Tanoshimi Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 OK, so this might not really be LaunchBox related, but you're all experienced geniuses out there, so see if you can help. I have two computers sitting side by side for dual gaming (I actually have more throughout the house as well). I want to be able to access all of my games from any of these computers, but I do not want to have to install every game in every location. I installed the games to a shared drive (G:\) in Windows 10, and BigBox points to that. Steam lets me indicate where the library is, and I pointed it there, but some of the games still require installation. Not to mention Epic and my standalone games all require installation, and I don't want to install the games 3-5 times, even into the same directory. Does anyone know of a way I can just maintain a single installation, accessible from all computers on my network? Something like a Remote Desktop or VM or Container? Set up one computer, but then access it from everywhere at the same time? I guess, kinda like an AWS instance? I realize that with the network latency, and also the overhead of running a VM or container, this might not be feasible, and certainly not at 4k. But if anyone can think of a way to run games on 3-5 computers, without installing them on 3-5 computers, please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundogak Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 11 hours ago, Tanoshimi said: OK, so this might not really be LaunchBox related, but you're all experienced geniuses out there, so see if you can help. I have two computers sitting side by side for dual gaming (I actually have more throughout the house as well). I want to be able to access all of my games from any of these computers, but I do not want to have to install every game in every location. I installed the games to a shared drive (G:\) in Windows 10, and BigBox points to that. Steam lets me indicate where the library is, and I pointed it there, but some of the games still require installation. Not to mention Epic and my standalone games all require installation, and I don't want to install the games 3-5 times, even into the same directory. Does anyone know of a way I can just maintain a single installation, accessible from all computers on my network? Something like a Remote Desktop or VM or Container? Set up one computer, but then access it from everywhere at the same time? I guess, kinda like an AWS instance? I realize that with the network latency, and also the overhead of running a VM or container, this might not be feasible, and certainly not at 4k. But if anyone can think of a way to run games on 3-5 computers, without installing them on 3-5 computers, please let me know. Search for topics like "NAS" since been discussed in several threads. One like below: Top level, local install of LB with mapping to game locations on network can work if you have reliable and fast network. Don't try to run LB centralized for both speed and file integrity issues. Putting your LB cache on SSD helps as well, there are threads on doing symlinks for the cache from LB to SSD vs hard drive. If sticking with cart based systems and most MAME arcade games, then will work. Of course, those are also relatively small in size so again with modern computer drive sizes, you tend to drift back towards a master/client syncing logic vs purely centralized. Emulators can be centralized in some cases but have to be aware if the emulator is opening files and doing modifications while running or at completion, in that they are not setup for concurrent usage for the non-game files. In end, emulators are not large in size so most times not worth time/effort to figure out. File syncing (like with FreeFileSync) from a master computer to local install is usually easier for the LB, media, and emulator portions (assuming the computers are similar capability). Reality is you will find that you are not going to want to be constantly updating the non-"main computer" setups anyway and/or the other users are different enough (i.e., kids) that you don't want access to all the games anyway. You really have to look at the ultimate intent to adapt to your use case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanoshimi Posted January 23, 2023 Author Share Posted January 23, 2023 I get most of this, but am wondering if this can work with PC games requiring install, or Steam/Epic setups. Ultimately, the goal is to get a game like Call of Duty, install it on 1 computer, and play it on all of them, but without COD taking up space in all of the machines. I know NAS can be the location, but will most games require installation on all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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