Reinstalling Windows without Reinstalling Fallout? =o

[sanjima]

I have at this point far more mods for Fallout than I'd feel like counting, and it's getting to be over an hour long process to reinstall each mod every time I reinstall windows and my programs.

 

So here's a quick run-down of my setup before my ultimate question:

 

I have Windows installed on a separate partition of my drive away from my documents, music, large programs (including Fallout) and so on.

When I reinstall Windows, I only format the one partition and everything else stays put.

 

Now here's my question: Since the program itself remains intact after I reinstall windows, is there a way to make it so I don't have to reinstall Fallout as well?

 

Or I could also ask (since silly me hasn't tried yet) if Fallout 3 works straight from its own folder without any necessary registry key entries or any of that.

 

 

If it helps, I use Fallout Mod Manager (with FOSE) to launch the game, so I don't even use the official game launcher in the first place and don't need it.

So I guess my question is, does Fallout 3 run independently of any registry key entries or any of that?

[paroxysm]

Doing that is sure to cause all sorts of errors with the notoriously-finicky Fallout. I would suggest copypasting your Data folder onto a flash drive, separate hard drive, etc, and just reinstalling the game, then putting the Data folder back in its proper place.

[7thsealord]

Copying the Data folder to a separate drive is what I do (just in case) - plus a separate folder for the must-have utilities (FOSE, FOMM, G4WL Disabler, ArchiveInvalidation, etc.). I would still have to reinstall the latter, but at least they're all in one place which makes life easier anyhow. Not that I have had to reinstall Windows (touch wood). Edited April 17, 2011 by 7thsealord

[myrmaad]

You shouldn't have to reinstall all your mods.

 

It is always best to make a complete back up of your game folder to some place safe. (I recommend TotalCommander a free, reliable, safe file management utility. That way if something goes wrong you just replace everything)

 

Now the process

Leave your Data Folder alone

but Back up your Fallout3 folder which contains the launcher and the ini files and such. Back up everything in it except your data folder

Use the disk and reinstall the game over top this same folder location, this will tell your registry where the game is located.

Copy and replace the fallout 3 folder with the one you backed up.

 

Voila.

[sanjima]

Doing that is sure to cause all sorts of errors with the notoriously-finicky Fallout. I would suggest copypasting your Data folder onto a flash drive, separate hard drive, etc, and just reinstalling the game, then putting the Data folder back in its proper place.

 

 

Copying the Data folder to a separate drive is what I do (just in case) - plus a separate folder for the must-have utilities (FOSE, FOMM, G4WL Disabler, ArchiveInvalidation, etc.). I would still have to reinstall the latter, but at least they're all in one place which makes life easier anyhow. Not that I have had to reinstall Windows (touch wood).

 

I'm not sure why I didn't think if simply backing up my data folder xD derp

Thanks for the help, I'll do that from now on. ^^

[evilneko]

There's a utility called After Fallout C which will make Fallout work again after a Windows re-install. It's available right here on Nexus. If you have Oblivion there's a similar one called After Format (IIRC) that does the same thing for Oblivion. :thumbsup: