I don't understand Steam's backup...

Ok, so Steam is pretty good. I bought many games through them. However, their backup service has a LOT to be desired. How hard is it to ALPHABETIZE your listing?

Also, I backed up Company of Heroes from my desktop that required no updates. Then I restored to my laptop, and it needs to download a few hundred MB of files for some reason? Why? What?

Plus, it would be nice to be able to backup EVERYTHING at once but be able to save each game to its own directory and file or select which games go together, instead of having to backup everything one at a time.

-- END RANT --

 

i agree and i just wish it would work in offline mode

 

I totally agree. That's one of the things I hate about Steam.
You should really send a complaint to them.

 

Lol, if you want to backup your games just, copy your steam folder .

It works for me!

Their directory sytem is also pretty simple, so its easy to see which data pertains to which game.

 

Yeah, but it also takes up extra space if you want to archive them.

 

Doesn't the steam backup feature?

 

Yeah, I don't think I'd trust Steam's compression to keep my files in the first place...

 

Most of the time its worked for me, a couple of times it has done exactly what you describe. Even though the entire backup file is the size it should be (like several gigs) it still needed to go online and download the whole thing all over again.

I'd guess that it just isn't smart enough to only download what it needs in the case of a corrupted file.

 

My solution: I just buy the games at the store

 

Eh. Nothing beats having the physical copy.

Johncolazabal, your avatar is undressing me with its eyes.

 

i just used steam backup to restore dow2 and unreal 3. The only thing I didn't like is it didn't integrate the games into the Games menu.

 

When I wanted to transfer my Steam games from my notebook to my desktop (~15 of them I think), I first tried using the Steam backup feature. Ok, backing them up took FOREVER. Then, when I wanted to restore the backup to my desktop, it took EVEN LONGER. I mean, it seemed like Steam was downloading all 60 GB instead of using the backed up files.

I thought something was wrong so I killed the restore and tried it again. The Steam backup must not include any patches, because the restore was downloading several GB of, well, something.

Anyways, I learned that you can just copy your entire steamapps folder from one computer and then copy it into the directory of a new Steam installation (that you've already logged in to). I did this without any issues and it was WAY faster than using Steam's backup feature.

 

If you purchase a physical copy, does the game require that you insert the disc every time you want to play?

 

I agree with this method, i only have two steam games empire totalwar and the last remnant and when i tryed to back them up it took forever.....i then tried that method and the process was complete in minutes rather than hours.....i still avoid games that require steam, and i guess im missing out a bit but oh well...

 

I brought the physical copy of both my steam games and no they do not require you to have the dvd inserted once it has been installed, i suppose thats one good feature about steam.

 

I used to think this way, until I had lots of issues with copy protection or discs that eventually wouldn't work for whatever reason or got lost. Not only that, no need for a CD or DVD on a notebook PC is awesome. I know there's workarounds, but they don't always work, and installing on multiple PC's can be a pain (i.e. desktop, notebook, and desktop at parents house for example).

Also, these days, more and more games are requiring the likes of Steam even if you have a physical copy, and I see the trend becoming more popular.

 

Which is true? lol

 

Both are stating the same thing...

 

Neither of those statements contradict each other, so nothing to worry about.
My main reason for not liking steam is its basically dependant on broadband, i had heaps of trouble installing a game and when contacting steam they said " unfortunatly steam requires broadband to work correctly, perhaps you could travel to a location with broadband to install your game"
If you could install the game like normal and then just enter the key with steam locking it to that account then that would be fine, the fact you need a connection to install the game takes alot of freedom out of it for me, its the main reason i avoid steam games, i was considering dawn of war 2 but was told you cant play it at all with out be connected to the net.

 

Sorry, I thought the first user was stating that he stopped using CD/DVD copies and a plus side of using online copies was the fact that he didn't need to use discs to play the game.

 

I've never used Steam's backup. I just copy/paste the steam folder and the corresponding Documents folders to my external HDD.

 

Pardon me for asking, but aside from moving the games to an external hard drive (why?), what's the point of backing up games on Steam? Aren't they (hypothetically) there forever?

 

It's far faster to install a game on backup rather than downloading them again on Steam. In my case my download speed is only 380 Kb/s so it'd take hours to download the games again whereas it only takes minutes to reinstall with the backups (assuming you don't run into problems like wing).

 

Yup. If you reinstall your computer, do you really want to download 60 GB of games? That would take forever.