making a backup of game installation...

[c_martini]

I am not sure if this is the correct forum for this question, but here goes...

My Windows XP Pro sp2 pc needs a complete clean format and reinstall...

The problem is I have a few installed games that I have applied various mods, updated and patched to get them just right for my system. I really don't want to go through the headache of reinstalling each of them from the original discs again, as I would have to reapply all those mods and updates one by one (there are many). This would take ages to do and I am not too keen on going through the system registry to track down every possible entry for the games' installation.

I am not looking to backup all my system settings and software in one go either.

What I need is some type of utility or method that will allow me to make a backup of an installed game that will backup all settings and files for that application individually. It should also be able to backup registry settings and config.ini specific settings. Kind of a "surgical" type backup utility...

As far as I know most backup utilities allow backup of an entire system, but will not allow backup of individual installed programs and their settings (correct me if I am wrong). I have looked at the built in backup utility for Windows XP, as well as several others.

For example: I have a game installed on the d: drive (Star Wars - KOTOR 2). Even though those files would not be erased with a reformat and reinstall on c:, the game will probably not run as it would be no longer registered in windows.

Any advice or help on this is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Chris M

[DABhand]

Very hard to find anything like that, unfortunately there isnt much programs like that which you want.

[c_martini]

Very hard to find anything like that, unfortunately there isnt much programs like that which you want.

By saying that, do you mean that there are some, but not many programs to do this, or do you mean that there are no programs to do this?

If there are some, then by all means suggest one, otherwise I will spend my weekend digging around in the registry exporting one key at a time...


Chris M

[Joe Forster/STA]

Hi c_martini,

As it is usual for Windows applications in general, Windows games store their config data (settings, save games etc.) to all kinds of different places: user home directory, subdirectory of game installation directory, registry...

I keep my game config data in ZIP archives: savegames before the end sequence for games that I already finished, and savegames for other games for continuing.

1. I run a recursive file search on the game installation directory, to find files that have been modified lately. These are mostly savegames and config files (but not all of them!).

2. Then see my user home directory for more files. (Although I specialized in making patches for game to store their config data in a subdirectory called "SAVEDATA" in the game installation directory, rather than the user home directory. See them on GCW...)

3. Then I have a look at the registry, both under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software for settings of the game. (The registry entries are named after the game itself, the game developer company or the game publisher company.)

This is mostly improvization; as I said, unfortunately, there's no standard for storing config data under Windows.

As for making copies of your already installed games, you have to add another step:

4. Copy the game installation directory somewhere else.

Actually, I always "rip" my games from the CD into RAR archives. No stupid installation procedure, changing CD's, just unRAR, import the .REG file, run the config software (if the config is not already present in my savegame ZIP) and run the game. This also has the advantage of being able to keep applying official updates to the games. (I don't burn those RAR archives onto CD/DVD, I keep them on a large hard disk: easier, faster, read-write access, smaller physical size, and not even very expensive.) Good luck,

Joe

[c_martini]

Thanks for the advice, Joe.
I may well try your suggestions. I will probably first look for a utility for moving apps to new pc installations. I will then try to have it move the app or game to some backup media (including its install data & settings). If this does not work, then I will do what you suggest to backup all files and export registry entries for the games...


Thanks again...

Chris M.

[Joe Forster/STA]

Hi Chris,

I don't believe such an application would exist as the process of collecting application-related information is simply not (easily) automizable! Nevertheless, if you do find such an application, please, drop some infos about it here! Thanks,

Joe

[c_martini]

I have found an app that I am trying right now. It is called Alohabob PC Relocator Ultra Control. It allows the user to move over individual installed programs to a new pc via cable or intermediate media, such as a hard disk, cd or other removable device.
I have set it to backup the games and apps that I wish to save to my second hard disk. It will save all the data and settings to a backup file. Once I have done a fresh install of WinXP, I will then attempt to restore from this backup using the utility.
I will try this and reply back to this forum with the results.

Wish Me Luck!

[c_martini]

I have tried the aforementioned software to relocate my apps and games. Most files and some of the apps were restored with no problems. Since I used a minimum install of the relocator software, I was unable to properly restore the main games I wanted to. Some type of program relocation error about files missing from the relocator software's install directory. I was at least able to restore my save games though, which is good. If I had installed a full version of the relocator software on the old installation, I think perhaps I would've had no problem restoring the games in their installed state.
Anyhow, I think it is a rather elaborate solution to the problem and perhaps a bit of overkill. Not to mention it being a bit risky as the relocator does restore bits of registry which may have caused problems in the old setup to begin with. I did find that there were loads of registry entries and a few settings that I did not want restored to my new Windows installation. I think for this software to be a viable solution to the problem at hand, it would need to be a bit more customisable and give more detailed control to the user.
Anyhow, I am fine with it in the end, as I would rather reinstall the games from their original cd's and apply the various mods and patches as before. So long as I can pickup my gameplay where I left off...

[Joe Forster/STA]

I think, game developers should store all configuration files and savegames in a single directory (structure). Then archiving game-related data would only be a matter of zipping it up; relocating the game would mean reinstalling it on the new PC and copying that directory (structure) over. But, no, they have to store this information here, that there and everything gets complicated for the user. Congratulations!