getting OSX to think a disk image is a disc in the drive

Open "Disk Copy" and hit the "Mount" icon...

I've never played U2k4, but I'd guess that if it doesn't work witha mounted image, then they are most likely checking for a disc in the CD drive itself, and not just for a volume mounted on the desktop. Sounds like copy-conrtol measuers to me. It'd be a good (and legal) idea to burn a backup copy of the disc and use that instead of the original. Just besure to keep the original and don't hand out copies.

It wont read. Almost all games now have cd checks (including UT2k4 - amazing game, if you dont have it, get it), which involves changing the BIOS of the drive momentarily to read a special bit of the disk, then changing it back. Without the real disk, you wont be able to play it.

nope. cant do with some games. What really pisses me off is when you cant even burn a backup...

there are ways to BU a copy-protected optical disk on a PC, I wonder if using one of those on a Mac title would work? I'd give it a go, but haven't any Mac titles that cannot simply be duplicated with Toast.

Which Mac titles are known to include copy 'protection'?

And WRT the OP's original question - As others have noted, if the title requires the original media in the drive, yer pretty much stuck. If you really want to work around the problem, you'll probably have to krak the copy check or find an already-made krak. Subscribe to the Mac kraks/serial-numbers usenet group and see what floats by. Popular titles are regularly kraked . . .

dan k

There are patches available to allow you to use Disc Images, but it's legality is in the grey space.

Another problem is that the cracks tend to be version specific, and so wont work with updates. And legally, cracks are down the dark end of the gray space.

Actually since the adoption of the DMCA, all cracks are blatently illegal.

The DMCA is xactly what I was reffering to in this thread. It in effect kills the "fair-use" rights of consumers. If you can't make and use a backup of a CD in order to protect the integrity of the original, then are you able to get adequate value from your legal purchase? As this thread shows, in some case the answer is no. The DMCA needs to die a quick death and be replaced by something much less knee-jerk and overly-broad.

There is a way wich worked for me on all ocasions concerning such problems (it might be that it will not work but hey no harm trying)
I get the image and load it into Toast (witch is not freeware but maybe there is some demo out there, and nonetheless ot's worth it's money if you have a burner in your mac)
when the image is selected in toast you yust need to mount it and VOILA presto the thing works.
There was a flaw to this trick once with an image of tropico wich i experienced but by removing the dvd mounted in my real drive and remounting it worked fine.
I use this trick quite often because i prefer using disc images over phisical discs.

I hope it works for you as it has worked for me.