Massive PC upgrade, will ihave to redownload games?

[kurtniadi]

my fellow gamers, i recently buy a bunch of upgrading parts, here is the list :

1. Phenom II X6 1090T ---> I7 7700K
2. MSI 9700 Gaming ---> ASUS Prime Z270A
3. Hyper Fury DDR3 ---> GSkill TRident Z RGB DDR4
4. Adding Samsung SSD
5. Adding Seagate Barracude 2TB
6. I will keep the IChill GTX 1080 and the HDD where i keep the steam games
7. Windows 7 ---> Windows 10

With this kind of upgrades including change of CPU, Mobo, OS, will i have to redownload all Steam Games?

Or can i backup the steamapps folder and then reinstalling Windows OS and all new driver and then paste my backup files then finally reinstall steam app?

I need help, maybe someone has already done this kind of things,,
it may frustrated me if something happen on the upgrading process,,

thanx a lot, really appreciate any help

[Arya]

I've already done this myself, and can confirm you'll have to re-download all your games.

When you change operating systems, it's always a good idea to Format every Drive and start 100% fresh.

[kurtniadi]

Holy crap, it will took days to redownload with my crappy internet :(

Will it affect the saved game file? At least I don't have to replay games from the start

[Baosas]

You actually don't have to. Copy your game caches and the corresponding "appmanifest" files, and Steam will automatically recognize these games as installed.

If you copy them to another partition, "download" any game you have copied and create a new library using the folder you copied the files to. Move the files out and back in if Steam requires the folder to be empty, and reboot Steam to find your games ready for you.

Save files can reside in a lot of different folders. From Documents, AppData, Steam's "userdata" folder to the game cache folder itself, many possibilities exist, and it's best if you back at least some of them up manually.

[Vince ✟]

I always copy steamapps folders and move them to a storage drive. As stated above, you will need to find your own save files, as many times they will not carry over. I suggest using the cloud.

I have over 3tb of games and apps saved on a few drives, and have reinstalled many times without the need to redownload everything.

Congrats on your upgrade

[Omega]

All software needs to be reinstalled but Stream games can be saved. Copy your steam games from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common to the new Steam common folder.

[kurtniadi]

thanx for the feedback, i will try and report back and hopefully didnt need to redownload anything except the steam apps if i do it right

maybe with my new spec i dont have to upgrade maybe in 2/3 years to come, because upgrading is such a pain with many things involved like steam and origin,,

thanx a lot once more,

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

in your old pc, just backup all your games using steam client.

in the new computer, login to your steam account and restore games from your backup...minimal downtime!

[Andrius227]

If your steam library is on a seperate drive, you dont need to do anything. Just plug it in, set it as a steam library and steam will detect anything that is already on it.

[Nyarlathotep]

I would play games from the SSD. Most people say just put the OS on SSD and files on the hard drive but you notice a big difference when you play from the SSD. Some save games will be in the Steam directory, others like Fallout and Bioshock have their own folders in your User folders. Restoring games can be flaky with some people reporting downloads even when they have their original files.

[kurtniadi]

thanx for all the advice, i've finished the updare process and can confirm that it didnt need to download anything, just backup and then change the steam games directory,,