4 games cds converted to 1 DVD

[Sid59]

so, i'm planning a reinstall of windows and i hate the fact that i have 4 WoW cds and i hace to sit there and wait for 1 to finish to start another.

So ... can someone point me in the right direction in how to convert my 4 wow cds into 1 installable DVD. Thanks.

 

[BlueWeasel]

One way is to rip each CD to an image, and then mount each image using Daemon Tools when prompted by the installer.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, though.

 

[hamburglar]

http://www.fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=64871

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Sid59
so, i'm planning a reinstall of windows and i hate the fact that i have 4 WoW cds and i hace to sit there and wait for 1 to finish to start another.

So ... can someone point me in the right direction in how to convert my 4 wow cds into 1 installable DVD. Thanks.

Just install it and copy the folder to DVD. When I installed our second copy of WoW to my wife's PC, I just dragged the folder over to it across the network and it started up fine. No need to install, much faster that a CD-ROM, and you get all the latest patches and your mods and preferences as well.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: Sid59
so, i'm planning a reinstall of windows and i hate the fact that i have 4 WoW cds and i hace to sit there and wait for 1 to finish to start another.

So ... can someone point me in the right direction in how to convert my 4 wow cds into 1 installable DVD. Thanks.

Just install it and copy the folder to DVD. When I installed our second copy of WoW to my wife's PC, I just dragged the folder over to it across the network and it started up fine. No need to install, much faster that a CD-ROM, and you get all the latest patches and your mods and preferences as well.

it should be noted that some games use the windows registry and in that case this would not work.

 

[shortylickens]

I was about to say, "what would you do with the registry"?

The only games I've seen that ignore it are old DOS/Win95 games (like Master of Orion 2) or those freeware/shareware games you can download.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I was about to say, "what would you do with the registry"?

The only games I've seen that ignore it are old DOS/Win95 games (like Master of Orion 2) or those freeware/shareware games you can download.

Sure, everything puts crap in the registry nowadays, but it's hardly a necessity for most things. Yeah, WoW is not listed in my "Remove Programs" folder, but other than that, it has 0 problems - same as 75% of the other games I back up to disk via copying.

Just because it puts something there, doesn't always mean it *has* be there.

 

[Auric]

It's easy peasy to run regedit and export a game's registry data from the from HKLM and HKCU's Software sub-folders. Just browse or search for the game's name or publisher. Highlight each folder and chose File Export to save to a *.reg file. Manually combine them afterwards in notepad if you wish. Then simply double-click 'em to import into the new OS. Also, many games and other apps these days put data in sub-folders of Documents and Settings. Combined with the aforementioned copying of the game's folder means never having to reinstall again.

 

[raystorm]

Originally posted by: hamburglar
http://www.fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=64871

I used that thread to backup alot of my cd games to DVD and they worked out great. If you have the games shown on this thread give it a go.

 

[bNeta86]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I was about to say, "what would you do with the registry"?

The only games I've seen that ignore it are old DOS/Win95 games (like Master of Orion 2) or those freeware/shareware games you can download.

Sure, everything puts crap in the registry nowadays, but it's hardly a necessity for most things. Yeah, WoW is not listed in my "Remove Programs" folder, but other than that, it has 0 problems - same as 75% of the other games I back up to disk via copying.

Just because it puts something there, doesn't always mean it *has* be there.

WoW will not patch unless it is installed off the CDs. The patch hangs when it is missing files that are put in other spots on the harddrive.

It does work to just copy the files if the game directory you are copying has been patched - but otherwise will not work. As for combining the game CDs onto one DVD I havent found anything that can do that...but gl to you.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: bNeta86

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I was about to say, "what would you do with the registry"?

The only games I've seen that ignore it are old DOS/Win95 games (like Master of Orion 2) or those freeware/shareware games you can download.

Sure, everything puts crap in the registry nowadays, but it's hardly a necessity for most things. Yeah, WoW is not listed in my "Remove Programs" folder, but other than that, it has 0 problems - same as 75% of the other games I back up to disk via copying.

Just because it puts something there, doesn't always mean it *has* be there.

WoW will not patch unless it is installed off the CDs. The patch hangs when it is missing files that are put in other spots on the harddrive.

It does work to just copy the files if the game directory you are copying has been patched - but otherwise will not work. As for combining the game CDs onto one DVD I havent found anything that can do that...but gl to you.

Wrong. A WoW CD has never been in my wife's PC. I simply copied the entire "World of Warcraft" directory from my machine to hers after I had install it on mine (no patches.) It patches just fine and has since January.

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I was about to say, "what would you do with the registry"?

The only games I've seen that ignore it are old DOS/Win95 games (like Master of Orion 2) or those freeware/shareware games you can download.

I do this frequently when I reinstall windows, just have my games on a seperate partitiona and run the executables directly (or make new shortcuts) when I do a frsh install.

They usually just recreate the registry entries if they are misssing....

 

[Gurck]

EQ didn't require registry entries either, with MMORPGs the income isn't from sale of the game but of the serial number and monthly fee, so there's no reason for them to. Further, makers know a lot of people 2box and/or play from different PCs, so it seems they like to facilitate this. Anyway, OP - I'd suggest making a disc image of each CD and burning the images to DVD. When/if needed, you can copy the images from dvd and mount each in turn using daemon tools for the install.

 

[BFG10K]

As has already been noted you may not even need to reinstall the game at all.