An Epic Idea! ... No wait, it's just a question.

Firebird1

Quick question. I would like to try this game again, and there is a free trial, but he download of the client will take 8 hrs... Even on DSL that is a long time.  So I have the orginal CDs and I was wondering if installing them first, then updating to at least get the current client. I'm wondering if the CD key will prevent the free trial or if there was a better way of getting the client.



Ideas, comments, flames?



Well lets wait until I try this game again for the flames. 

Mahakali

Quick answer: No, the cd won't interfere.

You aren't paying for the client, you are paying for access. Make a new station account for the trial, and you log in using that one. Presuming you are talking about the normal free trial and not the free trial offer some veterans seem to have gotten. In that case you just log in with your old station account.

Having said that - what is "the original client"? There isn't much left of the original client, so you are still looking at an enormous download, unless you have a quite recent version (The Complete Online Adventures for instance).

Firebird1

Well in that case then I'll just have to down load it.  I have the 2003 CD set, so it would still be a big download. 

And people wonder why no one plays this game anymore.

ajax7

Because the population is very low get the free trial and logon to StarSider which I consider one of the most populated servers to see for yourself.

Good Luck.

Obraik

8 hours really isn't all that much...it is 4gb you're downloading afterall :P  Have it run overnight and it'll be done when you get up.

sadnebula

Try it, it's as good as any of the new games out there. I have lotro and haven't even logged in since i downloaded swg.

Firebird1

I'll pick the server at my leasure.  And as for the game itself, I really have a hard time believing it is a better game then LOTR. However I have to wait for it to finish downloading before making that determination. 

xPaladin

I'd say you're best off installing the original client plus whatever other expansions you have, and then using the SWG client to update.



The patch system works by adding .TRE files and relinking existing files. Assets are contained within the .TRE files and are unpacked and utilized by the SWG file system when needed (thus loading screens, etc). After installation all you're really missing are the updated executables and additional .TRE files. Thus no matter what point you download from, you're going to get the original CD content as well as all new content.



It will still take a while to retrieve the additional files you need to play, but you'll probably have a shorter download. The full installation I believe is 2gb plus patches, so you might shave about 2 hours off your download.

orlac

Use the old CDs...I just did the same thing and it saved me many hours.