Reinstall Steam Question

kellaway225 · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:29

So i have been having a lot of trouble with Steam as it wont allow me to use it as it it needs to update but gets to 27% and then crashing stating one of several reasons, if i uninstall steam will it remove all my game content as well? as i would reinstall steam BUT i can not redownload all of the games any tips would help

shauncr91 · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:31

Right click the games and go to "Backup game content", alternatively backup the .gcf files from the steamapps folder.

kellaway225 · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:32

how do i do that if i can not get into steam does it work if i go to the folder and back them up?

linktoinsanity · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:41

Browse to the steam folder and go into steamapps and backup the files in there. Then reinstall steam and copy the steamapps folder back into the old directory.

kellaway225 · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:43

ah so just copy them, i gottcha will give that a shot when i get my desktop set up

QlimaxUK · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:48

yes just simple copy/paste, 'backup option' is for n00bz

Dauthi · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:48

inside your steam folder there will be a steamapps folder that contains all the programs you have downloaded hust copy it out and move it back once you have reinstalled.

dr4g0nf1y · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:51

what I do is go to the back up tab and back up each game individually.

okay you'll have to install one game at a time but if you have a lot like I do, you only need to reinstall the ones you want at that time

Kenai · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:53

The backup option is a massive waste of time, just copying the entire steam folder is better and faster and saves reinstalling steam at all ordinarily.

In the case though, where are you actively seeking to reinstall steam, as said, copy out the entire steamapps folder instead and then paste it back in after the reinstall.

Mak3R · 15 Mar 2010 at 19:54

I ran the backup utility once to see what it was like. It maxed out all 4 cores for ages doing it, made my system unusable

Now i just copy/paste trhe steamApps folder as previously stated.

kellaway225 · 15 Mar 2010 at 20:48

okay thanks for the info, good news is that it wont take long to transfer all my 300gb+ data to my new drive as i will connect it to the desktop using the attachment as my drive is 2.5 and is in my laptop. might leave it in the desktop til i get another drive