I download all the set up files for Big Fish games that I purchase directly to a very large external drive - and then just transfer what game I want to play, when I want to play it, to my Win7 machine.

However, once Win7 has to come off-line, and if I condescend to have a Win10 machine would I be able to play those games (any that would play on Win10, that is) by plugging the external drive in to IT ??

[If that is a ridiculous question please excuse my techie ignorance !! ]

Mad - you know I can't answer your question but I have some questions for you. Do you have the Big Fish Game Ap on the external drive then that you are able to download to it. If not, how does that work? And if so, can't you just play the games there instead of transferring them to your computer?

Is your external drive Win 10 compatible?

I hope MY questions aren't stupid!

Hi oldbroad.

Your questions can't be any more stupid than mine !!

Anyway, these are the instructions I used when I first wanted to try and do it :-

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

At the BF games manager, tell it where you want the game downloaded.
- Open the "options" tab.
- Select download.
- fill in the "games location installation". (example: D:\HOG)
It will automatically download the BF games there.
- They are labelled the same as what you downloaded.
--------
I make my own - shortcut to desktop.
Right click the application file.
This enables me to skip the games manager part and opens the game directly.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As far as I know, the games aren't able to be played using the external drive nor do I have any idea whether the particular external drive I am currently using would be Win10 compatible.
Although probably not. I expect it would have to be re-formatted.
Which kind of answers my OWN question !!

[What is the "Big Fish Game Ap" ??]

Cheers.

Mad

I think the Big Fish game app allows you to choose your default installation location.
At least it used to.



In my experience, when you copy the game's installation folder from one computer to the hard drive on another computer, the game acts as a demo and times out in 60 to 90 minutes. Unless you are able to activate the game on the 2nd computer, the game will only be playable for 60 to 90 minutes (or whatever the demo allows).

Someone did figure out how to back up their Big Fish installation folders to the point where they were able to activate the games on the new computer without having to re-download the whole game. But that someone wasn't me. I think they managed to pause the Big Fish Game Manager between the time when it downloaded and when it activated, and back up the unactivated folder before completing the activation. But I wasn't able to get this to work. I've always had to re-download the whole mess from Big Fish on the new computer if I wanted to play the game on the new computer.

If you uninstall a Big Fish game after activating it, the computer will remember the activation. In that case you could copy a game folder from an external hard drive to the main hard drive (or even just play directly from the external drive) and it would work without having to be activated a second time. So if you have a small hard drive, there's still a reason to back up games on an external hard drive.

I always use the desktop shortcut to play the games. The games manager opens up after I quit out of the game though.

Big Fish Game Ap is the games manager. I just couldn't get the right words out of my mouth.

Jenny - I remember that post by somebody who activated the games later on a different computer. You know if you don't hit "activate" right away, the installation will "fail". You can probably move the game then before hitting "activate".

I've often wondered if you can just download the Big Fish games manager (or maybe the GOG Galaxy or Steam for that matter) to an external drive, download the games there and play them from there. Mad - that's why your question here is of big interest to me also, even if in a slightly different way and reason.

Edit. Huh. Never even noticed "options" in the games manager. Thanks.

I think what Mad means is that she makes her own shortcut.
If you do that, the Games Manager does not open when you click the shortcut and the game starts faster (and is sometimes also more stable).


Whenever the installation "fails" I end up having to download the entire game again. It will never pick up where it left off. Maybe your experience is different. I use an old Dell laptop for nearly all Big Fish games, and it has some Dell proprietary differences from retail Windows.


In most cases, yes you can do that. You are allowed to install your games on another computer that you own. Just install whatever game client is needed and log in and you should be able to access downloads for your games. Of course you do need a connection to the Internet on the computer. Normally game companies like Steam, Big Fish, or GOG do not limit the number of times you can install your games or the number of your computers that you can install on. You may get an email saying someone logged in on a computer Steam or GOG or whatever doesn't recognize, but that should be a one-time thing on a new computer and doesn't block downloads.

The exception would be Steam games with 3rd party DRM that restricts the number of times you can install a game. I suggest avoiding any Steam games that use Denuvo or the like. There are plenty of good games with minimal or no DRM that won't block you from playing games you paid for.

There used to be some download sites that restricted the number of times you could install a game to a maximum of either 3 times or 5 times. There was ***Adventure Shop*** that eventually went bust, leaving Gameboomers members without access to their games when they got new computers and couldn't install games they'd bought at Adventure Shop on them because the server was gone. I think HerInteractive restricted your downloads unless you paid extra (though I haven't tested whether you can install more than once if you back up your download). I know some people have perfect memories and can remember games they played 20 or 30 years ago. But I can't, and I want to be able to re-install and replay any games I paid for. Yes I remember bits and pieces when I replay an old favorite, but mostly they are like a new game.

Probably why I didn't understand her statement. How do you make your own shortcut? When I use the desktop shortcut from the install, the games manager does not open. It only opens when I quit out of the game and I see under options that I can check a box to stop that I think.


I've never had to redownload when the installation failed due to me stepping away from my computer and not being there to click "activate now" or whatever it says. Not even when I was using a Dell. Maybe it's a laptop thing.


In most cases, yes you can do that. You are allowed to install your games on another computer that you own. Just install whatever game client is needed and log in and you should be able to access downloads for your games. Of course you do need a connection to the Internet on the computer. Normally game companies like Steam, Big Fish, or GOG do not limit the number of times you can install your games or the number of your computers that you can install on. You may get an email saying someone logged in on a computer Steam or GOG or whatever doesn't recognize, but that should be a one-time thing on a new computer and doesn't block downloads.

The exception would be Steam games with 3rd party DRM that restricts the number of times you can install a game. I suggest avoiding any Steam games that use Denuvo or the like. There are plenty of good games with minimal or no DRM that won't block you from playing games you paid for.



Mad - Sorry - I did not mean to take over your post here!!

Jenny - Sorry I didn't try to attempt the separate quotes. I'm still getting used to using the quotes thing as it is!

Right-click the game .exe
Then click "Send to" and then "Desktop (create shortcut)"
Check ***this picture***.


There's a list of Steam games with 3rd party DRM here
https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_3rd_Party_DRM_on_Steam

I think Steam usually mentions if a game has 3rd party DRM. At least they used to.
For example, here's a link to the Web Archive version of the Steam page for Syberia 3,
***web archive of Syberia 3 webpage at Steam***
which says "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Anti-tamper"

The current Steam webpage for Syberia 3 doesn't mention Denuvo, and one of the user reviews says they removed it



I think download restrictions are an option the DRM company offers to the publisher. It's up to the publisher whether they decide to add that restriction. The website at
https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_3rd_Party_DRM_on_Steam
tells which games have installation limits.


Yes, Syberia 3 was released with Denuvo and there are "Darkside" games with it on Steam. For example, two famous Assassin's Creed games.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/582160/Assassins_Creed_Origins/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/812140/Assassins_Creed_Odyssey/
And you can see those have the warnings from Steam about the DRM. There is a link to the EULA, which mentions Denuvo at some point.

Jenny, thank you for all of this information which I will look at but probably tomorrow, not tonight. It's nearing my bedtime.

As far as the making a shortcut goes. I did know how to do that. I guess that since Big Fish automatically creates one, I'm confused as to why you would make a different one and thought there might be something else involved.

Also, keeping this info on a word doc for future reference although whether I'll remember I have it a month from now is debatable.

Edit: Took a quick look. Most of the games look to be darkside but I did see some that I have. Will really need more time to study the list better and find if any of the ones I have, have download quantity restrictions.

I always make a shortcut from game exe file... that way I don't have to deal with the annoying Big Fish game manager. My game just starts up and closes.

Making a direct shortcut to the game exe means you don't have the Game Manager running in the background. Don't be fooled into thinking the Big Fish Game Manager isn't running in the background while you're playing the game. It automatically pops up a window when you exit the game, but that doesn't mean it wasn't running before you saw the window. Think about it -- how would it know to pop up its window unless it was already running and could detect when you exited the game?

Sometimes the Game Manager will conflict with the game and crash it. When the game crashes, it may corrupt your save. Since Big Fish only allows you one save, that means you have to start over.

I've also had Big Fish games (like Mushroom Age) that don't save unless you run them as an Administrator (not to be confused with being logged into an Administrator account). You have to either right-click the game exe and choose to "Run As Administrator" or right-click a shortcut that points directly to the game exe and choose to "Run As Administrator." Running the shortcut Big Fish makes as Administrator does not run the game as Administrator -- it only runs the Big Fish Game Manager as Administrator, and that doesn't automatically run the game as Administrator -- so the game isn't able to save if it needs to be "Run as Administrator" to save.

Ah, thank you for that information and especially interesting that you mention Mushroom Age as I have that downloaded and ready to play soon.

Sorry I couldn't get back here any sooner, Jenny100, and thank you very much for your response

Looks like I will have to download my Big Fish games all over again, then, if I ever go for Win10 and want to play them on it.
What a hassle

[ Looks like you have got some good info, too, oldbroad ]

Mad - I'm not seeing why you think you would have to redownload the games. If your external drive is compatible with Win 10 and you decide to use Win 10, it seems you can do your playing the same way you are now on the Win 7. Or just keep playing them on Win 7. ??

I decided to try Mushroom Age with the Big Fish shortcut and so far it is saving for me. The game does only save at the end of a chapter though and then it will continue into the next chapter before you can exit, so you do have to see some stuff over.

Yes Mad, lots of info for me to go through.

oldbroad ....

Once I have to take my Win 7 off-line, I won't be able to play ANY Big Fish games on that machine because an internet connection would be required.
And Jenny100 said my games will all "become demos" without one

And I don't know if the setup game files I currently have stored on my large external drive would be "valid" on a Win 10 machine.
I think not.
But I still need a Techie to give an opinion on that

I'm not sure you understood me, Mad.
If you've installed a game on your hard drive and activated it with the Game Manager, the game will stay activated on that computer even if you uninstall it. Big Fish games that have been installed and activated do not suddenly become demos when the computer goes offline. It's only when you want to install a new game on that computer that you need to go online again.

If you've never installed and activated that particular Big Fish game on that computer, you'll need to install it and activate it at least once.


You can copy (not move) the game folder to an external drive, then uninstall the game using the Game Manager. Now you have a copy of the game on your external drive, and the game has been activated on that computer even though it's been uninstalled.

If you attach that external drive back to that same computer, and play from the external drive, the game will work as an activated game. Or you can copy the game folder back to the hard drive and the game will play from that location too. You may have to create a new Desktop shortcut for the game if you change the location of the folder.

If you attach that external drive to a computer where the game was never installed before and try to play the game, it will play as a demo.

The difference is whether the game was activated on the particular computer or not.


Backing up the setup files is practically worthless. All the tiny setup files do is start the Big Fish Game Manager, which automatically connects to Big Fish and downloads the game files from Big Fish's server over the Internet. The only advantage of backing up Big Fish game setup files is that if you have hundreds of them in your collection, you may be able to sort them so that they're easier to find than the way Big Fish sorts them.

If you back up anything, it should be the game folder. The game will work on any computer where the game has been activated, but will play as a demo if played on a computer where the game was never activated.

Ahhhhh. Thank you so much, Jenny100. I think I now fully understand.
[And sorry for being so dumb ]

All the games I've already downloaded to my external drive (and which have been activated on Win7) will be available for me to play on my Win7 machine even when that machine is no longer connected to the internet.

But to play any Big Fish games on a different machine I will have to download them anew - either directly to that machine or to an external drive connected to that machine - and they must be activated on that machine.

[And I misled you by calling the games I have downloaded "setup" files. They are, of course, the total game files.]

So now all I have to do is check that I've download and activated every game from Big Fish that I will still want to be able to play on my Win7 machine once it has been taken off line !!

Again, my sincere thanks

Mad, I don't think you would have to redownload the games to play them on Windows 10 if you get a Windows 10 computer. I think you would just have to download the Big Fish Game Manager and plug the external drive into the Windows 10 computer and move them over as you are now, unless I am mis-understanding about you moving them over. I am reading that you download the games direct to the external drive, move them over when you're ready to play them and activate them then. If that's right, then it seems to me you could do the same on the Windows 10. ?? (I hope I am not confusing the issue more.)

Besides, you know you are going to have a Windows 10 computer so you can come visit us here, right?

I'll wait and see what Jenny100 says in response to your post, oldbroad. I could have got it wrong again as that's certainly not a problem for me

"Besides, you know you are going to have a Windows 10 computer so you can come visit us here, right? ;)]

Hahaha !! Oh, I won't need Win 10 to visit Gameboomers. If push comes to shove I can get here via my iPad

You're anything but dumb.
I'm sorry if my explanation was confusing.


That's right.


Correct -- Alternatively, you might be able to download a game, allow it to install, but pause it before it activates, and save the game folder to the external hard drive while the game folder is in that unactivated state. In that case you might be able to get around re-downloading the game, but you'd still have to be connected to the Internet in order to activate. I've never gotten this to work, but some other people have said they did, and didn't have to re-download the game in order to activate it.


Yes. And one other thing you might want to do (or get your tech to do) is make a drive image from your Windows 7 hard drive. That way if your hard drive goes bad, but the rest of the computer is OK, you can transfer the image to a new hard drive, replace the old hard drive with the new one, and you'll have your old Windows 7 installation just as it was at the time you imaged it, including any game activations. I've done this once on an XP computer where the old hard drive was starting to fail. I managed to make a drive image of the failing drive (best to make the image before the drive starts to fail, but you can sometimes make an image before the drive is too far gone, depending on which parts of the drive are failing). After transferring the drive image to a new drive and installing the new drive in the computer, I got my old Windows XP back as well as all installed games, which hadn't lost any game activations.

They will play as demos unless they've been activated on the Windows 10 computer. The Game Manager does not automatically activate all your games on every computer you install the Game Manager on.


That only works if the game folder was copied over before it was activated on the previous computer. There's a difference between copying over a folder after a game was installed and activated -- and copying over the game folder after it was installed but before it was activated.

I haven't managed to get an unactivated game folder to activate without redownloading and reinstalling the whole thing, but some people have reported that they were able to do so on their computers.

If the Game Manager puts activation information in the game folder, it will take a snapshot of the computer it's being installed on (the way Windows does) and will compare that snapshot with whatever computer the game is being run on. So if you copy that game folder to a different computer, the game will recognize that it's being played on a different computer than the one it was activated on. The activation information doesn't say "this game is activated" -- it says "this game was activated on a computer with these specific components (this specific video card, this specific motherboard, etc.), and if these specific components don't match those of computer the game is being played on, the game will act as a demo."

Okay, thank you Jenny. I apologize for having you need to repeat yourself and try to find a different way to explain it to me. I still don't think I quite get it as some things I really need to be doing "hands on" for the understanding part to sink in and , but the important thing is that Mad understands it since she is the one using this information. I'll zip my mouth now.


EDIT: Well, my mouth didn't stay zipped for very long. I happen to have my "downloads folder" (as well as a bunch of other stuff and please don't ask what, how, or why) from my Dell computer transferred onto this computer, and I just looked in there and found some Big Fish .exe applications. I right clicked one to look at "properties" and it does state at the bottom "This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer." There is an option to "unblock". I don't know what game it is and I'm afraid to even try to find out, but just thought I'd update this post.

I would guess those .exe files are game installers. If the Big Fish Game Manager isn't already installed on that computer, the .exe will probably try to download it.
The "unblock" option is probably there because of your antivirus, or possibly because of a Windows security update.

The same message and "unblock" button are there with the "desktop theme packs" I had downloaded onto that Dell computer, but I don't see it on some other things I spot checked.

You can try uploading them to virustotal.com
and see what they say. Sometimes they identify the file as well as say whether it's "clean."