[Tutorial] How to create a portable ManiaPlanet installation

[Dommy]

Some players have previously asked if it's possible to make a portable installation of ManiaPlanet. The answer is: yes! Besides some limitations, you should be able to run ManiaPlanet from a USB stick/drive or a network location (NAS) normally, assuming that the host machine has all dependencies (DirectX 11, Visual C++) installed. This way, you can have a ManiaPlanet runtime useful when moving between two computers, like your work and entertainment PCs, your apartment and family home PCs, school lab computers, Samsung Smart Fridge, etc.

1. Create a new or clone/move an existing ManiaPlanet installation.
   • Create a portable installation of ManiaPlanet as a fresh start:
     1. Download ManiaPlanet setup.
     2. Choose Custom installation when prompted.
     3. Set the game files destination folder to X:\ManiaPlanet\ or similar, where X is your target external drive.
     4. Tick both checkboxes asking if you want to specify custom locations for personal and common files.
     5. Set the personal data directory path to X:\ManiaPlanet\UserData\, basically having UserData inside the ManiaPlanet game folder.
     6. Do the same thing with common data directory path: X:\ManiaPlanet\CommonData\.
     7. Untick the .gbx and maniaplanet:// association checkboxes, unless you don't have any other ManiaPlanet installation on your current machine and don't plan to have one.
     8. Complete the installation.
   • Clone files of an existing ManiaPlanet installation.
     1. Create a folder named ManiaPlanet somewhere on your external drive.
     2. Within that folder, create 2 subdirectories: UserData and CommonData.
     3. Go to where you have installed your ManiaPlanet (by default in C:\ProgramFiles\ManiaPlanet\). Copy all contents of this folder into your newly made ManiaPlanet directory on the external drive.
     4. Go to the location of your user files (by default in C:\Users\{user}\Documents\ManiaPlanet\). Copy all contents of this folder into a subdirectory ManiaPlanet\UserData on the external drive.
     5. Go to the location of the game's common files (by default in C:\ProgramData\ManiaPlanet\). Copy all contents of this folder into a subdirectory ManiaPlanet\CommonData on the external drive.
2. You should now have a ManiaPlanet folder on your external drive with these contents:

   Code: Select all

   📁 ManiaPlanet
   ├─ 📁 CommonData\
   ├─ 📁 UserData\
   ├─ 🌐 ManiaPlanet.exe
   ├─ 📄 Nadeo.ini
   └─ (all other game files and directories)
   

3. Open Nadeo.ini in your favorite code text editor and set UserDir and CommonDir values accordingly:

   Code: Select all

   UserDir={exe}\UserData
   CommonDir={exe}\CommonData

4. Start the ManiaPlanetLauncher.exe and check if the game loads correctly.
5. If you think everything is fine, your portable installation should be ready to go. Plug your drive into a different computer and start the game again. You may be prompted to install additional dependencies.
6. (Optional) If the hardware of your machines differs in performance a lot, save two or more separate quality configurations in the game launcher (In launcher: Config → Advanced → Save as before modifying the settings).
7. (Optional) To add Openplanet to your portable installation, download its setup, change the install destination directory to your portable ManiaPlanet and proceed with the installation normally.

Note: GBX file association must be manually pointed to the portable ManiaPlanet.exe unless you already have a different (static) installation that's preferred to launch GBX files.

That's all you have to do in order to carry the working A08 hunting tool in your pocket! Enjoy.

[Harest]

Wanted to know what was the shortcut to change {userdocs} which are not on SSD to something else on SSD, thanks for that guide, switched to {exe} and moved everything. I should have way faster loadings now hopefully.