Have To Reinstall FFXI, Thanks Windows 7

well as the title suggests, windows is making me completely re-install a clean install of windows 7... since i lack the install discs for FFXI, my best option is to pay $15 for the sale price of the FFXI ultimate edition...

its available via Direct 2 Drive and thru steam... does anyone have experience downloading it thru either service? anyone know which has a faster D/L speed? any advice would be much appreciated ^^; thanks

I've used steam for many games to download. Comes a lot faster than most websites would download from...usually 1-2.5mb/s

If you don't mind me saying, Artimus, your "best" best option would really be to download the images/.iso files of the discs and install them using a program that creates virtual drives. If you're comfortable or familiar with torrents, that's likely the most simple route as there are a variety of XI torrents avail. I just wanted to add that in case you weren't aware of the option.

As for d2d and Steam, I can't comment on those services with any personal experience.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5209870/Final_Fantasy_XI_%28FFXI%29_Collection_2008_and_Vista_POL

I uploaded this myself. Still being seeded.

ya, my current install is the product of torrent, i just figured getting it from POL via steam/d2d is safer (in the way of spyware/trojans etc) plus i might be able to use the reg. code i get from the download to give my alt char WoTG or the other expansions. but i wouldnt be surprised if they wouldnt allow that. and for only $15, its not all that unreasonable

Typically they give you one code. Once you use it for one expansion, it can't be used for a different account.

I personally uploaded that torrent after pulling the files directly from CD. I can vouch for no spyware, etc.

Up to you. I already own 3-4 copies of FFXI so I wouldn't want to buy another.

Word up to Caiyuo~ lol You already own all that FFXI junk so all "moral issues" with using torrents is out the window.

As Krizz said, I know if you grab the Ultimate Collection from Steam you get a single key that unlocks all the applicable expansions, but that just means you'd have to pick a single account to apply them to. If you already have all the expansions registered on your main, then it should work just fine by using the key with your alt.

I'm gonna bug Sectumsepra about posting because I know he used Steam with XI so he might be able to give some insight. I think one thing he will likely tell you is that you cannot uninstall Steam itself without also uninstalling your install of XI, or at least that was the situation last I checked.

You're right, though, $15 is pretty reasonable if you're in need of any expansions.

Sounds like a personal problem to me, not a Windows problem.

Can't you just move it out of the 'Steam Apps' folder?

@ akeda

the reason i have to reinstall a "fresh" copy of windows 7 is because currently i have the windows 7 RC (essentially beta) copy of windows... since they actually released the final version of the software, microsoft wants me to buy/upgrade to the full version-- either way requires me to reinstall windows OS and all the programs on it. Its not a personal problem, its a microsoft sucks again problem

It wasn't a personal experience so I can't say myself, but the person it happened to said it removed the registry entries as well so I don't know any workarounds.

hmm i didnt have to reinstall when i installed a win 7 upgrade over my current win 7

and still didnt have to reinstall when my computer ran a disk check and deleted the genuine files, and had to reinstall the OS to get my win 7 genuine again.

considering all of the money that was made from us buying them separate I'd say so!20 for each main expansion, plus 10 for each small one = ouch! It was great, they made you pay for the download then a couple of weeks later released them all on one for next to nothing. Heh.

Direct2Drive is good. I've used it for all my games in the past few years. Download is quick, you get your CD keys quick. Convenient for people like me who loose everything, don't have to worry about loosing your boot discs :)

lmfao @ Windows 7

There is a way around reinstalling if you have the RC version of Windows 7 and want to get on the RTM version. Copy the contents of the install of the disc to your hard drive. Go to the sources folder, and open the cversion.ini file. Change the Minclient to any number below the Minserver and then run the setup.exe in the files you extracted and do an inplace upgrade. I've done this for a couple of people at work.

Note: I've only done this with Ultimate versions, and they have to be the "K" version of the RTM release. If you have an "N" copy of the software, it needs to be a fresh install.

Give it a shot, hope it works.