Install Help

[Aaelefein]

I've only got a 768k DSL connection and it takes about a day and a half to download the game. I want to install the game on my other computers WITHOUT having to download the game a second or third time. I did not have the install program clean up the install files on this computer - how do I utilize the zip files and PROPERLY install the game on the other two computers? I've already transferred (via USB Drive) the "Install" directory with all zip filles to the other computers - but what file is needed to actually install them? That isn't self-evident.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[AamerKhan]

The easiest thing to do is copy the entire Istaria directory to a usb drive and copy to the new computer.

Next, login with one of your characters and let it update if needed and you are done. NO need to re-download.

[Aaelefein]

But is this a proper install? ie...update the registry and such, or doesn't Istaria do that?

Thank you

[Knossos]

Istaria has no registry entries. Installation made by copy is just fine and includes files already suited to your characters and any mods you have installed.

Knossos

[hallucin8]

The only think you will have to do is pop a shortcut on your desktop to the launcher and AWAY YOU GO!
This is also the perfect way to login multiple times on the one machine, should you have the required number of active subscriptions. (Though you can run the luncher multiple times from the same location, I find less hiccups with multiple Istaria folders instead)

[Cegaiel]

Copying the game folder, as suggested by the other posters, is the simplest way. It will run just fine. You just simply need to manually create a shortcut to the JLauncher.exe file.


---- Guide to making Backup of Installation Files ----

But here is how to backup the game install files for future installations. Note, I have even installed a 2 year old backup before, without problems. Of course it had to patch a lot of files when done, but I did not have to sit and wait for the whole thing to download at once and it was much faster. Quite a few files do not change over time, so this is actually more bandwidth friendly to the server (and YOU). The patcher will download much less Mb's versus if you download the entire install package/files.


Here is how the installer works and how to make a backup of the installation files :

You download the setup.exe (from the Download page) ~1Mb - small file.

The setup program then downloads multiple files (ie Resources-characters.zip, Resources-definitions.zip, etc, etc).
It places all of these downloaded .zip files inside a subfolder called "Install" (created in same folder that setup.exe resides in). So find where you saved and launched the setup.exe and you should see a folder called "Install" in the same location.

SPECIAL NOTE: After you install the game, the installer asks one final question before it exits. Do you want to delete the installation files? (or something similiar). If you answered Yes, you are too late; your installation files are gone and you now need to download every thing again. However, it you answered No, then the files are still on your hard drive and you can continue to backing up:


Backing Up:
Create a folder on your USB drive, call it whatever you like. Lets say "Istaria".
Copy the "Install" folder (contains many .zip files) to your "Istaria" folder.
Copy the setup.exe to your "Istaria" folder.

Here is how it should look (assuming your USB is F: Drive)

F:\Istaria\setup.exe (only this one file in this folder)
F:\Istaria\Install\Resources-characters.zip
F:\Istaria\Install\Resources-definitions.zip
F:\Istaria\Install\ <more zip files> etc etc


Installing from a backup:
Note you CAN NOT install the game directly from the USB drive on your other computer!!! You MUST copy the files back to the hard drive. I am not sure why, but if you launch setup.exe from your USB drive, it will not "see" the install folder (on the USB drive). It will create an Install folder on your hard drive, instead, and begin downloading everything again.

Create a temporary folder on your computer somewhere. Lets say "Temp" (C:\Temp)
Copy the setup.exe file to the C:\Temp folder (You then have C:\Temp\setup.exe)
Copy the entire "Install" folder to the C:\Temp folder (You then have C:\Temp\Install\*.zip)
Run setup.exe from the Temp folder.


If you did this correctly, it will act as though it is going to download the .zip files again, but each one will "download" in 1 second. If you see that the .zip file are actually downloading, then hit Quit/Cancel. You did something wrong... Re-read above and try again. As long as each .zip file exists in the Install folder (doesn't matter if its the current version or not) if will skip and not download again, but instead install that .zip file.