1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

BG2 is not 'installed' after formatting

Discussion in 'BG2: Throne of Bhaal (Classic)' started by Silverstar, Mar 2, 2011.

  1. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    4,050
    Likes Received:
    16
    Gender:
    Male
    I had a nasty windows crash and had to format my harddrive C. After a new windows and drivers etc. installation, my computer is back on feet again. My BG2 (BGTrilogy game, to be exact) was installed in harddisc D, which was not formatted.

    I have spent huge hours on installing a stable trilogy game, with tons and tons of mods. But now I can't play the game, for only installation option comes up on the menu. I think the game registry entries or such have been deleted, and thus the game thinks it is not installed, even though all the required files are safe and sound in D.

    Is there a way to 'remind' my computer that BG2 is still installed, safe and sound. I really really don't want to spend half a day again to install all my mods. That would be such a bummer.

    Any help would be highly appreciated.
     
  2. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2000
    Messages:
    10,407
    Media:
    40
    Likes Received:
    231
    Gender:
    Male
    You think correctly. If you knew what those registry entries were, you could probably add them. If not, I'd copy your installation to a new directory, install vanilla BG2 to satisfy the registry and then copy the old installation back over it.
     
  3. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    4,050
    Likes Received:
    16
    Gender:
    Male
    I see. Thanks.

    So, if I install BG2 on drive C, then copy all the files in BG2 folder in D, to new C, it will be OK? Hmm I guess it will take quite a lot of time still, since mod folders have so many little files it takes a humongous time to copy them.

    Or, can I edit the registry files so that it sees and acknowledges my game in D, err I don't even have an idea what a registry file looks like, sorry. :p Or, as a last resort, can someone give me those registry files from their own computer's BG2 installation, and I can 'edit' them to fit into mine, or whatever...ugh my head hurts.
     
  4. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2000
    Messages:
    10,407
    Media:
    40
    Likes Received:
    231
    Gender:
    Male
    Hm. Well, what might be easier is to rename the BG2 root directory on D: to something else, install vanilla BG2 to D: using the ORIGINAL name (the one you changed it from), rename the new installation directory to something else (or delete it) and finally rename the original installaton directory back to the original name.

    Renaming directories shouldn't cause any copying to be done, so it should be quick. The only hangup should be reinstalling vanilla BG2.
     
  5. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    4,050
    Likes Received:
    16
    Gender:
    Male
    ^Wow, that's complex at first sight, but infact a very elegant and simple solution! That's real sage advice! Thank you very much! I will try it once I am able to reach my BG2 CDs.
     
  6. Shaitan

    Shaitan Always forgive your enemies; it annoys them so

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,323
    Likes Received:
    5
    @Silverstar: I've bookmarked this, just to remember it: Look to post #5
     
  7. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    4,050
    Likes Received:
    16
    Gender:
    Male
    ^ Isn't that for manually uninstalling the game. I need to 'manually install' the game, or so to speak, so the computer knows it is installed. Do I need to edit the reg file to add those lines?

    EDIT:Woot, finally after 5 years, I have a rogue stone. Or I AM a rogue stone. Whatever. :shake:
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2011
  8. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,475
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
  9. Son of Imoen Gems: 4/31
    Latest gem: Sunstone


    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2009
    Messages:
    86
    Likes Received:
    3
    Gender:
    Male
    It's possible it's even simpler still: if BG2 vanilla is installed inside another folder in D, so the registry 'knows' Baldur's Gate is a valid program, it might be possible to start your old BGT-game by doubleclicking bgmain.exe (or a shortcut to it) in your BGT-folder.

    The trick didn't work for me on every system though, it did on my xp desktop after pasting back old copies of the game after re-installing windows, but my vista laptop wouldn't recognize copy-pasted older bg-installs.

    BTW: The autorun-GUI when you enter the CD will start the game that's inside the folder the registry entry is pointing to (so use the method in post #4 if you want to use the auto-run GUI), but any bg-game on your computer can be started using the BGmain.exe inside it's own folder (if your an addict like me, you can have over a dozen separate campaigns on your system :grin:).
     
  10. 8people

    8people 8 is just another way of looking at infinite ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2002
    Messages:
    7,141
    Media:
    74
    Likes Received:
    133
    Gender:
    Female
    [​IMG] Partly why I needed an external HDD :D

    Multi-installs: For when it's easier to copy/paste than it is to figure out what you've broken.
     
  11. Camel Gems: 4/31
    Latest gem: Sunstone


    Joined:
    May 31, 2006
    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    4
    Gender:
    Male
    I once made an compact installation file of BG/BG2 + Trilogy. Included was the required registry entries, which allowed me to install it on whatever machine.

    I don't have it anymore, but I found this:

    If you edit the entries to suit your install path, then copy it into an *.reg file, it should work. Though this registry info didn't come from me, just found it on google.

    Someone also said that you should just run bgmain instead, then you don't need reg entries.
     
    Silverstar likes this.
  12. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    4,050
    Likes Received:
    16
    Gender:
    Male
    Well, well, well, bless you! Bless you! :kneel: Thank you so very much! I found BGMain.exe in the folder, it is an unidentified program, but when I run it, the game opens just like normal! Wow. Can't believe this. You are a life saver, you are! :banana:
     
  13. Camel Gems: 4/31
    Latest gem: Sunstone


    Joined:
    May 31, 2006
    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    4
    Gender:
    Male
    Nice to be of assistance :)
     
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.