Problems with running games after a windows reinstall

[DropaStone]

Hey all first time post. I'm running xp pro with sp2 and I recently reinstalled my system. I have two hard drives 1 for just game files and the other for just for my opperating system and varrious programs. And I noticed after a reinstall some games don't run at all unless you reinstall them. But some games run perfect. And even they run just fine. I can't update with patches because during installation I get this messege. Setup couldn't find battlefeild Veitnam installation. It's a self installing patch and doesn't give me an option on where to install the files. Iv'e had this trouble befor in the past but I just bit the bullet and reinstalled the files. But this time I don't want to because I got a ton of mods,patches,maps and I just don't want to go thru all of that reinstalltion crap. So can anybody suggest fix for my problem. And is there anything I can do to prevent this from happing again in the future before I reinstall my system. :

[DragonNOA1]

You reinstalled your system? So all the registry links are missing to your game files? Reinstall your games without uninstalling them. Depending on the games (some files may need to be copied out or put as read only), you should then be able to play.

But is it really that hard to copy all your maps and mod files out of the directory and then just put them back? I don't know how Vietnam works but considering there aren't seperate map/texture/sound files, it should be pretty easy and quick.

[DropaStone]

Hey thanks for the heads up on my problem. I'll take your advise. allthough I do realize that that I could backup all of my maps and mod files and such. It's just a pain in the but when you got a 200 gb hard dr full of 30+games and having to do that to all the games. that I still play on a regular basis. is just to time consuming. I was hoping that that maybe there was a way of copying the registry entry itself and replace it or add it after the next time I do a reinstall of my system?

[mrmister1]

You can save your Registry as a file if you want. Just go into the registry and go to File, Export and save it to your hard drive with the applications and games. Then if you ever reformat in the future you can just import your old Registry settings.

[DragonNOA1]

^Yeah but the way you say it saves the whole registry, and the point to reformat is the clear that out of useless stuff. It would be hard to just save the needed reg files b/c it doesn't always save to one place in the reg, plus all the mod's reg files if there are any.

One thing for sure is that if you do an overthetop reinstall,all your save files will remain. Good Luck