Where have all my games gone?

soundesciple · 20 Jul 2012 at 15:55

Hi Guy`s
I installed all my games and steam on a different drive to my O/S drive so if i had to do a Fresh install of windows 7 i would still have my games intact.

But every time i install windows i have to download my games again from Steam, (even though they are on a different drive), so loose all my save`s and have to start from scratch. Also when i go to restore games from the steam Backups folder nothing happens.

Is there something i should be doing (Link wise)?
Why are my games getting bricked even though they are on a different drive?
Any help please.

Martini1991 · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:00

Installed Steam to the correct directory? (That is your old Steam folder on the other drive)

Confused · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:07

Put your Steam folder onto your 2nd (non-OS) drive, and simply run steam.exe

You do not need to install Steam again!

Also - many games will store their save files outside of the Steam directory - use something like GameSave Manager to back up all your savegames, including stuff like your GFWL profile.

soundesciple · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:16

Steam is installed on the other (E: Drive) same as the games.
And i don`t re-install Staem, just the games because it says they are not installed.

I will give GameSave Manager a try see if that works ok cheers.

Confused · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:20

Most games when you run them for the first time will go through an "install" process - such as the DirectX installer, but the actual files should still be there.

What do you have in the \steamapps\ folder, are all the files there?

soundesciple · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:31

Confused said:
Most games when you run them for the first time will go through an "install" process - such as the DirectX installer, but the actual files should still be there.

What do you have in the \steamapps\ folder, are all the files there?

Yes all the files are in the steam folder but when i install windows again on the C: Drive then start steam from the E: Drive and try to start a game it says (INSTALL) Game were it should say (PLAY).

orderoftheflame · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:41

soundesciple said:
Yes all the files are in the steam folder but when i install windows again on the C: Drive then start steam from the E: Drive and try to start a game it says (INSTALL) Game were it should say (PLAY).

It's because Steam has no registry record of them being installed.

When you click install, it'll only download missing files, which should be none, and you'll be able to play them fine.

soundesciple · 20 Jul 2012 at 17:04

So dose that mean Steam is saving my games to the C: Drive and when i re-install windows the Steam Registry Record has gone? because when i click INSTALL it takes about 5mins to download whatever its downloading, then when i click PLAY i have to start the games from the beginning.

Gazanimal · 20 Jul 2012 at 17:19

Confused said:
Also - many games will store their save files outside of the Steam directory - use something like GameSave Manager to back up all your savegames, including stuff like your GFWL profile.

Like Confused said above. Steam doesn't always save files in the Steam directory and seeing as you reformatted before backing up any game saves that weren't in the Steam folder you've probably deleted them unfortunately

orderoftheflame · 20 Jul 2012 at 18:39

soundesciple said:
So dose that mean Steam is saving my games to the C: Drive and when i re-install windows the Steam Registry Record has gone? because when i click INSTALL it takes about 5mins to download whatever its downloading, then when i click PLAY i have to start the games from the beginning.

Save files are usually completely separate from game installation files. Usually in AppData or your docs folder.

Steam will always install games to the SteamApps folder within your Steam installation folder.

soundesciple · 20 Jul 2012 at 18:39

Gazanimal said:
Like Confused said above. Steam doesn't always save files in the Steam directory and seeing as you reformatted before backing up any game saves that weren't in the Steam folder you've probably deleted them unfortunately

Thats what is bugging me i have Backups but when i go to Steam/Backup and restore games/restore games/ Browse to the backup folders and select the game to restore, click next, but nothing happens, steam will not restore for some reason.

HangTime · 20 Jul 2012 at 22:26

Stream doesn't manage the savegames for most games and they could be scattered in a variety of places (often random subfolders of %userprofile% so will be lost if you are just formatting your windows drive). You need to sort that out yourself, my advice would be make sure you know exactly where all the saves are for the games you are interested in before you start wiping stuff. Personally, on my games drive I have a /saves folder where I keep manual copies of old savegames so I can restore them if necessary, but I think nowadays many people use some sort of windows app to manage it.

Yet another reason why I don't like the 'progress' Win95 etc has given us, bring back the good old days where everything was under the game folder itself:
.ini > registry.
/save directory > some random user folder.

orderoftheflame · 21 Jul 2012 at 08:14

HangTime said:
Stream doesn't manage the savegames for most games and they could be scattered in a variety of places (often random subfolders of %userprofile% so will be lost if you are just formatting your windows drive). You need to sort that out yourself, my advice would be make sure you know exactly where all the saves are for the games you are interested in before you start wiping stuff. Personally, on my games drive I have a /saves folder where I keep manual copies of old savegames so I can restore them if necessary, but I think nowadays many people use some sort of windows app to manage it.

Yet another reason why I don't like the 'progress' Win95 etc has given us, bring back the good old days where everything was under the game folder itself:
.ini > registry.
/save directory > some random user folder.

GSM is great for doing all this. Automatic backup once everyfriday to my dropbox folder. I lost my system drive a while back, just reinstalled GSM, downloaded all the backups, and it put them all back for me. Haven't found a game it supports that it didn't do right.

On Holiday · 21 Jul 2012 at 08:16

Save files are usually in "My Documents" / "Games"

orderoftheflame · 21 Jul 2012 at 08:30

YarwoodUK said:
Save files are usually in "My Documents" / "Games"

I really wouldn't say usually. :confused:

I don't even have a My docs/Games folder...

They spread all over the place, I've got tons of sub folders in the root of my docs, a "%USER%/Saved Games" folder, a ton in "AppData/local"... All over the place.

There's no set standard you can rely on, certainly not Docs/Games.

Gazanimal · 21 Jul 2012 at 10:04

soundesciple said:
Thats what is bugging me i have Backups but when i go to Steam/Backup and restore games/restore games/ Browse to the backup folders and select the game to restore, click next, but nothing happens, steam will not restore for some reason.

When you backup with Steam all you are doing is backing up the game install data NOT any game saves etc. Steam doesn't do both hence why you should use GameSave Manager to grab you game saves.

So, like I said you've unfortunately deleted your game saves when you formatted your drive.

Deadbeat · 21 Jul 2012 at 11:32

` - This is a grave, an accent commonly used over letters in some languages, but not English.
' - This is an apostrophe.

At no time in your OP where you used a grave would an apostrophe have been appropriate.

Also, you spelled "disciple" wrong.

/facetious

Squark · 21 Jul 2012 at 11:37

Deadbeat said:
` - This is a grave, an accent commonly used over letters in some languages, but not English.
' - This is an apostrophe.

At no time in your OP where you used a grave would an apostrophe have been appropriate.

Also, you spelled "disciple" wrong.

/facetious

Don't you mean inappropriate?

IronWarrior · 21 Jul 2012 at 17:43

If you reinstall your OS again, do this.

Once you are back on your desktop, go to the game drive where the old Steam installation is, rename it aSteam or whatever you like.

Install Steam, once it's installed, close it, go to the old aSteam folder and cut and paste the common, yournam, sourcemods and whatever elas you want into the new Steam installation.

Delete the old aSteam folder. Start up Steam and all your games will be there again.

For game saves and all that, you find them scatted all over your computer from My Games, to My Docs to your Apps folder..