How to do a Full Install by Jake

[Update 4th Nov 2010]: For those with the GOG version of Planescape: Torment, there is a guide here on installing Planescape: Torment.

Copying Folders off the CD

[14/Oct/2010] Update for those having the GOG version of Planescape: Torment: Instructions in this section do NOT apply as it is already done.
[17/Dec/2009] Update for those having the DVD version of Planescape: Torment: Instructions below can still apply. Each CD is mapped to one folder in the DVD.

Copy the folders off of the cd's to your system locally. Then edit the torment.ini file that is in the torment directory where you installed the game to. The top part should look like this:

[Alias]

HD0:=e:\Torment

CD1:=F:\CD1\

CD2:=F:\CD2\

CD3:=F:\CD3\

CD4:=F:\CD4\

CD5:=F:\CD5\

If you copied the folders from the cd's to the following directory (which means the 'torment' folder is located in C drive):

c:\torment\
        

Then your ini file should be changed to look like this:

[Alias]
HD0:=e:\Torment
CD1:=c:\torment\CD1\
CD2:=c:\torment\CD2\
CD3:=c:\torment\CD3\
CD4:=c:\torment\CD4\
CD5:=c:\torment\CD5\

Make the Game Go Faster

Got this from a reader:
WARNING: You'll probably need a bit of extra drive space for this, becaue the .bif files probably aren't the only thing Torment stores in the cache dir. So, this is not for the gigabyte-impaired.

hi,

i think i found an improvement to the 'regular' full-install, which minimizes loading time.
just perform the following steps:

• move all ar*.bif files from the cd2-4 folders to the cache-folder
• edit torment.ini and set CacheSize to 1000

this change should make the game use the files without copying them first for caching.

Thanks go to Christof for the hint!

UPDATE: From Northlander: Hey, a few notes on the full install, that many would find helpful. These are all -after- one has edited the proper paths into torment.ini:

Contrary to some notes on the page, if you do -move- the ar*.bif's into the cache directory, and set CacheSize=1000 in torment.ini, things would not take up any more space than the game does now. In fact, the game would need less free space to run. The trick is to move them, and not just copy them.

However, if you do this, to load a game saved in an area where cd3 or above is required, -even with using the crack-, it will ask for the CD. Because of how the cache-check works, the workaround for this is to select 'New life' in the main menu, and then load the later save file once in the mortuary.

There's a much simpler and therefore better way to do the full install though, which keeps the game running smoothly without ever asking for the CDs, once the crack is run. In torment.ini, set CacheSize=1. That's all you have to do. Now, it doesn't copy the ar*.bif's into the cache directory, but runs them from the "cds" - your other directories. That's the easiest way to do the Full Install.

The CDs have a few megabytes of files in common, so if there's a desire to shave that off, you can go ahead and move everything into one directory, overwriting when doubles are revealed, and have torment.ini's CD= entries all point towards it.

Make the AI Path Intelligence Smarter

This was posted in the Bootstrike.Com Forums by Jason:

For anyone running Torment on a newer machine (I run it on an P4), you can make the game run better.

Open your torment.ini file (C/programs/black isle/torment) and make these changes;
path search nodes=32000
Maximum frame rate=40

I messed around with these settings alot, and these seem the best. Walking speed is bearable and your PC's take a little smarter path from place to place. If you up the frame rate too much more (you can take it to 60) it's like watching the game in fast forward.

And for computer dummies like me, the .ini file is the one that looks like a notepad with a gear and just says torment.

If anyone knows any other good changes e-mail me at Jtmj2k1@aol.com

Hardlinking (Not Recommended)

This was posted in the Bootstrike.Com Forums by Jor. We do NOT recommend hardlinking as this is advanced.

Save Hard Drive Space

On NT, 2k, or XP, you can save large amounts of harddrive space, if instead of copying all the ar*.bif files into the cache-folder, you create hard links to them.

This will have the same effect as copying them, but save the oh-so-needed harddrive space.

If you don't know how to hard link, you can use Hard Link Magic (link broken, you can use Junction, Same Files Assistant or NTFS Link) to do this.