Backing up the files is not the same as backing up an installer. See below.ORIGINAL: Breet
You cannot backup with steam?
Um, you can, method a is using the 'backup and restore' game/s option, Method B is just copying the damn folder somewhere else.
This is called a workaround or kludge - other terms may apply for your particular location.As for restinalling w/o? I do that with a few games. Distant worlds included (yes, you can, as people have said in this thread. Just make a shortcut to the distantworlds.exe file and you don't need to run steam again if you don't want to, hell move the folder out and delete steam, it will work, I copied my dw to my laptop that doesn't have steam on it and it works fine.
An installer often performs more functions than simply copying files. In the event that you need to reinstall a game, it's not the preferred method, and is not guaranteed to work - e.g. if a game has registry entries which are used by the game for certain functions. It probably works for DW, but I wouldn't want to bet on it. I sure wouldn't want to bet on it for a AAA title, even if there was no other DRM present.
ORIGINAL: Tree Dog
Matrix uses evil DRM, I tried installing DW to DW:S without their installers, but I couldn't. It's good their evil monopoly on DW installations finally ended.
When I purchase a game from an online store such as Matrix (or steam), I clearly need to be online at the time (obvious; because 'online' store.) However, once I have completed my purchase, and have downloaded the installer, I never need to be connected to the internet ever again, no matter how many new machines I get, or how often I need to reinstall.
Compare with a game purchased from steam, without relying on workarounds such as the above one.
