Steam Converting to a More Efficient Format ... Again

[Beef36]

Hi,

I was impacted by the last time Steam tried to move Race 07 to the Common folder in September 2012.

http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/steam-race-07-on-gtr-evo-changes-on-01-09-12.55329/

Last weekend (24 August) Steam did it again. When presented with the option to convert Race 07 to the more efficient format, I declined, but meant Steam wouldn't let me play the game.

I had a backup of my files, so I selected yes and as expected Steam moved Race 07 from the username folder to the common folder.

This is where it gets really strange.

When I launched the game, it asks me to download and install the game. After this is completed, I go back to having a small 235mb Race 07 folder in my <username> folder, plus the game in the <common> folder. Upon launching the game (GTR Evolution), it creates a new "Race 07 Install Folder 2" in My Documents and runs the game from the <username> folder, using the "Race 07 Install Folder 2"

Exiting the game and relaunching GTR Evolution, it loads the game from the <common> folder, and uses the original "Race 07" folder in My Documents. I can tell it's loading from the different folders as each has different mods and tracks installed.

This behaviour of first loading the game from the <username> iteration of the game and then subsequent loads from the <commom> folder is consistent when launching Race 07 or GTR Evolution after a PC reboot. I also have the GT Power Pack and Retro Pack, but when launching games from those icons, it consistently loads the <username> and the "Race 07 Install Folder 2" version of the game.

So I effectively have 2 versions of the game installed

I've deleted all of Race 07 twice and reinstalled and same behaviour is exhibited. I would rather have only one install, preferably the <username> folder as that is where the GT Power Pack and Retro Pack are available.

Has anyone else been impacted this month by Steam converted to a more efficient format?


Thanks

 

[Rupe Wilson]

Steam has converted the Race07 to the common folder.
none of the other parts will work so im now re-installing them..
All is going to plan at the moment i followed the instructions to a T
why it couldn't convert all my content in one go i don't know...
it knows what i have installed and purchased..
annoying as hell at times but it seems to run ok..
lets see where it all ends up

 

[Rupe Wilson]

Holy cow it all works .... All the content i own for the race 07 series is now there in the common folder under race 07.
the game loads just as quick if not a fraction quicker. evey thing is looking good
so for me ive had a easy time with this update to a new format.. blady blaaa

On a side not i had a couple of other games in my folders that are now converting to this new format.
Counterstrike source and portal.
maybe this time Steam has got it correct with there method because last time it did make a mess of it for a few guys

also good to see Racedepartment back on steam wit Bram at the Helm
just noticed it in the forum sidebar

 

[Boby Kim]

Don't forget to also update the dedicated server tool

(10 minutes later)
By the way...I have updated the Race 07 dedicated server. Started the server up, im only able to select Race 07 content. I have other dedicated servers in the list like Race On, EVO etc but they are all demos...
I do hope im still able to setup a dedicated server for all content?

 

[Rupe Wilson]

To get the d/sever to work with all base content you will probably have to copy it across to the d/server folders like you did if you wanted to run a mod car or track

 

[Boby Kim]

That did the trick Rupe! I copied the entire gamedata folder to the d/server folder and now i see all content

 

[Lars Johansson]

I was wrong the game doesn´t work at all when download for a install it´s only 1mb so it´s nothing in it. I giv up. Life has been better!

 

[Arc Anjil]

still updating content at 100%.. seems like it stuck in this ... it downloaded it and now i wait...
15 mins and counting i think steam has froze up as it will not respond
once it stops ill update on what happens

I ran the "update/conversion/let's break everything" from Steam yesterday. When it finished RACE07 still would not start (gameoverlyrenderer.dll fault). Check game cache and 37000+ files failed validation and had to be re-run.

I removed R07 and all add-ons, ran chkdsk, defrag and will re-DL R07 et all tonight.

Oh, I also moved my Gamedata and Customskins folders off to another location on my HD.

I cannot say here what I think of Steam...........

 

[Hiroshi Awazu]

Well i'm done with Steam and Race 07. Just went to fire up it up and Steam forced the update on me, i'm not even online with Steam and now I can't even get onto Steam it just keeps crashing to desktop.

I can't be bothered to do the whole reinstallation again for something that i hardly play anymore. Race 07 is the only thing i have from Steam so no big loss to me.

 

[Travis]

I'm using the beta version of Steam and allowed the conversions of Race 07 and all of the DLC to complete when prompted. I must be one of the few lucky people as everything was converted without issues. Race 07 works as it did prior to this forced upgrade. Having a vanilla install (I had no mods installed) and the beta version of Steam may have been the reasons why everything worked.

I feel terrible for those suffering the issues I've read here and on the Steam forums; there is nothing more frustrating when forced changes go horribly wrong. I had non fuctioning versions last time Steam decided to upgrade the file format.

Edit 1: For a laugh I verified the game cache for Race 07 and Steam found 43 missing files and downloaded 9MB of data. It seems even when apearing to be working correctly, it isn't!

Edit 2: I have verified the cache of several DLC packs and they've all needed to download 'missing files'. Race 07 keeps downloading the same 3 files every time I run the cache verification for the different DLC packs...nice work Valve!

 

[jimortality]

I've just purchased Race 07 tonight and will download when i get in from work but do I need to do anything or should I postpone the download until they sort out whatever it is they need to sort.

Cheers

 

[Michael Nelson]

It's all gone screwy for me now. Was working yesterday, but no longer today. I'm getting a "missing interface" error. Game cache verify downloads the same few files every time... It's incredibly frustrating. But I'm going to wait a few days and see if Steam fixes it. Being from NZ I have a monthly data cap, so I don't really want to reDL things. (Interestingly, right click-> delete local content, doesn't remove anything at all?)

 

[Dennis Phelan]

Micheal, I'm in the same shape. Yesterday all was fine, today I couldn't get 100% validation for half of the addons. Deleted, defragging as we sit here.

 

[jimortality]

Maybe I'll be fine as I'm buying the game vanilla style so won't have any mods to worry about.

 

[Michael Nelson]

Micheal, I'm in the same shape. Yesterday all was fine, today I couldn't get 100% validation for half of the addons. Deleted, defragging as we sit here.

I'm working again now, following a post on the steam forums: in Steam, in the menubar click Steam-> Check for Steam client updates.

Hope that works for you too. This whole thing is kind of a mess, it feels like the Steam devs didn't test this conversion at all.

 

[Justin Swan]

I'm not updating until the dust settles or we find a way to run race07 outside of steam.

 

[David Ignjatovic]

Unbelievable steam idiocy again.

 

[Dinca Andrei]

This is from a user on STEAM forum:

"Well it worked for me and all the mods I've installed was retained. Granted it's a bit of manual work but I have no problems at all in the end, having just finished a 2.5 hours session.

Here's what I did:

1) Double-click each game to allow game conversion process, this includes all Race07 xpacks.
Race07, GTR Evolution, Andy Priaulx Raceway, Race On, STCC1, STCC2, Formula Raceroom, GT Power, Retro Pack, WTCC 2010

2) After all the conversion is done, repeat the process by verifying game cache on each game, this will redownload most of the broken content not converted properly.

3) This should work by if your old game profile is missing, go to C:\Users\YOUR NAME\Documents\SimBin and you should see something like RACE 07 and RACE 07 install 2. Just copy your UserData from the old folder to the new folder and it should work perfectly.

I have installed WTCC 2009, WTCC 2011, ETCC and STCC 2011 mods along with the Mercedes fix for STCC and they all work fine without reinstall"
=====================================================================================

This is what i did:

First close Steam.
1.Download the program to open GCF files "GCFScape"
2.Make a backup of this folders: "My Documents/SimBin/RACE 07" and "...Steam/steamapps/"username"/Race 07"
3.Open every GCF file from inside "Local Disk (x : /Steam/steamapps/"and extracted the content to "Local Disk (x : /Steam/steamapps/common/race 07/"
4.Delete GCF files in Local Disk (x : /Steam/steamapps/
5.Delete folder Steam/steamapps/"username"/Race 07
6.Copy the 2 folders of your backup to their respective folders and replace/update
7.Open My Documents/SimBin/RACE 07/GameInstallDir" and rename this line:

"GameInstallDir="x":\steam\steamapps\"username"\race 07" to
"GameInstallDir="x":\steam\steamapps\common\race 07"

Where "x" is your drive letter

Or if you have it installed in Default location:

"GameInstallDir=C:\Program Files/steam\steamapps\common\race 07

This will prevent steam to make another install dir called Race 07 install 2 ........

8.Open Steam and install everything Race related,Addons,Packs.....
NOTE* Even if it looks like it will do a full install,it will take a few seconds to 1 min (deppends on connection) because game files are already in the right folder,Steam only install a few missing files.
9.Launch the game first time from Race 07

DONE.

 

[Paul Bennett]

Updating now

 

[Dinca Andrei]

If the Steam update runs clean and all is good you still have to do this step

7.Open My Documents/SimBin/RACE 07/GameInstallDir" and rename this line:

"GameInstallDir="x":\steam\steamapps\"username"\race 07" to
"GameInstallDir="x":\steam\steamapps\common\race 07"

Where "x" is your drive letter

Or if you have it installed in Default location:

"GameInstallDir=C:\Program Files/steam\steamapps\common\race 07

This will prevent steam to make another install dir called Race 07 install 2 ........

 

[Dennis Phelan]

My experience with this change in format=
I did as I have previously posted and all worked fine, this was also reported by others. The next day, a mess. RACE would run but I could not find a way to get addons to work. Attempts to validate files ended in failure and all I had was a bare bones race 07 install w/ power pack. Selecting a game from Steam and hitting Run did not get a fresh install.

Deleted Steam, re-installed steam, selected Race 07 to run and a fresh install is underway. I'll be doing this for all the addons. I'm not good with a PC but I don't give up. Thanks to all here for information provided.