How to use 2 different ETLegacy installs on one PC

[kajto3]

Since there might be some players (like me) that would like to play on two different ETLegacy versions, I decided to make a quick tutorial on this. In this example I'm going to be using 2.75 and 2.76 versions of ETL but you can do that with any versions you like. The reasons for using 2 or more version might be various, in this case I just want to enjoy playing on FA servers with 2.75 and use 2.76 for testing/gfx/scrims etc. This tutorial is for Windows.

 

1. If you haven't any ETL installs on your hdd, you can download all available versions here: https://www.etlegacy.com/download/release/list

 

2. If you have any ETL installed, you can keep it. Just make sure you know version it is - open the game, check console in bottom right menu. /let's say we already updated to 2.76 so we have this version installed right now, find out where it is, default location on Windows 64bit is C:\Program Files (x86)\Enemy Territory - Legacy (or just uninstall ETL and install 2.76 first)

 

3. Download a second version you want to use and install it to a different folder (you can name folders after ETL versions for example). Don't run the game! /let's say we installed 2.75 version in C:\ETLegacy 2.75

 

4. Create a folder in %userprofile%\Documents, choose a name without spaces in it. Don't delete/rename ETLegacy folder that's already there! /let's say we created a folder in Documents called ETLegacy_2.75.  ETLegacy folder will be used by 2.76 and ETLegacy_2.75 folder will be used by 2.75. We still talk about that Documents folder!

*** Don't mislead Documents/ETLegacy with Program Files/ETLegacy! They are different folders and each of them has it's own purpose. ***

 

5. You can swap the files between those 2 ETLegacy folders in Documents. Remember when you put some files containing ~~~ or ASCII characters in the ETLegacy folder, they will be deleted.  You might need to create new profiles after doing that stuff, so make sure you know when your config files are stored so you can load them when you need to.

Why don't we rename ETLegacy folder to 'ETLegacy_2.76'? Well, that is doable but would require to change some more settings so we can skip this step.

 

6. ETL 2.76 is done. As you see, we actually did nothing about it, it was already installed and configured by default.

 

7. If you want to use 2.75 version you need to actually do something. Go to C:\ETLegacy 2.75, create a shortcut of etl.exe (name it 'Launch ETLegacy 2.75' if you want). Right click on that shortcut > Properties > Shortcut tab. Edit the "Target" area (first box from top) following this example:

"C:\ET Legacy 2.75\etl.exe" +fs_homepath C:\Users\yourprofilename\Documents\ETLegacy_2.75

Save and close.

Remember to play the game from that shortcut! Otherwise your files might get screwed up heh.

 

8. You're done! It's very simple to do, basically you just use ETL 'fs_homepath' parameter to decide where custom files and configs are stored. Good luck and I hope you enjoy new versions of ETLegacy.

Edited January 14, 2019 by kajto3

[kajto3]

Note: check fs_homepath cvar in console after launching ETL. If it's still default, change +fs_homepath to +set fs_homepath.

Edited January 18, 2019 by kajto3

[RedBaird]

/bump  Are there any changes in your advice from four years ago?  Do you have instructions on how to install ETLegacy and copy data from 2.6b folders, to keep the same GUIDs?  Several have had troubles with that.

[kajto3]

This tutorial is still valid (although this solution is no longer needed to play on FA servers with the latest ETL version). The problem you described is something else, I might follow up on that in some other place. 

[nAbish]

I installed multiple copies on my pc. With that said every copy is on a different SSD. Upon downloading I just moved/copied all my files from one SSD to another. Pretty simple if you have tinkered with ETL documents before. My pm's are open if anyone need help!