Who's smart idia was this?

[PTT]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

If you like to play PC games apart from Final Fantasy, get ready, because in the next few years, it'll gradually shift to DVD-rom only games. A few years after that, and you'll probably start to see (Insert winner(s) of next big format war here) 'special edition' games, and a few years after that, THAT will be the norm.

I bought a stock computer from Hewlett Packard just before the NA PC launch to play Final Fantasy. It was styling for the time.

However, since then, I've built a computer from scratch for a Christmas Present. I gotta tell you, I shan't be buying stock ever again if I can help it. With a little research, you can build a computer just as good (probably better) than the 'other guys,' for cheaper, and with exactly the amount of functionality you need, rather than pile on bells and whistles you don't really need.

So, though you don't sound like you're quite ready to upgrade your entire machine, I totally recommend learning to build and upgrade your own machine, it's totally worth it. Just remember to wear one of those anti-static bracelets, NEVER have it plugged in when you're adding/removing stuff, and 'gentle pressure,' when installing anything (Does not apply to CPUs. ZERO pressure is required)

Here are the differences between External and Internal Drives (Besides the obvious of course):

-Internal ones are connected directly to the innards of the computer via short ribbon cables, so response time is fast.

-External ones have an easy-install factor, as you just have to connect a USB or Firewire connector to your computer (depending on what your computer has, and what the drive supports).

-External ones, being external, have longer response times, because not only does the signal need to travel along a cable to your computer to get to the innards, the signal will be capped at whatever speed the connector is limited to (USB, USB2, or Firewire). I'm not sure how negligible the speed difference is, but if you're playing a game where the DVD must be accessed a lot, you might notice it. For installing things or watching DVD movies, it probably won't matter too much.

Anyway, I wish you luck on getting ToAU installed quickly, so you can join in on the fun.

[levish]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

a external enclosure + a dvd rom would be the way to go if you don't want to have it installed at the shop and are not self confident

[bungiefan]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

It's dvd format on all the sites I checked, no cd. I'll probaly check the store and get a dvd reader...probaly have them plug the wires in and stuff since last time I did that I caused the motherboard to melt. (litterally...)

What does the format you download matter, since you are just downloading disk images? With disk images, you don't need the actual drive, as Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120% can make a virtual drive where you can mount the image and install without a real DVD drive. That's the whole point of using disk images.

As for the ToAU disc, it's 870 MB, so unless you reprogram the installer and split the files up manually, you won't be fitting it on a CD.

DVDs are about a decade old now. It's expected that the majority of people will support that standard now, so they're using it. Also, a DVD-ROM drive is only about $20 nowadays, and only has two wires to plug in for installation. If upgrading your machine to keep it able to play new games and expansions is such a hassle for you, you should be gaming on a console instead, and FFXI is currently available on two consoles. All of the PS2 FFXI expansions have been on DVD from the start, as well as the original game.

[Macht]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

The internal vs. external (seems to be considering USB only) then yes the major difference is ease of installation and data transfer speeds.

Internal = Highest Data Transfer / Hardest to Install
External (USB) = Low Data Transfer / Easy to Install
Accessing DVD Drive via Network = Lowest Data Transfer / Moderate to Easy to Setup
External (Firewire) = Second Fastest Data Transfer / Moderate to Install

Firewire from my experience is fast enough you won't really notice a difference in the data transfer rate between it and an Internal Drive.

I mean heck transfer of 240 MB between those (I actually tested) ended up being something like:

Internal (Drive to Drive) = 3 sec.
Internal (CD/DVD Drive to Drive) = 4 sec.
External (Firewire) = 5 sec.
External (USB) = 30 sec.
Networked Drive (100 Mbps Ethernet) = 1 min. 45 sec.
Internet (FTP to Drive avg. about 60KBps or 480 Kbps) = 1hr. +

Of course actual time will vary system to system but it gives an idea how fast each method is.

[Tirrock]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

It shouldn't even take an electornics store three hours to install a DVD-ROM into your computer, let alone three days. I replaced my CD burner with a DVD burner and installed a second hard drive in under three hours, and I'm not a professional by any sense of the word. It was the first time I had ever installed a brand new hard drive too.

As others have all said, get a DVD-ROM (internal or external) if you play games (or install stuff) on your computer fairly often. If you don't, then you have other options, like trying to find the game online. You could also do something similar to what I did with City of Heroes.

I cannot download large patches, and CoH has some really massive ones. I took a break from FFXI to play CoH for a while with a friend, and I had 750MB of patches to download. So what I did was got a friend with a DVD/CD burner and broadband and (re)installed CoH on his computer. Then we just took the entire City of Heroes folder and shoved it on a DVD.

In your case, it'd have to be multiple CDs, and you'd lose your macros and have to re-enter the your POL ID when you start it up again for the first time... But it's an option too. ...One that would likely take more time than just buying a $20 internal DVD-ROM.

[Aeni]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

It shouldn't even take an electornics store three hours to install a DVD-ROM into your computer, let alone three days.

It's called a waiting list. You'd be surprised how many millions of people are out there who won't take the time to learn something they could do it themselves in 10 minutes. That is why PC servicing is a huge industry and billions of dollars to be made. I bet you can make a decent living being self-employed in this industry...

These are the same people that will say they rather buy from RMT than farm gils themselves. To these people, spending $30 for having someone else deal with mundane stuff like hooking up a PC is worth more than 10 minutes of their time. Maybe there's that many people out there with $5000/hr job than I previously thought...

[Murphie]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

Yeah, I was going to say. It's not because they take that long just to fulfill your task, but rather because you are but one of many many customers that they deal with. So your PC mostly just sits there forever while they work on other people's stuff, and then in about 10 minutes they get your job done and call you up to let you know it's finished.

Aeni - While I'm with you on laziness often leading to gilbuying, I'm not sure that I'm willing to label people who aren't willing to open up their PC for fear of breaking something as gilbuyers too.

[Susurrus]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

Much profit is made off of people who don't want to learn how to do simple things in thier computer. Find any computer repair store, including the highly advertised "Geek Squad". I gaurantee most of thier business is 5-10 minute installs.

Oh, and complaining that they use a DVD format nowadays is like complaining that people have to use seatbelts in cars. It's the standard.

[Kailea]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

Much profit is made off of people who don't want to learn how to do simple things in thier computer. Find any computer repair store, including the highly advertised "Geek Squad". I gaurantee most of thier business is 5-10 minute installs.

Oh, and complaining that they use a DVD format nowadays is like complaining that people have to use seatbelts in cars. It's the standard.

as an onsite tech for Dell, I can say on a desktop system, any part can be replaced in 3-15 minutes, but thats just me takeing my time :p

[GereOfRemora]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

You know,

even if they did have a cd version you very well might have bought the dvd version by mistake anyway since you didn't take a good look at the box. So either way you get stuck with an extra trip.

[Lilani]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

Ok, I'm looking at the ToAU PC box, and it has that black box that says says "PC DVD rom" on it on the front, back, and side of the box. If you don't have a DVD reader an you know it, then checking this warning might be a smart thing to do. If you were aware of your DVD problem and didn't check the box then who is at fault, the people who warned or the one who didn't look for the warning? Yes it is strange that they made it a DVD format, but if you don't have it, all I can say is tough nuts. Upgrade, if you can afford to pay for the game monthly and buy the expansion surely you can afford 20-30 bucks to get a DVD drive, unless you have an allowance or something. In that case tell whoever gives you your money or owns the computer that they and/or you need to get with it.

Also, unless your computer hasn't been made in the past, like, six years then you should have a DVD rom standard, or you could just send it in and have it installed for a relatively cheap amount. Heck, I'm on a laptop that was made over 4 years ago that has 27 GB of hard drive space and 192 MB of RAM and it came with a standard DVD drive. That is uber crappy compared to today's standards.

[Tirrock]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

I'm well aware of waitlists. Maybe it's just my area, but the wait is VERY short here. My parent's computer broke down before and they just took it to bestbuy without calling ahead or anything. They didn't even have to wait to get it worked on, and it 's a popular chain store.

And there would have to be a metric crap-ton of computers in a waitlist for there to be days before they get to your computer. Even if it were to take an hour a computer, and the shop was open only 12 hours a day, that's an (obvious) 12 computers a day. And that's just assuming one person is working on a computer at a time, which is unlikely. And as others have pointed out...most of the repairs take less than 30 minutes a "fix".

[Murphie]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

Also, unless your computer hasn't been made in the past, like, six years then you should have a DVD rom standard, or you could just send it in and have it installed for a relatively cheap amount. Heck, I'm on a laptop that was made over 4 years ago that has 27 GB of hard drive space and 192 MB of RAM and it came with a standard DVD drive. That is uber crappy compared to today's standards.

Ouch. My iPod has more storage than that. Sounds perfect for just browsing the internet though, I guess.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

Well I must say, while the OP does sound a bit whiny and naturally got flamed for it, I feel your pain. Seriously.

I have a DVD-ROM in my computer. Does it work? No. I have absolutely no idea when my drive decided to quit working, but it was sometime after I bought the PC and sometime before I bought ToAU. When I placed my shiny new ToAU disc in the drive and nothing happened, I cried, yelled, threw things, and basically refrained myself from trashing my computer. (I mean, I've never needed the damned DVD drive until ToAU, and it's otherwise a good machine, so why should I kill it for its one flaw that hardly affects me?)

I, too, did not wish to purchase a new drive. I tried to fix the old one. I couldn't do it. Screamd, cussed, threw more things, but it was hopeless, the drive would have to be replaced.

Or would it ... ?

As wrong as this is, and as much as I hate that I had to do this, I downloaded the expansion off some torrent site. Used the code that was in my booklet that came with my game disc (which I never actually got to use), and I was happily playing. No more screaming and cussing and throwing things. Except my morals, down the toilet.

Why didn't I go buy a new drive and install it, you ask? Because this computer isn't going to last forever. Because other than ToAU, I don't use my DVD drive, hence the reason I didn't know it was broken. I suppose I could have, I mean, I've got the money, but I'm also not keen on spending money on useless crap. To me, a DVD drive, when I had a viable solution that didn't require me buying one, constitutes as useless crap.

So anyway, long story short, it sucks that it's DVD, but there's a solution, if you're willing to go that route. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but it worked for me and since I did, in fact, buy the game and use a legitimate code, I don't think it's too terribly wrong.

[framerate]

Re: Who's smart idia was this?

The DVD format is on it's way out (if it was a graph, upside down bell we'd be on the decline at this point in its' life near the middle).
While on the subject of storage mediums for games etc:
Floppy Disk Storage: DEAD
CD (not audio, mind you that's another curve) is reaching just past 3/4th it's life span on the curve.
DVD: just passed the middle of it's life span.
HD-DVD/Blu-ray: just started it's curve in the last 3 months.

So if you're complaining on purchasing a medium that in its' latter half of it's lifespan, you should consider who you're complaining TO. A good majority of us are either gamers or geeks... meaning we like big HDTV's, good gaming systems, new technology and nice sounding audio.

I don't think anyone here is going to feel sorry for someone who isn't "current" with technology. And I'm not talking about "bleeding edge", (although some of us probably have a HDDVD or Blu ray drive already....) I'm simple talking about the "current standard".

It'd be like complaining that the movie you bought at the store was on DVD and you can only play it on VHS (or laser disk! eep!).

Actually, this post is probably a dupe of a dupe of a dupe of a dupe.... I'm surprised mod's don't just merge all the "OMG I DONT HAVE A DVD DRIVE" threads..

That being said...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16827135135R
(internal drive.. 20 dollars + 5 dollar shipping)

External:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16827191305R
80 bucks (if you don't want to crack open the case, you're going to have to get this one)

And here's your file if you're too stuck in you ways to do either or..

(mods if this is illegal let me know. Just erase the link. Torrents aren't illegal since the file isn't hosted on the server blah blah. I'm sure you know this. Plus this link is no good if you don't have the reg codes..

http://www.mininova.org/tor/286534

Take care.