Changing PC and transferring Assetto Corsa

[Michele Esposito]

After 7 years of service my PC decided that is time to pass the torch to a brand new PC. Now for my mental health I need your help regarding AC with all the mods, content manager and so on. Considering that I passed days and days if not months personalizing my AC thanks to CM, I really don't want to do everything again from scratch, it's too much (and considering how OCD I am when it's about having everything organized I can pass one month again just to personalize it in the same way). So my question is at the end: what I need to copy from my old HD into the new one to keep all my work as it is?

I think it should be
1) Assetto Corsa into the common folder inside Steam
2) Assetto Corsa in Documents
3) AcTools Content Manager located in AppData/Local

Is there anything else I need to be aware off? Thanks in advance to any good person that understand my concerns

 

[Jempy]

As I'm nearly sure you'll have to reinstall Steam on your new PC ... I suspect that it will check the files integrity of the game. ( that's what it did when I changed PC in december 2019 even though I kept the D:/ HDD as it was only 2 years old )
It'll be quicker than a total reinstall but ... if you have modified original files in AC, the original files might replace them of course.

Personally, I'm using JSGME to install everything in AC ... If you did the same with CM for all mods and modifications ... I'd unactivate them and keep the MODS folder of course.
Only the original files will be checked by Steam ... so it won't touch this MODS folder ( I suppose it's the same way it works with CM compared to JSGME itself ).

If you didn't ... save those modified original files elsewhere than the game itself ... so you'll just have to reinstall them afterwards.

 

[Michele Esposito]

Thank you a lot for your answer, yes of course I will reinstall Steam and the base game from it, but if for example after installing Steam and downloading Assetto Corsa I take all the folders I mentioned in my first post from my hold HDD and I paste them on top of the New Assetto Corsa (and all the correct path for the folders). In this way the base game will be installed correctly and then I will replace all in one with my old material (Without any problem hopefully). Do you think it will work or it will create conflicts?

 

[Jempy]

In this case I don't see why it shouldn't work that way.
Surely except one or some files in the Documents .... related to the PC and components

For safety, I think it should be better, before reinstalling any Documents file ... to launch AC at first with the original launcher and test it quickly so that it will create new Documents ... where afterwards you'll be able to copy data from your Documents backup into the new folder ... as controller, replays, setups, results etc .. avoiding the files which might involve the pure system itself.

Just a doubt if you use JSGME or CM to install mods .... will it still know what it installed or not ?
As I had this little doubt ... I prefered unactivate mods and saving before reinstalling.
Good way to be sure ... and take the profit to delete the unuseful or crappy ones

 

[Michele Esposito]

For safety, I think it should be better, before reinstalling any Documents file ... to launch AC at first with the original launcher and test it quickly so that it will create new Documents ... where afterwards you'll be able to copy data from your Documents backup into the new folder ... as controller, replays, setups, results etc .. avoiding the files which might involve the pure system itself.

I will definitely follow the advice! make sense, because sometimes folders are not created before you start the first time the game.

Just a doubt if you use JSGME or CM to install mods

I do use CM for organising stuff, but honestly in terms of installation I do everything manually from the folders!

 

[Rex Racer 65]

Personally, I'm using JSGME to install everything in AC ... If you did the same with CM for all mods and modifications ... I'd unactivate them and keep the MODS folder of course.
Only the original files will be checked by Steam ... so it won't touch this MODS folder ( I suppose it's the same way it works with CM compared to JSGME itself ).

If you didn't ... save those modified original files elsewhere than the game itself ... so you'll just have to reinstall them afterwards.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by using JSGME to install everything? Similar to the Michele's original inquiry, I stupidly corrupted my AC install and need to rebuild it. I have tons of mods and use CM w/ CSP, SOL...the works. I really don't want to loose all of the settings I've done. I need a systematic way to reinstall, but somehow strategially copy & paste needed configuration files into the rebuild without causing problems.
Back to your post about using JSGME. Can you walk us through how you use it to install everything? Iv'e typically downloaded the ZIP files for mods and simply extracted them into their proper destination folder. Mod tracks in the "tracks" folder, mod cars in the "cars" folder, mod skins & sounds into their respective folders, etc. I'm not sure I understand how to use JSGME to manage that.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Jempy]

I can't really explain the difference between installing with CM or JSGME ... as I never used the CM one due to the fact I already used JSGME since the very beginning of AC ... when CM didn't exist yet.
( and finally use it for years now for all sims with modding possible ).

They surely work the same way ... but I feel that CM seems to know how to unzip automatically the different ways to zip the modded files ... the right way.

JSGME.exe needs to be in the root folder of AC ( or any other sim: 1 JSGME per sim ).
When launching JSGME the 1st time it will create a MODS folder

In this folder ... separate subfolders for installing any mod: track - cars - apps - graphic mods - etc .... )
I'm using for each subfolder name a precise name beginning with MOD_xxxx for cars - TRACK_xxxx - APP_xxxx etc.... ( xxxxx being simply the zip name of the mod even with its version number ) ... in order to manage them easily. ( they'll be easy to find in the list as they appear per alphabetic order in the list ).

How to manage those subfolders ?
They simply have to respect the AC directory tree to where the mod has to be installed. .... therefore, each zipped file must be controled before unzipping ... as not all mods have the full path for install.

For tracks: it needs to be Content containing a Tracks subfolder ( and extension and system for example if this track is already foreseen for CSP ) ...
For cars: Content with a subfolder Cars
For skins: Content with a subfolder Cars with a subfolder "the name of the car" with a subfolder "skins"
Easy then to do the same kind of directory tree for apps etc ... once you understand the way it's done.
( I'm used to know perfectly directory trees as I already had a PC under DOS ...advantage to be older ? )

Once a mod is prepared in this MODS folder, launching JSGME ( with a shortcut that's easier ) all mods will appear at the left ot the tool... and you may activate one per one.
In the future you'll be able to have the possibility of unactivating them one per one. ( or more at a time )

Disadvantage:
- double space on HDD as when installed the content of the unzipped mod is still in the "MODS" folder + in the game
- it has to be on the same disk ... so big problem if your HDD is rather short of free space.
- it cannot support zipped files for install ( you need first to unzip files )
- never modify a file in the game itself when it was installed with JSGME ... you need first to unactivate the mod, modify in the MODS folder and reactivate the mod ....
- bigger time to install especially with a very heavy mod ... as JSGME will first analyze what it might replace and if some folders already exist ... for a warning before installing in game ( also advantage ? )

Advantage:
- if after the activation of the mod you notice a problem .... no need to search for files ... JSGME knows where they are. Unactivating will be enough and even retrieve the previous modified original file )
- If a mod modifies a file already part of another activated mod, you will not be able to unactivate the 1st one before uninstalling the latest one. ( JSGME knows what it replaced so ... uninstalling the new one will allow to get the right file back for the 1st installed mod ... allowing then to uninstall this 1st mod without damage )
- just activate mods you're using at the moment allows the game to remain lighter and to manage many more mods or tracks ( AC has a limit for it ... and the MODS folder is not a AC folder ) but the limit is now the .... HDD space )
- In case of problems or reinstall ... just saving this MODS folder is enough to have all mods separately saved

NB: I even install SOL with it ... unactivating the previous version to delete all traces of it and just modifying the copy of the old version replacing the folders of the new version in each right subfolder )

Once you understand how it works ... that's very easy to use it.
BUT it needs a good knowledge of the directory and file tree of the game.... no danger if you activate at the wrong place ... if it doesn't work .. you simply made a mistake ... unactivate and find where to correct the mistake ... all wrongly installed files will be gone from where it was wrongly installed when unactivating the mod.

NB: long to read but I tried to be as clear as possible.

 

[Rex Racer 65]

Thanks Jempy, for taking the time to write all that out. I was wondering if you had to deal with directory structures in the mods to make that work. I get what you're doing (used to use DOS myself!). I used JSGME for certain mods back before CM basically copied the same system within their interface. It's great for CSP, SOL and mods outside of tracks, cars, skins, sfx sounds, etc. I've had mixed results with the drag-n-drop installation with CM, so I tend not to use it.

I've got to figure out a way to rebuild AC from scratch without losing a bunch of settings. Although I get how the JSGME method you're using works (kind of like an "undo" for mod installations), I don't see myself using it to that extent. I might try installing CM fresh and see how it handles installing all of my mods (which I still have in their original zip files on another drive).

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

 

[miguelbaptista]

NB: long to read but I tried to be as clear as possible.

Great explanation, thank you.