[Guide] How to play online with GameRanger (Windows XP SP3+)

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So you have the game, and you want to play with your friends who probably didn't buy the game through Steam using GameRanger. This guide will assume a couple things;

• You want to do this while wasting as little filespace as possible
  
• You're using Windows, XP SP3 or higher (must have NTFS5+ filesystem)
  
• You're using NTFS as your filesystem for WIndows

This guide will also assume you're okay with using command prompt. You may also need to make other modifications to Windows XP to enable file linking, as that's how we'll keep the directory the duplicate is contained therein lean.

It's too complicated!
So you're perfectly okay wasting filespace by duplicating your entire directory? You want to learn nothing new? Alright, by all means you do that. Skip the entire guide up until the last section and you're done.

If on the other hand you fulfill the above, then you can continue to follow this guide.

Preparation
For this to work, we need to prepare the new directory with links to all the files from the Steam installation. I've made this easy-to-use batch file[copy.com] which will link every file from your Steam FlatOut 2 directory into the game's default directory when installed via Bugbear's original installer, because mklink sucks for not supporting wildcards (which would had make this a whole lot easier for me if it did). The contents of the batch file therein (in case my link rots) is below:

@ECHO OFF
REM > %systemdrive% is where the Windows directory is. If this is not the case,
REM   change it to a drive letter of your choosing.
REM > MKLINK requires destination first, then source. Use "Find and Replace"
REM   to change file paths up to the flatout2 directory.
REM > MKDIR will create new directories if they do not exist, else its error
REM   text will be suppressed. Change to suit; This is where the links will go.
REM   Else, make the directories yourself and remove the MKDIR lines.
REM > All MKLINK file commands assume the game is in the same directory as Windows;
REM   If not, then replace all instances of " /H" (Yes, that's a space) with nothing.
COLOR 0E
CLS
ECHO FlatOut 2 batch link tool for FO2 via Steam v1.0
ECHO.
ECHO This batch job will assume four things by default:
ECHO * You want to make links in the path where non-Steam
ECHO   FlatOut 2 would be
ECHO * You installed your Steam games in their default path.
ECHO * You are dong this on your own copy of 64-bit Windows
ECHO   (XP SP3 or greater)
ECHO * This batch is ran as admin (if using UAC).
ECHO.
ECHO If any of this doesn't apply, press ctrl+c or close
ECHO this prompt to discontinue this job and edit the batch
ECHO file as necessary for your specific filesystem.
ECHO Instructions (as REMs) on top. Else, press a key to continue.
PAUSE > NUL
CLS
MKDIR "%systemdrive%\progra~2\Empire Interactive" > NUL 2>&1
MKDIR "%systemdrive%\progra~2\Empire Interactive\flatout2" > NUL 2>&1
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\Bugbear.url %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\Bugbear.url
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\d3dx9_30.dll %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\d3dx9_30.dll
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\EmpireInteractive.htm.url %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\EmpireInteractive.htm.url
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\filesystem %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\filesystem
REM We'll be using a nocd copy of the game instead.
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\FlatOut2.url %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\FlatOut2.url
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\fo2a.bfs %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\fo2a.bfs
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\fo2b.bfs %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\fo2b.bfs
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\fo2c.bfs %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\fo2c.bfs
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\manual.pdf %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\manual.pdf
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\patch %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\patch
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\patch1.bfs %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\patch1.bfs
MKLINK /H %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\readme.htm %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\readme.htm
REM TestApp is not required.
MKLINK /J %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2\Savegame %systemdrive%\progra~2\steam\steama~1\common\flatout2\Savegame
ECHO.
ECHO If any of the above couldn't be made, one of two things happened:
ECHO 1. The links already exist (cannot be overwritten)
ECHO 2. The directories do not exist
ECHO.
ECHO If no error text was generated, then that means job was successful.
ECHO Press any key to continue.
PAUSE > NUL
CLS
COLOR 0A
ECHO Finished! Now put your No-CD copy of FlatOut 2 into
ECHO where all the links are and start the game. This should
ECHO be in %systemdrive%\progra~2\empire~1\flatout2.
ECHO.
ECHO Press any key to exit, or close this prompt.
PAUSE > NUL
EXIT

If my link is dead, save all of that code as a batch file and edit to suit.

Uh, no. I'll be leaving now.
Alright, so you didn't want to deal with a batch file. I get you. Install Link Shell Extension[schinagl.priv.at] instead if you need a GUI so bad and / or not trust some random stranger on the internet who's telling you to do weird and unfamiliar things.

Alternate prep for command prompt haters
If you opt for the Explorer add-on instead of my batch script, then after you installed Link Shell Extension, then you can perform the following;

1. Select all of your files from the FlatOut 2 Steam directory and right-click to pick all as link source, then right-click in a different directory to drop the links as either hardlinks (only if links are to be at the same partition) or symbolic links (works every time)
   
2. Right-click on Savegame and pick that as link source, then drop in the same directory as all the other links as a junction.

Making the game playable on GameRanger
Once done with the above, then you'll have to bend the rules just a little bit, because you'll need a no-CD version of the game executable. Yeah, that's right, you'll have to break the law a little, but technically you already bought the game, and as of present it's the only course of action you have to play on GameRanger.

To prevent my ♥♥♥♥ from getting banned for sharing illegal content, or content that could enable illegal use, all I'll say is grab your no-CD executable from Game Copy World (search it). It's an easy-enough site to navigate, and once completely finished, you'll have to reconfigure absolutely nothing, save for the path GameRanger uses to launch the game.

Other uses of the batch file
As a side-benefit, you can use my batch file to make a completely different path to the game and use that for modding! That's right, you can add mods, but you'll want to save over your hardlinked patch file when you are finished editing it, because otherwise you'll be tampering with the patch file in your Steam directory, which will lead to errors if you commit to using links instead of copying files.