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    Why do games have to write to the registry?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by HTWingNut, Aug 24, 2008.

  1. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Just curious. Why do games HAVE to write to the registry? Why can't they be self contained? It would be nice to have all my games on a portable eSATA HDD and just launch the game without worry if it is "installed" on a specific PC.

    I don't see why they couldn't just have a config file local to their folder?

    Just something that occured to me. :eek:
     
    HTWingNut, Aug 24, 2008
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  2. talin

    talin Notebook Prophet

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    They don't HAVE to. :) It's just convenient to store settings in a global location (the registry).
     
    talin, Aug 24, 2008
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  3. rezendevous

    rezendevous Notebook Evangelist

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    so that you can only "legally" run it on one computer

    oh the woe of licensing
     
    rezendevous, Aug 24, 2008
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  4. talin

    talin Notebook Prophet

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    Perhaps, but it would be pretty easy to find the registry entries.
     
    talin, Aug 25, 2008
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  5. Jeff

    Jeff Notebook Retard

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    not sure if you need the registry files to run all games.
     
    Jeff, Aug 25, 2008
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