Extracting registry entries for games when formatting windows

Schnippzle · 2 Mar 2009 at 18:22

Howdy,
I'v been thinking about this a lot recently, and more and more as I need to reformat my windows array pretty soon. Is there a piece of software that will go through my registry and extract all entries per game so that I can re-import them when I had formatted my windows drive?

I'm sure a lot of people keep their games installed on one hard drive and their windows on another, and have found that after a fresh install of windows some of their games do not work any more.

kola · 2 Mar 2009 at 18:45

Schnippzle said:
I'm sure a lot of people keep their games installed on one hard drive and their windows on another, and have found that after a fresh install of windows some of their games do not work any more.

I do , but all my games work fine after reinstall

Shamikebab · 2 Mar 2009 at 18:47

Yeah most games work fine from my experience.

point decay · 2 Mar 2009 at 19:55

I only backup the docs folder

AWPC · 2 Mar 2009 at 23:24

99.9% of games do not touch the registry so no need to. Only exceptionI know of are games which have Securom online activation which put system device drivers & other system related files on your PC so for those games you need to uninstall to free up the activation then reinstall from scratch again.

HangTime · 3 Mar 2009 at 20:54

AWPC said:
99.9% of games do not touch the registry

Definitely untrue if we're talking about modern retail boxed copy games. I'd say that the majority of games released in recent years have registry entries, and some of those won't even run if the registry entries aren't present. For Steam games, it might be different.

Just take a look in HKLM/Software/Wow6432Node (last bit might not be there for 32bit OS) and you'll likely find a whole host of publisher/developer entries - I've got Bioware, Crytek, EA, Eidos, Monolith, Rockstar, Techland etc all in there amongst others, and I don't even have THAT many games installed

Schnippzle · 3 Mar 2009 at 21:55

HangTime said:
Definitely untrue if we're talking about modern retail boxed copy games. I'd say that the majority of games released in recent years have registry entries, and some of those won't even run if the registry entries aren't present. For Steam games, it might be different.

Just take a look in HKLM/Software/Wow6432Node (last bit might not be there for 32bit OS) and you'll likely find a whole host of publisher/developer entries - I've got Bioware, Crytek, EA, Eidos, Monolith, Rockstar, Techland etc all in there amongst others, and I don't even have THAT many games installed

Indeed. Just look at trying to patch a game after having reformatted windows. Not all games will automatically pick up the location of the game, and will not provide an option to manually locate it.

HangTime · 3 Mar 2009 at 23:49

Yes, patching is the most annoying thing.

Bring back self-contained install directories with savegames in subfolders and .ini files instead of all this registry nonsense I say!

Kua · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:13

HangTime said:
Yes, patching is the most annoying thing.

Bring back self-contained install directories with savegames in subfolders and .ini files instead of all this registry nonsense I say!

The nature of the registry has intrigued me of late. So you're saying its not even essential. It just replaces .ini files. I'm showing off my lack of knowledge spectacularly here.

NightmareXX · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:24

That just about sums it up as far as I understand it...

In fact I can't even see any advantage in doing it. I liked it when everything was in one directory

Dj_Jestar · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:28

The Registry is simply one massive ini file. Developers (like me) generally despise it.

moremoney · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:40

Hi guys, if you are willing, i may be able to help you when you install to a backup drive

Talrinys · 4 Mar 2009 at 09:40

HangTime said:
Definitely untrue if we're talking about modern retail boxed copy games. I'd say that the majority of games released in recent years have registry entries, and some of those won't even run if the registry entries aren't present. For Steam games, it might be different.

Just take a look in HKLM/Software/Wow6432Node (last bit might not be there for 32bit OS) and you'll likely find a whole host of publisher/developer entries - I've got Bioware, Crytek, EA, Eidos, Monolith, Rockstar, Techland etc all in there amongst others, and I don't even have THAT many games installed

Yes it's absolutely untrue, i've had some good experiences with Blizzard games usually working just after copying the folder, but most games will simply not start or it wil lack settings or something to actually play it, it's annoying by design and i really don't get it.

Aod · 4 Mar 2009 at 10:14

Dj_Jestar said:
The Registry is simply one massive ini file. Developers (like me) generally despise it.

i like to think of it as a 500MB collection of .ini files all in one place

Schnippzle · 4 Mar 2009 at 12:07

I wonder if you could realistically re-write windows to not rely on one file as the registry, but instead have a folder containing all these .ini files which would be called upon when needed? I guess one could treat them like windows services relying on files to run. But then again you would still need a "registry" of services and file locations...

Back on topic: Does any one know of a program that will perform the previously mentioned function?

Dj_Jestar · 4 Mar 2009 at 12:42

No, you can't.

Schnippzle · 4 Mar 2009 at 12:50

Dj_Jestar said:
No, you can't.

Any university students fancy writing a program for their dissertation? Pretty sure its a product that can be sold all over the world

DampCat · 4 Mar 2009 at 13:26

Steam games still use registry entries, they're just buried under layers of psychosis... is probable that she doesnt even know them!

Sorry, slipped into a Serenity speach. I found the CD key for my Steam Soulstorm copy in the registry, so they're definately in there

Dutch Guy · 4 Mar 2009 at 14:06

Legal games most likely will not work, illegal games most likely will, especially ripped ones.

What you can do is at least backup your savegames, which you can restore after reinstalling the games after formatting, that way you can at least continue with the games.

Dj_Jestar · 4 Mar 2009 at 14:07

Schnippzle said:
Any university students fancy writing a program for their dissertation? Pretty sure its a product that can be sold all over the world

Not possible. Is boils down to Microsoft don't want you to do it, so to remove or replace anything with registry functionality will need to be done at OS level, and will inherently break other functionality and render your OS useless.