Storing BF Games on External Drive / Accessing Games WITHOUT the GM

I'm hoping this is going to be easy to understand, but if you need help, please let me know and I'll do my best.

You will need to uninstall your Game Manager, then reinstall in a different way.  Go HERE for instructions to to uninstall, then grab the file you need to reinstall.  I recommend saving the file on your hard drive somewhere easy to find.

GM all uninstalled?  Good!  Now use the reinstall file from Big Fish.  Just find where you saved the bfginstaller and double-click it.  Accept the user agreement, and it will install.  Once it finishes, you'll see the following:


Check the boxes if you wish (I prefer not to use the shortcut icons), then click on the "Advanced" button.


The C:\Program Files you see in the screen above is the default location, and likely where you have your game files saved right now.  Click on the "Browse" button, find your external drive, then click the OK button.

Now that you've got the path chosen, it should be showing where the C:\Program Files was.  Click on the "Next" button.

Provide your e-mail address, as required, then select the "Finish" button.  Be sure to unselect the Game Splash box if you don't want to receive the weekly e-mail (not the Daily Game Splash -- this is the one that tells you when the TOPSECRET sales, etc. are running.)

Now you're all set up to start downloading on your external drive!

But wait... where are all of your previously installed games? 

Don't panic, they're still there!  It's just the the GM is no longer looking on your main hard drive, so it can't see them!
Never fear, Genkicoll is here    and I'll tell you how to access these previously installed games in the next post!

Now, part II of the tutorial will not only tell you how to access the games on your main hard drive, but will also show you how to load your BF games without going through the Game Manager!

You saw in the first post that your games are, by default, installed here:  C:\Program Files  , so this is where we're going to look for your already-installed games.  Don't know how to look there?  That's OK, I'll walk you through it

First, make sure hidden files and folders are showing:

 - Go to your C: drive by clicking on "My Computer" or "Computer," depending on which version of Windows you have.   If you don't see an option that says "Tools," please press "Alt" on your keyboard, and you'll see the option pop up towards the top of the box.

 - Click on "Tools" and then click on "Folder Options."

 - Click on the "View" tab. Under Hidden Files and Folders, select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives," then click "OK."

Nice!  Now you can see everything in there!

Find your main hard drive C:  which you should be able to see already.  You can find by clicking on Computer, then Local Disk (C:)

Once you've found that, scroll down 'til you see Program Files click on that.  Now you're in the C:\Program Files directory, and you can start looking for your games.

Let's say you're looking for Farm Craft.  Find the Farm Craft folder and select it.  Now you're in C:\Program Files\Farm Craft   It will look something like this:


You're going to want to find game Application that looks like the game's icon.  In the above example, you can see that it says Application on the right-hand side, but you may see it in the file's name, instead.  What you may see, instead, is FarmCraft.exe.  This is the file you want.

You COULD double-click it and enter the game, but you really don't want to have to do this EVERY. SINGLE. TIME you want to enter the game, do you?

No?

I didn't think so!  So here's what you do next!

You've found the right file, but you want easy access!  Right-click on the icon, scroll down until your mouse is hovering over "Send to," then select "Desktop (create shortcut)."  It will look something like this:


Wheee~!!   We've made a shortcut, and no need to mess with the darned BF "app" (GM).

Oh... it says "FarmCraft Shortcut," you say?  Well, just rename it!  Click on the icon, wait a moment, then click the text under the icon.  You can now call it whatever you want, though "Farm Craft" works for me~

You're likely to have a lot of games you need to make shortcuts for, so you might want to organize your desktop.  I have folders that I sort these things into, such as "TM's & Match 3's," "HOG's," "Adventures," etc.

In case you don't know how to make folders, it's realllllly easy!  Just right-click on your desktop, hover your mouse over "New," then select Folder.  Name it whatever you want, then drag and drop the appropriate icons on to the folder.  Easy peasy!  

One last note, and that is that not all of your games may be right there in the C:\Program Files folder.  If you notice some are missing, go one tier further and enter the Games folder -- C:\Program Files\Games , then continue your search.

I hope you've enjoyed your walk down "Get Around Big Fish's Darned Game Manager" lane, and tell your friends if you need any further instructions... or rather, ASK GENKI!

Wow, this looks awesome (and just a little intimidating, lol) and I'll be sure to give it a try.
Any suggestions for external drives? What, how big and where to buy? Sadly, I'm so un-tech-savvy I've NO idea.  

Thanks for all the info, Genki!

OMG...I didn't realize it worked like that. I thought the manager was connected somehow no matter what. Now I'm not so worried.

I did just give part of this a try. I ran the game from the application in the game file and when I shut it down, the manager didn't pop up as usual. YAY!

Thanks, Genki. 

thanks very useful these days I'll have to buy an external drive I hope to transferred via all without problems, however the fact remains that I do not know whether to download games and from which site. I do not trust most of bfg, and they have also exclusive as boomzap

There is a problem with putting your games on your external hard drive, which I had forgotten... Overheating.  Check out THIS POST for more information.

Still, the information is useful if you have a secondary hard drive that has more room than your primary drive

I'm not exactly sure this works. It seems like it's only changing the paths to Game Manager and the games. I had GM installed on D: and games on E:. Now I have GM on C: and games on D:. You could always run games directly from the .exe, even with everything in default locations - it was used to bypass black screen on start and games crashing on exit.

BFG uses two processes for their game management. One is the Game Manager (bfgclient.exe), the one that you see and interact with. The other is bfggameservices.exe. This one is invisible. It appears when you activate games and disappears after some time. It's this one that connects to Internet after installing a game. It seems to be tied to DRM and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it was running checks in the background when you start a game bypassing bfgclient.exe.

This would explain the other post - that you can run games only on computer from which they were downloaded to the external. Not only that, but a lot of programs create registry keys and won't work without them. Some will appear gimped (not opening their file formats, no auto run, etc), but will run from .exe. Other will give a straight error. It doesn't work even on the same computer. I used dual boot with XP and Vista and had about 10 programs installed on data partition (not the two system ones) and only 4 programs could run on both systems. Others had to be reinstalled for XP and Vista separately.

Hi Yolanded, I've seen your posts over at the other site. I feel the same way as you. Since casual gaming is such a big part of my recreational activities, I'm not sure what other site I would use to buy games from.
I've thought about buying directly from the developers or maybe using Amazon. Whichever way I decide to go...my game buying will be cut down.

I loved BFG and the ease of buying from them. I love all their sales & PCCs and the most important thing, I trusted them. My CC has been in their files for many years, never had any problems at all. In fact, they are the only ones I purchase games from.
I just don't know where else I would go to buy games.

:Huh:    I'll have to 'study well the question   , I have space in the pc for gaming but if I change it or broken it is more convenient external drive. certainly have to know first.

all experience  

thank you

djrum wrote:Hi Yolanded, I've seen your posts over at the other site. I feel the same way as you. Since casual gaming is such a big part of my recreational activities, I'm not sure what other site I would use to buy games from.
I've thought about buying directly from the developers or maybe using Amazon. Whichever way I decide to go...my game buying will be cut down.

I loved BFG and the ease of buying from them. I love all their sales & PCCs and the most important thing, I trusted them. My CC has been in their files for many years, never had any problems at all. In fact, they are the only ones I purchase games from.
I just don't know where else I would go to buy games.

djrum hello, I was their member 1 year, also had intention of becoming a member of the Italian site, because it seemed there were more new games ..... these days I'm looking for other sites between Italian and old games have cost more, and say that I have a wish list of upcoming releases, but many must have exclusive BF ... is a problem that do?  

Yolanded, I don't know what I'm going to do. My fear is this...the developers are going to either quit making casual games or they will, most definitely, slow down.
Not the big developers, like ERS or Elephant....yet.

If this is the case, it wouldn't matter where we bought games at, there just wouldn't be any to buy.

I'm hoping we will always have access to our games bought from BFG without using an external hard drive. I have one big problem...my desktop does not have the new BFGA. If I uninstall my old GM, I'll get the new BFGA and maybe inherit all its problems.

I am stuck, no matter which way I go.

djrum wrote:Yolanded, I don't know what I'm going to do. My fear is this...the developers are going to either quit making casual games or they will, most definitely, slow down.
Not the big developers, like ERS or Elephant....yet.

If this is the case, it wouldn't matter where we bought games at, there just wouldn't be any to buy.

I'm hoping we will always have access to our games bought from BFG without using an external hard drive. I have one big problem...my desktop does not have the new BFGA. If I uninstall my old GM, I'll get the new BFGA and maybe inherit all its problems.

I am stuck, no matter which way I go.

BF says if that is in the market but with other games, it should not delete accounts with history purchases .... we are really so many people with so many games. means forgo potential buyers, the issue is whether disappeared from the market, in that case could sell our profiles to other company for management,
I have the new GM has not given me problems

I hope so, Yolanded. Honestly, it's hard for me to trust them right now.

The new GM is fine on my laptop, too (thank goodness)! I'm worried about my desktop, it's my baby and I don't want to push it too hard.

Hello I have been a member of BFG for years.  But I have been away since mid-June.  I return and the forums are gone, they are cancelling streaming, there are ad trackers and beacons all over the site ... and now I am reading posts like Yolanded's and DJRum's, etc...

So please somebody update me to what I missed.

Also Genki - I may need some more in-depth help with my games.  I had everything working perfectly.  Well over 100 games on an external hard drive and the "rollback GM" which wasn't quite as obnoxious as the newer one.  Somehow, the computer switched drive letters for the external.  You can only imagine the kind of seizure that gave the GM.  Of course while customer service was very nice, the only solution was to uninstall and reinstall everything.  But <swear words!!!> the GM and the games had squirreled away data bits all over the computer, in many different places. 

I am just now getting back to trying to figure this out - still cleaning up the old mess. 

Any information on what is going on at BFG would be very helpful.  Then I might beg for help with a good way to reinstall.

Many thanks all!
Pippi

hello after writing those posts, I bought external drive I have uninstalled games from c: GM also. I reinstalled everything and even GM in the external drive, I can open the games even on another PC without active connection, I did the test. but definitely more detailed information give them to you Genki  

Hi pippi!  Oh wow, I can imagine being in total shock (with BFG) since you've been away. Well, as of Aug. 11th or 12th, BFG decided to close CCC permanently. We were given a whopping 24 hours notice to get everything in order. I was in total shock, too and I was there!
As far as I know, the Game Manager has been changed twice. That's probably why yours doesn't work. I'm not sure if BF is allowing the "roll-back" version any longer. Last I heard, people were forced to work with the new GM, after the second one came out.
This info I gathered from their Facebook page, reading the numerous complaints.
You can still contact CS, but you have to really look for it at their site. Live-chat was on Holiday (forever) and it'll probably stay that way.
Genki is definitely the computer wizard and she may be able to help you. I know not a thing about external hard-drives as my games are stored in my Purchase History. (with fingers-crossed that BFG does NOT go out-of-business)
Oh yes, I almost forgot, it's not called the Game Manager anymore, it's now the Big Fish Game App.

I don't have much time before I have to get out the door, but in the meantime, try uninstalling your GM (aka "App",) then reinstall using the new drive letter.  That SHOULD make everything work again!