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GTA IV disk damaged! Any way around?

I have had GTA IV for a while now, but now my twerp of a little brother decided to "borrow" the disk without me asking! When he returned it he said he had dropped it and there is now a massive scratch down the middle and it no longer functions! I still have all the files on my laptop, but is there any way to make the game run without the disk? (Like a patch or something) I know this exists for III, San Andreas and Vice City as my friend has them, but I'm not sure about IV. Please help!!!

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23 answers
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Jun 25, 2009. 1:15 PMcdubnbird says:
how deep is the scratch? if it's a light scratch you can buff it off using a tooth brush and tooth paste or a dremel polishing wheel and polishing solution. if it's really deep-as in so deep that the metal surface inside the disk is scratched then there's nothing you can do to repair the disk. as far as just getting it to work i'm sure there's an illegal copy of it on the internet somewhere.-but i'm not suggesting that because it's illegal.
Oct 29, 2010. 2:24 AMColonelJuan says:
Actually, 2 or 3 hours would be a more accurate e.t.a. for a file size such as that, but if you declare your right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, to access your old GTA IV install, and you intend to bring it back into existence by any means necessary...
Than an .iso image of the disk may be your only hope...
Feb 4, 2010. 7:26 AMlotty1234 says:
Yeh im going to try cleaning my cd with toothpaste lol, Colgate hmmm might do the trick hahaha
Feb 4, 2010. 7:34 AMlotty1234 says:
yup the installation is done the toothpaste did the trick XD
Feb 4, 2010. 7:32 AMlotty1234 says:
well my installation has gone past the half way mark, so the toothpaste did the trick i think hahaha god i love toothpaste XD
Oct 4, 2009. 10:56 AMRaiden97 says:
get plastic car polish from autozone and use it on the disc
Oct 6, 2009. 11:57 AMRaiden97 says:
oh, then the scratch is too deep, its officially broken
Jun 25, 2009. 1:12 PMlemonie says:
I managed to repair The Butthole Surfers' Electric Larryland with Brasso. It takes a while, but if you polish enough you can get fairly severe scratches out.
http://users.fulladsl.be/spb2267/restorecd/restorecd.htm

L
Jun 26, 2009. 1:52 PMlemonie says:
The underside is pretty thick, grind enough off and you will get it to work, but it's a slow job. L
Jun 26, 2009. 2:15 PMlemonie says:
You might be able to fill it with clear-resin and then polish it?

L
Jun 25, 2009. 2:06 PMJayefuu says:
Technically, since you own the game, it isn't illegal to download the game and play it. Someone confirm?
Jun 25, 2009. 3:45 PMDELETED_GuardianFox says:
Depends on what country you're in and what, exactly, the published terms of use are for that game. It's a grey area, but it'd be very hard for them to convict you of anything if you keep your damaged disc as evidence that you did in fact pay to play the game.
Jun 25, 2009. 3:59 PMfrollard says:
the digital millennium copyright act (DMCA) says that any method to circumvent copyright protection is a violation of the act... Even if you own the material. And the game has built in 'copy protection' in that it requires an original disk - thus; it is not technically legal. Would they crash your door for it? No, because it's not worth their time in court. What you can often do is contact the game publisher and for a few dollars, send them the damaged disk, and they'll ship you a new one. (since you already have your own cd-key).
Jun 25, 2009. 2:10 PMReCreate says:
Amen. Confirmed.
Jun 25, 2009. 2:37 PMGarfield- says:
try this:

http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_grand_theft_auto_4.shtml

since you own the game you should have the valid serial to play it

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