Installing games on seperate partitions

[gui_m]

hello everyone! Okay, i want to install games on a seperate partition so i don't have to reinstall them eveytime i format the PC. If i do that, will there be any problems playing them after i format them? I know that the registry entries of the installation won't b there (is there any way to back it up), and i know that some savegames aren't in the Dir but that's not a problem.

P.S. Will Steam and HL:2 all be working after if install it in a seperate partition, after formatting windows?

[firefoxthebomb]

it will be hard because some files may also get copied to your windows folder as well, therefore I think you may have to just reinstall again, but if you install over your old game, your saved games should still be there.

[gui_m]

cool, good idea

[Afterdawn]

What I do for steam:

My windows partition is C, and I installed steam in D.

As I reinstall my computer, then I move the SteamApps folder out of the Steam installation folder. Then I uninstall or remove Steam.

On re-install I only install the steam-application. After that I move the SteamApps folder back in the Steam folder, so that I don't have to download another daunting 7 GB again. I have a Steam-purchased account, but I believe this also applies for Disc-versions.

As for the rest of your games, most registry entries are stored under HKLM\Software\[software Developer]\[Game Name] and HKCU\Software\[software Developer]\[Game Name]

[<SparTacuS>]

These are oldies but they will "install" clean;

Quake I

Quake II

Quake III

Unreal Tournament (GOTY Ed)

MOHAA

Just clean the C*** out and RAR/Sfx the folder. When you come to install you will need to make shortcuts.

Unreal 2004

You can do the same but will need a bunch of registry settings - export from an existing setup then merge them on your new install. The game will run fine but you will not be able to auto install umods.

[SiMoNsAyS]

install your games on d: as said, after formatting c:, some of the games will run without problem as they doesn't need registry keys.

the others that can give you problems will need to be reinstalled over, so all the reg keys will be restored. you can also try to look for changes on your registry (with regshot f.e.) while installing the game so simply importing a .reg file would be enough. btw i haven't found 1 game that add files to your windows folder, but be careful as some of your saved games are stored on "my documents\my games" like halo or "%APPDATA%" like nfs:u/2

ps: i remember to read something on steampowered.com support about just moving the valve folder to other partition working without problems. search there

Edited February 5, 2005 by SiMoNsAyS