How to backup your Grand Theft Auto IV saved games

Grand Theft Auto IV

Since you’re clearly interested in games I would suggest that you visit zuckr.com, where you can find news and reviews for the best free online games!

If you search over the internet,  you’ll find a lot of different solutions to backup your GTA IV saved games. In my occasion (transfer from Windows XP 32-bit to Windows Vista 64-bit) the following worked perfectly:


  • Backup the entire “Rockstar Games” folder (your saved games) which is located in C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\ for Windows Vista and in C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Local Settings\Application Data\ for Windows XP.
  • Backup the “XLive” folder (your Microsoft Games for Windows – LIVE profile), located in C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft (Windows Vista) or C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\
  • Install the game (including Microsoft Games for Windows – LIVE) and run it (so it can create the folders).
  • Find the new folders and replace them with your own.

Enjoy!

 

Football Manager 2009 – Remember, remember, the 14th of November

Football Manager 2009

Since you’re clearly interested in games I would suggest that you visit zuckr.com, where you can find news and reviews for the best free online games!

I am a huge fan of the Football Manager (and before that, the Championship Manager) series. Like other people around the world, i’ve waited the 14th of November, 2008 so i can play the brand new Football Manager 2009! I’ve decided to buy this one since i don’t play many games in a year and therefore could afford it.

When i discovered that it was available to buy and download via Steam, i thought of trying it (i don’t like dvd-cases anyway). There, i found out that the price (i can’t recall the exact amount right now) was the same as the dvd-edition.. So, i decided to wait a few hours and think about it.

While i was visiting some FM forums to read the first impressions about the new game, i read the same thing a lot of times: a lot of users couldn’t activate the game, therefore couldn’t play it! It wasn’t a coincidence that when the game appeared in the ..dark part of the web, the activation servers (with fewer users trying to activate simultaneously) worked again!

After this, i downloaded and played it! It is very good by the way! I waited long enough to buy it in a more affordable price, and when the amazon’s £17.96 considered fine, i did!

The funny part of the story is that when my original dvd arrived, neither mine nor anyone’s else dvd drive managed to read it, so i just installed my downloaded version using my new activation code..

It is too hard to sell a game from Steam for a normal price (for example £15) and save me (and possibly others) from all this trouble? :-)

 

How you can install Windows XP using a USB Stick (or “A dead dvd story”)

HP Compaq Presario 2500

Yesterday, i picked up the task of bringing back to life an old laptop, a HP Compaq Presario 2500 series. Unfortunately, when i tried to boot from the Windows XP disk so i can format it and then install the OS, i found out that the laptop’s DVD drive was…dead!

I didn’t had a replacement for it, so my first thought was to copy everything in a USB stick and just boot from it and complete the process. But it wasn’t as easy as i thought it would be! Of course my first attempt (just copy everything to the USB stick) was a failure (i wasn’t expected anything more). Afterwards, when i googled the issue, i found a lot of different ways to accomplish the task. After spending some hours trying a lot of them, komku’s solution actually worked and the old laptop resurrected!