The newest Strategy First fail:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/281430/ Okay, so apparently the original CD contained only music (how to install the game then?) and this is not made available via Steam.

Is it really a bad game? If so I'd appreciate GOG's rejection.

Maybe the music couldn't appear due to legal issues.

I own it. I didn't think it was as terrible as it was said to be, though I never played more than a couple of hours of it. Wouldn't really call it a Diablo clone either.

No music? Didn't Earthworm Jim 3D's Steam release have a similar problem? (Does the gog version of it have music?)

I never said the game is bad or good, I don't know it and it looks interesting. I only said the music thing is a fail of Strategy First.

Yes it does. Tho I don't see how that helps, considering what a piece of shit the game is...

I love how they tried to twist the lack of the original music as a good thing with a freaking screenshot... because you know, now you can use your own music while you play!

Or then they were just lazy to try to figure out how to get the audio CD tracks converted or played for the digital version. It wouldn't surprise me one bit, Strategy First showed similar unwillingness to e.g. patch the digital version of Perimeter 2 to the latest retail version when I asked them about it (after having bought their SFI super bundle), I think they even claimed it is already pre-patched. If so, how come it says "1.0" in the menu screen?

I think GOG has resolved the music issue with some games by either converting the CD audio tracks to digital music files that the game plays (e.g. Total Annihilation), or by mounting and playing a CD image containing the audio CD tracks (e.g. Shattered Steel).

Anyway, I'm surprised that a 1999 game would still use audio CD tracks (Red Book audio, or whatever it was called). I would have though no games after 1997 or so used them anymore. Total Annihilation (1997) is about the last PC game using audio CD tracks that I remember.

i remember age of empires and aliens vs predators would play the music from any music cd after you ran the game, but ya this not a good solution and the game looks kinda ok for the price

Or maybe the game engine doesn't allow a substitute for the audio tracks? Quake 2 had the same problem. The engine would only accept CD tracks and nothing else (not even MP3s) and if you didn't have the CD, you had to use a fan-made engine to have the music. I think it was the same thing with Quake 1, but I'm not sure.

"When you launch Clans, you will see a window pop up:

"Please insert the CLANS CD! Hit OK when done, or Cancel if you don't want any music."

This is an old school Diablo type game, back in the days when games were run with the CD inserted. The interesting feature of this particular game is that the
contents of the original CD contained only the music for the game. what this means is that you can put ANY music CD into your CD player and the game will play it! If you don’t want to have music playing, simply hit ‘Cancel’ and the game will launch. Have fun!"

They turned a flaw into a feature in the game's description.

Not sure what exactly defines whether it is possible or not, since it seems GOG achieved that with e.g. Total Annihilation (I think the original TA game engine used only audio CD tracks?). I think there are some other similar GOG games.

Not sure if it possible to set up Windows games so that it loads the image of the original CD, and then plays the audio CD tracks from that. That seems possible at least with DOS games, like GOG has apparently done with Shattered Steel and Dungeon Keeper.

I don't have Total Annihilation, so I can't check it out.

Loading a CD image is very easy for DOS games (since DOSBox does have this function built-in). Doing this with Windows games is a lot more difficult without resorting to virtual CD drives. I know that the GOG version of Might and Magic 6 though 8 (don't know about 9) requires a fan patch for the CD soundtrack to work (and yes, these games do have a CD soundtrack and Might and Magic 8 was released as late as 2000. Probably due to using the same game engine as the previous two games).

I have the retail, as well as the GOG, version. The retail version (IIRC) used normal audio CD music, ie. you could even put it into an audio CD player and play the music tracks.

The GOG version has achieved the music in some other way, I guess. I don't have it installed now, but I presume it is playing those same sound tracks as mp3 files or similar while you play the game.

Reading the TA GOG forum, maybe there are still some bugs in GOG's implementation of the TA music, e.g. maybe it doesn't change audio tracks correctly, but keeps playing the same tune over and over again until you change level. But at least it has music.

Looks like Steam going to eat all GOG market...
Already absorbed most AAA, absorbed Indie, now they came after Classics...