copying DCS files to another computer

[TripRodriguez]

Hello friends!

 

Later today a friend of mine is coming up and we plan to have some fun playing DCS together but there is a catch.

 

His computer does not have (and never did previously) DCS installed on it at all. on my internet connection it will take about three hours to download the game on his computer.

 

I'm hoping someone here can give me a good procedure for copying the ~30GB from my computer to his, and making it work. I've done this with other games but different procedures are often needed and for some games it just doesn't work at all.

 

Just to clarify if anyone is confused, moving the actual files over isn't the problem, it's getting DCS installed to that machine so it will run properly.

 

The most common way to make this work is to run the installer (very small download) on the new machine, start the game installer and let it start downloading then cancel/exit the installer. After doing that you copy the full folder (30GB or whatever) over from the old machine in the same location you told the installer to put the game and then launch the game/installer/patcher again and when it resumes the download it see's the files are all there and has to do little or nothing. I'm hoping this will work but if it doesn't I'm going to be counting on you guys to give me a solution so we don't lose 50%+ of our LAN party time to downloading. This friend lives three hours away and we only get to do this once every month or two.

 

Thanks for any pointers!

 

Trip

Edited January 28, 2017 by TripRodriguez

[Cibit]

I believe that if you run the exe from the root directory after you transfer the files to the new machine it will add the appropriate file structure in your newuser saved games folder. Bare in mind that only the free modules will be available to your friend unless he purchases modules you cannot use the same module serial on 2 machines

[TripRodriguez]

I believe that if you run the exe from the root directory after you transfer the files to the new machine it will add the appropriate file structure in your newuser saved games folder. Bare in mind that only the free modules will be available to your friend unless he purchases modules you cannot use the same module serial on 2 machines

 

Thanks Cibit. Hopefully that will get the job done!

 

I'm sure you are aware Cibit, but just for clarification for anyone finding this post via google search in the future: You can use the same module serial on two machines with the same DCS game account as long as you don't run the same module simultaneously on two machines. This means if you have two computers you use to play DCS (work/home or desktop/laptop for example) you can use the same serials for both but you can't use them to have a friend play at the same time you play.

 

In this case, I'm buying a second copy of the Gazelle module for multi-crew :pilotfly:

[Cibit]

Nice I am sure that will keep you entertained for hours :) Thanks for the clarification

[Worrazen]

I beleive that if you have other games installed on the same PC the installer for another installation will detect.

 

That's how I installed FC3 for 2.0 alpha, it simply copied the FC3 data from the 1.5 install.

 

But since no DCS is installed on your friends PC, it may be difficult to manually invoke this feature on your friends manchine. Depending on what the Installer/Updater is looking for, it probably looks for official registry keys, and to do this manually you would first have to figure out how the installer does that, it would take some tedious effort with programs like Process Monitor.

 

We can do this manually, but, will it be worth it, not sure, It could just be easier to ask ED to provide an additional feature; I already have a small list of features for the updater so I'll add this one in.

[TripRodriguez]

My procedure of starting the installer on his machine until it starts downloading the big amounts of data, cancelling it, replacing the DCS folder on his computer that was near empty with my complete one, and then restarting the patcher worked effortlessly.

 

I beleive that if you have other games installed on the same PC the installer for another installation will detect.

 

That's how I installed FC3 for 2.0 alpha, it simply copied the FC3 data from the 1.5 install.

 

But since no DCS is installed on your friends PC, it may be difficult to manually invoke this feature on your friends manchine. Depending on what the Installer/Updater is looking for, it probably looks for official registry keys, and to do this manually you would first have to figure out how the installer does that, it would take some tedious effort with programs like Process Monitor.

 

We can do this manually, but, will it be worth it, not sure, It could just be easier to ask ED to provide an additional feature; I already have a small list of features for the updater so I'll add this one in.

[Top Jockey]

I believe that if you run the exe from the root directory after you transfer the files to the new machine it will add the appropriate file structure in your newuser saved games folder. Bare in mind that only the free modules will be available to your friend unless he purchases modules you cannot use the same module serial on 2 machines

 

Hello everyone,

 

Well I've installed an SSD for the first time, and it will be a 6 - 7 hours download DCS World here.

 

In order to try avoiding all that tiring process the next time, let me see if I got this straight:

 

- save the main DCS World install folder (and savedgames one if wish so) at a backup drive;

- after the new SSD install, or disk format, whatever;

- copy the main folder to the same directory as before;

- run the exe / installer / updater file which is inside the DCS World folder;

 

Which leads to the questions:

 

Do I run that installer or should I run a new installer from the web?

(I believe one of the devs told me once, it should be the "copy protection" file...)

 

Should I backup the modules also, or is it better to re-activate / install them again?

 

Thank you.

[Rudel_chw]

Hello everyone,

Well I've installed an SSD for the first time, and it will be a 6 - 7 hours download DCS World here.

 

In order to try avoiding all that tiring process the next time, let me see if I got this straight:

 

- save the main DCS World install folder (and savedgames one if wish so) at a backup drive;

 

Correct .. you save the /program files/Eagle dynamics/ path ... the saved games/dcs/ path is important too as at that place is your Logbook, Control bindings and the status of your Campaigns.

 

- after the new SSD install, or disk format, whatever;

- copy the main folder to the same directory as before;

- run the exe / installer / updater file which is inside the DCS World folder;

 

Which leads to the questions:

 

Do I run that installer or should I run a new installer from the web?

 

After the copy, open a Command Prompt windows, navigate to DCS/Bin folder and the run this command:

 

DCS_UPDATER REPAIR

 

This will check that the program files are correct and will also check the Windows pre-requisites are installed.

 

Should I backup the modules also, or is it better to re-activate / install them again?

 

If you will just change disks, but will not re-install Windows, then you dont need to deactivate/reactivate the modules, as the license info is stored on Windows' Registry and a change of disk is not enough to trigger a Star Force reactivation.

 

If you will also reinstall Windows anew, then yes, you need to deactivate the modules that use Star Force protection (the ones that have a DRM button on the Module Manager listing) prior to changing the disks, and the activate them again after Windows is reinstalled.

[Top Jockey]

Correct .. you save the /program files/Eagle dynamics/ path ... the saved games/dcs/ path is important too as at that place is your Logbook, Control bindings and the status of your Campaigns.

 

 

 

After the copy, open a Command Prompt windows, navigate to DCS/Bin folder and the run this command:

 

DCS_UPDATER REPAIR

 

This will check that the program files are correct and will also check the Windows pre-requisites are installed.

 

 

 

If you will just change disks, but will not re-install Windows, then you dont need to deactivate/reactivate the modules, as the license info is stored on Windows' Registry and a change of disk is not enough to trigger a Star Force reactivation.

 

If you will also reinstall Windows anew, then yes, you need to deactivate the modules that use Star Force protection (the ones that have a DRM button on the Module Manager listing) prior to changing the disks, and the activate them again after Windows is reinstalled.

 

Very good then glad to know it !

Let's hope that it would work if needed, because the full 31 GBs download... really take a lot of time.

 

Thank you Rudel ! :thumbup:

[Rudel_chw]

Very good then glad to know it !

Let's hope that it would work if needed, because the full 31 GBs download... really take a lot of time.

 

It does work ... my install is over 100 GB, as I have all the Maps, and I would die if I had to download it all over again :D

 

The dcs_updater repair looks like this:

 

 

The "dcs_updater cleanup" deletes extraneous files from the game's folder (for example, user Mods that you may have installed).

 

You might want to also save the desktop icon of DCS, in order to not have to recreate it by hand.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Rudel_chw

[Top Jockey]

I see.

For now I would not be so demanding, with details like the desktop icon (wallpaper?).

 

Just the mere possibility of being able to copy the "base" DCS World folder (31 GBs in my case), activate everything in good working order pleases me a lot already.

 

Even if I have to download the individual modules again (in the cases you mentioned), they never took me that much time as DCS World itself.

 

I'm downloading it for roughly 6 hours now and it's only at 75 % progress...

[Top Jockey]

Download completed after 8 hours... :thumbdown:

 

Unpacking now.

[Rudel_chw]

...

Even if I have to download the individual modules again (in the cases you mentioned), they never took me that much time as DCS World itself.

...

 

That may be the case with aircraft modules, at about 1 GB each on average, but the Maps are really big .. around 30 GB each, those take as much time as the base game :(