Any Possible Faster GW.exe on the web?

I have defragged my whole computer everything was wiped.. i don't have my GW cd's from my original purchase so i had to go to www.guildwars.com
and download the game my computer runs alot faster now. but Whenever i try to go to one place to another it takes 5minutes-to an hour and its not my connection we have high speed from knology and i didnt have this problem from the GW.exe CD's version.

So what i need to know is if their is anywhere that i can find a better GW.exe that wont make me download hours of files that should already be installed..

please help

-john panda


EDIT:

I think i have found what is needed to fix this.. right clicking on the shortcut going to properties and after the "quotes"space-image

Example..

"exe." -image

this is downloading the files missing for me..

and i thought i just share this just in case anyone else needed this answered

It's not the gw.exe that you downloaded that's at fault. When your HD was wiped, you lost a file called gw.dat which is the constntly updated file that stores all the maps and suchlike data. What you need to do is to run Guild Wars using the -image command line switch.

Here's how that works:

Right click on the shortcut to the gw.exe program and select "properties".

In the box that opens, click on the tab marked "shortcut".

In the box marked "target", it should say something along the lines of "C:\\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" (may differ depending on your computer's configuration)

Click in that box and at the end of that text leave a space and add -image

Now click on SAVE at the bottom of the box.

When you run the program now, the game will not run but ALL the maps will be downloaded - this may take several hours. Once it is complete, edit that properties box again and remove the "-image" switch, save and all will be very much faster.

Yes, it's annoying - but it's better than having the delays you are experiencing every time you play the game until all the maps have "trickle downloaded" - which could take weeks.

[edit] Arse - that's what we wiki users call an "edit conflict"

The reason it does this is because it only downloads each area as its needed.

Theres a way to download the entire game at once. To do this right click on the guildwars shortcut on your desktop and go to properties. In the target box write -image (a space before it) on the end of whats already in there (dont delete anything just add -image to the end.. Click ok and then double click the guild wars icon. It will then download all the game files. The will take a while. It will finish automatically and go back to the desktop. Once it has finished right click it again and go to properties, remove -image and click ok. The game will now run without having to update each time you zone.

Edit - And while i was typing too

Maybe try re-installing the game?

I recently purchased Phropechies and played it, before re-installing Factions too. Whenever loading a Factions area, it took AGES. Because I only installed prophecies, and not factions. And this means it had to download all the factions areas before being able to enter them, because I did not install them from the CD.

So I installed Factions too, and now those maps load in an instant!

Wow really? I Didnt know that! Gonna try it right now! Because it still sometimes loads areas I haven't finished yet.

BUT!!!!
Will this install the GWEN and NF areas too? I have not got those games (yet) and therefore won't need those areas!

As far as I know, yes it will. But it will save you downloading them when you get them.

I can confirm it does give you the full up to date game file and there should be minimal file downloads when entering new areas.

I removed the image bit when I had done with it, also I back up the gw folder + files to a safe place every few months to avoid having to do it again.

Simply drop the gw.exe and dat file onto your computer hard disk and run the exe file it quickly reinstalls the game creates shortcuts to desktop and updates the files since your last backup.

Love my external hard disk it saves me so much hassle, dvd rw disk would work fine too.