I want to make an EA game portable. The game in question is Battlefield 2. I purchased the game and down loaded the most current two patches. One patch allows the game to be played with out the CD. How would I install the game and then the patches? I have made one successful portable app., but that was straight forward as I only needed to install the game.
I would like to be able to use this game at work. I work nights and have down time.
Thanks for your help in advance.
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Generally, games are usually the hardest to portableize, not really sure why. If you have the resources to, I would suggest lugging an XP vhd with you, or drop $5k for a copy of ThinApp.
Or bring your laptop (just think about the positives: you'll have miracle biceps in no time).
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the VHD probably wouldn't boot on every copy of windows he ran into.
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Most payware games, from the little I know of them, have extensive anti-piracy checks built into them. Frequently, the checks seem to involve numerous Registry keys or even the machine's "signature" - some value that changes from system to system, and is usually calculated based on the system's hardware. Trying to portabilize one of those is nearly impossible, unless you can figure out how to get it to accept a different machine sig (and no, I don't think we can help with that).
"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."
Sorta. By anti-piracy checks you mean greyware apps like SecuROM that serves as the game's DRM. This stuff is really tricky and patching it would require violation of the DMCA.
If you want to try to portablize it yourself, copy the game's folder to another hard drive. Reformat yours and reinstall Windows (yes :o is right, unless you're experienced) and see if the game still runs. If not, it's not portable and there's probably nothing you can do. If so... copy the folder to a portable hard drive or a fast flash drive and have fun!
The best bet for gaming at work is a fully modded Nintendo DS Lite. In my book, it's modded if it has a microSD to Nitro adapter (colloquially, flashcart) in Slot 1, and fully modded if it has a GBA flashcart in Slot-2. Fully modded, it can load DS and GBA games off the microSD card on custom firmware. No more changing cartridges. Whole thing fits in your pocket, it's a little bigger than a phone but not by much. I think the GBA games are mostly better than their DS counterparts but that's just my opinion.
Also, Unreal Engine 1 games tend to be portable. Their disc check can be disabled through a .ini file. Unreal Tournament (the first one) and Deus Ex are both confirmed portable.