help with reinstall of SHIV

[btg]

I am currently in the middle of a career in U-Boat missions and am doing well so far. Prob is that I have to replace my mobo and will most likely have to reformat hard drive to reinstall my OS. Question is how do I backup my settings/saved games so I can continue where I left off after reinstalling SHIV? I made a backup of the "mydocs/shIV" and "data/config" files so presume I can just copy these files once I reinstall shIV and U-boat missions?

If I'm missing another file that needs to be backed up(other than "mydocs" and "config" files), please let me know b/c I desperately do not want to lose my progress in my career. Thanks in advance.

[irish1958]

I think this is all you need. You probably should back up your mod folder from JSGME, if you use it.

[Soundman]

This thread will advise you well.... http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=133290

[btg]

Thanks. Im going to give it shot. I have a feeling restoring my saved career in SHIV is going to be the least of my problems after reformating my drive and reinstalling my OS, but I desperately want XP back after a few years with Vista.

[Webster]

a trick that can work for you is to jumper the mobo first to reset cmos then without restarting switch out the mobo and at restart it has no preset config to compare to what it sees so it "sometimes" just accepts the new config without needing a reformat.

it has the most success with mobo of the same brand and a not that different model especially if the same cpu is used. the bigger the differences the more likely it will reject the setup forcing the reformat.

but if your going from vista to xp there is no way to go back unless you reformat because it will never load an older version op sytem than it detects you already have.

also i agree you need to copy jsgme "mods" folder to be sure your running the same mods and mod versions so there is no issues there. (i would also note the mods installed so you get them in the right install order too)

[btg]

Thanks for the info Webster. Yes, the new mobo has a different chipset and I will be using a new cpu, so Vista is going to go crazy with the change (most likely will not even boot up). My old ASUS mobo will not support high end Dual Core processors (with 1333mhz front bus speed-like the E8500), so Im installing a Gigabyte mobo that has all the bells and whistles. In the end, the new cpu/mobo will be worth it, but i'm not looking forward to reinstalling my OS. (I have to reinstall the OS because a Vista "upgrade" version cannot be reactivated once you switch mobos-in my case I "upgraded" to Vista from an OEM Windows XP which is of course "tied" to the original mobo-once you change the mobo, you're pretty much stuck with purchasing/reinstalling a "full version" of windows. (This prob could have been avoided if I purchased the "full" retail version of Vista in the first place). FYI-there is a way around this prob., but it pretty much violates the User License Agreement.

[Rockin Robbins]

Uh..... I've reactivated Windows XP Media Center Edition three times due to new disk drives, graphics card and microprocessor changes. It's a twenty second procedure. Windows wakes up, looks around, says "where the hell am I? What have you done to me? Call home to reactivate me or I'll hold my breath until I die!"

You press the activate button, in twenty seconds it goes on the Internet, asks no questions and comes back with the message that Windows has been reactivated. I've also done the same thing with OEM Windows. Actually my present XP Media Center Edition is OEM because I am the manufacturer.

[btg]

I will try to see if vista will re-activate after booting up with new mobo, but its my understanding that if you had an OEM XP version (bought with computer) and you then "upgrade" to Vista, you cannot simply reactivate the "upgrade" version of Vista when you change the motherboard-reason being that MS terminated the OEM version of XP when I "upgraded" to Vista and the prior OEM XP will not work anyway considering its "tied" to the old mobo (this is why OEM versions are so much cheaper). You cannot simply reactivate your Vista upgrade on a new mobo because there is nothing to upgrade-no prior version of windows. Now, I could be completely wrong and hope I am. If I boot up and Windows just asks me to re-activate, then I can return the retail version of XP I just purchased. However, Im willing to bet Vista will not simply re-activate, that I will call the MS support line to obtain another reactivation key and they will inform me that I cannot simply reactivate an upgrade on a new mobo-you have to have a full retail version of windows previously installed (non-OEM), so that is why I purchased the full version of XP. However, I do not claim to know the intricacies of how MS Windows activations work-this is just based on all the other forums I've reviewed.

[btg]

Rockin Robbins was correct. I installed new mobo and windows vista started right up without even needing a re-activation. Strange considering its a completely new mobo with new chipset. I guess I was one of the "lucky" ones as most people seem to have to buy a full retail version of windows to reactivate the vista upgrade. Odd, I would think MS would want to make as much $ as possible and force the issue. Thanks for all advice.

[Fincuan]

I installed new mobo and windows vista started right up without even needing a re-activation.

Wow, that is indeed great news :up:

Looks like that's among their "Vista mistakes" MS if fixing in Windows 7: All I did was swap my two 1 gb memory modules to two 2 gb ones, and BAM: "Are you sure your Windows is genuine and from legitimate sources?" :haha: Luckily the 20 second internet re-activation was all that was needed to make that go away.

[SteamWake]

Here read this

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=133290