# Loading a Game on a Flash Drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211 "2006-12-22T11:38:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/1 "2006-12-22T11:38:14Z")
If I had a big enough Flash Drive, could I load a game onto it, then travel from place to place with it, playing my game on any PC with a USB port? This could have spectacular ramifications for my work boredom. Hehehe… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/2 "2006-12-22T11:44:25Z")
It depends on the game - if it’s one that needs to register DLL files in the system, or write registry values, then no. If it’s the kind of software you can just unzip and run straight out of any folder, then yes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/3 "2006-12-22T11:46:44Z")
Or you could just get on with whatever it is they pay you for. That might work out better in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/4 "2006-12-22T11:47:02Z")
Hmmm… I have no idea how to tell the difference. But I imagine any game that’s complex, like Civ4, or Total War: Shogun or similarly involved games, probably need to write .dll files. Curses. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/5 "2006-12-22T11:48:03Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Or you could just get on with whatever it is they pay you for. That might work out better in the end. [/QUOTE] Sure, no problem. Of course, I’ll still need something to do for the hours and hours of my day where I almost literally have NOTHING TO DO!!! Hehehe.. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/6 "2006-12-22T12:01:38Z")
What kind of games do you like? If you want something incredibly simple, but still interesting, engaging and entertaining, you could try [Seiklus](http://www.autofish.net/clysm/art/video_games/seiklus/) - I just tested this and it does indeed run directly from a USB memory stick - just unzip both files into a folder on the stick, then run the .exe. Don’t let the screenshots put you off - it’s actually a charming and fun little game. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/7 "2006-12-22T13:05:00Z")
The biggest problem would be copy protection schemes. They make the use of the game impossible with the portable USB drive. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/8 "2006-12-22T14:10:46Z")
I think your best option would be to run something from the DOS days with DOSBox. In any case, I’d worry about the write limit. I think they’ve got the write limit up to about a million by now but it’s still a possible concern. That’s one reason I don’t run Portable Firefox (or other portable apps) off my flash drive but off my iPod instead. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/9 "2006-12-22T14:50:36Z")
I dunno about games, but I have a very nice little WYSIWYG HTML editor called Coffee Cup that I run off a flash drive with no problem. But I use it strictly for work, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loading-a-game-on-a-flash-drive/385211/10 "2006-12-22T14:54:22Z")
Flash drives (although RAM based) are not all that speedy vs hard drives if info needs to be written to the flash drive as part of game play. Game play could be sluggish.