WOW updates and patches...

M

MuZI

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
344
So I installed Windows 7 on my brother's computer since his old XP install was starting to run slow and he needed to do a fresh install anyway.

I'm backing up his files on to an external and noticed his WoW folder is like ~25gigs? I checked it out and it's all updates and patches and stuff. Is it possible to transfer these onto the external and transfer them because I don't think he would want to download ~20gigs all over.

Also most of these patches seem to end in .exe? Are you supposed to delete the installers and patches after you've installed them or keep them there?
 
I used to keep a folder on a storage drive of all the patches. If he's playing Lich King, he won't need an of the pre Lich King patches. Just the newer ones since Lich King launched.
 
Just copy over the whole folder "I think its the World of Warcraft folder" and copy it back after you do the fresh install. Create a shortcut to the launcher on the desktop and away you go. no need to reinstall the game or expansions or updates. it will run just like it did on the old computer with all the addons installed. SIMPLE
 
Yea, just backup the whole wow folder and copy it to the new install. Wow doesn't use anything unique in the registery or anything, so it works fine. Done is several times without issue.
 
I've found it helpful to run it the first time as admin on vista/7 so it can create a few path registry keys it does use. After that, no problems at all.
 
marvin888 said:
Just copy over the whole folder "I think its the World of Warcraft folder" and copy it back after you do the fresh install. Create a shortcut to the launcher on the desktop and away you go. no need to reinstall the game or expansions or updates. it will run just like it did on the old computer with all the addons installed. SIMPLE
Click to expand...

SCSI-Terminator said:
Yea, just backup the whole wow folder and copy it to the new install. Wow doesn't use anything unique in the registery or anything, so it works fine. Done is several times without issue.
Click to expand...

I wish I had read these beforehand. I ended up saving just the patches and while trying to create a new partition I somehow destroyed my old XP one. Now I'm stuck downloading like 7GB of Lich King or whatever... luckily the NBA playoffs started so I'm not hearing my brother bitch that he has nothing to do.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll keep it in mind if I ever need to reinstall the OS.
 
With the low prices on mechanical hard drives nowadays I find it pretty nice having a spare hard drive with games which don't require an installation (like World of Warcraft)on it. Every month I pull the hard drive out of the drawer and stick it in my e-sata dock and keep it updated.

Instead of reformatting and reinstalling windows, I have an image of a fresh windows install + games on another hard drive and let some imaging software take care of it (fewer menus to deal with so you can step away from the computer for ~30min once things get going and come back to a nice fresh windows)
 
Right click the WoW folder, copy, then paste it on an external drive. Once you reinstall the computer, copy and paste it back, then drop a WoW shortcut on the desktop. I doubt that game needs to be 'installed'. Most MMO's don't.
 
Blizzard games are fucking fantastic when it comes to transferring them to other computers. I've never had an issue with WC3, SC1+2, WoW, or Diablo where I just clicked and dragged it into a whole new hard drive. I even have them all on an external harddrive and they'll play whereever I plug it in at.

None of that "missing dll" or "reinstall game" bullshit you get from BS companies.
 
Does blizzard delete ANYTHING or do they just add new resources and leave the old stuff to sit on the hard drive. I know the wow world is pretty big these days, but I find it hard to believe that they use 25gigs.

Edit:
After checking, the large majority is in the data folder as MPQ files, so I'm guessing they do just let old, unused stuff sit. Also, after deleting all of the patch .exe's in the main wow folder, I'm down to 15gigs. I'm pretty sure you don't need that stuff. I've found that wow rebuilds pretty much anything that it finds missing, hence the whole "delete your wtf folder" thing, and probably why you can get away with copy pasting the whole game.
 
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