Native Steam Cache (Game File Transfer)

[Rallaster]

I did a search and didn't see this posted in the forum yet, but I just noticed in the change log for the latest version of the Steam Client that it added Steam Local Network Game Transfers.  I've been testing it out for the last hour or so between my laptop and my desktop and it's saturating the network connection, which is pretty awesome considering my internet connection is single pair DSL and only averages around 15-17Mbps download speeds.  Thought I would share for anyone that hasn't seen this in the Steam Client Change Log.

[NobleGamer]

Thanks for sharing. So when you enable it on one PC, and you request to install a game on your second PC that the first one already has, does it just automatically download from your first PC instead of Steam servers? Just curious how simple it really is.

 

Also, does it transfer everything as compressed (like when downloading from servers), or uncompressed?

[Eigenvektor]

2 minutes ago, NobleGamer said:

Thanks for sharing. So when you enable it on one PC, and you request to install a game on your second PC that the first one already has, does it just automatically download from your first PC instead of Steam servers? Just curious how simple it really is.

 

Also, does it transfer everything as compressed (like when downloading from servers), or uncompressed?

The link answers most of that already

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43

 

See "How it works". As for compression:

Quote

The transferred game content is compressed but not encrypted since all sent data is assumed public knowledge.

[Rallaster]

3 hours ago, NobleGamer said:

Thanks for sharing. So when you enable it on one PC, and you request to install a game on your second PC that the first one already has, does it just automatically download from your first PC instead of Steam servers? Just curious how simple it really is.

 

Also, does it transfer everything as compressed (like when downloading from servers), or uncompressed?

 

Yeah, once it's activated in the settings on both computers, it's really just that easy and it works for game updates as well.  Just download it from the server once and then it's copied across Steam Clients on the same subnet. I copied almost 2TB of games between my computers today that I hadn't installed on multiple computers because I didn't want to screw around with waiting for them to download from my slow internet.   The instructions and other restrictions are in the link I and Eigenvektor posted.