backing up games via zip or exe not .iso

I know sometimes you can download a game from a exe and it just unpacks like its supposed to on your computer but how do people get them into zips/rar/ or exe's I have 4 disc game so instead of just backing it up onto discs I would rather just copy the folder to a dvd-r but I know if i do that it will end up saying I am missing something if i ever try to put it on a different computer or a newly formated one ex.dll missing, problems with registry ect.. Is there anyway to go about making sure i have everything in folder so that way it will work. For example backing up the portion of the registry that I need to have for the game. Thanks

Hi

The games and the applications etc are packed in the self extracting installation packages. When extracted they are registered in the windows registry. This helps them interact and function with certain windows components like DirectX. There is a possibility that a game or an applicatoin might work when it is copied from one computer to other but it can also be that it give an error.

There are programs like the Package and Deployment wizard that comes with Microsoft Visual Basic to create "setup.exe" (Most common name for any setup) for the applicaton created by a user.

I would recomend that u burn the setups of the games on the dvd-r and use them to install games on computer. If any game requires a cd to be present you can always use the Virtual CD to create a virtual drive and create a image of the cd and use it to play. By burning the setups it will not pose any sort of problem.

Also if u need to manually select the registry keys u firstly make a backup of that. That way if u screw anything up u can later fix it. While copying registry enteries make sure to search not only for the name of the game but also for the name of the developer as many key values have their name. Also there are some system components needed with the game so u need to copy them too as they might be updated by the installation. Well if u copy all the keys to the other computer it might work but i doubt that you will be able to find all the registry keys.

Your best bet is to get the setups of the games and burn them.