I don't know that there's a lot (or even any) interest, so I'll *try* to keep it short... What I like to do is create portable versions of apps, including games -- it's handy when someone in the family wants to try something out without the hassle of install & possibly un-install. Another advantage I found is that using the Portableapps.com format & menu, it's very easy to organize & keep track of a selection of games, while keeping them separate from all the games & apps that are already installed & in the Start Menu; I did this with a bunch of the free games from Playcity [thanks Whiterabbit], & using a Desktop shortcut my wife can launch the Portableapps menu, scroll through the games, try them out, & decide which ones she wants installed normally. That said, the Portableapps.com launcher will work with both portable & non-portable apps, e.g. you can put the "FishdomH2O" folder from Sunday's Game GOTD inside the launcher's PortableApps folder, & when you start the launcher the Fishdom game is right there in the menu. For that matter, many of the GOTD games have simply unpacked themselves into the C:\Game folder -- add the PortableApps launcher to your system drive [copy from a USB stick minus the Autorun.inf], drag those games into the PortableApps folder, & you've got a menu without bothering to create & place individual shortcuts. If you get the latest release [portableapps.com] you can create & save apps/games to categories [much like Start Menu sub-folders] for better organization. But on to how I went further & made these games portable...
Now the ideal portable app runs anywhere on any PC/laptop without touching the hard drive -- those are few [if it's even possible in Windows], so I settle for making as few permanent changes to the host system hard drive as possible, including changes to or in the registry. To make that work you need to know just what minimal changes an app/game makes, & what it requires in the way of stored files or registry entries. The 1st step is to get the app itself, minus any add-ons & the installer -- I use Universal Extractor [ http://legroom.net/software/uniextract ] to accomplish that. For the Playcity games that meant going to the resulting {app} folder, renaming it, & removing the toolbar installer, all url shortcuts, & the Playcity launcher. The next part, necessary for games & those apps that rely on hardware is more tedious, since you not only have to record all changes but put things back so you can make sure your portable version works.
Installwatch Pro works for 32 bit Windows, &/or you can use Regshot or Regshot2 to do that recording. I used Installwatch Pro in win7's XP Mode VM for an imcomplete overview [most games won't fully run], saving registry changes & any added folders -- e.g. a folder added to User Application Data is compressed into a 7-zip file named UsrAppDta.7z. Booting into XP Pro I used Wondershare's Timefreeze, though apps like Returnil or even just ERUNT work, and used something called Portable App Creator [ http://portableapps.com/node/9909 ] -- it's not perfect & the results are much less elegant than *real* conversions to the portableapps.com format, but it's relatively quick & it's very easy. Basically Portable App Creator takes before & after system snapshots, then creates a launcher that will *temporarily* create needed folders (with content) & registry entries. It will not always catch added folders or necessary registry keys/values, so I don't use it exactly as intended...
On a USB stick after installing the PortableApps launcher, I created the folder for a game, e.g. PortableApps\[Name of game]Portable. Inside that I added a "App" sub-folder, & copied the stripped down game folder into that "App" sub-folder. Starting up Portable App Creator, I browse to that game's .exe file where it asks what file to install, unchecking the UPX checkbox. Next it'll take its before snapshot, & next step is to install, in this case running & closing the game. Because of my Installwatch Pro records I know where to look, & I manually double check the 3 locations where these games typically add folders [User\ Application Data, User\ Local Settings\ Application Data, & All Users\ Application Data] -- if something's missing I can copy the folder I stored earlier into place, & if a folder's empty I'll add null.txt [an empty txt file] to make sure it's picked up. I can also merge reg files before or after starting a game or app, as long as it's after the 1st snapshot. Following the steps of the wizard interface, a couple of games were minimized when the Portable App Creator message box popped up saying install or run your app & then click OK -- it was no big deal to click OK & then restore the game.
Once the wizard's finished you'll have a "Data" folder alongside the "App" folder you created -- inside of it as needed you'll have copies of added folders, a .lst file [a text file with paths to those folders' contents], &/or a .reg file... I double check to make sure everything appears as it should be -- if needed you can add folders & reference them in that .lst file, as well as edit a .reg file. You'll also have an .ini file with the path to this now portable app -- you'll probably have to edit that to work if you put it in a folder on your hard drive. Now is where I'll restore everything re: XP Pro, rebooting to discard any changes (or restore an ERUNT backup for the registry etc.), then test to make sure the portable version of the game works -- here I started Time Freeze again, then used Regshot to monitor. Some registry entries like MUICache or Shell Bags or UserAssist etc. you're not going to get away from, but there is no great reference guide & 'bout all I can say is try to avoid any app/game specific entries & Google/Bing when in doubt until you build up a bit of experience.
Of course all this is fine & good if I was only in XP, but what if I might want to run this portable game in Vista/win7 32/64? Everything works the same way in those versions of Windows, but XP's easier to manage the process & I wanted XP compatibility too, so now I go into win7 64, fire up Time Freeze & Regshot2, & try everything out. 2 games worked as is -- they maybe shouldn't have, but they did. One game needed to have more registry entries added to it's .reg file. And a few needed to have those stored sub-folders [with configuration data] duplicated using the different paths in Vista/win7 -- e.g. User\ Application Data\ became User\ AppData\ Roaming\. One game needed to be run as admin [both the launcher & game], while a couple just wouldn't work at all, 1 not even as a stand-alone without the portable stuff.
In the end the project worked out well, but it's not a complete substitute for a regular installation -- add a profile/player name & that has to be added to the portable app setup or it's written to the hard drive. If you don't record & include where saved games go, those aren't stored in the portable game's folder either. The extra launcher the Portable App Creator adds is itself is a bit of baggage, so game performance, along with startup & close times suffer, even when this stuff is written to & read from a internal hard drive. Probably the main reason I tried to go more fully portable is that some of the games were different versions from what was already installed, & I didn't want them to muck up previously saved games or profiles etc.
