This might not exactly seem handy but it does allow you to do it and once you get used to it, it's quite simple and fast. I use this for rushing myself if I need too and I did
I'm not aware of any other ways to do this. After I made some extensive searching on the area I came up with this solution.
**I will not be held responsible if anything goes wrong, so use this guide at your own risk!**
1: Prerequisites:
#1: You will need copies of the game (2 accounts) for this to work.
#2: You will be Editing your Regedit.
#3: You will need 2 user accounts under your Windows - Windows XP was used for this.
2: Editing Regedit - Windows User Account 1:
#1: Go to your Regedit by - 'Start > Run > Type regedit'.
like this
#2: You have your Guild Wars installed at a certain location (e.g c:\Games\Guild Wars)
#3: These regs are located in 2 places in your reg database you only need 1.
#4: Export this to your desktop - call it whatever you want (e.g gwregs)
like this
#5: Open the file you exported with Notepad.
#6: Go to your Guild Wars Directory.
#7: Copy what you have in your Guild Wars Directory (you dont need the screenshots folder).
#8: Create a new folder and paste it into a new Folder e.g Guild Wars 2.
Right, you now have 2 Folders with the same game but you still can't run 2 instances - hang in there
#9: You need to create a Second Windows User Account now - This is done under Start > Control Panel > User Accounts.
#10: Switch to that new Windows User Account now by doing 'Start > Log Off > Switch User'. Give it some time to Load the first time.
#11: Go back to the original Windows User Account.
Alright this is the tricky part. We have 1 reg file now called gwregs (#4).
like this
Notice how this file points to the first folder with GW.
We need another Reg file that directs the database to the second "installation" - The folder we created and copy/pasted GW into (#6-#8). Make it like the picture below with notepad.
like this
Notice how this file points to the second folder with GW.
I save both my regs files in the second folder with GW.
3: Finishing up and preparing for PLAY!:
By switching user and playing with the regdatabase we can succesfully run 2 instances of Guild Wars at the same time.
#1: Go ahead and delete this in your reg database (regedit) [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] > Software > ArenaNet **Make sure you have both regfiles saved properly as .reg before doing this**.
#2: Double-Click on your gwregs (first one we made) and confirm to add it to your database.
#3: Run Gw.exe in your original Guild Wars folder.
#4: Switch Windows User Accounts (the one we created in #2:#9).
#5: Run regedit and delete this in your reg database [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] > Software > ArenaNet.
#6: Double-Click the second .reg file we created (gwregs2.reg) and confirm to add it to your database.
#7: Run Gw.exe from your second GW folder. It will now give you a notification about choosing your Install directory. Press OK.
The second instance should now connect to ArenaNet and then load up and Voila
You are now running 2 instances of the game and you switch between them by simply switching Windows User Accounts. I found it NON laggy on my system but performance might be noticibly decreased on other systems.
I'm well aware this, for most will not seem very user friendly at all and I do hope someone comes up with another way, like I intentionally intended with running 2 instances from the same Windows Account and GW directory, but it'll do for now.
** Remember you have to delete and add the reg files whenever you quit the game (e.g Windows User Account #1 for gwregs and Windows User Account #2 for gwregs2)**
Hope you enjoy this guide.
