Taking a steam game from one OS to another

freakdiablo · 01-26-10, 07:54 PM

I got Dirt 2 off of steam and of course I get bad download speeds (lucky if I hit 10kb/s). In a few weeks I'll finally be able to get on a decent internet connection and download it. Here's the catch. On my desktop I'm running Windows 7 x64, I'll only be able to download it on my laptop which is Windows Vista x32.

I was wondering if I could download it on my laptop when I'm there and copy the Dirt 2 files out of the steamapps folder when I get back. I tried something similar when upgrading from vista x64 to 7 x64on my desktop and steam still recognized all the files and I was still able to run them, so I was just wondering if it will work just as well when going from a 32bit OS to a 64bit OS or would I just be wasting bandwidth.

jaymz9350 · 01-26-10, 08:31 PM

it should work just fine between the 2 OS's, since it's a 32 bit app it will be the same reguardless. and Steam has a built in feature for backing up your games.

hajalie24 · 01-26-10, 09:20 PM

Right click the game and make a backup

Leviathan41 · 01-26-10, 09:24 PM

It's much faster to just copy the files from the Steam directory to your new OS than to use Steam backup. The Steam backup utility is really made for backing up the games to DVDs, there is no need to waste time compressing the files if you are just moving them to a new OS.

freakdiablo · 01-26-10, 09:37 PM

K thanks, just wanted to make sure it wouldn't bug out on me. I've gone the copy directly from the apps folder route before so I'll just go with that.

jaymz9350 · 01-26-10, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leviathan41

It's much faster to just copy the files from the Steam directory to your new OS than to use Steam backup. The Steam backup utility is really made for backing up the games to DVDs, there is no need to waste time compressing the files if you are just moving them to a new OS.

True but if internet connection and or speeds are an issue it sure wouldn't hurt to back up to DVD for future use as well.

turbohans · 01-26-10, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leviathan41

It's much faster to just copy the files from the Steam directory to your new OS than to use Steam backup. The Steam backup utility is really made for backing up the games to DVDs, there is no need to waste time compressing the files if you are just moving them to a new OS.

accually through the backup utility you can create an exicutible file. just copy that and run the exicutable.

that can be done by just saving the folder to your desktop and then moving it. It will ask disk size but just put somthing in larger thatn you need.

Leviathan41 · 01-27-10, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbohans

accually through the backup utility you can create an exicutible file. just copy that and run the exicutable.

that can be done by just saving the folder to your desktop and then moving it. It will ask disk size but just put somthing in larger thatn you need.

I know that, but I'm saying it's much faster to just copy the Steam directory over to the new OS, there is no need to let Steam create these executables if you aren't backing up to DVDs, just copy the files directly over.

01-26-10, 07:54 PM	Thread Starter #1
freakdiablo Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Here	Taking a steam game from one OS to another I got Dirt 2 off of steam and of course I get bad download speeds (lucky if I hit 10kb/s). In a few weeks I'll finally be able to get on a decent internet connection and download it. Here's the catch. On my desktop I'm running Windows 7 x64, I'll only be able to download it on my laptop which is Windows Vista x32. I was wondering if I could download it on my laptop when I'm there and copy the Dirt 2 files out of the steamapps folder when I get back. I tried something similar when upgrading from vista x64 to 7 x64on my desktop and steam still recognized all the files and I was still able to run them, so I was just wondering if it will work just as well when going from a 32bit OS to a 64bit OS or would I just be wasting bandwidth. __________________ Main: MOBO: MSI P67A-G45, CPU: i7 2600k w/ VenX (4.4ghz @ 1.33v), RAM: 2x8gb Kingston HyperX Blu Red Series DDR3 1600, GFX: Galaxy GTX670 GC, PSU: OCZ 1250w ZX, CASE: Corsair 500R, HDD: 120gb Samsung 840, Samsung 2TB EcoGreen F4 Quick, Cheap, and Dirty NAS: Sempron 140, Hyper 212+ with 800RPM Scythe Slipstreams, 4gb ram, 5x2tb Hitachis in RAID5, Seasonic SSR-360GP, Antec 300, Biostar Tpower motherboard, APC BR700G UPS, Buffalo WZR-HP-AG300H router Laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad X220 HTPC: Zotac ZBOX AD04-U w/ 4GB Samsung 1333mhz, 64GB Adata Premier Pro SP900 Sandbox: Q9550, DFI Lanparty Jr. P45-T2RS, 3GB mismatched ram, 1TB Samsung F1, Antec Neo Eco 400w, cheapo case Lanbox: APEX TX-381-C case, MSI 760GM-P34 w/ cheap MOSFET heatsinks, AMD PII 965 BE, 8gb Corsair XMS3 1333MHz, 120GB OCZ Vertex 3, CM 212 Evo, MSI 5850 OC Project 1UP Bored of games? Nothing good on internet radio or youtube? Dont waste your GHz, find them before they find us. SETI
	QUOTE Thanks

01-26-10, 08:31 PM	#2
jaymz9350 Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Marytucky, Ohio	it should work just fine between the 2 OS's, since it's a 32 bit app it will be the same reguardless. and Steam has a built in feature for backing up your games. __________________ i7 3770k @ 4.5 1.25v 4x2 GB G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24 ASRock Fatality Pro Z77 XFX 7970 / Samsung SyncMaster 216BW Corsair TX750 128 GB Samsung 830 / 1.5 TB WD Green / 500 GB WD Blue
	QUOTE Thanks

01-26-10, 09:20 PM	#3
hajalie24 Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Michigan	Right click the game and make a backup __________________ NZXT Tempest Case Intel DP67BG Mobo with Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.7ghz 12GB DDR3 1333 128 Crucial M4 SSD 750gb Samsung Spinpoint Sata Hard Drive 750gb Western Digital Sata Hard Drive 2x 2TB Samsung F3 Hard Drives in RAID 0 2x MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II Unlocked Shaders in crossfire 27.5" Hanns G plus 2x 21.5" AOC e2243fw 1080p Logitech G15 Keyboard Logitech G5 Mouse HEAT
	QUOTE Thanks

01-26-10, 09:24 PM	#4
Leviathan41 Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: @Home, Folding	It's much faster to just copy the files from the Steam directory to your new OS than to use Steam backup. The Steam backup utility is really made for backing up the games to DVDs, there is no need to waste time compressing the files if you are just moving them to a new OS.
	QUOTE Thanks

01-26-10, 09:37 PM	Thread Starter #5
freakdiablo Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Here	K thanks, just wanted to make sure it wouldn't bug out on me. I've gone the copy directly from the apps folder route before so I'll just go with that. __________________ Main: MOBO: MSI P67A-G45, CPU: i7 2600k w/ VenX (4.4ghz @ 1.33v), RAM: 2x8gb Kingston HyperX Blu Red Series DDR3 1600, GFX: Galaxy GTX670 GC, PSU: OCZ 1250w ZX, CASE: Corsair 500R, HDD: 120gb Samsung 840, Samsung 2TB EcoGreen F4 Quick, Cheap, and Dirty NAS: Sempron 140, Hyper 212+ with 800RPM Scythe Slipstreams, 4gb ram, 5x2tb Hitachis in RAID5, Seasonic SSR-360GP, Antec 300, Biostar Tpower motherboard, APC BR700G UPS, Buffalo WZR-HP-AG300H router Laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad X220 HTPC: Zotac ZBOX AD04-U w/ 4GB Samsung 1333mhz, 64GB Adata Premier Pro SP900 Sandbox: Q9550, DFI Lanparty Jr. P45-T2RS, 3GB mismatched ram, 1TB Samsung F1, Antec Neo Eco 400w, cheapo case Lanbox: APEX TX-381-C case, MSI 760GM-P34 w/ cheap MOSFET heatsinks, AMD PII 965 BE, 8gb Corsair XMS3 1333MHz, 120GB OCZ Vertex 3, CM 212 Evo, MSI 5850 OC Project 1UP Bored of games? Nothing good on internet radio or youtube? Dont waste your GHz, find them before they find us. SETI
	QUOTE Thanks

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