Will formatting my PC cause problems with Steam?

[AnarchistCy]

I have installed Civilization V from a disc I purchased (not download from Steam). I am having some issues with my PC and wish to format it. Will this cause any issues when I wish to reinstall Civilization V?

I have heard several cases where after formatting, Steam would not accept the activation Key provided with the game, since it "has already been used". Do I have to take any actions before formatting in order to avoid such issues?

 

[Maniacal]

The game is tied to your Steam account (so you could throw away your disks if you wanted, but I don't recommend that, its bad for the environment), all you have to do is log into your Stem account again (once Steam is installed and you can download the game. Alternatively, because it would be faster, just install from the disc and log in, try this before reinstalling Steam as sometimes it tries to just download the game instead).

As long as you don't forget your Steam account details or try ot register it to a new account you should be fine.

 

[AnarchistCy]

Thanks for your quick answer.

I wish to install it from the disc since I suppose it will be faster. When installing, the game requested the activation key. So I suppose this was only for the first time?

 

[Maniacal]

Hmm actually good point, I've only ever installed Half-Life 2, Half-Life Source and the Orange Box from disc, you can try this (though skip the first part because since you have reformatted nothing will be left)
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5357-FSQM-0382

 

[Furiey]

Can you back up your game files, reformat, re-install steam then restore your game files?

 

[Maniacal]

Yes, you can copy our Steamapps folder (which has all the game data in it) and put it onto something that isn't getting formatted.