I have seen a couple of threads on LOTRO forums where in people have
transferred lotro folders to portable external hard-disks and played
the game from there, observing better loading times and almost no
lag (something which I am experiencing now at L75). For me, its
takes a good 5-10 min wait before my main character, 75 Champ, can
enter world and a good 1-2 min lag in between entering instances.
With RoR almost out now,and level cap going to 85, I am looking for
options to accelerate this and thought may be if I transfer this to
my external, new purchased USB harddisk, 500 gigs, should it not
make it faster ? I found this through the search, where the guy has
copy pasted it into this 32 gig USB and can play lotro virtually on
any computer
http://council-of-eriador.com/coeforum/index.php?topic=3623.0;wap2
So, what would I need to do, in order to achieve this ? Can I simply
copy paste the LOTRO folder from mac to USB ? I guess I would have
to change game launch locations which pylotro is using to kick the
game ? Could you please help in this regard...
and now that I have read that turbine will be releasing the LOTRO
official Mac OS client, that should mean that I will have to
download a new client (and a host of 12 GB+ files) and start playing
lotro from Mac client rather than LOTRO ?? Then perhaps I can
download that client and related files straight into my USB, no need
for pylotro redirects for launcher location...am I correct ?
Multiple answers for multiple questions.
First, the post you mention is both 2 years old, and not completely accurate.
1- Initial load time DOES directly relate to the Level of the Character and the amount of "stuff" that character has in their bags, deed list, titles, quests, etc.
Instance (and transition screens) load time however, is mostly related to your local computing situation. i.e. how long it takes to load the graphics information from disk to memory. This is also the time "lag" you see when moving across various "graphics blocks" when in-game. ... which is different from "character lag" which you get in say, Bree or 21st hall where both character and NPC populations are high, resulting in A LOT of communication between the game client and the servers.
So, now to the USB drive -- but directly related to that... once Riders of Rohan is released, you MUST switch to the Mac Client if you want to continue playing. This is because, as of Beta 6, which started on 6 October, the existing WINDOWS client (which is what Crossover uses) no longer runs in ANY KNOWN VERSION of WINE. Optimistically, this will change some time after release, but it will be up to the Linux players who use WINE to come up with the fixes as the Mac Client "solves" the problem for the Mac player.
This Mac Client is a 12GB NEW download, which will expand into a 16GB game distribution.
Back to the USB drive. Again multiple answers: Yes, you can "drag and drop" the client information from the current Crossover installation to the USB Drive.
The trick is to open two finder windows. Open one to the destination USB drive, and the other to your existing installation.
Step one - On the USB drive, create a new folder called "Application Support" and inside that another folder called "CrossOver" .
The main thing you need to know is the filenames involved. In Lion and Mountain Lion, OSX "hides" the "Library" directory. This folder is where the "bottles" reside. You will likely need to use the "Go" drop-down menu in the Finder and select "go to folder" at the bottom (or press the "alt" key to expose the library entry). Once you have the "Library" open in your Finder window, select "Application Support" and then "Crossover."
The "bottles" are contained in the directory (folder) "Bottles" -- this will be roughly 20GB per bottle.
Step 2, you simply drag the Bottle folder from the original Library location to the CrossOver folder you just created on the USB drive. Since it is going to an external drive, it will automatically be copied, and the original left in place. Since each bottle is roughly 20gb, the copy will take a while.
Step 3, Once the copy is completed, before you forget, go to Library/Application Support and rename "CrossOver" to "CrossOver-old".
Step 4. (I always do this from the terminal, but this should also work), Navigate to your USB drive's folder "CrossOver" (Using the "Devices" section of the finder.)Select "make alias."
Step 5. Drag this alias "CrossOver" file back to "Library/Application Support".
You should now see two "CrossOver" folders -- one "CrossOver-old" and one "CrossOver" with a little arrow indicating that it is an alias.
At this point, you should be able to launch Crossover and it will behave as if nothing had change!
Now a word about RoR, assuming things continue on schedule for the 15th of October.
1- You download the client via Safari. To make your USB life "easier" --
FIRST -- in Safari Preferences; General -- "Save dowloaded files to:" select "other."
Second navigate to your new USB Drive and the folder (if you followed my suggestion above) "Application Support." This sets your download destination to "Application Support".
Second, follow Turbine's instructions to download the new Mac Client. (I have no idea what they will be.)
This download will be a 12GB .dmg file.
You MUST allow the verify to complete when you first mount the .dmg file -- this may take 15-30 minutes the first time!
Once mounted, instead of copy ing the LOTRO file to the Applications Folder alias in the .dmg file; simply drag it over to another Finder window to your new USB Drive. (anywhere.)
This will be a 16GB .app file: "The Lord of the Rings Online.app" -- for the Mac Client, ALL graphics files, etc found in the Windows application are stored inside this App file. To launch the LOTRO Mac Client you need to click on this .app file. Once launched if you right-cick on the "ring" in the Dock, you can select "Options," "keep in dock" so you can easily launch it in the future.
There are several sources of information related to this:
