Will -image download everything for the chapters I dont own?

Obviously things like skills and armor need to be downloaded, but seems like a waste of several gigs if entire continents you cant access are.

I don't think so. Every time I've bought a new GW game there were always brand new downloads to my previously up-to-date client, so obviously the files didn't exist on my hard drive yet.

Yes. Everything anet puts out for content is released and downloaded at the same time, everyone has the same client. When you are buying a campaign, you are actually paying for the right to play it.

Some stuff, like outpost textures and some such, is downloaded when you enter the town, but using -image will have the client download everything.

-image downloads and decompresses every single file available in the game.

So, unless you're gonna waste time downloading and decompressing in every zone you visit, it's probably better to just do it. Besides, the .dat file is only about 3 gigs. Some people get extreme size, but redownloading fixes that. Mine is just barely 3 gigs and I -image once or twice a week.

I always -image each time there is an update, then there no time wasted in-game

It downloads all the content from all the games. If it didn't you wouldn't be able to see other people's armor.

So, how exactly do you set up the -image thing? Right now I have an icon that says Guild Wars -image. That right? I use it all the time LOL my .dat file must be huge.

If clicking on it actually launches your game, then you're doing it wrong.
Check out the link above me.

LOL well i'm doing it wrong. Thanks for the help.

what you want to do is this:


copy your GW shortcut ( I renamed my copy to "Guild Wars -image" as you can see), then enter the properties and add -image where I've circled in the screenshot. Click "Apply" or "OK" and you're done. just open the -image shortcut and it'll download everything. I also use that one after every update to save time.

Cargan

I own all three games + gwen and the bmp and my file is around 3.5 gig. These days thats hardly a spit in the bucket so i wouldn't worry about it. If you having Hd space issues then you will just have to find ways to cut down on some of the files on your HD. Defragmenter helps as well as rutinely running disk cleanup.

And then of course, after you've downloaded, you go back and delete the -image to actually get into the game.

No just have one -image icon on your desktop and one that just says GW then you don't have to delete anything. Click the -image to update and the GW one to play.

AFAIK it downloads everything, including the areas you can't access. I'm not sure if there would be any significant reduction in size if you just had the content for Prophecies, for example.

My gw.dat file is 3.55gig at the moment - it was 4.7 before I did the -image - but it contained pretty much everything before and after.