Of course, this was the era of physical media, and like most PC games, Empire Earth used a CD-based copy protection system called to prevent unauthorized copying. This system would constantly check for the presence of the original disc, and if it failed, would display that now-notorious message.
SafeDisc worked by intentionally placing unreadable sectors on the CD. The game executable would check for these specific errors to verify the disc was authentic and not a burned copy. The problem lies in modern PC security: please insert the empire earth cd
The infamous "Please insert the Empire Earth CD" error. Of course, this was the era of physical