STEAM backup/restore games

[JRD]

Thanks for that detail - very useful to know.  This one is still on my list even though I've not obtained it yet  :)

Just so you know... you can get it from STEAM for less than US$ 10,00

[PZ]

JRD, can you download the game on one computer and install it on another?  I don't have fast enough Internet at home, but I can get access at a friend's place.

[Art Blade]

maybe carry your rig over to his place, add a second dial-in network access thingy (you need to use his data to connect to his provider) and get all the stuff done you want, delete the account on your rig, say "thanksigottago" and rush home  :)

[PZ]

lol, if it is that much trouble, I'd rather just get it from Amazon - I'm kind of lazy that way!  ;D

[JRD]

When I want to install a game into another computer, I download it and STEAM automatically install the game for me, I only need one click and all the rest is a STEAM workflow.

I know you can download and save a game to a DVD so you have a hard copy of it... I just don`t know exactly where in the interface you can do it, but its doable for sure!

[PZ]

Thanks JRD, I'll explore  this option - nice that you can actually create a hard copy  :-X

[JRD]

They made that feature available so people can actually have a DVD containing the game they purchase and, as GPFontaine explained, they also said that if one day they are facing an end they`ll give time to users to download all content ever bought so users won`t be harmed for STEAM going belly up (I hope it never happen and if it does, that we really have time to do it)  :o

By the way... let me know when you find it, I`m curious to know how it works...  ;) (ok, I can try it myself, but I`m a lazy guy  ;D ;D )

[PZ]

I'll do that  ;)

EDIT:  I just downloaded and backed up the Hitman Blood Money demo (from STEAM) to a flash drive.  Next, I'll try restoring it via the flash on the gaming PC.

When I logged into my STEAM account on another PC (one that can't run games), JC2 was listed as a game I could download and play.  I could also back it up onto any media of my choice, from fragmented CDs, DVDs, to the local hard disk (or other media).

[JRD]

That's the beauty of STEAM... wherever you are, when you log on to your account, all your purchases are displayed, so you actually have all your STEAM-purchased games with you as long as you can access them, and once you've done it, you can just back it up on a DVD or other media...  ;)

[PZ]

It does seem like a good system, and you don't even need to run around with media - yet you can have backed up installation files if you choose to do so.  The only thing you need is a very fast Internet connection.

[PZ]

Here's an update to the STEAM backup/restore story.  If you are using the beta version of STEAM then you can save your game to a STEAM backup on your PC, then take those files and restore them on another PC as long as you are using the same STEAM account on both machines.

[Dweller_Benthos]

I download Steam games at w@&k all the time, back them up, or just copy the files out of the steamapps folder and bring them home. The backup utlity makes an EXE for you to run on the other machine, from what I remember. It's a pretty easy process and has always worked well for me.

Having said that, I only buy casual games on Steam, like Crayon Physics or Audiosurf, big games like Half Life I buy the boxed version and steam knows it's there once I install it. I do this because on my connection at home, Steam takes fifteen minutes to start just because it downloads about 5MB of data each time it runs. So, if I want to play a Steam game, I start it and go do something else for a while until it loads up.

[JRD]

These are great info PZ and D_B... thanks a lot! :-X :-X

I have all my STEAM games installed and ready to run with me, except Arma 2, which was running very slow so I uninstalled it.

Lucky me I have a good connection at home and use STEAM a lot!

Christmas time is madness on STEAM... if you can spare about 20 bucks you can easily grab 4 or 5 good games  ;)