Guild Wars 2

So windows failed. I have everything on one HD. I am in the processes of reinstalling the OS, but I’ve reformatted so everything is lost.

Is it possible to keep GW2 on a separate hard drive then my OS such that if decide to re-install my OS then I dont have to redownload everything for guild wars 2? Are there any issues to watch out for? For example does gw2 integrate itself into the registry so that if I install a new OS, then go to the gw2 location and try to open it I wont get some kind of error?

Also, is it possible to keep everything on one harddrive, right click the gw2 folder, copy and paste onto an external hd, and then just copy back over and can pick up where I left off as needed? Or again, does the install integrate itself into windows somehow such that this is not possible?

Any help with this matter is appreciated. Thanks guys/gals

Sure. The GW2.dat file is the most important one for a backup.

marnick.4305:

Sure. The GW2.dat file is the most important one for a backup.

To explain more.
GW2.dat is where all the data is stored, like maps, terrains, skins, etc. So it is basicly the game. You find it in you guild wars 2 folder (in program files).
Save that file in a backup or on another hard drive.

When reinstalling, you download the client. Then install. When you come to the log-in screen (where the big download is done), you break off the game. replace the current (very small gw2.dat) in the program files folder with the one and the back-up and you reboot the game.

mercury ranique.2170:

marnick.4305:

Sure. The GW2.dat file is the most important one for a backup.

To explain more.
GW2.dat is where all the data is stored, like maps, terrains, skins, etc. So it is basicly the game. You find it in you guild wars 2 folder (in program files).
Save that file in a backup or on another hard drive.

When reinstalling, you download the client. Then install. When you come to the log-in screen (where the big download is done), you break off the game. replace the current (very small gw2.dat) in the program files folder with the one and the back-up and you reboot the game.

Thanks for the response. Just to clarify.
1) Download client.
2) Install.
3) When it starts the big download… at any point I cancel it, then replace the newly installed gw2.dat with the one I have saved off on an external or wherever.
4) Start the game up again and let it sort itself out.

Thanks!

ionix.9054:

mercury ranique.2170:

marnick.4305:

Sure. The GW2.dat file is the most important one for a backup.

To explain more.
GW2.dat is where all the data is stored, like maps, terrains, skins, etc. So it is basicly the game. You find it in you guild wars 2 folder (in program files).
Save that file in a backup or on another hard drive.

When reinstalling, you download the client. Then install. When you come to the log-in screen (where the big download is done), you break off the game. replace the current (very small gw2.dat) in the program files folder with the one and the back-up and you reboot the game.

Thanks for the response. Just to clarify.
1) Download client.
2) Install.
3) When it starts the big download… at any point I cancel it, then replace the newly installed gw2.dat with the one I have saved off on an external or wherever.
4) Start the game up again and let it sort itself out.

Thanks!

Yip

Well … !

I have an emergency backup copy of the GW2 folder and the My Documents> Guild Wars 2 folder.

With GW2 you simply copy backup the folder (or folders) to where you are going to use them from and run GW2 – in my experiences doing this, I have had no problems with the game.

If you have a large enough external drive or even USB ‘Flash’ stick you can run the game directly from there – maybe not the best option but entirely doable.

You don’t have to redownload the client, just run it from its new location. Copy and paste the entire gw2 folder to wherever you want it and just play from there. I have mine on a hard drive and a flash drive, both work just fine.

Only problem I found with usb thumb drives is that they are formated with FAT32 file system which limits the maximum file size to 4GB so the dat file can’t be copied unless you split it first. File compression software usually have an option just to split a file into “standard media” sizes. I had to break it up into a mess of 700MB files (CD size) and reassemble it on the target computer (again using file compression software – I used 7zip).

Behellagh.1468:

Only problem I found with usb thumb drives is that they are formated with FAT32 file system which limits the maximum file size to 4GB so the dat file can’t be copied unless you split it first. File compression software usually have an option just to split a file into “standard media” sizes. I had to break it up into a mess of 700MB files (CD size) and reassemble it on the target computer (again using file compression software – I used 7zip).

I maybe should have mentioned I format some sticks to NTFS and that allows larger file size.

I just got me a new desktop and I hate to go through the grulling in downloading everything. I have limited data for a net, so I’m trying to back up my original dat file from my laptop to my external hard drive (500G) and so far I keep getting an error message stating the file is too large….anyone else having this issue and if so how do I go about fixing it?

CheryKyttie.4163:

I just got me a new desktop and I hate to go through the grulling in downloading everything. I have limited data for a net, so I’m trying to back up my original dat file from my laptop to my external hard drive (500G) and so far I keep getting an error message stating the file is too large….anyone else having this issue and if so how do I go about fixing it?

That sounds like what UKNightWatch and Behellagh are talking about above.

Do you want to play the game from that drive or are you just using the drive to transfer the files?

If you are just using it to transfer you can use something like http://hjsplit.org/ to split the .dat into smaller pieces. Copy it over to the drive. Then copy to the new desktop and use the same program to rejoin the pieces.