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Registry Fix


Akshay

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So, I recently had this problem with Muv-Luv, but I have had this problem with several other older VN's such as Yumina the Ethereal and I/O.

When I install one of these games, to a specific location it runs only from that location. If i move it to a different folder/disc drive, the game no longer runs. Moving it back however, fixes this.

From random searches, and trying to google the problem, it seems to me what is happening, is that the registry pathing for the VN is fixed to the installation folder, and will not run from anywhere else.

If this is the problem, how do you change/edit it to make the game work in any folder, without reinstalling.

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Well, if you only want to move it once then firing up regedit, finding the registry entries the VN uses, and changing them to point to the new location usually works. This is how I used to fix registry entries for pre-patches back in the day; I made a batch file which automated this for the end user. If you're interested in how to make such a file I can provide examples. The other option is to somehow alter the program to not use registry entries, which would take reverse engineering the program code. If you knew how to do that, you would probably not be asking this question.

You might be able to make a folder link to another physical location by using some of the linking options in windows. This is somewhat annoying to set up in my experience and I'm not sure if it'd fundamentally solve your problem (what do you actually want to achieve with this moving files thing?).

Be careful when using regedit, if you delete something the system needs you're in trouble. That's something you'd have to mess up pretty hard to do in my experience, but I'm not a normal person.

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3 hours ago, Zakamutt said:

Well, if you only want to move it once then firing up regedit, finding the registry entries the VN uses, and changing them to point to the new location usually works. This is how I used to fix registry entries for pre-patches back in the day; I made a batch file which automated this for the end user. If you're interested in how to make such a file I can provide examples. The other option is to somehow alter the program to not use registry entries, which would take reverse engineering the program code. If you knew how to do that, you would probably not be asking this question.

You might be able to make a folder link to another physical location by using some of the linking options in windows. This is somewhat annoying to set up in my experience and I'm not sure if it'd fundamentally solve your problem (what do you actually want to achieve with this moving files thing?).

Be careful when using regedit, if you delete something the system needs you're in trouble. That's something you'd have to mess up pretty hard to do in my experience, but I'm not a normal person.

I store all my VNs on my hard drive. I  don't keep the installers. When I copy it to my computer to replay them the pathing gets messed up. It would be great if you could give me a step by step instructions on fixing this.

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I'm still not sure why you're not just running things off your hard drive to begin with, or putting them back in the same place they were (do you install the games on a stationary computer, put them on an external hard drive then bring them to your laptop or what? - just install them on your laptop then transfer the files to your external instead then...), but w/e maybe there are reasons.

Every engine is different, so I can't give you a guide that works for everything. However, this is how you would generally do things.

First, you need to find out what registry entries it needs while the VN is still installed. To do this,

1. Open up the registry editor (usually pressing the windows key and typing regedit then pressing enter works, otherwise google it)
2. Now find where the VN keeps its registry entries. Usually this is in HKEY_CURRENT_USER or maybe HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /Software/[insert developer, brand or VN name here]/[VN name, usually]

WS58Qlj.png
Maki Fes doesn't actually use an install path registry entry, but I added a fake one that matches what I've seen


3. Note down the registry keys needed. An easy way to save the values is to use the export optiont that pops up when you right click a registry key in the left-hand view tfnwKOX.png

 

4. When moving the VN elsewhere, you need to add these keys back. It's possible just double-clicking the .reg file will do it, but if any paths are different you will need to either open regedit afterwards and edit the entry, or change the .reg file before running it (you can open it with a text editor like notepad)
7At39Rx.png
A typical example

...And that's it, I guess. Different computers might want the keys to be in different top-level folders (CURRENT_USER vs LOCAL_MACHINE), but I'm not really an expert on that, try it out yourself if you're out of ideas I guess.

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50 minutes ago, Zakamutt said:

I'm still not sure why you're not just running things off your hard drive to begin with, or putting them back in the same place they were (do you install the games on a stationary computer, put them on an external hard drive then bring them to your laptop or what? - just install them on your laptop then transfer the files to your external instead then...), but w/e maybe there are reasons.

Every engine is different, so I can't give you a guide that works for everything. However, this is how you would generally do things.

First, you need to find out what registry entries it needs while the VN is still installed. To do this,

1. Open up the registry editor (usually pressing the windows key and typing regedit then pressing enter works, otherwise google it)
2. Now find where the VN keeps its registry entries. Usually this is in HKEY_CURRENT_USER or maybe HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /Software/[insert developer, brand or VN name here]/[VN name, usually]

WS58Qlj.png
Maki Fes doesn't actually use an install path registry entry, but I added a fake one that matches what I've seen


3. Note down the registry keys needed. An easy way to save the values is to use the export optiont that pops up when you right click a registry key in the left-hand view tfnwKOX.png

 

4. When moving the VN elsewhere, you need to add these keys back. It's possible just double-clicking the .reg file will do it, but if any paths are different you will need to either open regedit afterwards and edit the entry, or change the .reg file before running it (you can open it with a text editor like notepad)
7At39Rx.png
A typical example

...And that's it, I guess. Different computers might want the keys to be in different top-level folders (CURRENT_USER vs LOCAL_MACHINE), but I'm not really an expert on that, try it out yourself if you're out of ideas I guess.

Fixed. Thank you so much.  The thing is I have about 20 free gb on my harddrive and a 4 tb external. I keep most of my VN's on my external, and move them to my laptop to play them.

Sometimes I like replaying parts of a VN. This is where I ran into the problem. When I copied it somewhere else on my computer (or forgot the original place), it stopped working. As i can spend several hours playing a VN, sometimes with my laptop on the bed, I don't like running it straight from my hard drive. 

Thanks again, for the awesome answer, complete with pictures.

New tag -> Reggedit for dummies

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