Re-Installing FFXI on a PC the fast way.

Anttaru

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Save 7 hours worth of downloading updates. When restalling

First i recommend you have atlease 12 GIGs of free space ( I say this for the sake of none of you over loading your Harddisk's.)

Wherever you put the POL folder when installing it (Typically C: drives)
go in the POL folder,within it is the SquareEnix folder, and when you see the "Final fantasy Folder" within... Right click it and paste it on your desktop. ( Simply just find the Final fantasy Folder )



Note This Folder is containing the game itself. All the files in it combined are a little over 5 GIGs so it can take 20-30 minutes for it to complete pasting onto your desktop. depending on how advanced your PC is. Moving it onto a secondary HDD is fine, you just want a copy of it somewhere.

Follow basic procrdures and delete Final Fantasy and Playonline. It is imparitive to delete Playonline aswell.

Now........


- Install the Playonline Viewer from the CD as you would from what the book says.


- Install FinalFantasy XI from the CD's just as you would from what the book says. (Yes even though you backed it up on the desktop)


- Upon completition of the installation open locate the SquareEnix Folder and swipe the fresh installation of the Final fantasy Folder with the on backed up on the desktop....In other words over write the Final Fantasy XI Folder with the old one you saved before deleting it in the first place.

Again the file transfering directioties can take 20-30 minutes more or less, to complete, depending how how advanced your machine is. If it finishes faster, then groovy.

Set up POL settings and account info blah blah blah....



Now you just saved yourself 7 hours of downloading updates.

If you back up FFXI and store it for a long time, you're still ok cause it will add only the updates you missed when you re-install the backed up copy or the Final Fantasy XI folder.

Edit I forgot to mention this method also saved all macro settings.
 
GREAT IDEA Ant!! I just backed up my stuff right now! :D :D :D
 
i just did this when i upgraded to a larger hd. one important thing to remember is the Registry keys. suprisingly some of the updates change em.
simple fix. download regworks (free trial; buy to unlock, or do what you have to to unlock it. *wink wink*)
run searches for
Square
FFXI
Finalfantasy
Playonline
Tetramaster
save all keys to a .reg file.
those are the base backups.
if you do a full backup of the registry before updating, then do a compare after ittl let you know if any others changed to add into the full backup keys.
its a bit of work, but beats full downloading everything.
~Syn
 
I would definately do this if I had the PC version, I've had to wipe/replace (no joke about replace, thank god for warrenties) my drive no less than 5 times since I started playing FFXI.

You see this is why I have to have the PS2 version. My PC is a piece.
 
As for the registry stuff, you don't need a program.
Just go to the run option under the start menu and type regedit.
Then go to hkey_local_machine->software and there should be a playonline entry there. Then do File->Export
 
Acks said:
As for the registry stuff, you don't need a program.
Just go to the run option under the start menu and type regedit.
Then go to hkey_local_machine->software and there should be a playonline entry there. Then do File->Export

depends on the version of your OS acks. i prolly should have mentioned that i run win98se. theres no easy search all function built into that version of windows, and its easy to miss a nested key someplace in the classes. that program is super handy ^^
~Syn
 
depends on the version of your OS acks. i prolly should have mentioned that i run win98se. theres no easy search all function built into that version of windows, and its easy to miss a nested key someplace in the classes. that program is super handy ^^
~Syn

:shock:
 
A few monthes ago i went over to a friends house to fix his fathers computer. It was an IBM Aptiva running "Windows 95 Plus". After i upgraded his system memory to 384MB and ran an F-Disk and reinstallation of his Windows 95, I then tried to install some shareware into his computer. Every software was not compatible with Windows 95, things like imesh kazaa.So i had to go back to my place and search sme ancient CD's to installs siftware like early versions of GoZilla so he an download things.

Lucky it worked, and his Operating system was no doubt Obosolete in the eyes of software developers.

THe Reason why i had to install his old operating system is because he was running off of a "Pentium r" . The Processor was not compatable with Windows XP.

Some users don't like Windows XP, because of the early launch, with the disposable CD,and having to purchase a copy for every machine in a network, never gave business much insentive to get it. Another issue is the fact that XP's contract includes the OS you install is the property of Microsoft (Even tho it's in your possession) But c'mon, it's in your possession, and the software itself asks permission if it can report any falures that occure with software, or you can totally command it not to. Because of these minor issues XP has a bad rep, when in truth it is Windows NT successor.

Synical, i'm not knocking your OS or anything it's still kicking actually. But you PC can be a finer machine when it understands the latests in todays software languages.
 
For those who were curious...

Fresh install of FFXI + CoP still led to about 2 hrs worth of downloads, while an up to date FFXI install with CoP added needed about 20 mins after all the file checking.

Thats really disappointing that the XPack didnt come with the latest patches/whatever for FFXI itself. Guess you still have to backup the whole thing ><
 
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