Scientific Breakthrough-!

[SiLeNTrigger]

Okay not really but I just thought of something really good.

If someone was to install Battlefield2 On a external hard drive, would he not be able to take it with him anywhere and play on a different computer? Because technically, its not on his on two different hard drives. Does anyone know if this would work?

[poisonsoul]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

What about the registry entries. Since the CD Key is located in the registry.

Or how about your profiles being in My Documents.

[[MyIS]Spetsnaz]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

It wouldn't work, unless each computer had the necessary Windows Registry entries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_registry

EDIT: By the way, this is one of the reasons why software has installers. If it was simply a matter of moving files around, they'd all be compressed zip/rar/tarball archives.

[SiLeNTrigger]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

Oh man.. I thought it would definetly work.

[poisonsoul]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

One way would be to format the drive, install Windows on the external and install the game on it.

However, you'd be forced to edit the bios continuously and set the external hard-drive as the primary. Which I'm theorizing and don't know if it's possible.

Edit: I'm not certain if you can switch it though

[SiLeNTrigger]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

Already sounds to difficult, no one would bother to do that.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

You dont need to edit the BIOS for that. Just press F12 at startup (or the button that leads you to the one time boot menu) and press enter while selecting the USB drive. Computer will then boot from the external harddrive.

Still, windows needs to look up drivers for everything on every new computer. because of the different video cards, sound interface, keyboard, and all the rest.

But I think it will work. But why not install bf2 on both comps, on the local harddrives?

[EDIT]: Yes, you can set the computer to boot from the usb drive (primary), and then use the internal harddrive as a second boot option. This way, it will always try to oot from the usb drive first.

[[MyIS]Spetsnaz]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

If you code any, it wouldn't be hard to make a fresh install of BF2, launch the game once to setup your account info and exit.

You get the Profile info from My Documents and find all registry entries associated with the game.

Then it's just a matter of writing a simple program that will check the registry and My Documents folders for the data you just copied and if it doesnt exist, just create them. You could use it as a BF2 launcher. You double click to open, a check is made for necessary registry entries (if not found insert the generic ones from before), a check is made for profiles folder (if not found, create generic profile info), game is launched, and voila.

Then when you're done you can add an option for the launcher to delete all the newly created info.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

Hmm, sounds like you have to be a Lead Developer to do that. Even "Writing a simpe program" is way out of my leage.

But it wasn't me that wanted to do this in the first place, so i might as well shut up :P

[flanker-f]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

All you need for online playing is the CD-key hash from registry which can be found at

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\EA Games\Battlefield 2\ergc]

Export it from registry and run .reg file before starting "external Battlefield" and you'll be just fine. Game asks you to create account but you can copy the account too if you like.

Just copy installation folder and BF will work offline. For online you need the CD key too.

Oh and remember to remove your key from registry when you leave.

[mlkmnz]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

Okay not really but I just thought of something really good.

If someone was to install Battlefield2 On a external hard drive, would he not be able to take it with him anywhere and play on a different computer? Because technically, its not on his on two different hard drives. Does anyone know if this would work?

Wouldn't it be slow as hell loading via USB/Ethernet/firewire or whatever interface the external drive uses?
And how many computers do you want to play it on anyway? Just install it on all of em' and user your login at whichever one you are using.

[TriggerSpasm]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

All you need for online playing is the CD-key hash from registry which can be found at


Export it from registry and run .reg file before starting "external Battlefield" and you'll be just fine. Game asks you to create account but you can copy the account too if you like.

Just copy installation folder and BF will work offline. For online you need the CD key too.

Oh and remember to remove your key from registry when you leave.

its as simple as that, also copy your My Documents > Battlefield 2 > Profiles directory then all your controls/favorite servers/settings etc will be saved

I travel alot between my house and my parents and generally spend a couple of nights there so I take my external hd with BF2 installed and my registry/profiles folder

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

Wouldn't it be slow as hell loading via USB/Ethernet/firewire or whatever interface the external drive uses?
And how many computers do you want to play it on anyway? Just install it on all of em' and user your login at whichever one you are using.

A USB 2.0 cable offers speed up to 400 Mbit per second, much faster than you'll think. The limitations usually is in the harddrive, not how it's connected. And at once you start playing, most of the game is loaded onto you're RAM, so you dont need to worry about the harddisk anymore.

[EDIT]: And when it comes to firewire, it can take upto 480 Mbits per second. Some harddrives also allow you to connect both firewire and usb t double the transfer speed. So the answer is no, it won't be slow as hell.

[mlkmnz]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

A USB 2.0 cable offers speed up to 400 Mbit per second, much faster than you'll think. The limitations usually is in the harddrive, not how it's connected. And at once you start playing, most of the game is loaded onto you're RAM, so you dont need to worry about the harddisk anymore.

[EDIT]: And when it comes to firewire, it can take upto 480 Mbits per second. Some harddrives also allow you to connect both firewire and usb t double the transfer speed. So the answer is no, it won't be slow as hell.

"Up to" being the operable word. Its not. Plus if its a 2.5" drive its going to be slower too. And it uses up CPU bandwidth that could be better used for the game itself.

[Banjoma]

Re: Scientific Breakthrough-!

I installed BF 2 and SPecial FOrces on 2 different computers and play at my desktop with the BF 2 DVD and on my notebook with the BF 2 SF DVD why shouldn't it work with an external hard drive?