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My home internet has data usage caps. I'd like to install Diablo 3 and RoS using as little data as possible. What is the best way to do this?

It seems the two options are:

Using the Disk -

  1. Install Diablo 3
  2. Install Reaper of Souls
  3. Patch

or

Using the online installer -

  1. Install and patch using the online installer

Which of these options will require less data to be downloaded?

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  • 1
    Related (not duplicate) question: gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/157993/…
    – Bob2Chiv
    Dec 31, 2015 at 18:53
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    My gut, based on the above comment and research in the past is that it will be less net data to simply use the Online Installer. You can pause the download / installer (I believe) at any time.
    – Bob2Chiv
    Dec 31, 2015 at 18:55
  • Yea, I spotted that. It does have some useful info and seems to suggest that using the online patcher is the best way. Unfortunately it's a bit dated and mostly discusses disk usage.
    – Justin
    Dec 31, 2015 at 18:56
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    Another related question: gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/161068/…
    – Bob2Chiv
    Dec 31, 2015 at 19:05
  • Spotted that too. It's also a bit dated though, and doesn't mention RoS at all. If the RoS disk includes all D3 vanilla patches up to that date, then there's a chance it will use less if installing from disk. I just started the online installer to see what it would use, it's just over 14GB. I have no idea what patching from RoS would use.
    – Justin
    Dec 31, 2015 at 19:11

2 Answers 2

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I was able to reduce the total download size from ~14.6GB to ~8.9GB using the disk.

Here are the steps I took. Some of these may or may not be necessary, starting off with the disk alone may work fine.

  1. Start with the Diablo 3 Online Installer
  2. Let it begin the patch download process.
  3. Pause and exit the patch client.
  4. Insert the Diablo 3 or Reaper of Souls Disk (They both have the same data)
  5. The patcher will launch again and begin "Initializing"
  6. The patcher will then resume the normal patch process.

I believe the "Initializing" step automatically reads from the disk. I could see that the Diablo 3/Data/data folder was being populated with patch data, yet my internet connection was idle. This process cut my total download size almost in half.

I'm fairly certain that starting the update process from the disk alone would have resulted in the full 14GB+ download. Unfortunately I'm not really able to confirm that. In either case, these steps (even if superfluous) lead to the least amount of data being downloaded.

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  • The only recommendation I would make would be replacing actual numbers with approximates. 14gb+ is fine, but "cut off a about third of the download" instead of "14.6 to 8.9". Its only nit picking, but any use of exact numbers will become out of date with future updates.
    – user106385
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:51
  • But...the almighty tilde!
    – Justin
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:53
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Diablo 3 is an account-based game, in that you need to register a CD key to an account to play it, regardless of if you have a physical disc. As a result, having the game does not directly give you access to the game.

While never a guarantee, its always an option to nicely ask your local internet cafe to put an up-to-date version of the game on a USB flash drive.

As you still have to pay for the game in order to play it, they are not as worried about copyright infringement, if that is an issue that concerns them at all.

Never a guarantee, and this depends entirely on your local internet cafe's manner and game availability, but if they oblige you can obtain an up to date version without any actual internet overhead.

This is how I often keep my Blizzard games up to date.

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  • In other words, don't use your own internet connection? Good suggestion I guess, but this doesn't really answer the question. It probably would have been better suited as a comment.
    – Justin
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:31
  • @Justin, you ask how to install the game with as little download as possible. This gets you the game installed with almost no download what so ever. If you specifically require using your personal internet connection for the installation (for whatever reason), you should clarify so in your question.
    – user106385
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:39
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    I did think some of this was obvious, but there are users that would not consider this an option, due to the copyright protection on most games. This does not apply to Blizzard games (or rather, the recent ones), due to the method of accessing the game.
    – user106385
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:41
  • True enough. Not using your own connection is always a solution to these types of problems. I suppose I really should have made it clear in the question that this wasn't the type of answer I was looking for. It's also, as you said, a rather obvious answer.
    – Justin
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:46
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    @Justin, I did sort of assume as much, anyway. I posted this answer for future users who may not realise the fact.
    – user106385
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:48

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