finding an inexpensive case that has front bays these days.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Yeah, they definitely aren't seen as a necessity anymore.
However, the Silverstone FLP01 was mentioned in another community around here and I was so tempted to get one. At $150, it's not exactly inexpensive, and I already have a perfectly good case (Fractal Design Core 500), but man I want one. The "floppy disk drives" are doors that flip down: the top one reveals an optical drive, and the bottom one reveals the USB ports.
jinwk00@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y
Why not USB-based disk reader?
MITM0@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
Eragon
schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 1y
Last one must have been GTA 4 (I've meanwhile bought this on Steam so I can play it without) or Crazy Taxi (came with a cereal box in my childhood).
warbond@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
I bought GTA4 for like $8 during a Steam Sale shortly after it came out, back when Steam Sales were crazy good. An absolute steal for such a great game.
Whostosay@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y
Diablo 2 battle chest
tuckerm@feddit.online · 1 pts · 1y
I should still have that somewhere as well. That was one I didn't find, but it should be around.
Do you need a battle.net account to play Diablo 2, or can you just install and play offline if you only want to play singleplayer? I haven't been able to find a clear answer about this, since everyone talking about it these days is talking about the download-only version.
Whostosay@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
If you have the key within your disc carrier, you should be solid.
I think you can download it and still play single player even on the remaster, which was solid btw.
There are also pirated versions that you could utilize given that you already own the software.
There are also 3rd party moded communities like path of Diablo.
Path of Exile 1 & 2 are crazy good and true successors to Diablo 2 if you haven't checked those out. They blow Diablo 3/4 out of the water in gameplay.
lordnikon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
installed from disc starfleet academy and mechwarrior 2 last week with lutrus.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 1 pts · 1y
Sweet! Lutris is amazing, I tried it for the first time a couple days ago. One of my physical games is Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, which would not run on my Windows 10 PC, but runs just fine on my Linux PC through Lutris.
lordnikon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
yeah i used the files and got Starfleet Academy runnings on my steam deck.
Poopfeast420@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 1y
I recently checked my box with old game CDs and DVDs, just out of curiosity, not because I wanted to play something. Most of the stuff is just sentimental value/nostalgia, but there's one promo disc/game, I tried to archive because I found nothing about it on the net, but I couldn't even read it. Others also have read errors, but I don't know if a better drive could still work (just have a cheap external one).
I think the last PC game I bought on disc was SC2: HotS, but I don't even know if I ever used them, since you can just download the game, after you've added it to your Battlenet account. Definitely haven't used game discs since 2014, because I remember building a PC then, putting in my old drive, but then I gave it away, because I just never needed it.
setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
I buy and play a bunch of old games from an EBay seller who sends both the original disc and a disc with a copy of the game that loads dosbox stuff or whatever else to make it work easily on a modern system without fiddling around. It's pretty great.
I have a bunch of strategy and sim games.
swordgeek@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1y
I've got a portable DVD player, and I'm going to use it to install the original Psychonauts onto my son's computer, so he can see what the meat circus was like before they softened it.
calamitycastle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
I remember finally building a new PC that was halfway decent and wanting to play some quake 3 mods. So this would have been around 2005??
Broadband was here so I wanted to take advantage of that sweet low ping but needed a physical copy of the game for the mods to work.
Even then it was hard to source a game disc but I got it and had a few years of fun playing urban terror... I can't really be bothered with online shooters now but back then it was simple, quick and fun. There's too much going on in things like Apex and Overwatch for me.
Also my PC basically has a console setup in the living room and I play with a switch controller, so I'd get destroyed anyway!
tiredofsametab@fedia.io · 2 pts · 1y
I literally cannot remember the last time. This PC doesn't have any optical drives and I've had it for like 7 years now. I did use a USB optical drive once to install a driver for something. I can't even remember the last game I purchased that had a physical disc, honestly. I haven't bought a game requiring a disc since living in Japan so that's definitely a decade. Probably around 15 years, if I had to guess, and maybe even longer than that.
PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
I finally just threw out my Diablo 2 and xpac discs. None of the computers in my home have optical drives anymore. I only keep the Blu-ray player around for my collectibles, and I rarely risk wearing them out just for a watch
MudMan@fedia.io · 2 pts · 1y
I still have some floppies in working order, even.
But no, I don't play them regularly. It's just easier to make a backup that doesn't need a disk in the drive. Even most of my retro PCs these days run out of a large-ish hard drive replacement, so keeping games outside their unreliable original media and the original media elsewhere is a better alternative.
It's a bit different on consoles where carts are harder to duplicate and ingest, as well as being more reliable and loading faster. Floppies and optical media, particularly when you can access the files, less so.
Angry_Autist@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
Half Life orange box, the last physical media I ever bought. 2009-10 ish. Still have the cosmetics for tf2
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 1y
Probably Crysis.
Long enough ago that my DVD drive had sealed shut since then and I had to use a paperclip to open it.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Nice. I had borrowed a friend's physical copy of Crysis, and that's how I played it back in the day.
darkdemize@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y
I think the last disc-based game I played was Neverwinter Nights 2. Either that or the Command and Conquer Collection. That was probably around 2014.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 1 pts · 1y
Nice. I was recently browsing this used bookstore near me, and C&C: Generals was sitting on the shelf in the music CD section, so I bought it. That was what got me thinking about my existing physical game collection.
Ephera@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 1y
Morrowind was also my last. I actually ripped the files from the disk and that's what I'm using with OpenMW now...
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Nice. I haven't tried OpenMW yet, but I definitely want to. Are you running a bunch of mods with it?
Ephera@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 1y
I haven't looked into modding yet, but from what I understand, most Morrowind mods should work seamlessly. It's only those that need the Morrowind Script Extender, which don't work in OpenMW.
Also, I've seen this website recommended before: https://modding-openmw.com/
wirelesswire@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 1y
Starcraft 2 for me. I haven't had an optical drive in my pc for probably 10 years or so. The last "physical" game I bought was Mass Effect Andromeda, and it was just a box with a download code inside.
PC gamers were incentivized to move away from optical media asap, since optical drives read slowly compared to HDDs, and SSDs are even faster.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Yeah, I had forgotten how slow an optical drive was, and how that was usually the limiting factor. I installed Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear from the original CD a couple days ago, and it took about 20 minutes to install on my current PC. I'm pretty sure that's about how long it took in 1999, too.
Downloading it from Steam takes about 10 seconds.
Zefirpo@feddit.it · 1 pts · 1y
Last one was oblivion in 2011. New home no internet and the pc towen on the lunch table. Good memories
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Oblivion was also one that I owned physically. I just assumed that I had also acquired it on Steam by now, but it looks like I haven't. Also great memories with Oblivion. I think it's still my 4th or 5th most-played game. (I have to guess, based on remembering the number of hours that Xfire said I had back in the day, which is a whole nother nostalgia trip right there, lol.)
Sendpicsofsandwiches@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
The last time i used physical media for apc game would have probably been to install WoW back in like 2012
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1y
I think it might be Star Craft for me.
apotheotic@beehaw.org · 1 pts · 1y
I have some small games on hard drive storage, do hard drive platters count as discs?
Thoath@leminal.space · 1 pts · 1y
Back in my day :33 we had to download the world's most prolific marriage ender from 7 different disks over probably the course of 3+ days (wow)
the16bitgamer@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y
I get a lot of old oc games on disc from thrift stores all the time.
However once I confirm they work I back them up and continue to use them in a disc emulator.
Technically last week realistically a very long time ago.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 1 pts · 1y
Very cool. I've never backed mine up; I should do that. What game was it last week?
the16bitgamer@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y
Disc rot is a thing, so backing up a bin/cue for CDs or ISO for dvd is always a good idea (if it hasn’t been backed up already)
Monopoly 1998 was what I played last week. Nothing ran it except my XP laptop
Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1y
I dusted off my old xbox 360 a month ago and played a few games on it. Aside from that, not for quite a few years now.
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 1y
Street Sweeper Simulator 2011
Malgas@beehaw.org · 1 pts · 1y
Not sure what the last one was, but the last couple PC games I bought physical copies of could be installed from the disc, but also had Steam keys in the box and then didn't require the disc to play.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 1 pts · 1y
The most recent ones I've bought were only a Steam key in the box, and the DVD simply had a Steam installer on it. Nice that some have both, I haven't actually seen one of those.
AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 1y
I don't have many disc based PC games anymore. Last I played one was less than a month ago ( don't know exactly how long ago ) and it was Luxor. I have a few others on disc, but I either don't have them installed or haven't played them in a while.
Not including Luxor because I already listed it, I also currently have Super Collapse, Morrowind and Oblivion ( both with expansions ), Brok The Investigator ( have it on Steam so I don't play the disk version or use the official collectors edition USB containing an installer either ), Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 and one of the expansions, some Dosney rollercoaster builder game that is pretty bad, and a normal blackjack game.
As for my absolute favorite, that's the easiest question ever: Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum.
I also have another one that I loved that I cannot remember or find basically anything about it anywhere in the web because it was probably some demo to a full game that wasn't out or didn't release. The whole thing was a mini-golf like hole where it starts you off in front of a drive-in movie theater with cars parked parallel to the screen, like they're parking in a parking lot at a grocers. You had to hit the ball up a ramp and into the screen, which was showing a black and white swamp film. You'd be sent into the movie and had to put around the water to get to the hole. Camera wouldn't move unless you entered a different area. Anybody know literally anything about that?
spankmonkey@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
The last game that I remember that needed a disc to play was Battlefield 1942 and I made a virtual drive with an ISO so I didn't need to put the stupid disc in every time and listen to it spin up. Current PC doesn't have a drive at all.
While I think a lot of the old box art was neat and all, I don't miss the physical requirements that took up space and all the manual updates and whatnot. Absolutely love steam's digital store and if that ever shits the bed and there isn't an alternate I will just stop PC gaming because the effort to manage all that stuff isn't worth it any more. Music and movies are the same, the physical media was nice for its time but I don't need to interact with it to use it anymore.
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
Peter Pan in Disney's Return to Never Land (2002).
A friend brought it over and, as was usually the case, I burned a copy to keep for myself. It was my first encounter with DRM, and for completely unrelated reasons, the last time I interacted with physical game media of any kind.
warbond@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
2007, I think. I had recently moved and didn't have internet hooked up yet, so I bought BioShock as a physical disc so that I wouldn't have to wait. Imagine my frustration when I learned about the online-only authentication bullshit it used for DRM, so having the disc didn't even matter; without Internet I couldn't play the damn thing at all.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Piracy hysteria was at an absolute fever pitch in 2007 -- those online activations are what make me think that much of my physical collection won't be playable anymore.
over_clox@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
I have my own archive of games, lots of games actually.
I don't even usually play them though, but my rule of thumb is that if it requires an account, I won't play it, or even archive it.
freeman@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
Very few games were playable from a CD (thrash loading speed).Usually the CD was required after install for DRM purposes only.
neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 1y
Now I want to install a game to a disk and run it from the disk drive, my dad’s old desktop has a drive. I wonder if it can burn dvds.
Maybe I could install stardew valley to the disk.
tuckerm@feddit.online · 1 pts · 1y
I've been wanting to do this, too, for games that I bought on Steam. Like, make a bootable Linux DVD that has Steam and the game preinstalled on it, with Steam already logged in as my account.
neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 1y
I was thinking it would be easier with gog games.
You can just burn the install directory to a disk and then insert the disk and launch the game without launchers
tuckerm@feddit.online · 2 pts · 1y
Oh dang, that is a good idea.
KiWilly@lemmy.myserv.one · -3 pts · 1y
warbond@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
Hey, is it okay if there's a place where we're not being fucking advertised to all the time? Fuck off with this.