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#3882838 - 12/24/13 03:27 AM Putting in Windows 7  
Joined: Oct 2004
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Tracy Offline
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Tracy  Offline
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Chillicothe, IL
Hi there,
I am going to upgrade my computer to Windows 7 with the 64 bit processor. I currently have XP. My question is what should I do with my steam account. I don't want to lose that and have to start another account. When I copy my hard drive to my external drive before I make the Windows change, should I just copy all of my steam files that are on my HD, and then copy them back to the HD after I get Windows 7 up and running ??

Also the same for Rise of Flight...if I copy all of the files currently on my HD for that game, can I then just copy them back to the HD after the Windows 7 installation. I am in the middle of a couple of campaigns that I don't want to lose.

Thanks !!
Tracy

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#3882856 - 12/24/13 04:05 AM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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JohnnyChemo Offline
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Not sure about RoF, but with Steam, just re-download the Steam client, and you'll be able to re-download
all your software no problem.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
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#3882858 - 12/24/13 04:09 AM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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kludger Offline
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Yeah you can just backup or move your steamapps dir, then afterwards, reinstall steam and drop the dir into place on the new install and steam will see the games and will reinitialize them without having to redownload, that has worked well for me the last couple of OS reinstalls.


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#3882909 - 12/24/13 07:06 AM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: kludger]  
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Raw Kryptonite Offline
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Originally Posted By: kludger
Yeah you can just backup or move your steamapps dir, then afterwards, reinstall steam and drop the dir into place on the new install and steam will see the games and will reinitialize them without having to redownload, that has worked well for me the last couple of OS reinstalls.


What he said. thumbsup


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#3882973 - 12/24/13 12:02 PM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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- Ice Offline
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Always backup!!

As for losing your Steam account, there's no need to fear for that. Unless you completely forget your username and password for both your Steam account and the email address associated with it, you can simply re-download the client and use that to re-install games to your new OS setup. While kludger's advice re: backup folder works, I sometimes use this "cleanup time" to decide which games make it back and which games get moved to storage. So backup your folder, but maybe you might want to only re-install the ones you really like.

I hope you are installing Win7 on an SSD as well... should be a nice performance jump from XP.


- Ice
#3883364 - 12/24/13 09:23 PM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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Tracy Offline
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Tracy  Offline
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Chillicothe, IL
Thanks for the advice. I am pretty excited about the upgrade. Don't laugh, but I have no idea what an SSD is...solid state something ?? I have a Western Digital HD, but no idea if its SSD.

I bought a Seagate 1TB external drive for my back up. I'm thinking about just DL my whole HD onto it, which is only 236 GB. That way no chance of losing anything after the new OS goes in. And yes, afterwords I will be able to pick and choose what goes back onto the HD, so should end up with alot more HD space.

Tracy

#3883391 - 12/24/13 10:04 PM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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Jedi Master Offline
Entil'zha
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Yes, solid state drive. Think USB thumbdrive, sized like a hard drive, with more speed and capacity. They blow away HDDs in access speeds but are still relatively new.

They're quite expensive compared to standard HDDs still, I think you can get a 240GB for the price of a 1TB HDD, so I'm waiting a bit.




The Jedi Master


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#3883401 - 12/24/13 10:17 PM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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SkateZilla Offline
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Originally Posted By: Tracy
Hi there,
I am going to upgrade my computer to Windows 7 with the 64 bit processor. I currently have XP. My question is what should I do with my steam account. I don't want to lose that and have to start another account. When I copy my hard drive to my external drive before I make the Windows change, should I just copy all of my steam files that are on my HD, and then copy them back to the HD after I get Windows 7 up and running ??

Also the same for Rise of Flight...if I copy all of the files currently on my HD for that game, can I then just copy them back to the HD after the Windows 7 installation. I am in the middle of a couple of campaigns that I don't want to lose.

Thanks !!
Tracy


Copy your /SteamAPPs/ Folder to a Portable HDD
Copy Your /Saved Games/ or data folder if stored outside of SteamApps/

Install windows,
install steam,
Sign In,
Authorize New PC,
Sign Out,
Shut off Steam Process if its running in task manager.
Copy Contents of SteamApps/ Folder from Backup to the new /SteamApps Folder (dont Cut/Paste, COPY, just in case, trust me)

After copy is done, Open Steam, Sign In,
Individually Do the Install/Check for each Game, it will check files integrity,


Some games will require all the old MS Visual C++ Runtimes to be manually re-installed,
MoH/BF3/BF4 will require punkbuster to be manually re-installed.


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#3883513 - 12/25/13 02:11 AM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
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Posts: 320
Tracy Offline
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Tracy  Offline
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Posts: 320
Chillicothe, IL
Thanks for the detailed instructions SkateZilla. Couple of things in there I would not have thought of !

Tracy

#3884194 - 12/26/13 01:30 PM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
Joined: Feb 2000
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Jedi Master Offline
Entil'zha
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Entil'zha
Sierra Hotel

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Space Coast, USA
Keep in mind those integrity checks can be lengthy. In some cases, it literally has taken me just as long as DL'ing the game from scratch did. In others, it goes quickly. Really variable.

So, be sure to do it well before you're planning on playing a particular game or you may find yourself staring at a progress bar instead.



The Jedi Master


The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
#3889881 - 01/05/14 03:04 PM Re: Putting in Windows 7 [Re: Tracy]  
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 320
Tracy Offline
Member
Tracy  Offline
Member

Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 320
Chillicothe, IL
Hi there,
Got Windows 7 installed with very few problems, was able to keep all my Steam files and had no trouble getting back on.

Last night I was playing Rising Storm, when I got done I played a few videos in Windows Media player...NO not those kind of videos HA. Turned the computer off and went to bed. Got up this morning, turned on the computer and all of a sudden instead of my full screen 16:9 resolution I have this little 4:3 box in the middle of my monitor !! I have tried everything to get it changed back to full screen, even went into the Nvidia control panel and said change my resolution from media player to Nvidia settings and nothing has worked. I know this had something to do with that frigging media player, but I can't figure it out. Can someone please help. We are snowed in today in Central Illinois and I have a big day of gaming planned !!

Any suggestions Greatly appreciated !
Thanks, Tracy


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