Matrix Default Installation

Veldor · Post by **Veldor** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:04 am

Just curious how many of you actually use the default "C:\Matrix Games\" Installation Path instead of changing it?

Fred98 · Post by **Fred98** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:09 am

I use the default path for all software.

Whilst some of you will recall the age of the Blue Screen of Death, I come from a previous age: The Black Screen of Death.

Veldor · Post by **Veldor** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:19 am

Originally posted by Joe 98
I use the default path for all software.

Whilst some of you will recall the age of the Blue Screen of Death, I come from a previous age: The Black Screen of Death.

Yeah thats sort of exactly why the default in this case bugs me a little. I too have learned that at the very least it can never hurt you to use the default, while using something else can occasionally cause you added trouble.

But if every company used a "ROOT" directory, I would have several hundred directories on the root of my C-Drive.

So in the case of Matrix Games I personally do not use the default. Some early UV patches did not read the install path right and defaulted instead to C:\Matrix Games... Which would cause you quite a bit of trouble if you didn't catch it and change it.

The only reason I can think of why Matrix did this is for there to be one less click in maneuvering for PBEM purposes. Though I have found it easier to just put a shortcut to the saved game directories in the "My Documents" folder. Try it!

I realize for those who don't maintain much control over their PC's this thread may look like a frivolous waste of time, so for those people please accept my apologies and just move on.

Marc von Martial · Post by **Marc von Martial** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 1:53 pm

People, do not install major applications, unless they have a important relevance to the OS (like browsers and such), to the same partition your OS is on. partionate your hardisks, you can never stress this enough.

I for example have on C: only my OS, nothing else, not even Office. On D: resides all the work applications I use. E: is for Games only. F: for work projects (note the order of importance, LOL) and then the rest for downloads, unimportant stuff, multimedia etc. etc.

Saves you a lot of hazzles if you give your OS it´s own room

Les_the_Sarge_9_1 · Post by **Les_the_Sarge_9_1** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 7:37 pm

Thanks to being fussy to the point of being anal (that should open the doors to a few snide remarks hehe), I long ago learned how to make my computer fairly dance when it comes to install locations.

The Matrix Games as opposed to MatrixGames Steel Panthers glitch caused some confusion, but that is because it's easy to miss the space or lack there of.

I am like Marc, I partition my hard drive. If your hard drive is to small, THAT is the next thing to upgrade. Not a spiffy graphics card or other such doodle.

My C partition is my OS location. My D is my defacto closet.

If the computer behaves wacky, or if I just feel bored, or I think it's just time to clean out baggage, I insert my XP disk format the C reload it and start fresh. And I never have to fret over the data on D.

Not only that, but a partitioned drive allows you to eliminate a need to decide if Win 98 SE is better than XP. Install both.

tarendelcymir · Post by **tarendelcymir** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:33 pm

I have a seperate HD for all my games and the like, but I rarely if ever allow them to install to the default location. Most want to go into program files, or to a directory with the company name. I tend to change that to the game's name and put it on the root of my D. That way I can find them easily without going through a maze of directories.

Von Rom · Post by **Von Rom** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:42 pm

What I find to be very helpful, is to have removal hard-drives for my computer. This way, your hard-drives never become out-of-date. And this way, each family member can have their own hard-drive (with their games, OS etc) without goofing up anyone else's hard-drive. . .

Kanon Fodder · Post by **Kanon Fodder** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:19 pm

On my prior machine I changed the default directories for pretty much everything. I hate it when companies insert their name into the directory structure, even if it is below the Program Files root.

I had all games under a Games tree, demos under Demos, renamed My Documents ( I hate "My .." anything in directory names) to Data etc.

That way I knew where applications were, could easily set up backups etc.

When I got my current PC I decided to let the installs place things where it wanted. Why ? I was tired of problems incurred when using automated patch and upgrade installations that ASSuMEd the standard install locations and did not allow for input of changes.

I hate the way my directory structure is now, but at least the upgrades/fixes install properly first time ...

Fallschirmjager · Post by **Fallschirmjager** » Sat Mar 08, 2003 12:11 am

The most games Ive ever had on my Harddrive at once was 5....so clutter isnt a problem for me.

Veldor · Post by **Veldor** » Sat Mar 08, 2003 12:26 am

Originally posted by Marc Schwanebeck
People, do not install major applications, unless they have a important relevance to the OS (like browsers and such), to the same partition your OS is on. partionate your hardisks, you can never stress this enough.

I for example have on C: only my OS, nothing else, not even Office. On D: resides all the work applications I use. E: is for Games only. F: for work projects (note the order of importance, LOL) and then the rest for downloads, unimportant stuff, multimedia etc. etc.

Saves you a lot of hazzles if you give your OS it´s own room

Well thats especially true if your using FAT or FAT32 partitioning as a "hung" game can screw your whole system then or an errant install can start crosslinking over your OS file locations, etc.

But that kind of stuff just doesn't happen with NTFS anymore. It has transactional logging which prevents just about any error possible since it can "rollback" to its last consistent state automatically. You can still get errors on NTFS partitions but they are far less frequent and easily fix themselves.

So I no longer subscribe to the theory but I'm sure im in the minority with using NTFS. Those that come from the server world well know the advantages.. But Microsoft has done little to promote the technology in the XP Home/Pro world..

Besides, if you don't backup, and your OS goes south.. You have to re-install all your apps and games anyway.

Nothing beats a good backup!

Marc von Martial · Post by **Marc von Martial** » Sat Mar 08, 2003 3:35 pm

Well, even with an NTFS partition I still just leave the system alone, it payed of since. For a few years now I never had a bad OS, all trouble arised from hardware problems.

Besides, if you don't backup, and your OS goes south.. You have to re-install all your apps and games anyway.

But if you have the apps and games installed on different partitions you don´t loose your custom settings for the apps and your save games, not to speak of the other data you collected and are working on

. Only need to reformat C: and install the OS new.