Can I patch physical games on PC?

[yankii]

So I have a 95 PC and some CD/DVD games that I want to patch in a translation for after I buy them; is it possible?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Depends on the game. As long as you can move any files that may be relevant to language to the HDD and the game will load it from there, sure. A good chunk of games from that era may try and load at least some information from the CDROM, but for the most part you can usually just move those file directly to the game's install directory (similar to how No CD cracks work ) and it should just use them there.

If the game keeps its language files on the CDROM and for whatever reason won't let you move them to your HDD, then no, you won't be able to overwrite data on CDROMs.

But if there are translation patches for these older games, then almost assuredly all that information should be located on the HDD and it should just work.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Modifying data on a pressed CD (or DVD, I'll omit this from now own for simplicity) is out of question. Integrating modifications into an image of the installation medium might be possible, but it will depend on the game. From there a backup copy on CD-R can be created. Print a nice image on the disc and it will look convincing.

In case the game is searching for things violating the CD standard ("copy protection") modification will become significantly harder (unless you just slap some translation patch and a crack onto the CD-R and pretend this to be a valid method of producing a patched copy).

Backing up physical media is a good idea in any case, but be warned... some of these non-standard CDs are a pain when trying to produce non-emulation copies.