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Running IWD2 from an External Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Icewind Dale 2' started by Acrux, Sep 26, 2008.

  1. Acrux Gems: 8/31
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    Remove all ads!
    I'm running low on HD space on my laptop, and I'm looking at purchasing a USB Hard Drive to make up for the needed allocation. One of the things I'd like to do, if viable, is to run my Infinity Engine games off of the External Hard Drive. Has anyone tried this? Does it work (well)? I'd likely image a full installation of the programs such that I can run them without the need to constantly access the CD/DVD, which I'm assuming might help to make up for any loading/performance issues. I'm also curious as to whether having a lot of mods installed (a la BG2) would make any difference.

    Anyone tried it?

    Thanks!
     
    Acrux, Sep 26, 2008
    #1
  2. coineineagh

    coineineagh I wish for a horde to overrun my enemies Resourceful Adored Veteran

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    [​IMG] I tried running a megamodded Baldur's Gate Trilogy game, with a huge number of extra mods. Since the installation is 14GB now, i did want to run it from an external harddisk (HDD), so i could play it on my notebook, or even on PCs at work. Unfortunately the checks and time-delay from the USB connection together proved to kill my ambitious plan. Every half second or so, the game checks all active commands. My megamod already had so many checks that it was working with slight choppiness/lags on my internal HDD, when i copied the installation to my external HDD, it became a lag of 3 or 4 seconds. :(Too much to be able to enjoy the game.

    If you copy your IWD2 install to an external HDD, you can expect to get a delay/lag every round, while the game performs checks. But I suggest you try it, and see for yourself. The lag time may depend on your PC's specifications. Good luck!:)
     
    coineineagh, Sep 27, 2008
    #2
  3. 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!)

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    Rather move all the stuff you don't use that frequently (or less demanding programs) to the external drive and have games installed on your primary drive.
     
    Taluntain, Sep 27, 2008
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  4. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Or, if you have a PC with a FireWire port, you can simply ditch USB and connect the external drive on FireWire, which is faster and more reliable than USB.
     
    Disciple of The Watch, Sep 27, 2008
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  5. DrEm314 Gems: 2/31
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    You can directly install IWD2 onto your external hard drive and it will work.

    Another option is to do a FULL install of IWD2 normally. Install a no CD crack. Then go to Windows Explorer and just copy the whole install directory onto your external HD. Edit icewind2.ini:

    [Alias]
    HD0:=C:bad:games\Black Isle\Icewind Dale II
    CD1:=C:bad:games\Black Isle\Icewind Dale II\Data\
    CD2:=C:bad:games\Black Isle\Icewind Dale II\CD2\;E:bad:CD2\;F:bad:CD2\

    On your external hard drive, change those lines to point to your appropriate external HD path. You can now run IWD2 from your external HD and can then uninstall your local install.
     
    DrEm314, Oct 4, 2008
    #5
  6. MindChild

    MindChild Science should not set limits to imagination Resourceful Veteran

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    rather than a crack which is aganst the rules to talk about...
    you could make a copy of your own disc and mount it as a virtual drive :p
     
    MindChild, Oct 15, 2008
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  7. JT Gems: 12/31
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    I do with whenever I can. Great idea for any game.
     
    JT, Oct 16, 2008
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