It would be oh so nice to have a portable copy of UT 2k4 to cart around on a hard drive or oversize flash drive. I have UT 99 already on a 2 gb flashie and with all of hte maps and stuff ive been getting for it it uses up 75% of the drive. UT2k4 is 5GB just by itself, not including the cache files.
As the application you are requesting is not open source but portableapps.com is devoted to open source software there probably won't be a portable version. Read more in the unofficial PortableApps.com FAQ.
Well, and welcome to PortableApps.com!
UT 2k4 is portable. Just copy it to the drive and it will work.
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Asimov
Portable means that no information is left behind, that includes information in the registry and on various places on the PS's HDD. If you just copy around the files there's a big change the app will enter many registry entries. Additionally you might end up leaving behind registered game information with potentially could be retrieved from that PC. This potentially can lead to other people getting hold of your Serial number to the game which could in result have the user unable to play the game anymore because other people got hold on their information.
It's very important to understand these risks before telling people "the app is portable" or following the advise of just copying the files. Only use apps with a good launcher, especially if it concerns software you payed for.
And this is besides all legal aspects if it is allowed by the license to have a portable version of the software.
Thank you for the valuable comment.
I have to say, I forgot that on this site the word "portable" is used in the most restrictive way, I should have written "mobile". Let me apologize for this. Also, I didn't think of the potential problems with key info left behind. I don't have UT on my PC now, but maybe I'll install it and check soon.
Only use apps with a good launcher.
This is a statement I highly disagree with. If app is portable - the only reason to use a launcher is to have compatibility with programs like PAM.
Reasons not to use it?
-longer startup time
-bigger size (usually it's a minor problem)
-sometimes lower functionality (i.e. many launchers don't pass command line arguments)
-they are additional unnecessary code that may have bugs or cause antivirus warnings
When app is mobile - some may find that leaving host computer clean is worth having a launcher. I don't, but I think it's a matter of personal preferences.
When you don't know whether app is portable - taking one with a launcher is a simple solution. But asking (I suggest to say what aspects of portability do you need, except for this site, standards differ.)
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Asimov
Sorry, I have to jump in here,
When app is mobile - some may find that leaving host computer clean is worth having a launcher. I don't, but I think it's a matter of personal preferences.
You might want to consult with the OWNER of the host !!!
S/he might have preferences about this.
For the record, No, you may NOT use your mobile program on My machine.
By the way, I do use a couple of mobile programs that do not have a portable version. I do not use them on other peoples machines.
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
You're right too, this was a bit short sighted as I am the owner of all hosts I use my portable apps on regularly except for one, which cleans anything on logoff anyway.
On the occasions when I used other PCs I always asked whether I can run my programs and nobody was curious whether they leave some rubbish, so I'm surprised that there are people that care about it so much. Most of it is gonna be deleted during the next system cleanup anyway.
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Asimov
I think this whole thread hits on why the windows registry is such a design flaw.
Good point, having just an app started might change or mess up any preferences and registration information of any locally installed version
In such cases I don't use a term "mobile" (or "portable").
IMO the only thing about local installation that is allowed to be changed by a mobile app are queues of recently used things.
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Asimov
I'm aware this is an old topic, but it's a top result on Google, so I still feel compelled to correct it.
Unlike UT Classic, UT2k4 uses a CD key, which it stores in the registry (in 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Unreal Technology\Installed Apps\UT2004' and on my computer, presumably 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Unreal Technology\Installed Apps\UT2004' on 32-bit versions of Windows) and if that is not present, will not launch. (You can, however, delete all the values except 'CDKey' and it'll still work)
Oh, now I want UT '99 (what's this UT Classic?) on my flash drive. Deus Ex, an RPG that uses the same Unreal Engine 1 as UT '99 (yes, RPG with a shooter engine, it's brilliant), is completely portable. But also older, came out in 2000. Still, it's basically a fork of UT '99, so much is the same, they just stuck a story on it and souped up the GUI to fit the game's gimmick. And it runs on virtually all hardware made around 1998 or later. When I had my laptop, it wouldn't play DX, but it would play UT '99, so UT '99 must be a lot less resource intensive. Should be good for portability. (It did have a disc check, but the last official patch broke it -- yes, UT patch 436 included a No-CD crack!) Unreal Tournament has changed a lot, but that first one was solid gold. Didn't like any of the newer ones.
UT Classic is another name for UT '99. It's been called UT99, UTGOTY, UT Classic, UT1... but yeah.
I dunno how well it'll run off a flash drive, and I don't know if it writes anything to the registry (is there an easy way to check? I haven't run it on this install yet) but I know it'll run without any keys being added ahead of time.
Edit: Oh, and Deus Ex came out 8 months *after* Unreal Tournament.
I Have Been Creating launchers for Unreal Gold, T1, Unreal 2, Unreal 2 XMP,Half-Life 1 and a few others. My Unreals Are from Anthology so they don't need a code. The Easy Way To Check;
Licence Key: Open Regedit (Admin Might Be Needed) and enter your key into the search box.
Overall - Search Unreal. Any that come up with lists of many other .exe's ignore.
I am pretty sure my launchers work though.
**-- No comment --**!!
That might not always catch all of them. For instance, what if it has a key somewhere that only contains "UT"? Or worse, one of the many, many GUID-ones?
Of course it did... that is what I meant.
RegShot is the program we use. First you disable your virus scanner, firewall, and other "background" programs. You run RegShot and have it take a "snapshot" of your registry and disk. Then you install the program. Run it a time or two. Then re-run RegShot, take a second shot, then compare them. It should give you a log of all the changes made.
Do you have launchers for the first Unreal Tournament and/or Deus Ex? If so, may I try them?
RegShot will get them, but my problem with RegShot has been that it gets a lot of irrelevant stuff too.