Tutorial: Portable EL (with photos)

[rasberrybeard]

With this tutorial ill teach you how to make el into a portable app, which could be very usefull for many reasons (such as getting past pesky administrative rights, which this tutorial is based around) Enjoy.

 

Requirments

- 1 Thumb Drive with at least 400 mb of free space. (512mb and 1gig thumbdrives are DIRT cheap nowadays. a 512 should be between 10-15 bucks.)

- Basic understanding of the my computer directory.

 

Thats it! Now follow these easy steps!

 

~STEP 1~

 

-Choose your preffered mirror for the client download from the official site.

-When the download window pops up choose to "save as", and select your thumbdrive directory.

 

~STEP 2~

- Once download is complete go to your thumbdrive directory and run the installer.

- Check I agree and hit next.

- On the next screen UNCHECK the start menu shortcut

 

-Now choose the directory to install. Set it to your thumbdrive, like so.

-Install the client.

 

~STEP 3~

 

- Go to your thumbdrive directory and run the EL client! Voila! (NOTE: The first time you run it, it might freeze and be followed by a windows delayed write failure, im not sure why it does this, and it did it on most computers I tried. Just exit the program and when you open it again it should work)

 

~STEP 4~

 

-When you are done playing do the following, go to "My Documents" located in My Computer. There should be a file named Eternal Lands. Cut and paste this folder into your thumbdrive. This saves your chatlog and client settings.

- The next time you play just put this back in the "my documents" folder.

 

 

 

 

NOTE: I had problems running the map editor with this config, sometimes it ran fine, and other times it didnt. For most of you that shouldnt be a problem.

 

~FAQ~

 

1. With this configuration will I be able to play this on anyones computer without installing anything?

-Yes, you will just run the program straight off your thumbdrive.

 

2. Will my framerate or server latency suffer from this setup.

-No

 

3. Will my settings remain the same no matter which computer I use?

-As long as you take the EL folder from My Documents with you.

 

4. Will putting anything else on my thumbdrive affect this?

-As long as you have enough space for the EL directory files it shouldnt be a problem.

Edited July 14, 2008 by rasberrybeard

[SolarStar]

I heard of the idea of portable software before. Great idea you try this for EL.

 

If you are interested in portable software in general try this site : http://portableapps.com/

 

A HINT: when you overwrite your stick too many times it destroys it. is there an option to turn of the chat.log ?

[Cruella]

Yeah, that might work in some cases, however the biggest obstacles are usually restrictions in network traffic that disallow connection to the server, not EL software installation.

[rasberrybeard]

Yeah, that might work in some cases, however the biggest obstacles are usually restrictions in network traffic that disallow connection to the server, not EL software installation.

 

That is true of any network. Not just restricted ones. I was able to log in from the military network, which is about as strict as they get. I dont forsee a problem other than low bandwidth. And as far as online games go, EL doesnt hog that much bandwidth.

 

A HINT: when you overwrite your stick too many times it destroys it. is there an option to turn of the chat.log ?

I've never heard of such a thing... in fact that sounds pretty silly. But if you are really worried about it. Just delete the El Folder in my documents. It will make a new one each time you play anyways.

Edited July 14, 2008 by rasberrybeard

[Cruella]

Ummmm .... the majority of companies allow just http and ftp protocols, as well as allow connections just on a few selected ports, keeping all others disabled. Even on the untrusted network blocks they block all other network traffic. It has nothing to do with a bandwidth, just with a basic IT policies and security. That's why if you come with your thumbstick to any company that has a strict IT policy, you will be able to run EL as an application, but you won't be able to connect to the server.

[rasberrybeard]

Ummmm .... the majority of companies allow just http and ftp protocols, as well as allow connections just on a few selected ports, keeping all others disabled. Even on the untrusted network blocks they block all other network traffic. It has nothing to do with a bandwidth, just with a basic IT policies and security. That's why if you come with your thumbstick to any company that has a strict IT policy, you will be able to run EL as an application, but you won't be able to connect to the server.

 

Touche. Well this is still usefull for those who wish to have EL as a portable app. For my situation it works perfectly. But seeing as how you made a valid point I went ahead and changed the intro to my tutorial accordingly. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

 

-Just added a FAQ to this.

Edited July 14, 2008 by rasberrybeard

[Gampa]

3. Will my settings remain the same no matter which computer I use?

-The config ini file is located in the El directory, so yes it will.

The ini file in the EL directory isn't used anymore. All settings are stored in the ini file in the My Documents folder.

So settings are only stored if you always copy the EL MY Documents folder back and forth.

[rasberrybeard]

3. Will my settings remain the same no matter which computer I use?

-The config ini file is located in the El directory, so yes it will.

The ini file in the EL directory isn't used anymore. All settings are stored in the ini file in the My Documents folder.

So settings are only stored if you always copy the EL MY Documents folder back and forth.

 

Noted And fixed. Thank you.

 

Ok just edited the tut a lil bit. Since it has been made obvious to me that security isnt really the issue I just geared more towards making it into a portable app.

[rasberrybeard]

EDIT: Hmmm nevermind. It only does that once I set it to 640x480. I think it has something to do with the onboard video card of this computer.

Edited July 14, 2008 by rasberrybeard

[Lu06]

I might try this to see if it will work on my boyf's laptop. I think it's the same laptop I tried EL on before tho and it always crashed after I tried to create a new character or tried to log in as me.

 

I'm not sure if we're allowed to use our character on another IP, I think banned IP's could use this as a work-around?

[Lu06]

I got this error message when I had saved the install file to my portable drive then tried to run it. "Only part of a ReadProcessMemory or WriteProcessMemory request was completed." I unchecked Archive for the file properties but that didn't help.

 

Should I try to run the program instead of saving it if it will let me still install to that drive? The drive is a Generic USB Flashdrive if that information helps. I've never heard of a thumb drive, is that an American term?

[rasberrybeard]

yeah its an american term. You could try saving the install file to your hard drive instead, then just follow the installation instructions I gave. I only said to save it to your thumbdrive, because when i first wrote this I was trying to get around not having admin rights.