How 'painless' are re-installs with Steam?

[ExpiredReign]

Hi all.

Apologies for the rather lame question.

Having used Steam for many years along with Civ V I now want to try and rectify a problem with my system by doing a re-install.

I have all the Civ V content on retail discs except for Korea and BNW which I purchased via the Steam store.
If I just uninstall the Civ V game via Windows, leaving the Steam installation intact, and then re-install via my retail discs, will my existing Steam account just pick up from where I left it and re-download the other content, Korea & BNW? Also will any other progress like advancements still be linked properly, not that I really care about those?

My reticence in taking the steps comes from the fear of being locked out of my own retail bought game if somehow the Steam verification says something like "sorry this game is already installed elsewhere". It is not. I am not trying to do anything illegal here, just fix a problem I believe stems from the [BETA] patch. (I won't go into that here)

Some of the other posts about Steam and installation I have read here are pretty strange, but fixable, I haven't though heard anyone say "no worries, it is as easy as pie".

 

[Browd]

Even if you install from retail disks, Steam will still insist on downloading everything, so I would put the retail disks away and just reinstall from Steam. Had to do it several times now (HD failure and then troublesome SSD install) and it just takes time (something like 6-7GB -- sheesh!).

 

[ExpiredReign]

Hmm. I'm not sure that is 100% accurate. I did come across this posting on the Steam forum.
I am pretty sure this means you can use the disks if you have them.
Thanks anyway.

At any rate, That isn't my biggest worry. I'm more concerned about being locked out of my own retail disks.

I think I might just bite the bullet and see. I will post back here with any important details.

 

[Browd]

You can use the retail disks, but it won't save you any time. The disks contain outdated versions of the game and, in my experience, Steam will download all files, not just updated/changed files. Steam previously recorded your CD key and associated it with your Steam account, so you shouldn't need the retail disks to reinstall.

 

[Furiey]

There are so many patches since the discs were made that you won't save anything worthwhile by using them. You should however be able to backup the steam folder then restore it to the new machine/install.

 

[FeiLing]

Also note that uninstalling probably does not delete the setting files in the "C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\ directory. Simply deleting that can also fix problems (as it automatically gets recreated/defaulted).
(note that it also contains all savegames and screenshots, backup whatever you need)

 

[ExpiredReign]

You can use the retail disks, but it won't save you any time. The disks contain outdated versions of the game and, in my experience, Steam will download all files, not just updated/changed files. Steam previously recorded your CD key and associated it with your Steam account, so you shouldn't need the retail disks to reinstall.

There are so many patches since the discs were made that you won't save anything worthwhile by using them. You should however be able to backup the steam folder then restore it to the new machine/install.

Excellent points both of you. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place.
Thank you very much.

EDIT:
About 6 hours & 5.3Gb later.
Well, I did it and...
I feel so foolish, it was absolutely the easiest thing ever. I just 'right-clicked' on the game on the 'Library' tab of the Steam app. Chose the 'Delete local content' to remove the game and then when given the 'Install game' option I just clicked it.
The download surprisingly went without a hitch (my Steam downloads have been flaky). All the content was installed and the game just started with any problems I previously had now a dim past memory.

To anyone else that is contemplating this step, don't even hesitate, just do it.
To those that offered help, thank you very much.

 

[ExpiredReign]

An Update.

It appears the actual files that are installed via Steam when you do a complete fresh installation, whilst they are later versions of anything you may have on disc, are still nonetheless NOT the latest.

After my re-install I started seeing weird log entries when I was working on the mod I am associated with (Communitas Expansion Project).
At first I thought I may have mistakenly edited something out so I loaded an earlier version to see. The same result. FATAL errors and 'stack tracebacks' all through he log.

Finally I took a friends advice and verified my cache with the Steam app, again.
Bingo! Everything is back to how it should be, no errors, no clogged log files a smooth game experience.

So, I can only conclude that: the Steam app actually has subsystems that handle installation and updating separately. The pool of files for installation are recent, but not the latest. The update pool is the absolute latest and this needs to be run after a fresh install, just to make sure.