Changing the link in Windows 7's "Games" folder

[Moeboid]

Does anyone know how to do this? Since I have OBSE installed, the shortcut opening the standard Oblivion Launcher is no good to me. Please don't suggest simply hiding that game and putting my own shortcut there. I'm aware that I could do that, I'm just wondering whether modifying the link is possible.

[Andere]

Moved from Mod-Oblivion to The Tech Desk.

This may be a stupid question, but don't you have OBSE as a shortcut? What you should start is "obse_loader.exe".

[Moeboid]

It's not a stupid question, especially if you're unfamiliar with Windows 7/Vista's "Games" folder. Shortcuts are automatically placed there whenever you install a new game. So when I installed Oblivion, for example, a shortcut to Oblivion.exe was automatically placed there. However, unlike a regular shortcut, I can't change what file the shortcut opens. I can for the ones in the start menu, but I can't even open up "Properties" for the ones in the Games folder (I guess they really don't want you messing with it). I've done some searching around and I've found where all the "stuff" for the games folder is stored in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX), but it seems changing the link would involve editing a .dll file, which is beyond me.

P.S. Thanks for moving. I thought I'd post in the MOD-Oblivion section since I'm kinda talking about a problem that obse users might be familiar with but you're right, It's more appropriate here, so thanks for that.

[Andere]

Not always so easy to know where a topic should be placed... I've been criticized a few times for moving something... I'll send a PM to our own and dear H8Ball, to have him look at this. He's not available all the time, but eventually he'll reply.

[Moeboid]

Haha, I was hoping H8Ball would find this. I've seen him help other people with a few really complex issues before.

An update on my situation: The icon doesn't even work anymore. One of my attempts to change the link resulted in all the related registry settings disappearing. A link, and the registry settings reappeared again somehow, but the link doesn't work anymore (in that double clicking it doesn't do anything. nor does right clicking), so I just deleted it again (by deleting the registry settings). I hope I haven't screwed anything up permanently...

[H8Ball]

Yoo hoo! I'm here!

I'm not familiar with Windows 7, but can't you simply ignore its "Games folder" functionality and simply create a shortcut DIRECTLY on your Desktop the same way as in older versions of Windows? You should be able to use Windows Explorer to browse to the folder containing obse_loader.exe, right-drag that file to the Desktop, drop it and, from the context menu that appears, choose Create Shortcuts Here. Note: By right-drag, I mean click and drag with the RIGHT mouse button, not the left one. When you drop it, a context menu pops up with the options Move, Copy and Create Shortcuts Here.

The default name for a new Desktop shortcut is the filename the shortcut links to, in this case obse_loader.exe, so you'll have to rename the shortcut to Oblivion. To do this, simply right-click the shortcut and choose Rename. Alternatively, left-click ONCE to select the shortcut then press F2, the keyboard shortcut for Rename.

I'm fairly familiar with Vista (on my Dad's laptop) and creating/renaming a shortcut as above works exactly the same way as with Windows XP (on my PC). And XP works the same way as in Windows 95/98/Me. If Microsoft have changed long-standing basic Desktop functionalities in Windows 7, it's a HUGE departure from their usual strict adherence to "backwards compatibility", i.e. users can use each new version of Windows essentially the same way they did any previous version. This is so they aren't confused by having to learn completely new ways of doing things.

Edit: After doing some reading up on Win7's Games folder...

You should be able to drag an EXE file to the Games folder to add it manually. You should then be able to right-click it IN the Games folder and choose Customize to change its shortcut properties. I assume these include the Name, Target and Icon, same as in older versions of Windows. However, if nothing happens when you right-click Games folder icons, it may have something to do with user permissions or security policies, or your registry edits have "broken" Games folder functionality. I'd suggest you Google or visit Microsoft and/or Windows 7 forums for solutions.

Hope this helps.

[Moeboid]

Yes, there are many solutions available to me. Other than shortcuts in the games folder, I don't know of any other shortcuts that can't be edited the same way as they were in previous versions of Windows. I was more just asking out of interest. Most of the time, I just run Oblivion from the start menu, which contains a shortcut that has already been edited. The shortcuts placed in the Games folder automatically are all fancy - with a big cool lookin' icon and links to the publisher and developer's websites. If I created a shortcut there manually - which I could easily do - it would be just another boring looking shortcut. Yeah... not a big problem, but like I said, I was more just asking out of curiosity since I can't be the only Oblivion player on Windows 7. Also, I actually thought that it would be an easy thing to do...

By the way, your knowledge of Windows shortcut keys is impressive. I'm going to start using those

[mizifih]

Go to your HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games\ folder on the registry and find the subfolder for Skyrim. There you can edit the ConfigGDFBinaryPath key pointing to the .exe you want. Thant should solve your troubles (I hope).