Would it be possible to play the game off a USB Flash Drive?

[Bahn]

The biggest issue you'll have I think is with performance. Your seek times will be faster on a USB Flash drive (I'm assuming you're going for a USB 3.0 one?) but I'm not sure how big the data files that needed to be loaded on the fly are.

List of some USB 3.0 Flash Drive Options

By the way, there is a way to solve the whole "looking for files" problem that Catapult is talking about. Look up the use of junctions. These are basically pointers that makes Windows THINK the files are in the original location, where in reality within the file system it points to somewhere else.

I would first suggest installing FFXIV to your usual drive so the installer makes the necessary registry changes to your system to tell it that FFXIV is installed. You can then copy over your My Documents\My Games\Final Fantasy XIV folder to the flash drive, then create a junction point where the My Games\Final Fantasy XIV folder originally was to point to a folder on the Flash Drive containing all of the files.

You then copy over the FFXIV installation located in C:\Program Files\SquareEnix\Final Fantasy XIV to your flash drive. Rename the old FFXIV folder to something like FFXIV.bak just in case things screw up. After copying it over, you make a junction point in C:\Program Files\SquareEnix called Final Fantasy XIV and point it to where the FFXIV install is on the flash drive.

When you launch FFXIV from the start menu and Windows goes looking for FFXIV, for all intents and purposes it will still think FFXIV is on the main drive. The only way you can tell it's not the original is that your junction point will have a little shortcut icon. However, when you open it, it will still look like you're looking at the folder as though you didn't move it.

I used junction points to move my FFXIV install from a mechanical hard drive to my SSD. Worked like a charm.

[Norack]

didnt read any responses as i am feeling lazy but i can give a definitive answer from just looking at you pic. No, because you are using FAT32, even if you converted over to NTFS to where it could properly transfer FFXIV's file size USB rate would be to slow and even if USB transfer rate was fast enough i am still doubtful because of the use of reg. codes. it would be to easy to pirate.

[Soukyuu]

FFXIV doesn't use any registry entries, the game files are saved in the directory you installed it to, the updater files are in your documents/my games directory. I've been copying my patched installation between different computers since alpha, all you have to do is to run the config application on any new computer before starting the game.

An USB2.0 flash drive will be most likely too slow for ffxiv which will result in microstutters while running around maps because the drive is too slow providing data to your GPU. Another problem is that FFXIV has all it's files unpacked, thousands of small files is very bad because cheap flash drives and most hdds are very bad with small files.

An USB3.0/eSATA flash drive should have enough bandwidth to perform as good as a hdd, but only if the chips of the drive are fast enough.

I am also surprised about how many people don't know you can move the dynamic links to the my xxx folders by simply going to your user folder, right clicking them and going to the location tab. Just partition your drive into C:\ around 100GB and give the rest to D:\ and you shouldn't run out of space for programs and games on C:\ unless you have too much crap installed.

Running something from a flash drive will eat your flash drive's read write lifespam. Flash drives are meant for storage

The only time the flash drive is getting worn out is when you write something onto it - reading does not wear it out, just like SSDs.

[Bahn]

I am also surprised about how many people don't know you can move the dynamic links to the my xxx folders by simply going to your user folder, right clicking them and going to the location tab. Just partition your drive into C:\ around 100GB and give the rest to D:\ and you shouldn't run out of space for programs and games on C:\ unless you have too much crap installed.

I completely forgot about this. I used to do this all the time when I was setting up default user profiles for users on a small Win 2k3 network.

In general though, the My xxxx folder doesn't really have much stored in it. I personally try to store the stuff elsewhere because of my conscious awareness of my 60 GB's (lack of) size.

[indira]

flash drive life would ware out pertty fast from this game, unless your using a SSD

[Soukyuu]

flash drive life would ware out pertty fast from this game, unless your using a SSD

Again,

The only time the flash drive is getting worn out is when you write something onto it - reading does not wear it out, just like SSDs.

The only difference between a flash drive and a SSD is the speed and size of flash memory chips. Flash memory is flash memory.

[Coldfire]

The only difference between a flash drive and a SSD is the speed and size of flash memory chips. Flash memory is flash memory.

That's not correct. There are different types of flash memory. Some are fast, some survive lots of read/write cycles and some are cheap.

[Soukyuu]

That's not correct. There are different types of flash memory. Some are fast, some survive lots of read/write cycles and some are cheap.

It's still the write cycles that wear out the chips, not the read cycles. Files becoming unreadable over time is because the cells need refreshes from time to time, which equals writing, which wears out the chip. And I did say the speeds differ.

AFAIK most flash drives are SLC, just like cheaper SSDs, while better ones are MLC (might be wrong on this one though)

[Coldfire]

It's still the write cycles that wear out the chips, not the read cycles.

Ever heard of "read disturb"? <.<
Doesn't directly wear out the chips but the data can be broken. There's a pretty high chance FFXIV would cause this to happen on a flash drive.

[Soukyuu]

Ever heard of "read disturb"? <.<

No, I did not. Do you have a good link on it?