Steam Folder - reformatting

thedoc46

thedoc46

thedoc46

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So is it possible, just to copy the entire Steam folder onto say an external HD, then restore it back to the same place, and everything remain the same on a new O/S ? (same ver)

Doesn't it install registry settings and things outside the actual folder?

Or do you have to download and re-install everything all over again?

I'm confused on this one.
 
Psypher5 said:
thats what im doing

copy steamapps folder

reinstall steam
paste steamapps folder
bingo :D
Click to expand...

and this is a tried and tested amoung others?

Don't some of the games need installing? Or is Steam smart enough to just copy over the install cabs, and if detected that you are on a new computer, it'll re-install, thus recreating all the registry entries and so forth.
 
whenever ive done it itll "install" the games but the bar will go through as it just checks the files are there and your away. obviously it wont be click and play as if nothings happened. If it does install anything it will just be simple small reg edits, as the larger ncf/gcf files etc are there?
 
I do the same when I reformat, it just checks the files are there and does the first time play setup. Saves downloading 100GB of data!
 
just copy the whole steam folder and then run the steam.exe inside that copied folder once you have placed the folder where you want it.
Some games will need to be installed again but won't need to be downloaded since you will already have them, also game saves will have to be copied from where they are saved too,
my documents
my games(inside my docs)
some will be in C:\Documents and Settings\UserNameGoesHere\Local Settings\Application Data.
 
Install fresh Steam on the new OS to make sure any registry settings or any other magic it adds is correctly in place, then copy your old folder over the new folder. It's the only way I've tried, but it's always worked for me!
 
Copy the entire thing, paste it back then run the steam.exe, simple.

Installing steam and pasting just steamapps separately is a waste of time, it's not necessary.

I moved from XP to 7 without reinstalling steam by just copy pasting the entire folder, works flawlessly.

Some games will need to do a brief reinstall when you first run them (Direct X, C++ Redists etc.) but that will be the case however you do it. Nothing should need to redownload.
 
Kenai said:
Copy the entire thing, paste it back then run the steam.exe, simple.

Installing steam and pasting just steamapps separately is a waste of time, it's not necessary.

I moved from XP to 7 without reinstalling steam by just copy pasting the entire folder, works flawlessly.

Some games will need to do a brief reinstall when you first run them (Direct X, C++ Redists etc.) but that will be the case however you do it. Nothing should need to redownload.
Click to expand...

This is what I do

Check My Documents for some savegames etc
 
bledd. said:
This is what I do

Check My Documents for some savegames etc
Click to expand...

Check the Windows user folder as a whole - I recently re-installed the OS, backed up my documents and missed a load of saves elsewhere (had nearly finished Crysis 2 :( ) - I really wish they would keep save games to one location. One of the many reasons Windows fails as a platform for gaming.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Check the Windows user folder as a whole - I recently re-installed the OS, backed up my documents and missed a load of saves elsewhere (had nearly finished Crysis 2 :( ) - I really wish they would keep save games to one location. One of the many reasons Windows fails as a platform for gaming.
Click to expand...

I've got GameSave Manager 2 installed, which I'm hoping will take care of the business. Can't vouch for it yet, as I've not used the restore, but it seems to know what its doing. So hopefully, fingers crossed, i'll be all set.
 
Steam Backup is about as useless at they come tbh.

GameSave Manager is pretty darn good actually - wish I had found this before losing my Witcher and Mass Effect 1+2 saves :(
 
Yeah avoid the backup feature. Its unnecessary unless for some insane reason you want to split the backup onto CDs or DVDs. I don't know if its improved but large files had a very bad tendency to cause the backup to crash when you tried to restore it which rendered it useless.
 
Psypher5 said:
whenever ive done it itll "install" the games but the bar will go through as it just checks the files are there and your away. obviously it wont be click and play as if nothings happened. If it does install anything it will just be simple small reg edits, as the larger ncf/gcf files etc are there?
Click to expand...

Basically, the game will go through the 'first time install' procedure, installing VCredists and DirectX numerious times. Its possible to avoid these with some simple regediting:

If you go into the steam folder for the game, there will be a file in there, either installscript.vdf or <numbers>install.vdf where the numbers are the game's steam app number. Opening these files in notepad show that when you run the game, for example here's Dogfighters file:

Code: 
"InstallScript"
{
    "Registry"
    {
        "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\DarkWaterStudios\\DogFighter"
        {
            "string"
            {
                "Install_Path"      "%INSTALLDIR%"
                "Exe_Path"          "%INSTALLDIR%\\dogfightersteam.exe"
            }
                      	          	
            "dword"
            {
                "PatchVersion"      "3"
            }
        }
    }
      	
    "Run Process"
    {
        "VCRedist"
        {
            "HasRunKey"     "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\DarkWaterStudios\\DogFighter\\Installed\\VCRedist"
            "process 1"     "%INSTALLDIR%\\redist\\vcredist_x86.exe"
            "command 1"     "/Q"
            "NoCleanUp"     "1"
        }
        "DirectX"
        {
            "HasRunKey"     "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\DarkWaterStudios\\DogFighter\\Installed\\DX"
            "process 1"     "%INSTALLDIR%\\redist\\DirectX\\DXSETUP.exe"
            "command 1"     "/silent"
            "NoCleanUp"     "1"
        }
    }
}

Essentually it will install the VCredist, and then create a registry key to say that its done this, and then installs DirectX and creates another reg key. Then whenever you start the game in the future, it sees the registry keys already exist so doesn't install them in the future. Obviously when you copy over these keys don't exist, so it goes through the whole process again. Its possible, but time consuming, to manually edit all these into the registry, but then its faster to simply run them all.
 
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