Gw2 dat.file

Okay...some time ago I was reading about the method of the back up of this file in case of need as a prevention of redownloading it every single time you need to move the game for whatever the reasons. I did so because I was cleaning my computer off of nearly everything so I could only remain with Gw2 in it and, thus I made a complete reinstall. When I was ready to reinstall the game (with the backed up dat file) I downloaded the installer, installed it, and as soon as the download line showed 550k files I turned it off and replaced the dat file with the 47-48GB dat I had saved up. Surprisingly, the progress did not change at all and it still kept downloading these 550k files like it did not even notice the huge dat file. Appdata and temp files were totally removed by the clean up process of the system, so I do not understand where else can it download these files since the dat file is in it...anyone got experience with this? would be highly appreciated, since my net is kinda slow to download nearly 50gb over again :X

I believe, once it starts downloading the files, you can stop the process and then play the game.

Here are some threads with answers to the issue:https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/65996/trying-to-install-game-on-a-new-pchttps://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/9869/how-do-i-move-game-to-new-computer

Good luck.

Thank you for your answer ;) but nothing seems to be working...

1. installed them game and turned the launcher off after it started downloading files
2. removed the 40MB dat, put the 48gb in there instead
3. put "-repair" in the shortcut and launched it
4. repair seemed to have download certain files
5. again, back to the 550k files download with the download line at 0% without a chance to click PlayAs if the backed up dat.file did completely nothing...

When you want to backup the game, you need to secure only 2 files out of the game directory:

• the Gw2-64.exe and
• the Gw2.dat

You can copy these two files to another computer, click on the exe and the game will start and just download an additional language file based on your Windows language and some media codecs. Back in the game then you need to re-configure your graphics settings and your language setting. All the other settings are saved on the GW2 server and you don't need to re-configure these.

That's how I do it since 2012.

Well ye, the problem is I only backed up the dat.file which I have heard is more than enough to copy the game elsewhere and being able to do the same thing. It has worked for many people when they reinstalled the launcher. After it started downloading actual files, they replaced the incomplete dat.file with the complete one from their ssd, hdd or whatever, and, as soon as they opened the exe again, the game registered the new dat.file and allowed them to click play. In my case, it keeps starting the download from scratch

@"Azazel.7536" said:Well ye, the problem is I only backed up the dat.file which I have heard is more than enough to copy the game elsewhere and being able to do the same thing. It has worked for many people when they reinstalled the launcher. After it started downloading actual files, they replaced the incomplete dat.file with the complete one from their ssd, hdd or whatever, and, as soon as they opened the exe again, the game registered the new dat.file and allowed them to click play. In my case, it keeps starting the download from scratchThat's something that can work, but like in your case it's pretty unsecure as you don't know whether the setup recognizes your Gw2.dat correctly. Something seems to be messed up with your files.

Just re-download the game and save the .dat with the .exe alltogether the next time. That will work for 100% as a backup.

GW2 is basically a portable app, that does not need to be installed with an installer.

The game won't create an installation entry into the registry when you save these 2 files and backup a game from them, so you can't go to windows settings and select uninstall, but that's not a big deal as the whole game does just create 2 folders (one where your .dat is located and another one in your "username/appdata/roaming" folder).

Now I see what might be the reason. I had actually really backed up the whole folder (even with the exe file), but it went corrupt on the external drive I downloaded it into (exFAT) dont know why...so I assume the dat.file is also corrupted. Weird...Thank you guys anyway ;) seems like the back-up option with this game does not always have to end up successfully :D