Buying Retail CDs - How Much To Download?

Okay, I'm picking up the retail version of Prophecies (GotY edition) next week, so I've got a few questions...

1) Anyone got any idea how much I can expect to have to download on my first connection before entering the starting city?

2) Roughly how much can I expect on average when entering explorable areas in Tyria because of updates since the GotY was compiled?

3) Are files downloaded without -image added to the .dat or do they remain unarchived and perhaps scattered around the GW directory structure? (making them far more of a pain to back up to DVD than if they were added directly to the .dat)

4) If I do an -image, will it just download what it needs to pad out the already-installed .dat or will I have to download an entirely new one?

Yes, I searched (not that good at it), but the relevant hits all seemed to be for the download version of the client and data files.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

I believe -image will download all the files you need into the .dat file. Without the -image, they should also be put on the .dat, but that requires about 2000+ files on your first zone, about 1000 on your next, and probably similar amounts between different areas like Kryta, Shiverpeaks, stuff like that. -image will save you a lot of time in the long run if you're not against leaving your computer on for a few hours while you walk away from it or go to sleep.

Edit: The number of files in zones will be drastically reduced by the CD install, but will still require all other updates, such as armors from different campaigns, and stuff like that.

Simply put, the game loads only the core files & immediate area/armor/misc data on the initial install & 1st load. If you are entering an area for the 1st time, and assuming a cable or faster internet connection, you can probably expect a 1min load time. The best bet would be to do an -image of the game and let it run for a while. You don't have to wait for it to complete, but allowing it to download for a little while will speed things up when you start. This downloading is only necessary once, so it's not like you have to get used to these long load times. For me, I have been working off of the same install of the game between several different computers, so I don't have to deal w/ long load times. A few hours initially may be worth saving you some aggravation while you're actually playing.

The .dat file is around 3GB now, but I'm not sure how much larger that is to the core one you'll get on the retail CD.

I never experienced more than a few seconds in a new area. I got the DEMO disc from a local game store and it loaded, I believe, all the latest software. In fact, when I got a disc for my friend, he loved it and I got him for Christmas an older first edition of the game (the GOTY edition was out) and he didn't even have to install the game. Lucky bastard got the new weapons from GotY edition and a hard copy of the manual. My edition has the pdf manual.

A lot of the load times is also a result of decompressing the files within your .dat, so even if you have a high-speed connection and install from the cd, you can expect a long initial load time. Its best to use the -image command, especially if you intend to play with other people.

The total .dat also currently stands at 3.4 - 4.2 gigs according to the last tread that asked for everyone's .dat sizes.

They are all located within the gw.dat file.

You will not have to dl a new one. -image will decompress and dl into your existing .dat file.

Have you -image'd your .dat? Because mine currently stands at 5.4G :P

As has been said before the intial install it will only download what it needs to load an area. My best advice would be to -image because this way you will get all the game content - including that which you havent currently got access to (I.e. all the expansions) this doesn't mean you will suddenly get a free trip to GW:EN or something it simply means that when you do buy the rest of the expansions to content will already be there - so you can just add your key.

To this end, -image will not overwrite what you have already downloaded, it will simply add to the .dat file.

Okay, so it'll add to the gw.dat file. Good to know. I guess the next question is if there's anyone here using FAT32 instead of NTFS for their file system and if they've had any problems with the gw.dat being so large (since FAT32 can't handle more than 4GB for a single file)?

There was a thread about FAT32 awhile ago, if you search for it you could probably find it.

Even if it fits atm, the .dat file is more than likely only going to get bigger, so think hard before buying it and putting in on that drive. If you're using XP you should be able to convert the file system on your hard drive fairly easily as well.

Using FAT32 at the moment, probably gonna convert to NTFS after a reformat. My full Gw.dat file takes about 3.5 Gigs (fragmented in 20 fragments at the moment) and i don't any problems have with loading

EDIT: the GotY edition was compiled quite a while ago so there will be a fair amount of files on your first download. Worst case: first time loading the game is gonna be about 10 000files and then 1000 files for the first couple of areas. After that 1000-300 files depending on the area. I recommend using -image and letting it run during the night if you have a slow connection.

How do we use this -image?

and does it update only whats in your account or just all of them at once?

Thanks.

Hmmm. I think I'll play it safe and back up my stuff that can't be reinstalled from disc in case of error, then change to NTFS...

ok -image is nice becuz you download everything even if you dont have the games so you can -image befor eyou go to bed and in about 12 hours or so it will be done and no loading screens. fyi the cd's that come with the game only info they have is the ip to download the installer no game files on it other wise, so you dont need the cd to play the game. if you dont have guildwars on a computer go to guildwars.com and click the installer.

ok to -image what you need to do is this ....

1 find guildwars on your desktop right click on it
you should have a drop down come up
2 left click on properties

now you should havea box pop up

target type
target location
target "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" <<<<this is what we will be changing

ok now copy paste this "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -image

and deltete and paste that into target line

then click apply and your done

just d left click guildwars and go to bed.(mine takes about 5 min and i do this about once a week.

ok now your awake and guildwars-image is done, but when you try to start guildwars nothign happens

to fix this follow steps again and instead of "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -image put in "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe"

as yo notice the only difference is a space after " and -image

btw this updates your whle computer does nothign todo with accounts. just that computer so if you play on more then one youwill have to do it to every computer. and its installs everything even things that game doesnt install on its own

nothing on that disc but the link to installer site

mine is 3,740,309kb and like i said i do -image all the time just did it now and nothing new to add so how is yours 5.4

Edit post button is ftw...double post is no no.

If you haven't imaged your .dat file in awhile it will be bigger.

I meant backing up the files on my hard disc, not the GW CD, when I convert to NTFS.

Edit: And are you sure about that? ie, do you actually have the game disc (since GotY is apparently a single DVD) yourself to confirm? After all, the standard edition, collectors edition and special edition all have multiple CDs, presumably containing actual data...

All files are in the one .dat file.

I don't specifically know the answer to this, but I think a -repair would.

All things considered, I would agree that the best advice is to just use the -image command (whether it does a whole new .dat or not). It's easy to do and can be done while you are at work or sleeping. Since, I've had GW since almost the very beginning, mine has been constantly updated, so I have no idea how much you would have to load when going into new areas, but why not just -image anyway?

Mainly because I'm on a 256kbit (30KB/s - 1.75MB/minute - on average with a decent connection) cable connection. It should be adequate for actual play - it only begins to crap out when there's 15-20 human players in UT2004, for example - but for straight up downloading, well, a 3.5GB+ gw.dat would take a very, very long time - roughly 34 hours.

So you can see why I'm hoping that it'll be smaller or that, if I jump right in, the downloads while playing won't be *too* extreme when first starting or when I move to the next explorable area...

But, if I'm reading things correctly here and elsewhere, -image only downloads stuff you don't already have (or that doesn't need to be replaced by an update) and that it can be safely interrupted and resumed, so I'm probably going to play *and* -image overnight. (I'll be too impatient to wait for a full gig or two to download before playing, but not so impatient that I can't handle a 10 or 15 minute break between areas - I won't be PUGing or Guilding for a fair while after I get the game anyways, so no other humans'll be inconvenienced 'til I get it all

Not sure if the actual download size it 3.5GB. I think the data transmited to you is compressed and thus the download is smaller than 3.5GB. Really not sure about this, so if someone who knows for sure can confirm it would be nice.

I know it's bad form to practice necromancy in forums, but I figured it was better than to create a new topic.

So, I just got the GotY and have started downloading - only around 150MB in 13,004 files, so it didn't take long at all to get into Ascalon (even on 256kbit cable - 30KB/s for a sustained average). I *will* be -image'ing overnight over the next few days, of course, as well as actually playing during the day, so it won't be *too* bad.

And it's running great on my Sempron 2800+ @ 1.6GHz, 128/256MB GeForce 6200TC (not integrated), and 1GB RAM which leaves around 600MB free once the system's up and counting the 128MB the video card'll steal. Well, not *great* - if it were actually great, I'd be able to run at 1024x768 and with all the details turned up and antialiasing on. But it still looks good and plays well at 800x600 with medium details...

So thanks again for the responses.