Is it necessary to back my games up before upgrading to Windows 10?

[tonypoo016]

I've been thinking about upgrading to Windows 10 for a while, and I think now I'm ready to do it. However, I was concerned if the upgrade could potentially screw up my mod configurations in Skyrim and Fallout 4. I have quite a lot of mods for both games, and I do not want to spend my precious time re-installing them all and fixing the inevitable CTDs. Should I make backups of the two games before upgrading, or is it ok to upgrade without worrying about anything being screwed up? I would also appreciate it if anyone knows any other preparations that I should do before upgrading. All I did up to this point is uninstall some programs that I don't use anymore. Thanks in advance!

[VIitS]

Don't do an upgrade, do a fresh install of 10 (your Win 7 or Win 8 key will work automatically, at least until July 29th). I work as retail tech support, and we have gotten tons of computers that we had to reinstall the OS on because they tried to do an upgrade (or had an upgrade forced on them). There is a very good chance your computer will either be unusually slow, or outright unuseable.

 

What you want to do is

1) Copy your entire folder for each game onto an external harddrive (not just the data folder, the entire folder in your steamapps\common folder

2) Copy the .acf files from the steamapps folder for each game

3) Export your load order using NMM (or copy it manually [DLCList.txt and plugins.txt])

4) Backup all the rest of your data (making sure to include saves and ini's, and any other steam games you don't want to have to reinstall, including the relevant .acf file)

5) Make a physical DVD of Windows 10

6) Install windows 10 (don't use the upgrade option)

7) Reinstall steam and log in

8) Close Steam

9) Copy the game folders into your Common folder, the .acf files into your steamapps folder (the .acf files tell steam the game is installed), and the saves/ini where they belong

10) Launch Steam, then verify integrity of game cache (set your ini's to read only so they don't get deleted if you have any changes in Fallout4.ini)

11) Launch the normal game launcher to rebuild registry data

12) Import load order with NMM (or copy it into the relevant Appdata\Local folder)

[tonypoo016]

Don't do an upgrade, do a fresh install of 10 (your Win 7 or Win 8 key will work automatically, at least until July 29th). I work as retail tech support, and we have gotten tons of computers that we had to reinstall the OS on because they tried to do an upgrade (or had an upgrade forced on them). There is a very good chance your computer will either be unusually slow, or outright unuseable.

 

What you want to do is

1) Copy your entire folder for each game onto an external harddrive (not just the data folder, the entire folder in your steamapps\common folder

2) Copy the .acf files from the steamapps folder for each game

3) Export your load order using NMM (or copy it manually [DLCList.txt and plugins.txt])

4) Backup all the rest of your data (making sure to include saves and ini's, and any other steam games you don't want to have to reinstall, including the relevant .acf file)

5) Make a physical DVD of Windows 10

6) Install windows 10 (don't use the upgrade option)

7) Reinstall steam and log in

:cool: Close Steam

9) Copy the game folders into your Common folder, the .acf files into your steamapps folder (the .acf files tell steam the game is installed), and the saves/ini where they belong

10) Launch Steam, then verify integrity of game cache (set your ini's to read only so they don't get deleted if you have any changes in Fallout4.ini)

11) Launch the normal game launcher to rebuild registry data

12) Import load order with NMM (or copy it into the relevant Appdata\Local folder)

Thanks a ton, I was considering doing a clean install of Windows at some point anyway! :D By the way, do you have any idea of how to backup Origin games? Considering my download speed, I don't think I would like to download Battlefield 4 again.

[VIitS]

Not really. I sort of tried (copied the game folders) last time I did a fresh install, but I never got around to reinstalling origin, so no idea if it is any use

From EA's site

 

So it looks like you want to do the same thing (copy the game folders as a whole), then move it back in the middle of "downloading" the game after the reinstall. Amusingly enough, Battlefield 4 is the game they mention as an example.

[tonypoo016]

Not really. I sort of tried (copied the game folders) last time I did a fresh install, but I never got around to reinstalling origin, so no idea if it is any use

From EA's site

 

So it looks like you want to do the same thing (copy the game folders as a whole), then move it back in the middle of "downloading" the game after the reinstall. Amusingly enough, Battlefield 4 is the game they mention as an example.

Alright, thanks! I'm gonna get started now and I'll get back to you when Windows 10 is installed. It's my first time installing a new operating system (my uncle built my PC for me) so hopefully I don't mess anything up! Wish me luck!

[FMod]

As a general rule, you don't need to back up your games. However, it's a good practice to back up your saves and settings (especially where not backed up in the cloud) and any modded games regardless (and do so once in a while even without OS install).

 

An upgrade to windows 10 will more often than not work smoothly, but if you aren't sure if you can handle a failure, and if you have a retail key, a clean install is safer.

 

Since people prefer personal stories, for me, on 3 PCs it went smooth (but two were 8.1->10), on the last one, I had to do a system refresh. After a refresh, even the old W7 drivers were kept, and it runs about as perfectly as a MS product can; this is very close to a clean install without the reinstalling everything bit.

(But then I'd have a lot more than Steam to reinstall and I can handle the need to do a refresh.)

 

 

Vlits: I would do a couple things different from your guide:

1. Don't use C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common as your library in the first place. Create a new library like D:\Steam. That way, should your OS fail and should you have to do a clean install to access your PC at all, your games (and their mods) won't be lost.

2. Easier than saving-loading load orders, I prefer to simply rename the old game folder and reinstall the game. Then delete the newly created folder and replace it with the old. Repeat with user settings.

[tonypoo016]

Well, it's a bit late to change my mind on upgrading rather than doing a clean install since I've already copied around 100 GB worth of game files to my external hard drive. :tongue: And that's just my steamapps folder. That doesn't include Battlefield 4, which is 70 GB (holy s#*!, that's more than GTA V!) on its own, settings and saves for some games (most of them are already backed up on my Dropbox already), and my Nexus Mod Manager mods folder. Anyway, a lot of residual files and other junk has collected on my hard drive over time, so I think a clean installation of Windows is a pretty good idea.

 

Speaking of Nexus Mod Manager, I'm confused as to what copying my Skyrim and Fallout 4 folders actually does with my mods. Aren't the mods supposed to be in the virtual install folder of each game, which is linked to the game folder through symlinks? Are the mods actually copied onto my hard drive, or do they just appear to have been copied?

[VIitS]

FMod:

1) I didn't specify the full path, just from steamapps. I currently have two steam folders, one on my ssd* and one in the path you mention (except it's on D drive, as C is my SSD). Both of them have a steamapps folder with a Common folder iside it (and games in the common folder)

2) With NMM, saving and loading a load order is a lot easier than what you describe, and unless you do the same for the AppData\Local\Fallout4 folder you'll have to fix your load order (one of turoktony's concerns, and is something I mentioned as a way to save your load order if you don't use NMM). And he specifically mentioned data concerns, so I explained the most download-efficient method. You could use the Steam backup for the base game, then uninstall it and copy the folder with only the mod-related files, but that takes more steps.

 

*for games like Fallout 4 where it helps with loading times, and might be the reason I'm not seeing any issue where my game freezes for a few seconds to load like some people are now reporting, with heavily modded cells)

 

I also manually edited the permissions for my steamapps folder (and its subfolders) so I never have to worry about needing to run FO4Edit/F4SE/etc... in administrator mode. I am good enough with computers (and careful enough on the internet) that I don't have to worry much about infections, and even if I wasn't I don't find it likely for a virus/malware to try to install itself in the Steam folder on the off chance someone did the same thing. And even with my edits, Windows still makes me give each version of FO4Edit permission to run when I update it, so I doubt there are any security concerns from doing this. If you aren't sure what I mean:

 

http://i.imgur.com/l3xaQhy.png

 

 

 

I've never had an issue with NMM only half-installing a mod, but I'm not 100% sure that is due to my permissions edit or not.

 

turoktony:

The virtual install folder is what is used to let you install mod A, then install mod B (which overwrites some of the files mod A edits), and then when you uninstall mod B, the original changes from mod A (that were overwritten by mod B) will be active. It makes trying out semi-compatible mods a lot easier (since you don't have to worry about mod A breaking due to missing files after you uninstall mod B).

 

As far as I understand it. everything you see in your Data folder (and its subfolders) is actually there. If you don't set the Virtual install folder to a different drive, it will look like you have less space than you do, with the virtual install folder seeming to take up space, but it actually isn't, and your computer can use the space it seems to be using just fine. This is all me remembering a response from one of the moderators (or maybe NMM devs?) when asked about the Virtual Install folder, so some of the details might be a bit off, but I am certain that everything you see in your data folder is actually there.

 

If you use Mod Organizer 2, it does not actually put anything in your data folder. I haven't actually used it so I don;t know all the details, but it is my understanding that it uses symlinks (or something similar) together with a load order to determine which mod overwrites which, without any of them "physically" overwriting them (so deleting a mod is as simple as deleting the folder, and all the edited files from each mod still exists in its folder.

[tonypoo016]

Alright, I installed Windows 10 and restored all of my backed up games. Up to this point everything appears to be working correctly. The only "problem" I have (it isn't really a problem) is that my games don't show up in Windows as being installed, but Steam recognises them just fine. Nexus Mod Manager does complain a bit about Skyrim and Fallout 4 (it shows all my Skyrim mods as disabled, and is insisting that I let it reinstall all my Fallout 4 mods), but both games seem to work. Its not a big problem, I'll get around to fixing it when I start new characters and want to change my installed mods. Fallout 3 and New Vegas seem to be completely unaffected by this, all my mods show up as installed. All in all I guess everything is fine.

 

VlitS, I can't thank you enough! I would still be worried about upgrading if it wasn't for you! :thumbsup: Thanks a lot man! I couldn't have done it without you!

[dragonslayer2k12]

Just wait until they screw up your pc with an "update" and unless you are running certain versions of 10 you can't disable windows updates.