Restoring steam backup files

[CrazyCrusher]

I had to reisntall my OS the other day along with Steam and I want to use my backup files I have from steam as its nearly 19GB worth of files, how in gods name do I reinstall my backups? my backups are not exe files they are sim files and some other file name im in work so im not looking at it, am I missing something or what?

[MJCfromCT]

You will have to reinstall Steam, launch the steam restore utility, and tell it which games you would like to restore. I don't have access to Steam ATM, so I can't tell you specifically how to get to the restore utility, but it should be easy to find.

[CrazyCrusher]

ye thats the problem Im having I dont know how to get to it. I have been looking but maybe im missing something.

[CrazyCrusher]

this is some of what I see in my backup

Counter-Strike_disk1.sim
Counter-Strike_disk1.sis
Counter-Strike_disk1_0.sid
Counter-Strike_disk1_1.sid
Counter-Strike_disk1_2.sid
Counter-Strike_disk1_3.sid

[MJCfromCT]

Do you not have a .exe file in your backup?

[loAol]

if the backing up went correctly then you must have an .exe file

[MJCfromCT]

Do you happen to have your .gcf files? If so, you can just plop them back in the appropriate Steamapps directory, and that will work, and bypass needing to use the backup utility as well.

[CrazyCrusher]

I dont have an exe file and from what I have seen so far, allot of people are getting the files like I have, they did add some patch for the backup utility , maybe thats why I have something like I have now. I honestly dont know why I did a backup when all I had to do was drag the steam folder into my 2nd drive (idiot). I think I have a 2nd back up some where ill check it out and post back if it works.

[bblqj78]

CrazyCrusher...did you find a solution for this. I also just did a fresh install of XP today and made a backup of my steam files this morning. I have just gone to re-install them and for some reason I also have the .sim & .sid files like you. Much wierdness....usually you get a .exe file which you just have to run. Let me know mate....cheers

[CrazyCrusher]

I didnt find any solution to this problem, bblqj, I have searched and found some people who got backup like sim and sid files, I dont know to be honest, but from what I found on the net it seems to be some bug in thesteam backup process the files are right but missing the exe (such a surprise), I am downloading every thing all over again, mostly my own fault for not just draging them to be D drive and saving it there but still you pay for a product and you exspect it to at least backup your files right I can handle a frezze up and a disconnection problem, but when it comes down to downloading 19GB of data that tends to rub me the wrong way.

Anyone else find anything on this?

[bblqj78]

me eigther....I just ended up downloading my 5Gb of data to re-install everything. Bummer!

[Rabbitrunner51]

Boy.. now i don't feel so bad about ahving to reinstall MY os. yeah.. all that steam stuff takes awhile to reload and update.. ( one of the reasons i keep putting it off ).

I now i saw the backup games in the main menu..its right there.

To me its kind of amzing at how Steam even runs right ( when it does ) ,with all the fixes and updates. Humans are falible... so i remain a bit skeptical.

Can you paste and copy the exe. file before reinstalling the OS.. ?? Like moving it to another HD??

If in fact some if not all of yu guys are having the same problem..,then once again i am hesitate at doing a fresh install., esp. if i know I cannot play my CSS or HL2 or whatever.

I wouldn't count on Steam or Valve getting back to anybody rel soon as they never ever have written me back about any problems i had. Just take the info you give them and some big overstuffed bozo probably sits on it and looks up into space LOL

[CrazyCrusher]

Well lucky enough for me I found my old backup that I had. I am short a gig or 2 but at least its not every thing, and this backup has an exe file. as far as I have seen there is allot of people with this issue. I would copy and past it to your 2nd drive rabbit, the steam back up doesn’t seem to work to good at the moment, just drag and drop it.
who knows maybe I did something when I was backing up my data, but I doubt it considering I’m not the only one with the issue.

[MJCfromCT]

I guess the moral of the story is, if you need to backup your Steam data, just copy your .gcf files, and paste them into your new install directory. Steam will do the rest, and you won't have to deal with the hassle of the backup utility.

[Rabbitrunner51]

Good call...lol

[paku~]

hello,
i had the same problem but after reinstalling and downloading everything i found a simple solution to this problem.
simply doubleclick on the biggest file in the backup folder, for me it was Counter-Strike_disk1_0.sid than choose to connect the file with steam by choosing the steam.exe via browse-button, then click Ok.

for me, the problem was solved

- paku

[paku~]

for some reason you cant edit your own posts...
anyway:
forget what i wrote above. That didnt work properly either...

[davism]

Hi guys,

I don't know if anyone is still following this but I have just had this problem myself and the way that I got around it was to get my mate to back one of his games up and use his exe file. I have uploaded the file, unzip it and place it in the directory where the sid and sim files are (if they are on cd copy them to pc) and run the exe. It worked for me so hopefully it should work for everyone.

Good luck

Davism

[Ewokalypse]

simple fix. http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/home.php
that will take you to the steam support page, when you get there do a search for "backup restore" it should be pretty easy to find. basically you download the backup.exe file and copy it to the backup folder. worked for me

[CrazyCrusher]

Ye worked for me to, two years ago?? why would you reply to a post thats two years old?