Flash Drive Will Make Your Game Portable

By Glenn Guzzo

Gamers wanting to play Strat-O-Matic on multiple computers have come up with a simpler way to swap authorization between the computers. The game company has confirmed that the method – using a flash drive – works, and offers some additional guidance.

By installing a SOM game and its authorization to a flash drive, the game and its authorization become portable. The flash drive connects to any computer via a USB connector.

Gamers who have tried this report that they now find it much easier to transfer play from their home computer to a computer at work, a friend’s house or to a laptop.

In addition to portability, the flash drive makes it unnecessary to transfer game files and subsets between machines, because they all reside on the flash drive.

The process is simple:

n Connect the flash drive to a computer.

n Put the Strat-O-Matic CDROM disk in the drive and install the game – but to your flash drive, not the hard disk drive. For instance, this might be drive E, F or G, rather than drive C (which is the default in SOM’s installation sequence). Install the season(s), ballparks and other features, as you would when doing an initial installation anywhere.

n Install the latest patch from the www.strat-o-matic.com website.

n Start the SOM game from the normal icon under the Start / Programs menu on your computer. The game icons will point directly to your flash drive.

n Once the game is loaded, proceed with authorization – for the game and season(s) – via the Internet per normal.

If your game and authorization is already active on a computer and you want to switch it to the flash drive, do this:

n Backup your active league(s) using the League / Backup League feature.

n Remove the season and game authorizations from your computer.

n Install the game and seasons onto the flash drive from the original SOM CD.

n Install the latest patch from the www.strat-o-matic.com website.

n Authorize the game on the flash drive.

n Start your game and use the League / Restore League feature to restore your previously backed up leagues.

Either way, when you are ready to move the game to a new computer, you simply have to take the portable flash drive and re-connect it. No more de-authorizing and re-authorizing.

The small and lightweight flash drives come in different capacities. Prices vary. A 512MB drive, enough to house a complete league, with all files, in any of Strat-O-Matic’s pro sports games, can cost as little as $20-$25. For multiple games or leagues, or to run college football with its many teams, a larger flash drive would be required, according to Len Schwartz, who directs SOM’s tech support. A 1-gigabyte drive can cost as little as $30-$40.

The flash drive really is not the way to house a game with 50 installed seasons, Schwartz advised.

Remember that your only authorization for the game and each season is on the flash drive. You have a problem if you lose or damage the flash drive or delete the authorization.

Schwartz said loading the game from the flash drive will be much swifter with a USB 2.0 port connection, the current standard, than with out-moded USB 1.0 ports on older computers.

Compiling functions (e.g. league leaders) will be slower using the flash drive, but typical game play ought to be comparable, he added.