Transferring Steam Games without using Steam's Backup/Restore tool.

[PlayingDvck]

Credits to this Article: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-move-a-pc-game-to-another-hard-drive-without-re-1714706774

 

I just want to know if this method of transferring Steam Games from one PC to another still works. Or if there's any lacking steps. I've been using the Steam's Backup/Restore process which takes a lot of time/patience. *also encountered an error "Please insert disk 1" on a backup that took me 4 hours waiting.

Need your suggestions, Thank you so much for checking this out.

 

The Article say's (Method 2); "If you’d prefer not to download extra software, you don’t have to—both Steam and Origin have ways to “detect” installed games after you’ve moved them. You just have to perform the right steps in the right order. If you’re using Steam:

1. Create a folder in the new location where you’ll store your games. If you’re on Steam, you’ll need to do it through Steam. Head to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders and click “Add Library Folder”.
2. Navigate to your new Steam library folder and create a new folder within it called steamapps. Then, create a folder in steamapps called common.
3. Head to your current Steam folder and find the folder for the game you want to move. You’ll likely find it in steamapps/common. Copy the game’s folder, e.g. “Borderlands 2”, to the new steamapps/common folder you created in step 2.
4. Open Steam, right-click on the game you’re moving, and select “Delete Local Content”. This will uninstall the game from its original location.
5. When that’s done, click the Install button to re-install the game. In the “Choose location” dropdown, choose the Steam folder on your new hard drive.
6. Instead of re-downloading the game (which could take hours), Steam will detect the existing files there and make any necessary minor changes. When it’s done, you should be able to play the game as usual."

 

 

[MedievalMatt]

4 minutes ago, PlayingDvck said:

Credits to this Article: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-move-a-pc-game-to-another-hard-drive-without-re-1714706774

 

I just want to know if this method of transferring Steam Games from one PC to another still works. Or if there's any lacking steps. I've been using the Steam's Backup/Restore process which takes a lot of time/patience. *also encountered an error "Please insert disk 1" on a backup that took me 4 hours waiting.

Need your suggestions, Thank you so much for checking this out.

 

The Article say's (Method 2); "If you’d prefer not to download extra software, you don’t have to—both Steam and Origin have ways to “detect” installed games after you’ve moved them. You just have to perform the right steps in the right order. If you’re using Steam:

1. Create a folder in the new location where you’ll store your games. If you’re on Steam, you’ll need to do it through Steam. Head to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders and click “Add Library Folder”.
2. Navigate to your new Steam library folder and create a new folder within it called steamapps. Then, create a folder in steamapps called common.
3. Head to your current Steam folder and find the folder for the game you want to move. You’ll likely find it in steamapps/common. Copy the game’s folder, e.g. “Borderlands 2”, to the new steamapps/common folder you created in step 2.
4. Open Steam, right-click on the game you’re moving, and select “Delete Local Content”. This will uninstall the game from its original location.
5. When that’s done, click the Install button to re-install the game. In the “Choose location” dropdown, choose the Steam folder on your new hard drive.
6. Instead of re-downloading the game (which could take hours), Steam will detect the existing files there and make any necessary minor changes. When it’s done, you should be able to play the game as usual."

 

 

if you are just transferring the game's installation files.  you can just copy/paste the folder.  and then point the steam library there.  When you run the game it will need to "verify" the game files, which does take some times depending on the speed of your drive.  But thats the way ive always done it.

 

(I use a NAS as primary storage for my steam library and copy game files to my Rig as needed for LAN parties, etc.)

[Crunchy Dragon]

That sounds like it would work, although Steam will sync game data using the cloud throughout all your machines.

 

For example, I could have one save in They Are Billions open on my laptop and play that when I go out places. When I come back home, I can sit down at my desktop and fire up the same save exactly as it was when I last left it on my laptop.

[Mira Yurizaki]

The article is correct, but there's a way you can skip everything past 2 if you want things to go faster

1. Copy and paste the game's folder in the original steamapps/common directory to the new one.
2. Go to the game's page in the Steam store and note the URL. There should be a number at the end. For example, Skyrim's URL is store.steampowered.com/app/489830/. So if you're moving Skyrim, note the 489830
3. Go to the original steamapps directory. Find the appmanifest file that has the same number as the game's page URL. So for Skyrim, this should be something like appmanfiest489830.manifest
4. Copy that appmanifest file to the new steamapps directory
5. Restart Steam if you had it running.
6. The game should still be there and installed, as if nothing happened.

To re-iterate:

• The game lives in the steamapps/common folder
• The appmanifest file lives in the steamapps folder

[Mira Yurizaki]

I should add something to my post in my time of doing what I suggested:

• If you've archived the game, depending on what happened between now and then, Steam may just say "screw it" and redownload the game. Or at least, it'll appear to do that. I noticed this with my archived copy of DOOM, which was archived before the Denuvo removal update.
• Steam will still run the first-time setup if you're transferring the game to a new PC. It may still do it on the same PC as it figures "wait, the game is not where it was, obviously it was reinstalled"

[PlayingDvck]

Great! I was able to copy installed steam games from another PC to my PC. This method is way more faster than using Steam's Backup and Restore. Thank you so much!.

[Dyords]

Just did this recently and its just simple:

Step 1: Locate the steam game files named "Steam library" by heading to Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.
Step 2: Download the desired game initially - for a few minutes to let steam create a game folder of that specific game inside the library.

Step 3: Cancel (NOT PAUSE) the download then go back to steam library folders and clear all folder content of that specific game.
Step 4: Copy the backed up game contents (OLD) inside/within the recently cleaned folder (NEW).
Step 5: After copying, redownload the game and make sure the file path is the same as the file path of the "Steam Library Folders" Steam will automatically check if there is an existing file and then it will auto-download missing files and updates.

Easy and fast working 100%

[Mark Kaine]

idk why so complicated, you make a new game directory in steam, you *move* the game to the new destination,  you click on "install" in steam, it should find it in the new directory.  3 simple steps, no copying app data etc required.