A GP4 "portable" experiment

In this thread I want to tell you about an experiment I made recently.
What I wanted to know is:
Can I start GP4 (and CSM) from an external device like an USB-HD without installing it all again?

From my old PC I copied the installed "Infogrames" and "ZAZ tools" to my backup HD.
Because the "Infrogrames" backup has already been done some time ago, this was not a big deal now.
Then I connected the USB-HD to my new Computer (a 3-in-one running under Windows 10).
My expectations were pretty low especially concerning CSM. But to my surprise GP4.exe, GpxPatch.exe and even CSM were all running from the USB-HD.
I made a short test with several mods to see, if they go to racing, with the following result:
Many mods (all 1980s, all 1990s, most 2000s, some 2010s) made no problems, but several newer or advanced ones got stuck just before getting to the main menu. Those were all mods from Tobi (kedy89), the 2016 phantaman mod and some mods by GP4World (MSchumi): 2010, 2017 and indycar 2017. The reason for this problem is still a mystery to me.

Anyway, I may now be able to show GP4 with different mods to a friend at his computer without installing it there.

As I did not test deeply there may occur other problems I did not met.
If you want to repeat the experiment, I recommend using a HD with no important data, to be save.

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petrus' gpaedia files



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2020 10:29PM by petrus.

Nice experiment.

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My Grand Prix 4 Files
I'm a total dick. How many people can say that?

Hi. GP4 is one of the rare cases of a program that does not need to be installed. Or better, I always do a first installation in order to insert the original program and the official 9.6 patch in the O.S. registry. Then you can copy the GP4 folder where you want GP4 to always start. For example, you can create copies of GP4 on which to install the GPxPatch for editing. Of course you can copy to USB or in external HD and boot into a PC that has not installed GP4.
Personally I have five folders "GP4" all bootable and the same basic, one with circuits of the current year, one with original circuits and three others with various circuits downloadable on the network, so you can choose from about 80 different circuits (I do not use CSM because I normally play LAN and I've never really tried it).
I use the same folders "GP4" for the two operating systems of my PC (XP that I will never abandon and Windows 7), with the provision that to start the GPxPatch on Win7 it is necessary to enable (by clicking on the right mouse icon and going on the "Properties" tab) the "Windows XP service pack 3 compatibility".

well, is the ZaZ GP4 Tools and GP4 detected in the windows registry and out of their suggested folders at the time of installation?

----signature--------------------------------------------------------

RELEASE => Physics (under FIA Technical Regulations)
MagicDatas? Setups? Pit Stop Strategies? Track Specific Performances? Up2Date GP?
Power Torque Curve? Where's this stuff? All download is available at ..

That's a nice find. I believe you need the registry keys to make the game launch. Would be nice to see how it works on your computer's friend.

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@phantaman: well, is the ZaZ GP4 Tools and GP4 detected in the windows registry and out of their suggested folders at the time of installation?
@EricMoinet: I believe you need the registry keys to make the game launch

Something with the registry certainly causes the freezing problem with several mods. I knew it because on my old PC everything was running fine from the USB-HD.
I continued the experiment using a new external SSD drive. Because GP4 stuck right before displaying the main menu I suggested a problem with GpxPatch. Consequently I installed the last version of this program, and tested some mods again, especially 2016 and 2018. And really, now I got them to the racing.

This feels good until now, but with deeper testing other problems may still come up.

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petrus' gpaedia files

Hmm, I think the last time I ran GP4 with a proper installation and registry was 8 years ago. Never had any problems.

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used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

Cyberacer had shared a GP4 stand alone version in 2011 and it worked fine, whatever the hard disk it was installed on.

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Someone said that because the patch works well, the GP4 folder must be on the desktop. I personally have always worked any position it was. Especially in LAN with same folder with the same GP4, but different positions between them.

Excalibur écrivait:
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> Cyberacer had shared a GP4 stand alone version in
> 2011 and it worked fine, whatever the hard disk it
> was installed on.

Ah, great ! I never used a standalone without a first install of the game on a PC. Good to know. Thanks Excalibur.

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EricMoinet: Would be nice to see how it works on your computer's friend.

It took a bit longer than expected but finally we were successful with porting GP4 and CSM to my friends computer.
I had put all files for GP4 on an external SSD that I gave to my friend.
The scenario was as to be expected:

1) Start GP4 from the SSD
- a) A dialog window demanded to load and install DirectPlay which we did. This was going quickly.
- b) A DVD device was connected with USB so there was no need to install a CD-emulation program.
- c) In GP4 we calibrated the graphics, selected the language and saved the changes.
- d) We did not need to give access authority for the GP4 folder to the user because my friend is using an administrator account.

2) Install ZAZ tools 1.26
- a) The ZAZ setup program had to be put into the exception list of the virus scanner (AVG)
- b) The installation folder was chosen as "C:\zaz" (not a programs folder!)
- c) The GP4 folder was selected on the external SSD device.
- d) Compatibility mode of cmscore.exe and tsmcore.exe set to "Windows XP SP3"
- e) In CSM "Options" [Auto update] was unchecked to avoid the message window popup.

Remark: CSM will also start if it runs from a copied previous installation, but not all mods may work (see first post).
Also Slimtex does not work properly. Therefore an installation is necessary for the ZAZ tools.

We tested several mods and everything was running fine.

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petrus' gpaedia files



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2019 09:38PM by petrus.

Thanks for the update petrus

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Nice.

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My Grand Prix 4 Files
I'm a total dick. How many people can say that?