bear with me for i'm not all that computer savy.

ok so i bought an external hard drive, for the sole purpouse of being able to store some of the mmos i dont play very often. the idea was that if i one day i get that itch to play one of those game (which happens quite often to me) i dont have to wait 12+ hours to redownload it from the website. i can just take it from the externa hard drive and reinstall it, updated the latest patches and go.

however i haven't been albe to do this. i can copy the games onto the external HD but when i try put them back on my computer it never works. the files do get transfered back onto the computer( i usually just drag n drop in my Program files folder) but i just can't seem to install and run the game. every time i try to launch the launcher it gives some random error.

what am i missing? what exactly am i doing wrong? what are the steps to reinstall the game from the hard drive properly?

PS: i have Windows 7 and what i usually do is open my external HD and drag n drop the game file into my computer's Program Files folder, then i try to launch the game launcher.....which of course doesnt work. is there some sort of instal file i have to look for?

Installed programs "usually" have attached registry strings which windows uses to read data and settings about a particular program.

Now the problem with this is, If you manually change the working directory of a program windows usually has a fit because it doesn't line up with recorded data.

Thus this may be the problem you are experiencing.

There are ways around this, i shall 2 list them for you.

1. Uninstall, then re install the program to the destination you desire.(recommended)
2. create a symbolic link to the drive directory(i can expand on this if want to go this road).

Can i ask what the program is?

Edit: re-read the problem but still convinced its a registry issue.

the programs are games, mmos usually. i've tried it with Aion, Battlefield3, Mortal Online, Darkfall, SWTOR, and a few others.

the thing is when i copy the games from my external hard drive to my computer i'm pretty sure i'm supposed to somehow instal them and i'm not sure how. all i try to do is launch teh game launcher but that doesn't do anything. i can see all the files on my computer but i can't launch the game besically.

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Originally posted by Jakdstripper
the programs are games, mmos usually. i've tried it with Aion, Battlefield3, Mortal Online, Darkfall, SWTOR, and a few others.
 
the thing is when i copy the games from my external hard drive to my computer i'm pretty sure i'm supposed to somehow instal them and i'm not sure how. all i try to do is launch teh game launcher but that doesn't do anything. i can see all the files on my computer but i can't launch the game besically.

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The ones you listed should work with the method your using....

You could always try some "trickery". Create a new installation of the game on your main hardrive(don't update).then copy the data from your external updating the installation.

Then start the game via windows, as its a registered app.

If you want to store game for external HD, the best way is:

1: Install the game (to your normal HD)

2: Copy the game directory to your external HD

3: When you want to free up HD space, delete the game directory. Do not uninstall the game so that registry markings, and files stored by your game elsewhere on your computer, won't get deleted

4: When you want to reinstall the game, copy the game directory from external HD back  to where it used to be. It needs to be in exactly same directory so that registry markings will point correctly to it.

Moving installed games around is generally pain in the ass. Except for WoW, if you want you can just move WoW's intallation directory anywhere, even to another computer, and it'll still work. Imho it's done better than other games.

-edited-

Originally posted by Jakdstripper

the programs are games, mmos usually. i've tried it with Aion, Battlefield3, Mortal Online, Darkfall, SWTOR, and a few others.

 

the thing is when i copy the games from my external hard drive to my computer i'm pretty sure i'm supposed to somehow instal them and i'm not sure how. all i try to do is launch teh game launcher but that doesn't do anything. i can see all the files on my computer but i can't launch the game besically.

 

 

If you already moved them from the external to the PC, than try running the verify integrity , verify files. repair files or whatever they labled it from the client or from the program folder. It will then go through and make sure you have the files and repair anyrhing not linked to the registry. Its worked for me in the past with MMOs.

With a few exceptions, even if a program required registry entries, it will re-create them if it finds them missing the first time the game starts (sometimes you have to start it with Administrator privileges though).

The only game I've actually had to completely reinstall was FFXI. I've been able to just copy&paste nearly every game on your list. Make sure you are trying to run the correct executable, as you'll have to remake your shortcuts to point to this executable.

You will have to be more specific than "Random error in every game" for us to be of more help - each game is a bit different, and each game can have different reasons it may have trouble.