HD Moveable?

[Joetropian1 1]

My game has been running slower and slower and slower, slower, slower, as I dl these awesome downloadables and I can barely even get it to start anymore. The game is on my computer's normal hard drive of about 20 gigs, which is down to 18%, but the memory is almost filled up. I have another hard drive on my computer though, a 120 gig HD, which is down to 86% and runs fine, with okay memory and stuff. i want to move the game, but  I don't want to uninstall and reinstall the game, as I've got hours worth of downloads and my own cj.

So my question is, can I just drag the game from the filed up hard drive to the newer one, and install it on that one?????

If anybody knows, thank very very much!!!!!

JT1

[Spinmaster 75]

Problem is, if you're talking about trying to move the plugins... nobody has found the answer to that yet. SimCity 4 insists to put it in \My Documents\SimCity 4 ... and it's very thickheaded about it. If you know how to move the "My Documents" folder to the new drive, that might be your answer (and no, a shortcut TO the SimCity 4 folder won't work). Moving the game itself won't save much, only about 1.3 GB. If you still wish to do that though, then uninstall/reinstall is your safest option - uninstall won't touch the \My Documents\SimCity 4 folder nor anything in it, nor will the reinstall overwrite anything there (if anything is missing, the reinstall will put it back... but it won't overwrite anything that's there, even if it's original content e.g. the original regions, they'll stay as they were before you reinstalled).

Outside chance (if you're registry-hack inclined) ... you might get away with copying the game files and updating the HKLM\Software\Maxis\SimCity 4\ "Install Dir" registry key. If you understand that, ok... if not, then it's something you shouldn't do anyway - do the uninstall/reinstall (which won't take much longer than copying 1.3 GB of files from one drive to another anyway). I haven't personally tried editing this registry key, maybe someone who has will chime in with success/failure. But by then, you could've just uninstalled and reinstalled anyway, I'll bet. And none of this addresses the "how do I move the plugins" issue, which is probably your larger problem anyway. See above.

In any case, backup your plugins and regions folders.

Even if you decide not to move anything, backup your plugins and regions folders.

If you do move it all somehow, backup your plugins and regions folders.

Every once in a while when you have a few minutes to spare, backup your plugins and regions folders.

This should be done from time to time anyway, just in case "stuff happens." So... backup your plugins and regions folders (have I mentioned that? )

[Joetropian1 1]

Thanks, that kind of helps. I will try to back up my plugins and region folders.

I think uninstall/reinstall is the best option, but all the plugins would have to be redownloaded and put into the new E:/ (my newer hard Drive) plugin folder. If you look at where the NAM is put after installation, it's always the plugin folder, and the plugin folder is in C:/ (original old filled-up HD).

Unfortunately, I still don't know...

JT1

[CaptCity 4,683]

From N_O_Body in a similar thread...

to move SC4 save the following directories:

My Documents\Simcity 4 and

Program Files\Maxis\Simcity 4\Plugins.

Now, uninstall the game.

Reinstall the game using your new drive.  You cannot move the My Documents\Simcity 4 directory off your system drive unless you do it for all folders in My Documents using the properties box of My Documents.

Now, restore the Program files\Maxis\Simcity 4\Pluings to our new Program Files folder on your new drive and put your My Documents\simcity 4 files back in My Documents.quote>

... and this one by SC4BOY...

You can move it easily but ONLY by moving the "MY DOCUMENTS" folder. You can put it on any drive you like, but the whole thing has to go. Open a folder with MY DOCUMENTS folder showing. Right click it.. select "properties" then select "MOVE" and then select the location where you want it to be. From that point on, all your MY DOCS stuff will be put there and that is where windows will look for it. The MY DOC's location is an environment variable and you can make it what you like.

Depending on how much you use the "my doc's" folder, this can offload a LOT of stuff from the C drive. Mine is about 8 gigabytes.. if yours is similar its like getting a small added drivequote>

^^ Thought these might help...Good luck...

[Joetropian1 1]

Thank you CaptCity, this helps alot! I'll try it tonight and see if it works.

One more dumb question though... Should I install SC4 on the other HD BEFORE I uninstall on the old one?

Thank you thank you!

JT1

[Trioxis 32]

I managed to copy SimCity 4 and the mydocuments part from my old HD to my new one without having to reinstall anything. The game works just fine and the plugins are still there. I use a program called totalcommander to manage files on my drive instead of using 'my computer', so that might help too. Note: I only transferred the plugins and my cities, not everything in my documents.

[CaptCity 4,683]

Joetropian...

I would probably uninstall first. Don't know whether issues would arise uninstalling a program on one drive if the same program is on the other drive or not, but... One thing, though, be sure to backup your Plugins folders first so you can put them back into the new location.

One more thing.. after reinstalling, you'll need to re-update the game.

Trioxis...

from my old HD to my new one quote>

Just curious... Are you talking about having two different drives on the same computer, therefore having different designations. Or do you mean you replaced one drive for another?

[Trioxis 32]

Originally posted by: CaptCity Trioxis...

from my old HD to my new one quote>

Just curious... Are you talking about having two different drives on the same computer, therefore having different designations. Or do you mean you replaced one drive for another?quote>

I was reffering to 2 seperate HDD's. I had a 80Gb and a 40GB HDD in my old computer, I moved everything to the 40GB drive and from there to my new 320Gb HDD.

[CaptCity 4,683]

Understood... Thanks

[prince_of_sims 0]

Ahem. I present to you, the ability to switch plugin folders without having to move the My Documents folder.

Ta Da!

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=3683.0

[CaptCity 4,683]

prince_of_sims

Thanks for the heads-up - lots of useful info there. Hopefully others will notice.

[Spinmaster 75]

Originally posted by: prince_of_sims Ahem. I present to you, the ability to switch plugin folders without having to move the My Documents folder.

Ta Da!

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=3683.0quote>

Pardon me whilst I bang my head on a wall (why don't we have a smiley for this?)... I read that post about a week ago, even copied it just in case it ever disappears, yet completely forgot it.

[Joetropian1 1]

OK, I followed instructions, however I've got a problem: My old HD is now at 5% and my newer one is only down to 85%! It's as though I doubled it in my old one and didn't do anything to my new one! Any ideas?????

JT1

PS My game is now (counting plugins, albums, etc.) at almost 2.5 gigs and it's running a little faster and I can make tall landforms again but still it is extremely slow!

[CaptCity 4,683]

Joetropian1...

Might help to know where you're at in the process and how you attempted to move the game. Sounds like you may have installed the game on the larger drive but copied your Plugins somewhere on your smaller one (really just a guess,though.)

[8-Clipse 1]

I would recommend to get the 3D FX Card that they say you need to have on your PC

It'll help with the whole rate of the game

I got one myself and i have over 3 Gig of Depencies,Buildings and Mod's on mine and i have a harddisk of 450 Gig down to 8%

Quadcore processor and 2.5 gig of memory but i had the same problem as you

My Pc wasnt slow just the Videocard