BG2 is not 'installed' after formatting

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I had a nasty windows crash and had to format my harddrive C. After a new windows and drivers etc. installation, my computer is back on feet again. My BG2 (BGTrilogy game, to be exact) was installed in harddisc D, which was not formatted.

I have spent huge hours on installing a stable trilogy game, with tons and tons of mods. But now I can't play the game, for only installation option comes up on the menu. I think the game registry entries or such have been deleted, and thus the game thinks it is not installed, even though all the required files are safe and sound in D.

Is there a way to 'remind' my computer that BG2 is still installed, safe and sound. I really really don't want to spend half a day again to install all my mods. That would be such a bummer.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

 

I see. Thanks.

So, if I install BG2 on drive C, then copy all the files in BG2 folder in D, to new C, it will be OK? Hmm I guess it will take quite a lot of time still, since mod folders have so many little files it takes a humongous time to copy them.

Or, can I edit the registry files so that it sees and acknowledges my game in D, err I don't even have an idea what a registry file looks like, sorry. Or, as a last resort, can someone give me those registry files from their own computer's BG2 installation, and I can 'edit' them to fit into mine, or whatever...ugh my head hurts.

 

^Wow, that's complex at first sight, but infact a very elegant and simple solution! That's real sage advice! Thank you very much! I will try it once I am able to reach my BG2 CDs.

 

@Silverstar: I've bookmarked this, just to remember it: Look to post #5

 

^ Isn't that for manually uninstalling the game. I need to 'manually install' the game, or so to speak, so the computer knows it is installed. Do I need to edit the reg file to add those lines?

EDIT:Woot, finally after 5 years, I have a rogue stone. Or I AM a rogue stone. Whatever.

 

It's possible it's even simpler still: if BG2 vanilla is installed inside another folder in D, so the registry 'knows' Baldur's Gate is a valid program, it might be possible to start your old BGT-game by doubleclicking bgmain.exe (or a shortcut to it) in your BGT-folder.

The trick didn't work for me on every system though, it did on my xp desktop after pasting back old copies of the game after re-installing windows, but my vista laptop wouldn't recognize copy-pasted older bg-installs.

BTW: The autorun-GUI when you enter the CD will start the game that's inside the folder the registry entry is pointing to (so use the method in post #4 if you want to use the auto-run GUI), but any bg-game on your computer can be started using the BGmain.exe inside it's own folder (if your an addict like me, you can have over a dozen separate campaigns on your system ).

 

Partly why I needed an external HDD

Multi-installs: For when it's easier to copy/paste than it is to figure out what you've broken.

 

I once made an compact installation file of BG/BG2 + Trilogy. Included was the required registry entries, which allowed me to install it on whatever machine.

I don't have it anymore, but I found this:

If you edit the entries to suit your install path, then copy it into an *.reg file, it should work. Though this registry info didn't come from me, just found it on google.

Someone also said that you should just run bgmain instead, then you don't need reg entries.

 

Well, well, well, bless you! Bless you! Thank you so very much! I found BGMain.exe in the folder, it is an unidentified program, but when I run it, the game opens just like normal! Wow. Can't believe this. You are a life saver, you are!

 

Nice to be of assistance