Uninstall/install or re-install?

[MadGizmo]

I am about to install a new CPU and motherboard. My current game is installed on a RAID 0 drive. Although I am using the built-in Vista RAID 0 facility (which is supposed to be driver independent because it is not my boot drive) chances are that if I install the drives in the wrong order that I will loose the game installation.

It's better to do a complete install of the OS, but I first like to try if I can use my current drives as they are. When I am not satisfied or if issues arise then I can always do a complete Vista re-install.

My questions: What happens if I screw up? Can I reinstall the game without a problem? Are there Tages issues involved? Or do you recommend uninstalling the game first and install it again later?

Of course I've made a backup of the saved games. Can I also backup the installation folder and copy it back after installation? That would save me installing the mods.

Thanks in advance.

[CBJ]

Personally I'd suggest backing up the game folder and your savegames, then performing the upgrade without uninstalling or anything. If all goes well then you should be able to carry on playing the game without messing about with reinstalling it. If not then you can simply restore from the backup and carry on. In the worst case even if a restore doesn't work you could just uninstall and reinstall, and then copy the backed-up folders in again to make sure you keep the same mods.

[MadGizmo]

Thanks for your swift answer, CBJ. I think I am going to do what you suggested. If anything goes wrong I can always point the finger at you. Just kidding.

[gandy|UKCS|]

When you change your cpu there is a good chance you will need to activate tages again.. this is what i had to do the other week when i got my i7 cpu, I didn't bother activating and decided a fresh install of vista on the new hardware would be good so waited.

As i keep my games on a different hard drive i didn't have to install them again ( the good thing about steam i guess ). I guess there was to many changes for tages as i put in a new motherboard and memory aswell.

[CBJ]

Activation isn't an issue if you are running the DVD version of the game rather than the Steam version, though.

[MadGizmo]

Yesterday I installed the new motherboard and CPU: Asus M4A79 and Phenom II 940 BE. Guess what? The machine didn't boot at all. It kept resetting and trying to boot the BIOS.

The problem was related to my Titanium Pro sound card. After removing that one the system started. I later searched the net and it seems that I am not the only one with that problem. It's a known issue. Back to the onboard sound. Sigh. But...

It wouldn't boot Vista. So, it seems that I didn't even connect the boot drive (a non-RAID drive) correctly. Hehe. In the BIOS I was able to select from which drive it should boot and tried until I got the correct one.

And Windows booted. It was busy for a while installing all kinds of drivers automatically. I decided to not interrupt it. In the meantime I looked for the RAID drive. Nothing. No sign of it. Sigh. But once Vista x64 was finished installing the drivers I got a Autoplay window and it seemed it mounted the RAID drive after all!

Yay!

X3TC started without any problem.

I went to Cloud Base North West which contains a PHQ and an Equipment Dock. Due to those two and all the border military traffic it used to lag like crazy. That used to force me to hang out in The Wall. But with the new hardware I was able to dock and fly around there without any problem! I am very happy with that.

Next test: Dock at my three huge complexes in Ore Belt. Hehe. I used to avoid that sector like the plague. With a reason: Each one at least has 26 factories. But this time I was stunned. Of course there was significant slow down there, but at least I was able to fly there! I will still avoid that sector like the plague, though.

I'm very happy happy with my machine now.