There is a way to have multiple games on the same user account, too. I hate switching user accounts, so I do it this way instead.

What you do is you install the game twice (or more), but choose different names during the installations. For example, you might have:

C:\Program Files\Virtual Families\
C:\Program Files\VF\
C:\Program Files\LDW - Virtual Families\
C:\Program Files\Another Virtual Families Copy\

Here's what I have right now:



Once you have installed them, open the folders and change the name of the *.exe files so that they are all different. For example, the one in the folder Virtual Families might be called VirtualFamilies.exe while the one in the VF folder is called VF.exe and the one in the LDW - Virtual Families folder is called LDWVirtualFamilies.exe

Here's what mine look like (but I don't recommend using 1.0 in the name, that was a mistake I made... just notice that they are named differently):



If you got your game from another site, like Reflexive, you might have to rename other files so they match. I don't know if other sites do this, but I know for Reflexive there's a file called *.rwg, and it needs to match the *.exe file identically.

This is what a Reflexive game looks like:



The last step is to create shortcuts to each of your *.exe files and put the shortcuts on your desktop or wherever you want them.

Ta da! Each game will run completely separately from one another. They can each have their own mods, too. You can have as many families as you want this way, and never have to switch user accounts.

This is what my My Documents\LDW\ folder looks like (this is where the saved games are, of course):

I'll try to clarify that a little bit.

IF you are running a windows system, you can add windows users and run the game on each windows user you create. Each additional windows user is allowed to create 5 additional families on "their" VF game.

The procedure for adding a windows user will vary, depending on which version of windows you are running, so if these instructions don't exactly match your version, just search windows help for "add user."

Under the windows control panel you should see "User Accounts." Double Click that, choose "Create a New User" and the procedure should be fairly self explanatory from there. I suggest that you do NOT add a password to the additional account and do not give it administrative options.

Once the account is created, click on start, then log off and select change user. From the windows log in screen, choose the new user name to log in to the user you just created. Right click on an empty spot on the desktop and choose "Create New... Shortcut." Navigate to the Virtual Families program application. It will wherever you installed it, most likely on your C: drive in Program Files under the Virtual Families folder. When done, you should have a new shortcut to launch the game from your new windows user.

Method 1: Copy existing files onto CD

1. Go to My Computer or Computer in your start-up menu (whichever you have) and double-click on C:\ and then Program Files

2. Scroll down and locate the Virtual Families folder, copy this and paste it on your desktop. (Right click on the desktop and select paste)

3. Rename this folder to something like VF CD

4. Open the Documents/My Documents folder in the start menu. Look for the LDW folder and double click it. Copy the Virtual Families folder and paste it in the same area. Rename this folder to VF CD. This folder will contain all of the saved game information for the one you have, so you can try erasing that information within this new folder so the game can write new ones, I'm not sure how it works exactly

From here you will be copying the folder on your desktop onto a CD. First pop in the blank CD and go to My Computer/Computer in the start menu, and right click on the disc drive (you'll see a picture of a CD) and press Explore. There shouldn't be any files in it yet since you'll be needing a blank.

Look at your desktop and copy and paste both folders onto the CD folder that you just opened. There should be an option somewhere to copy the files/write the files onto the CD.

After that, you should be set to start using the CD for the game! After you pop in the CD, you can browse through the VF CD folder and click on the .exe to open up the game.

Method 2: Installing new files and placing onto CD

For this you'll simply follow Tuna Puzzler's instructions on page 1 which would be the safest method as it will make the new files for you and then putting the new folder on the CD.