Can I backup game updates?

Well, SDC allows you to create backup archive of your game before patching it.

Yes, I am curious about this, too.



But can I create a backup of the downloaded patches themselves?

I purchased GalCiv2 Gold recently, and after installation and activation, I set about downloading all the updates -- a few hundred megabytes of updates.

I have a desktop PC and a laptop, and my roommate has her own copy of GalCiv2 on her own desktop and we live way back in the hills with NO broadband access. (Not even satellite, since there is a rather large mountain and thick forest blocking my view of the southern sky.) I have spent days -- truly -- downloading all the updates at 38Kbs. Now that I have my game all patched up and current, is there any way to access those updates locally, so that I do not have to spend more DAYS downloading the same files for my laptop, and for my roommate's GalCiv2? On dial-up it is painfully slow enough, but when you have two people sharing the same dial-up connection... well, I think it is silly to have to download the same massive files three times in a row. How can I use the updates that I just downloaded for the other GalCiv2 installs connected to my LAN?

Or, is it possible to use a friend's PC in town that has broadband to download the updates in a way that I can take them to my home PCs and install them? It is even possible to get the updates unless you have an activated copy of GalCiv2 on your PC?

Or, does Stardock offer at least the largest updates on CD-ROM? I know that almost everyone nowadays has broadband, and therefore not much attention is paid to rural customers like us anymore. I would love to join you all at high speed, but it is not an option available to me now, though my phone company (Sierra Telephone) tells me that they might bring DSL to my area in "a year or two." In the mean time, what is the quickest way to get more than one activated install of GalCiv2 updated over dial-up?

Please forgive all the n00b questions.

Try right-clicking on the update and choose 'Archive Application' and then 'Selected Module', or possibly 'Download and Archive'.

Well, to be more specific:

SDC will patch directly your files, patching only those that need it. So when using SDC, you download only what you need, reducing the total size of the download, contrary to donwloading a retail patch from version 1.0

If you have GC2 fully patched on a computer, you can create an archive of it, transfer the associated file to another computer using a portable medium (like an USB key with enough capacity) and use SDC to install the archive. That should do the trick.

You can indeed, you just need to install SDC there and have a USB drive of at least 1GB (should fit DL and DA, but maybe not any modules) or a burner available; SDC can only archive the entire game, not just the updates.

1) Install SDC on an online machine (keep a copy of the SDC installer handy).

2) Log in on SDC, head to the Games section, right click on the game, and choose Archive Application->Download and Archive. If the game is already installed and updated on this machine you can choose Archive Application->Selected Application to pack it up without redownloading.

3) If the game has modules (GalCiv2 does, for example), you'll be prompted to archive them as well. If the media you'll use to transfer the game isn't large enough, you may need to decline and archive each module sparately; otherwise just say yes.

4) When the archive process finishes, you'll find the .sdc file(s) in C:\Program Files\Stardock\Stardock Central\BACKUP (this path is customizable in SDC's settings so it may vary). Copy the .sdc files along with the SDC installer to the portable media of your choice (CDR, DVDR, USB drive, etc).

5) On the offline computer, install SDC, then double-click the .sdc archive files in explorer to unpack them. That should do it, the offline machine is up to date.

Thanks for the info kyro and Phoenix! This is exactly what I needed to know!