Installing FG to non C drive question

[Seeker1728]

After much weighing in on the pros and cons of several different VTTs I decided on FG2 and purchased a number of packets last night to begin my journey in this brave new world of online GMing. But I ran into a problem right off the bat with attempting to install my new shiny program. :square:

I was a bit overeager to get the software installed and had given the go ahead to install before realizing I had let it go with default install locations, which for me is a problem since I use a SSD as my C drive and the only thing that I put on that is system programs, recreation programs and data all get stored on my other HDs. I realized this mistake about halfway through and cancelled the installation, fired it up again and paid a little more attention this time.

Though I've installed a great many programs on other drives, either anxiety or something is making me overthink this as I recently ran into a problem with Hero Labs where it placed files in my C drive despite having been told to install it on the D drive. When I tried to fix that, all manner of hijinx followed which I'm still in the process of sorting out. So when FG2 had two file locations, years of computer use suddenly fled my thinking and left me feeling like a noobert. I did some searches but the results didn't give me enough to go on, and what I did find was several years old and I doubt applies anymore, hence why I'm making this post. :o

So in a more brief and to the point issue, here's what I would like to do.

1) I halted the installation about halfway through by hitting the "Cancel" button. Is there anything I should be aware of and do first as a "housecleaning" before trying to install FG2 again?

2) The Hero Lab issue left me anxious. I want to install FG2 to a different drive and if at all possible, I don't want *any* parts of it residing on my SSD drive. Could some wise Sage kindly walk this lost soul how to fully install FG2 to a alternate drive? I use Win7-64x btw in case that spells out any special considerations.

Thanks

[Griogre]

In your case it may depend on when you hit cancel and how the installer is designed. The safest approach before you re-install would be to make sure everything is deleted from the cancelled install and then do it over.

To do this go into your C:\Program Files (x86) directory and delete the Fantasy Grounds II folder if there is one.

Next you need to clear out any registry keys. IMPORTANT: Messing with the registry can be extremely dangerous if you make a mistake, so I would make a back up of the registry before you change anything if you are not used to editing it. You can do this by exporting the entire registry.

Start regedit by pressing the start button and typing regedit in the search program and files. Say OK to the security warning if you get one. Next Open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder then the Software folder and see if there is a Fantasy Grounds key (listing) if so then select it and delete it. Its possible there won't be any registry keys for Fantasy Grounds.

Once you done that, re-install FG to the right drive. I don't believe the installer gives you an option to change the data directory so you are going to have to do that by hand after the installer finishes.

FG by default installs its data directory to a hidden system folder on your OS drive. You are going to want to change the path to data directory to another drive and move anything currently in the data apps folder to that drive. However, before you do this if you bought anything else for FG with an installer - you should go ahead and install them so you can move everything at once.

Next create a directory on the drive where you want FG's data to be - I'd call it something like FGData. Then move everything from FG's data app folder to your new one. You can locate the this folder by pressing the Start button => All Programs => Fantasy Grounds II => Application Data Folder. This will pop up windows explorer with a list of directories - you want to move everything in this folder to the folder you just created.

The last thing you need to do is to change the data directory path in the registry to point to this new folder. Start regedit again if you closed it. Next, if you are paranoid and its never is bad to be a bit paranoid about the registry, you should back up the registry again (you did change it when you installed FG again). Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER => Software => Fantasy Grounds => 2.0 and click on the 2.0 key. The right plane should populate and you should see a key called DataDir in the name column. Double click on the DataDir key and you will get a pop up that will allow you to type in the path to your new data directory you just made. Enter the fully qualified path and click OK after and that should do it.

[Seeker1728]

Hi Griorge

Thank you for your detailed post describing the process, it helped confirm some things which I thought would be the case. Nice to know I'm not that ignorant ;) I had a backup of my registry from my waltz with Hero Lab which I was able to make use of in comparing entries. Turned out I was over thinking things due to being gun shy from the experience with HL. Thanks again for your detailed help, and now begins the learning process of the software itself.

I have to say, another thing that tipped the decision in favor of FG was the community, great bunch of people here who are quite active. :D

[GMTroll]

The FGII data folder will be located in hidden folders in your user profile folder so if you have already configured Windows through settings so that the user profiles are on another drive then you may not need to move the application data folder. Follow Griogre's steps to locate the folder and check the full path, if its not on the C: drive then no need to move it.

[Trenloe]

For people reading this thread - see post #2 of this thread (by the same OP for the same problem): See post #2 of this thread: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18494

There is really very little need to look in the registry (or modify it) since the incorporation of the settings window into the Fantasy Grounds appliction - press the "Settings" button on the first screen of Fantasy Grounds and you'll see something like this:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39085830/FG%20Settings%20Window.jpg

This reads from and writes to the registry as needed, so no need to go into the registry and potentially break something. The "data directory" is where all of the FG data is stored (campaigns, modules, extensions, some rulesets, etc.). If you change this, you may have to change the shortcut in Windows Start -> All Programs -> Fantasy Grounds II to point to the new location - Griogre mentions this below.

[Griogre]

Good advice from both GMTroll and Trenloe, I'd forgotten about the data directory path in settings. :p