Steam Game Keeps Trying To Re Download Game
Steam is installed on my SSD which is where Win7 OS is installed, i only have 2 games on the SSD.
I have a secondary storage HDD that i created a SteamLibrary in, however, everytime i restart steam it doesn't discover the games installed on the HDD and i have to manually go to settings and re-add the SteamLibrary and then it discovers everything. Now when i try and place these new games i copied from my friend (i do own these games as well) into the E:SteamLibrarycommon i press install and it states the familiar 'Discovering existing files...' the loading bar reaches the end and it displays 'Steam is now downloading [insert game name here]' and it begins to completely re-download the entire game. If you check the folder of the game in E:SteamLibrarycommon it says the folder is only several mb large. When you check the download folder however the folder will be pretty much the same size as when i copied it over and is the same size that steam is supposedly downloading.
Any ideas what is going on ?
I've raised this question on the steam forums before and through their tech. Game files are sporadically deleted by steam and re-downloaded. Try using this command to see if there are any physical errors on the drive. (Steam) Hi, I have a freshly formatted Vista Home Premium x64 and can play other games fine. But when I go to play a game on Steam the game instantly 'stops working' before it even kicks in.
Yesterday I purchased GTA V for the PC via Steam and downloaded it onto my laptop at work. When I got home to transfer the 65 GB worth of files to my main computer, I cleared up 65 GB of space on my SSD and have just enough room to fit those downloaded files onto a Steam folder that I created. However, Steam won't recognize the game as installed. I tried to click the 'Install' button for the game where it's currently pointed to the folder where I've copied all of this data, but after exiting Steam and opening it again, it's saying that there isn't enough room to install the game. I spent several hours looking up ways to solve this, but I haven't been able to so far.
Also, Is 65 GB enough space for this game, or will I need to clear up more room for it?
Edit: After following Ross's guide below, everything worked fine with the backup process!
3 Answers
You'll need 130 GB of space, maybe a bit more, to copy the files in the manner you describe. Steam first checks to see if you have enough free space to install the game, then it checks to see what files have already been copied to the machine. So you'll need 65 GB of space to store the copied files and additional 65GB of free space just so Steam won't refuse to 'download' and install the game.
Probably the easiest way to work around this problem to use Steam's own backup and restore functionality to copy the game between computers. You'll need 65GB of free space on your home computer, and 65GB of space somewhere else. If you happen have a big enough portable USB drive, either a portable hard drive or USB key, than that would be ideal. Otherwise you can use a folder on your main computer and share it over the network. To perform the backup right-click on the game in your library and select 'Backup Game Files...'. To do the restore select 'Backup and Restore Games...' from the 'Steam' menu at the top left of client. Make sure to delete the Grand Theft Auto V files you've already copied to the home computer first.
Steam Game Keeps Trying To Re Download Game Pc
(I've more detail of the backup and restore process in another answer.)
If you have 130 GB of space free on different hard drive on your home computer you can also create a secondary Steam library folder there, copy the GTA V files to secondary library and then 'install' the game to that folder.
Steam Game Keeps Trying To Re Download Game Windows 10
You can do what Ross said, or if you have the WHOLE library folder with you, you can shut down steam and copy it over the on your current steam library. When you open steam, it should be there. (ps. You will need the GTA V folder ('SteamLibrarysteamappscommonGrand Theft Auto V') and the appmanifest_271590.acf file (SteamLibrarysteamappsappmanifest_271590.acf), if you don't have both, steam won't recognise it.)
Note: This is a bit harder than the other solution but this doesn't require 2x size.
Note 2: I did this several times and it works.
I found another way, which is to to copy the game directory on 'Steamapps' » 'Common'. Just start installing the game and then pause (doesn't matter when) which will make Steam create a file named 'appmanifest_1234.acf' (number part will differ depending on the game) under the 'Steamapps' directory.
Open that file with a text editor and you will see there the game's name. Under that there's a line name 'StateFlags' '1026'. Change that number to '4', and voila! There you go, you complete the installation - simple as that.
Sample screenshot:
protected by Community♦Mar 3 '18 at 20:15
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