Running a program without keeping the CD in the drive?

This is a common requirement in games to avoid software piracy and it is an annoyance to users who are using legally purchased programs. Using a virtual CD can pose several problems: it may violate the EULA for the product, you may not be able to effect the copy of the contents onto the virtual CD/DVD (copy protections) and the program may refuse to be duped into thinking the virtual device is the real thing. So long as piracy persists and/or manufacturers insist on incorporating these kinds of mechanisms, we will have to live with the inconveniences and resort to imperfect or temporary workarounds.

I had a game that required 5cds.
Obviously, playing the disk swap was annoying, I tried copying all 5 CDs to a single DVD. No joy. The game wanted the individual CD to be mounted.

One thing I had at the time was lots of free drive space, so ...

1. I created disk images for each of the 5 cds.
2. Recorded an applescript that on execute, opened each of the 5 images, then
ran the game from the applications folder.
(at this point, the script would suspend...when the game quite, the applescript resumed)
3. where it closed and dismounted the images.

I named the script the same as the game, and used the same icon.

I have similar software that requires the CD to be in. This is what I did:

1) Insert CD
2) Open Disk Utility
3) Click the CD in the sidebar and click New Image
4) Select CD/DVD Master

I then had a disk image of the CD. Mounting the disk image before running the program worked.

I then wrote an Automator script to first mount the disk image and then launch the program. It works. No Applescript needed!

I'm a little confused. I gather you were able to successfully create disk images of both CDs, and are now trying to use Disk Utility to mount them both, but are running into problems. Is that correct?

I'm still confused. You say that you are trying to create an image of disc 2, but you also say that you have a .cdr file of disc 2. So it appears that you already have what you want. When you double click the disc 2 .cdr file, does the cdr volume mount on the Desktop?