Burning Steam purchased HL2 to cds: how will it work?

[Rocketman9mm]

Since the game is so big, and I want a hard copy to avoid long re-downloads in the event of formats, how will burning back-ups work? The thing is so huge, will it be broken down into pieces the right size for burning or what? I emailed this question to gabe but no reply yet. If I can in fact burn it and be able to just copy it back into a steam folder if I had to reformat, it would greatly influence my decision whether to stick with a retail CE or get a steam Silver then strat guide later.

 

[JPack]

Steam uses cache files (.gcf) to store game data. You simply need to back up these files.

They're usually stored under \Program Files\Valve\SteamApps.

You'll need to span the files across CD-Rs using a third-party program such as WinRAR.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

what does spanning them mean? I think on things such as nero there is an option for that, but I dont' know how it works exactly. can ya explain how it works?

 

[Chris D]

what does spanning them mean? I think on things such as nero there is an option for that, but I dont' know how it works exactly. can ya explain how it works?

Effectively it will put all of the files into one single archive (like a RAR or ZIP file).

If you do that though, you'll be left with a massive archive, probably about 5GB in size.

You can't make that one file fit on one normal CD, obviously, but you can use WinRar or WinZip to split the archive into equally sized pieces. You'll then be left with a number of files that you can burn on to a number of CDs.

When you need to reformat, just pop in the CDs and empty their contents into a folder. Go into that folder and run the main file (normally it ends in .rar or .r00) and it will then open the archive as usual.

If you then just extract the files from that single archive you've opened to where you want it will put all the pieces back together again and make them whole.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

thanks. but how do i make the big archive? are you just talking about the gcf file?

 

[Maxi]

You just select all the files you want to compress.. then rightclick on one of them and select compress to .zip/.rar + options or add to archive and there you can change the options to span it to multiple files. Just make each file 700 megabyte.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

will winzip 8.1 do this?

 

[Rocketman9mm]

I was fooling around in winzip, and there is a "split" feature. is this it?

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

I was fooling around in winzip, and there is a "split" feature. is this it?

that's probably it. I've never used Winzip for this kind of thing. I've only used Winrar. Thank God I bought a dvd-burner. That way I only need one dual layer dvd to burn the whole thing..

 

[Rocketman9mm]

yeah I'm hoping I get a dual layer dvd burner for xmas. that and a sound card.

 

[DarkGhost86]

Hmmm Good one lesson for me!Thank!

 

[big_mike]

I would simply purchase the retail CE copy so you don't have to worry about doing all of this non-sense. You will save youself a LOT of headache in the long run in the event that you have to reformat it. Or even perhaps install on another computer.
Is CS:Source right now of that much importance?

 

[DuffyS]

I would simply purchase the retail CE copy so you don't have to worry about doing all of this non-sense. You will save youself a LOT of headache in the long run in the event that you have to reformat it. Or even perhaps install on another computer.
Is CS:Source right now of that much importance?

For $10 more you get much more then you get with CE ( a sampler book, no soundtrack, a size only XL large shirt, and no posters, the DVD is a plus but I can do without it maybe, NO DOD:SOURCE)

 

[mikren]

What are the specific files you need to back up ?
I have a few different ones in the folder...none of them specifically are named hl2. thanks

 

[pyroCow]

They are called base source shared - (Ends with models, sounds, etc.)

 

[mikren]

Cool thanks pyro. I have 3 base source shared files...sounds, materials and models. Will do.
Thanks again.

 

[L337_Assasain]

I went to the files and said send them to a compressed folder...it didn't say what program it was using, am i basically doing the same thing?

 

[Orgonomist]

Can you back up other steam titles this way as well? Or just HL2?

 

[Rocketman9mm]

What are the specific files you need to back up ?
I have a few different ones in the folder...none of them specifically are named hl2. thanks

I think the name of the files will change once HL2 is activated if you've pre-loaded and bought over steam.

 

[VodkA-HLC-]

I just did this. Basically I wanted to show my friend css so I burned all the gcf files in the steamapps folder. It took 2 dvdrw's. I just did a data dvd with nero. I didn't rar the files just copied them to dvdrw's. Then when I got to his house. I installed steam, let it patch itself then exited steam. I put in my dvdrw's and pasted all the gcf files that I copied back to the steamapps folder. Logged into steam with my account and still had to dl all the files for css and hl2 all over again. DID I do something wrong?