Go Back   Steam Users' Forums > Steam Discussions > Help and Tips
Register FAQ Today's Posts Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-23-2012, 10:56 PM   #1
M3rc Nate
 
 
 
Join Date: May 2012
Reputation: 0
Posts: 6
Building new PC, best way to move Steam games?

So i will be getting the components to build my new PC tomorrow. I got a Intel 520 120Gb SSD for my C: drive, and i plan on having Windows 7 (fresh install) and some programs/games on it.
I know about Steam-Mover so i will be installing steam on my E: drive but having certain games on my C: drive.

However it isnt totally clear to me how i should go about transferring my games/saves to the new PC. Currently (because i thought it was the way) i have done the process of loading Steam, clicking "Steam", then "Backup and restore games" and have checked all the games i want to backup and its doing that. However i am not sure if that is the best way. And im not sure if it is also backing up my saves.

I will have my old PC still up and running so its not like i will be needing to burn anything onto DVD...i can use a thumb-drive or my NAS to transfer files from my old PC to my new one.

I assume when i install the new windows and then install Steam and sign into my account, it will show in grey all the games linked to my account, and that i can re-download them again and install them? I do technically have "cloud-save" on, but i dont know if i should trust that to have all my saves.

So what should i do?

Update the backing up finished, 65Gb's of backup. So does that backup i just did have my saves?

Last edited by M3rc Nate: 05-23-2012 at 11:05 PM.
M3rc Nate is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2012, 11:04 PM   #2
ratchet3789
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Reputation: 16
Posts: 177
The best way (from my point of view) would be to back them up through steam or copy and paste the C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps folder to an external hard drive then installing steam on your new pc and pasting the steamapps folder into your new computers C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps
ratchet3789 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2012, 11:08 PM   #3
TeKraken
 
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Reputation: 7355
Posts: 7,693
Quote:
Originally Posted by ratchet3789 View Post
The best way (from my point of view) would be to back them up through steam or copy and paste the C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps folder to an external hard drive then installing steam on your new pc and pasting the steamapps folder into your new computers C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps
^This. Except your location will be E:\... you can run a restore (of your backups) but Steam back up is not all that reliable. Many use the copy paste method.

Saves are dependant on the game, there is a sticky at the top of the 'help and tips' section.

Gamesave-manager does what steam mover can do but it can also sort your saves out.
TeKraken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2012, 11:16 PM   #4
M3rc Nate
 
 
 
Join Date: May 2012
Reputation: 0
Posts: 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeKraken View Post
^This. Except your location will be E:\... you can run a restore (of your backups) but Steam back up is not all that reliable. Many use the copy paste method.

Saves are dependant on the game, there is a sticky at the top of the 'help and tips' section.

Gamesave-manager does what steam mover can do but it can also sort your saves out.
Thanks. So Gamesave-Manager...is that something i would use now in preparation for the move? Or is that something i would use after the move to the SSD?

Wow the Steamapps folder is 152Gb. So the steam apps folder has everything? All my games and all my saves?
M3rc Nate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2012, 12:08 AM   #5
TeKraken
 
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Reputation: 7355
Posts: 7,693
Use game save manager to make a back up of your saves, or you can do it manually, most of the save locations (or a general description of where they can be found) are here:

Game save wiki:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=840657

http://www.gamesave-manager.com/

You can then use gamesave-manager to restore the saves, it also has a feature like steammover that will move game locations about (i.e. move a single game from your E: to your C: drive)

**Edit:

If you are using the steam backup feature I would advise doing each game individually. Just in case something does go wrong with it the problem should be limited to the one game.

Last edited by TeKraken: 05-24-2012 at 12:18 AM.
TeKraken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2012, 12:33 AM   #6
M3rc Nate
 
 
 
Join Date: May 2012
Reputation: 0
Posts: 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeKraken View Post
Use game save manager to make a back up of your saves, or you can do it manually, most of the save locations (or a general description of where they can be found) are here:

Game save wiki:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=840657

http://www.gamesave-manager.com/

You can then use gamesave-manager to restore the saves, it also has a feature like steammover that will move game locations about (i.e. move a single game from your E: to your C: drive)

**Edit:

If you are using the steam backup feature I would advise doing each game individually. Just in case something does go wrong with it the problem should be limited to the one game.
Thank you. So i have backuped using Gamesave-Manager, all the games i want to backup. Some regular games (not on steam) and even some on Origin that i hope it works cause i really want to keep those saves (ME2, BF3).

When i install Windows 7 on the SSD as C: , and then add my E: HDD, is this what i need to do?:
Install Steam on E:, get all the games from the Steamdata folder onto it, install all my games on E: that i want, install Origin and the games that use origin on E:, then open Gamesave-Manager and click restore game saves and find the backup folder i just created, and it will find all the games installed on E: and put their saves in the places they are supposed to be?
M3rc Nate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2012, 01:26 AM   #7
TeKraken
 
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Reputation: 7355
Posts: 7,693
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3rc Nate View Post
Thank you. So i have backuped using Gamesave-Manager, all the games i want to backup. Some regular games (not on steam) and even some on Origin that i hope it works cause i really want to keep those saves (ME2, BF3).
Game saves? Yes. {I've never restored using gamesavemanger but have never read any complaints}

Quote:
Originally Posted by M3rc Nate View Post

When i install Windows 7 on the SSD as C: , and then add my E: HDD, is this what i need to do?:
Install Steam on E:, get all the games from the Steamdata folder onto it, install all my games on E: that i want, install Origin and the games that use origin on E:, then open Gamesave-Manager and click restore game saves and find the backup folder i just created, and it will find all the games installed on E: and put their saves in the places they are supposed to be?
Where is your current steam install? If it's on an external drive or you have room to plug both old and new hdd into the new system at the same time:


Install SSD, put w7 on it add drivers etc etc...
Add in your new and old hdd, (or add new hdd and plug in your external drive if that is where steam is currently)


At this point the easiest way is to just copy the entire steam folder to the new hdd (E:/) and run the steam.exe from the new location, make sure you have the correct email address for steam guard. This method should save you having to restore your games as they will still be in the steam/steamAPPS folder - but each will need to be verified, but you can do this as you play each one for the 1st time.

Reinstall any non Steam/origin games.
I dont know how Origin works.
Use gamesavemanager to replace save files.
TeKraken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2012, 01:39 AM   #8
M3rc Nate
 
 
 
Join Date: May 2012
Reputation: 0
Posts: 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeKraken View Post
Game saves? Yes. {I've never restored using gamesavemanger but have never read any complaints}



Where is your current steam install? If it's on an external drive or you have room to plug both old and new hdd into the new system at the same time:


Install SSD, put w7 on it add drivers etc etc...
Add in your new and old hdd, (or add new hdd and plug in your external drive if that is where steam is currently)


At this point the easiest way is to just copy the entire steam folder to the new hdd (E:/) and run the steam.exe from the new location, make sure you have the correct email address for steam guard. This method should save you having to restore your games as they will still be in the steam/steamAPPS folder - but each will need to be verified, but you can do this as you play each one for the 1st time.

Reinstall any non Steam/origin games.
I dont know how Origin works.
Use gamesavemanager to replace save files.
I will do it that way then. My steam install is on my C: drive which is a 640Gb HDD, i will have room to plug in that HDD and go through its folders while booted into Win7 on my SSD and drag the whole Steam folder from my 640Gb HDD to my new PC's E: drive. I hope the GameSave-Manager will work right considering i will be installing everything on a drive E: , considering it had saved all my game-saves from a drive C:.

I figure after i have that all worked out and everything is working right, saves are where they are supposed to be, THEN i will use SteamMover to move a few Steam games onto my SSD.

I will keep this thread updated with how everything goes, hopefully i dont have to post tomorrow with a "WTF went wrong?!" or something.
M3rc Nate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2012, 01:53 AM   #9
TeKraken
 
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Reputation: 7355
Posts: 7,693
Gamesave-manger has the same 'moving' function as SteamMover.
TeKraken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2012, 02:35 AM   #10
ffejrxx
 
 
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Reputation: 1656
Posts: 4,093
game saves can be stored anywhere, depends on the game

many are stored in 'my docs' or 'my docs\my games'
some are stored in the game directory
a few iv seen stored in 'c:\users\username\gamename' (rott)


you can share your steam folder if the pc's are on the same lan
then just copy over everything
on gigabit lan it shouldnt take more than 1hr to do all 150+g

or if you put the drive in the host pc it will be much faster
ffejrxx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 10:08 PM   #11
M3rc Nate
 
 
 
Join Date: May 2012
Reputation: 0
Posts: 6
Okay so i got the PC built and SSD all setup (windows installed). I put the GameManager Saves Backup and the entire "Steam" folder onto my empty 640Gb HDD, and added it to the new PC (as E: drive).

I double clicked on the Steam.exe and it repaired and installed itself. (however i just noticed it didnt add itself to my Start>All Programs list...anyone know how to fix that?
Anyways, so i signed in, and all of my games are there and available. The saves arent as i was expected. (However my most recent skyrim save was cause it cloud saves).
I opened GameManager and when clicked on skyrim it said it wants to restore my saves to: "C:\Users\xxxxxxxxx\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\Saves". Problem with that being is i want all the saves on my E: drive. Im not sure where Steam is going to try to look to find its saves, cause its installed on E, do i just change the letter from C: to E: where GameSaveManager is saying it wants to restore the save to? And let it create those folders? "Users\xxxxxxxx\Documents\...etc"?
M3rc Nate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 10:31 PM   #12
ffejrxx
 
 
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Reputation: 1656
Posts: 4,093
move them to c:\users\....
your system variables set it to there
ffejrxx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2012, 11:27 PM   #13
M3rc Nate
 
 
 
Join Date: May 2012
Reputation: 0
Posts: 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by ffejrxx View Post
move them to c:\users\....
your system variables set it to there
so theres no way i can have them on E:\users\....? Its not like they will take up major space on C:, but im just curious.

Btw is it normal that with Windows 7 installed and SP1 installed, and the utilities for the mobo, uses up 50Gb of space?


I just restored it to C:.... and it totally worked. I installed origin on E:, then ME2 (on E and i loaded it up and my save was there. COOL!

Last edited by M3rc Nate: 05-25-2012 at 11:40 PM.
M3rc Nate is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Go Back   Steam Users' Forums > Steam Discussions > Help and Tips



Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:37 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2014, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Site Content Copyright Valve Corporation 1998-2014, All Rights Reserved.