Down side to re-install?

I read several threads on corrupt data, but did not entirely understand them. I am hoping to fix a bunch of petty graphics problems with a re-install but don't know if there is a downside to doing that... anyone?

Only downside is if you have a slow connection.

Either loading time will take forever between maps,
or if you run with the -image switch,
you probably have to leave game downloading during your sleep.

The only downside I can think of to re-installing would be the time it takes to -image.

Otherwise no, a fresh install will cost nothing but your time :P

Since most players have a pc with a dvd writer and that dvd rw discs are cheap.

Given also that 4 gig plus memory sticks and external hard discs are also pretty common.

There isn't really an excuse not to have a backup of the game that's more than a couple of months old.

Once you have that, copy the files back and run the exe file it will set up the game again.

While I am congratulating myself for being so smug I am going to back my game up right now lol

Unless the graphics problems are due to a corrupt .dat file, then backing up the .dat file would just recreate the issues. I recommend just starting fresh, and only backing up the .dat file if you know it is not causing the problems.

it takes about 6 hrs on DSL to run the "-image" command, other than the time factor there's no real downside to it. You should back up your templates though, since you would loose them, which is a pain if you do a llot of builds, bar tweaks etc...

No downside:P pure win!^_^

Thanks all!
and thanks for the template reminder!

There's really no need to "reinstall". Simply running the -image command should fix any problems that a reinstall would (in this case). Note too, that everyone suggests an -image command after the reinstall anyway.

can always try -repair as well.

I just discovered this the hard way I did a fresh install of windows and thought I had everything. I totally forgot about my builds