gw2mi is a simple (Windows) DOS .bat script that launches a second Guild Wars 2 instance.
(Actually, this is a GitHub-newbs' first exercise in Markdown)
###Overview - Do You Find:
- Yourself playing GW2 for many years and, inevitably, bought a second account?
- The latest version of
<insert multibox launcher name here>unstable and slow as heck? - The post in [Reddit] (https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2v3s3h/multiwars2_performance/coedftb) a bit complicated?
- Running two separate copies of GuildWars 2 on the same hard disk agreeable?
This script will make launching the second GW2 instance a simple double-click action. Ideal if you have two accounts and a good-enough PC (see below for reference PC used).
Note: Running two GW2 instances on a single GW2 copy works, but it is not recommended as there is no telling what would happen if both instances attempt to write new updates into the same Gw2.dat file -- it's your risk. Having said this, GW2 usually announces "a new build is available..." in-game and as long as all instances have been closed, launching one instance to do the update should prevent any possible file corruption, in which case, the worse that can happen is the long wait when GW2 repairs its 26GB or so "Gw2.dat" file.
###Prerequisites - You'll Need To:
- Create a second Windows User account on your PC (for the second instance of GW2 to save its settings to).
- Download handle.exe from Microsoft (see reference link below) and copy it to C:\Windows
- Copy the gw2mi.bat to your second GW2 folder and create a desktop-shortcut.
(or copy to your one-and-only GW2 installation folder)
###How To Configure
About Personalization
Use your favorite plain-text editor to edit the first three lines of the gw2mi.bat file.
set win_user=john2
set gw2_path=R:\Program Files\Guild Wars 2c
set gw2_exe=gw2-64.exe
Simply change the win_user name "john2" (as seen above) with your second Windows login account, change the gw2_path to where your second GW2 folder path is, and also change the gw2_exe from "gw2-64.exe" to "gw2.exe" if you prefer to run the 32bit GW2 client.
About handle.exe (which gw2mi.bat uses)
Handle.exe requires administrator privilege to properly detect "AN-Mutex-Window-Guild Wars 2" and get a handle id for it. Modify the desktop-shortcut settings by right-clicking and select properties. In the Shortcut tab, click the Advanced button and check-mark "run as administrator". Click OK to save the shortcut settings.
###How To Run:
- Launch the first GW2 as you normally do (ie. double-clicking gw2.exe or gw2-64.exe).
- Double-click the gw2mi.bat shortcut (even if the first one is just showing the GW2 login screen).
As long as you launch gw2mi.bat last, that's really all there is to it.
###Reference
Links:
Download "handle.exe" from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/handle.aspx
PC Used:
OS: Windows 10
CPU: AMD Phenom II x6 (6-core) @ 3.8Ghz
RAM: 16GB
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 750Ti
Disk: ADATA 256GB SSD via eSATA (Dedicated for GW1/GW2)
Meta Keywords: Guild Wars 2, Launching Multiple Instances, Multiple Clients on one machine, Two Clients, Multibox