Is it possible to have two installations of Fallout 3?

Maybe. It would definitely have to be in a different location. Why would you want to do that though?

Different settings and mods for each one.

Can't you have two different mod lists with FOMM's import/export feature?

Well while you may be able to import export mod lists with FOMM Gary Bash will do it cleaner and more efficiently as well as provide a different profile via save game profiles. So that as you activate a save game profile it will automatically activate the mods associated with that save game thread. It won't swap ini (although that is a very good feature request idea).

I've no idea how to set up completely different game installs short of setting up different computer profiles or even dual boot type setups. There probably is a way. I'm curious.

In a respect, I run 2 installs of Fallout 3. There are two deals to this.

I started out with one game, and it uses two directories. "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Games\Fallout3\Data", and, C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Games\Fallout3\saves". When you start a new fallout install, you have one of each.

So. the game starts you out with one DATA directory and one saves directory. When you want to start a new mode of your game, you rename those 2 directories to something else, and then, I believe you create empty directories that are named the same as the old one, and start your second game like that.

So, in the end. In the C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\ directory I have what amounts to 2 DATA directories. One of them I leave named "DATA" and that's the one the game is currently using. Then there's another one which I've renamed to DATA-OTHER. When I want to swap my "games" between two versions, I swap these names.

In "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Games\Fallout3" there is a directory named "saves". Then, there is a directory named "saves-OTHER". I swap their names whenever I swap the "DATA" directory names.

This is how I develop two different, invasive mods at the same time. I swap my saves and data directories around, and it makes for set of independent mod development environments.

hope it helps.

I'm pretty sure people have said that after doing a fresh install of FO3, they've simply copied the enitre folder to a new, differently named, folder (multiple copies, even). It's probable that you'd have to rename the folders before using a particular copy though. It makes sense to have a clean install for mod development, etc.

Haven't done it myself, but I'm sure someone will come along and explain it better. :q

Well I found http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=285 after http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1090979-multiple-installs/ was asked on the oblivion forum.

requires creating batch files.

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pvZ1oS42cyS9itMzjx56glCqn2VpMiAaYGRxiT3tvDa75WrxKv-vkOW8rkgM7B7vFwh1lIhpUjTkNX1thnMgRwg/example.jpg

Thanks for the help.