Installing Steam on new PC?

[Edhelras]

This is probably a stupid question from someone who doesn't know much about computers (although I've had one since the first Commodore 64 in the early 80s...).

I've got a stationary PC that's pretty old now (from 2016, I think), and struggling to play EUIV. The game freezes all the time in the late game, and I can see that memory and disc use is almost 100 %. So I guess I ought to buy a new computer.

My questions are:

1. Are my savegames (like my EUVI games) stored on my computer, or are they somehow stored on a Steam cloud or something? I mean, must I manually transfer my save games from the old to the new computer?

2. Likewise, my DLCs, like all the EUVI DLCs. Are they installed on my computer, or are they something I access online via Steam? Must I reinstall all my DLCs on the new computer manually, and/or can I reinstall all DLCs I've bought, even if it's on a new computer (without having to pay again) ?

3. Finally, if I must re-install, is it possible to avoid patching up to the very latest patch? I'm in the late stages of a Sweden campaign, and I would hate for that save to go corrupt because the game was updated when reinstalling. I managed once to "patch back" to an earlier patch, when playing Ottomans, but I cannot remember how I did it, and it made me very nervous.

I suspect these questions are very basic, so any help would be kindly appreciated.

[Jerry]

1. Depends on the game. Many do offer cloud save, but local saves (most often in the User/Appdata folders) happens frequently as well, and a bunch offer both to choose from. You can check if a game has cloud support through its properties. If still unsure, ask in the game forum.

2. DLCs are tied to your account. If you own them, you do so on every device. Normally they should be part of a first time installation too, I think.

3. A fresh installation will always go for the latest version by default. If a game offers alternate versions through beta branches, you can switch to those. Again, for modding, patching and the like, I'd suggest to ask in the game forum.


P.S.: Moving the Steam/Appdata folder to your new computer might turn out faster than downloading games from the scratch.

[Brujeira]

In addition to Jerry's sage advice, I'd also add this.

1. Take a manual backup of your savegames to a USB drive or something, just for safety and peace of mind. This third party utility makes it easy and can also be used to put the savegames in the correct folders on your new PC.

https://www.gamesave-manager.com/

2. A first time installation *should* install every bit of the game that you own. I suspect that EUIV's install might be a bit on the large side though, so moving your Steam install is probably going to be quicker. I've linked the FAQ on how to do that below - the process of moving it to a new PC is the same, you're just going to need to copy it to an external drive or USB stick and use that to copy it to the new machine.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4BD4-4528-6B2E-8327#exist

3. Reinstall or move the Steam installation, you're still going to wind up on the latest version. The last step of moving a Steam install is to verify the game files for your installed games and that will pick up any updates if they're available. As Jerry has said, ask in the game's own forums about alternate versions should the situation arise.

[Edhelras]

Thank you both very much, for detailed and useful help. I feel somewhat safer now... :)