Fresh install and Steam

Telecaster · 22 Apr 2015 at 20:33

I'm going to be doing some swapping about of hardware, probably this weekend, and I thought it would be a good time to do a fresh W8.1 install.

What is the best way to deal with Steam? I'm not really sure how it all works and what files it does/doesn't keep on my machine, what I need to back up (if anything) and how best to migrate it, hopefully I can get around re-downloading all the games?

Set up is just a simple, single SSD based system for OS and some games.

Leon Axel · 22 Apr 2015 at 20:40

You can (if you have the space) copy your steam games onto a storage device, that way you don't have to re-download them.

EDIT: Game saved data should be located in your documents. The games them self's are located in the 'Steamapps' folder.

gareth170 · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:00

best to copy the whole steam folder then install steam over it because if you install steam as a fresh it'll block tading/buying & selling cards etc for 7 days

Orcvader · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:01

Leon Axel said:
You can (if you have the space) copy your steam games onto a storage device, that way you don't have to re-download them.

EDIT: Game saved data should be located in your documents. The games them self's are located in the 'Steamapps' folder.

As above, however depending on the game, the saved data will be stored within Steamapps as well, which you'll be copying over anyway.

Telecaster · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:01

I have multpile external drives I can use for swapping stuff over, I was just unsure of exactly which folders to do.

Telecaster · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:02

gareth170 said:
it'll block tading/buying & selling cards etc for 7 days

What?

PurplePhoenix · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:02

I used to copy games to another hard drive, start the download pause it then drop the new files in. Not sure if you can still do it this way

Orcvader · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:08

PurplePhoenix said:
I used to copy games to another hard drive, start the download pause it then drop the new files in. Not sure if you can still do it this way

Don't really need to do that, just install Steam, close it down, delete the steamapps folder within the Steam folder and then paste over the old one, then when you open Steam up it will automatically detect the games, including graphics/sound settings and sometimes saved data depending on where the game saves it.

Leon Axel · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:12

Orcvader said:
Don't really need to do that, just install Steam, close it down, delete the steamapps folder within the Steam folder and then paste over the old one, then when you open Steam up it will automatically detect the games, including graphics/sound settings and sometimes saved data depending on where the game saves it.

This.

I did it last month when I added another SSD.

Leon Axel · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:15

Telecaster said:
I have multpile external drives I can use for swapping stuff over, I was just unsure of exactly which folders to do.

Yeah, that will work.

Your game save's should be synced to the cloud. But its always a good idea to back them up just in case.

gareth170 · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:24

Telecaster said:
What?

if you install steam as a fresh it'll ban trading/buying & selling cards etc for 7 days because the ssfn file would be new. so copying the whole steam folder then install steam over it would skip that 7 day ban

but if u don't trade/ buying & selling cards then it doesn't really matter

Telecaster · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:28

gareth170 said:
if you install steam as a fresh it'll ban trading/buying & selling cards etc for 7 days because the ssfn file would be new.

Sorry, I'm a complete Steam dummy, all I do is start it and click 'Play', it was the "cards" bit I didn't understand, obviously some feature I'm not clued up on.

Thanks for all the swift advice anyway chaps, so reinstall Steam after the fresh OS install and just drag over my saved copy of the SteamApps folder is all I should need?

gareth170 · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:33

Telecaster said:
Sorry, I'm a complete Steam dummy, all I do is start it and click 'Play', it was the "cards" bit I didn't understand, obviously some feature I'm not clued up on.

meaning trading cards.

but i'm guessing you don't do trading. so it doesn't matter

Telecaster · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:47

Oh ok cool, I had no idea. But you're right, it's something I've not really got any interest in or know anything about (like a lot of things lol).