My gw.dat file...

In order to locate the gw.dat file on my PC, I used the "search" facility on Windows to search the phrase "gw.dat".

The file I found was 1.48GB in size.
My friend did the same thing and found that his file was 1.42GB in size.

Trouble is, I have only installed the retail version and I havn't even begun to play it as I'm waiting for a broadband connection until I download the files to play GW.
I havnt even downloaded the first area, Ascalon City yet...as it has approximately 8,500 files to download, which would take me ages on my current dial-up connection...Should it be 8,500 files of just updates?
Because it shouldn't have to download the full area, as I have installed the retail version, it should only have to download new updates etc...I only have the menu screen (character selection screen etc.) installed on my PC.

My friend has been playing GW for a few months, so he has most of the town and outpost files stored on his PC, so why is my .dat file bigger than his?

Did we find the file the wrong way by using the "search" facility on Windows, or is there some way of "unlocking" the info. in my .dat file, eradicating the need to load full towns and outposts at the same time as updates?

We came across this as my friend was going to copy his .dat file to a Dual Layer DVD to allow me to play GW until my Broadband connection arrives.

I know this is a long and difficult question and has probably been phrased very badly, but any help would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance.

GW.dat is close to 4gigs if you download everything
the retail disc has almost nothing....you will be downloading a LOT more.

My computer / drive c/ program files / guildwars / Gw.dat
that is the default location

And as for your friend having most of the files like you say...no, not even close. maybe enough for 1 campaign, but not all


to pull in the entire Gw.dat file, open your guildwars shortcut and add the -pref to the end. it will take forever, especially on dialup.
if your game is in the same place as mine, you should be able to copy-paste that into the location. remove the pref when you are done downloading, as the game will not run with that command there
"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -pref

No, I don't want to pull in the entire .dat file.
I'd just like to know why mine is bigger than my friend's, when I havn't even started playing GW, and he's been playing for months...

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -image

The above is the correct switch to pull the whole dat file in one go.

and it should be about 2.8 GB when all is done

GW features streaming updates: it downloads as you play, and only locks you up if it absolutely needs a file. when you first install the game from the installation discs, it only downloads the critical files for gw to run. you'll still need to download a lot more.

and yes, the entire .dat file is well over 3gb in size.

But I don't want to do that...
I'd just like to know why my friend's .dat file is smaller than mine, when I havn't even started playing GW, and he's been playing for months...

Becasue you have what came on the disk, and he has the modifide one, when you connect to GW it will change your dat file erase some and add some, it is constantly changing, hence the name "streaming tecnology", some of the content in the disk dat file is outdated some is no longer used and so on.

Your best bet is to just deal with all the downloads. but, you'll find that everytime you enter a new are there's a lot of stuff to download. if you add the "-image" switch to your shortcut, as mentioned above you wont have to wait for downloads while you play, but this will require a long download. I suggest doing if overnight if you have a slow connection. Once that's done your good to go, and will only have to download other things when updates happen.
As far as the size difference, it's been mentioned before that gw.dat file sizes vary from user to user depending on if they have the full thin downloaded and if the file is defragmented properly. I'm not sure what the size of the game is from chapter to chapter but my dat file is currently 6.10 Gb. Thats with all 3 chapters and everything downloaded. I wouldnt worry too much about the size of the file itself.
Also, if you wanted to copy your friends gw.dat file, and replace that with your own, that should work. But, do this at your own discretion. I've never done it myself but i've heard of people doing it.

Good luck!

Coping from one to the other works fine, I've done it for myself (reformating and saving the data) and for a friend. One problem with downloading that much on dial up is it will take quite some time, I can download around 15-20 megs an hour. So that's around 480MB a (24 hour) day max. So a minimum of around 6 days for 3 gigs at 4KB/s, so around 145 hours. Obviously depending on your connection speed.

Best thing to do imo, would be to take your PC to a friends house that has broadband or to a net cafe (what I did) I was able to download all 4 some gigs in around 3 hours. Granted I pissed off everyone else there. Hehe.

By using the -image after major updates you have the advantage of not spending long waits at the load screens. Although, you will have to wait a bit for -image to complete.

Additionally, the GW.DAT file for older installations may be larger than necessary but can also shrink over time as some extraneous information is discarded.

If your friend just downloaded the client versus having installed the retail (CD) version, this would also impact GW.DAT size.

Moral of the story: don't look at other people's DAT's! Size isn't everything!

man, this shows that people really dont read things through... his question was "why is my dat file larger when i havent downloaded anything yet". Stockholm answered the question, the others made it look like he was complaining about the size, he was only inquiring. Also, gw.dat files over i'd say 3gb are too large, gaile said that with NF (i think) it was about 2.8gb. problem is it does NOT always delete modified files, so people who have played for a bit may have inflated dat files (lik the guy who said his was over 6gb). This is NOT the norm, and deleting the dat to re-download should fix that.

Side Note: The disk version is large because they have streamlined the code over the years, the updates made it smaller and occasional clean ups delete the older files.

And finally, yes 8500 files is 1.5 years of updates. mainly the graphical Factions and Nightfall updates. you'r best bet is to follow the above advice and run -image.

easy instructions for that is goto start then run and type:
C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe -image

that should update the ENTIRE game, removing the massive updates later.... (i'd set this before headin ta sleep=P)

(Note: after running -image, my dat is 2.94 GB (3,166,114,304 bytes) just ran it for the latest update and checked. And yes, i have all 3 campaigns)

Some people get the large dat file bug even on a fresh install because they use the origional install disks.

My dat file is almost 6 gigs. I will be fixing this though. I'm doing a reinstall of windows when I get my Core 2 Duo and mobo soon. Then I am going to download the client and not use any disks, that way I know it is the most up-to-date installer.

They keep saying the dat file will shrink over time, but mine has not. I've been at 5.8gigs for sometime now. It never gets any larger or smaller.

As for the topic creators question, Stockholm answered that. Once you start downloading things the dat file will increase and decrease depending on what old files are replaced or modified or discarded. But it will not do that till you hit that area that needs modification.

I feel bad you have 56k, if you have DSL avalible in your area, get it. It is generally cheaper than dial up and much faster. I have 1.5mb DSL for $30 a month and there is 768k DSL avalible in my area for only $15 a month. Not to mention FIOS is comming soon, thats 10mb down for only $35 a month. I'm on the waiting list.....

My broadband connection arrived!

The first download, for Ascalalon city, is 11,811 files...big ones...is that right considering I installed the retail version?

Yes it will be right. The retail mostly contains the basic files for the game, char creation and such.

Yes, it is.

Since you have Broadband now, you should run "gw.exe -image" to get all the files necessary.

FiOS has ben out for almost a year, possibly more. I myself have had it since January 3rd. Maybe it hasn't come to your area yet, but it's been around for quite a while.

15 mbps download is FTW! Only you'll rarely get that much, my average download speed is anywhere from 450-700 KB/s. On extremely professional servers, however (like Apple's), you'll get near max speed. When I was downloading the lates iTunes I got 1.5 MB/s, which is near 15mbps, if a little less.

But on the original topic, Gw.dat is a strange file, and it almost seems like it has a random size sometimes. But with everything loaded cleanly from the downloadable client (from the website), the file will be around 2.8GB. EDIT: Assuming you run -image, of course.

GW uses streaming update system. This means, that each data fragment (texture, song, model, map, UI bar, font, text, ....) is represented with one "file". This is why you get downloading 8500 files.

Some of these files are mandatory (UI, icons, character models, skill descriptions, ....) and those need to be downloaded before you can even log into the game.

Second set of files is area specific. If you're loging into Lion's Arch, you need to download the data for the map, textures, sounds, NPCs, and similar.

Last set is optional. This pertains to any and all data that you don't immediately need. This data is streamed whenever you're not doing anything, or it's sent in small chunks when loading other maps.

When you first install the game, it will update the very core files. The login screen, the login information, the graphics and music used for that.

When you get to login screen, the game starts streaming mandatory files. Even if you try to play the game, it simply cannot progress before all these files are transferred. So you get "downloading 8500 files". Once that is done, you will receive additional files (only location specific ones) whenever you zone.

Why so many files? Even if you do not have any chapters, you still need all class models, all armor sets, all weapon skins, all skill descriptions, since other people you will meet are using them.

So when you first login, you need to transfer all the data for all 3 chapters minus mission maps and some chapter local data. So basically, even if you only have one chapter, you're getting data for all of it.

Depending on how you travel between places, how much time download manager had, the size of your gw.dat will greatly vary between different computers.

lol, I keep reading that gw.dat should be around 2.88-4GB, however, on checking mine today, i found it was 8.2GB, with all 3 chapters. This seems a bit larger than everyone elses.