Squadrons is installed, but is not recognised as installed in Steam

[Sonic Titan]

So, I encountered this for the first time yesterday - I've had the game installed since launch. I went to play it yesterday, only to see it greyed-out in my library (i.e. not installed); this was confusing, because after checking its install location (both through file exporer and control panel), it certainly was still installed.

Yesterday, if I tried to run the game through either the launcher or game exe files, I'd get an error (no I didn't screencap or write down the exact error, yes I know that I should've); after finding nothing similar on the net, I thought I'd cut my losses and just delete the local files and reinstall through Steam - which I did, this worked and so did the game.

Today, I've returned to play some more, only to find the same thing - game greyed out, clearly still installed, except this time, instead of throwing an error if I try to launch outside of Steam, it asks me to reinstall it. Even though I can SEE the local files, I can't try to verify/repair them, because Steam apparently cannot.

I don't really want to have to delete and reinstall the game everyday I'd like to play it - help, please? Has anyone encountered or heard of this before, even if it's not with Squadrons?

[Umbrella]

Try installing it again through Steam, assuming the files are where they should be Steam will automatically find them and recognize the game without downloading it again. Don't delete the files though.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Sonic Titan:

So, I encountered this for the first time yesterday - I've had the game installed since launch. I went to play it yesterday, only to see it greyed-out in my library (i.e. not installed); this was confusing, because after checking its install location (both through file exporer and control panel), it certainly was still installed.

Yesterday, if I tried to run the game through either the launcher or game exe files, I'd get an error (no I didn't screencap or write down the exact error, yes I know that I should've); after finding nothing similar on the net, I thought I'd cut my losses and just delete the local files and reinstall through Steam - which I did, this worked and so did the game.

Today, I've returned to play some more, only to find the same thing - game greyed out, clearly still installed, except this time, instead of throwing an error if I try to launch outside of Steam, it asks me to reinstall it. Even though I can SEE the local files, I can't try to verify/repair them, because Steam apparently cannot.

I don't really want to have to delete and reinstall the game everyday I'd like to play it - help, please? Has anyone encountered or heard of this before, even if it's not with Squadrons?

'
Maybe an update is missing.

[Sonic Titan]

Originally posted by Umbrella:

Try installing it again through Steam, assuming the files are where they should be Steam will automatically find them and recognize the game without downloading it again. Don't delete the files though.

Thanks Umbrella - I would have tried this earlier, but it meant deleting some other large-ish things to convince Steam I have the space to re-install it... I've since done this anyway, and it appears Apocalypse, you might be correct too - it needed a small update, but now I can launch the game!

I don't really want to have to either keep 30gig of space free or delete the equivalent each time I want to play it, though - does anyone have any idea what would cause Steam or the game to behave this way?

[Umbrella]

Originally posted by Sonic Titan:

Originally posted by Umbrella:

Try installing it again through Steam, assuming the files are where they should be Steam will automatically find them and recognize the game without downloading it again. Don't delete the files though.

Thanks Umbrella - I would have tried this earlier, but it meant deleting some other large-ish things to convince Steam I have the space to re-install it... I've since done this anyway, and it appears Apocalypse, you might be correct too - it needed a small update, but now I can launch the game!

I don't really want to have to either keep 30gig of space free or delete the equivalent each time I want to play it, though - does anyone have any idea what would cause Steam or the game to behave this way?

Having the files in the wrong place, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\Common" is default. Make sure they are there or in a Steam library folder, you can create one through;

Steam > Settings > Downloads and click the Steam Library Folders button. This will open a window with all your current Steam Library folders. Press the "Add Library Folder" button and select the folder with your installed games.

Deleting appmanifest files can also cause it from what I understand, as they keep track of those things.

[Sonic Titan]

Originally posted by Umbrella:

Originally posted by Sonic Titan:

Thanks Umbrella - I would have tried this earlier, but it meant deleting some other large-ish things to convince Steam I have the space to re-install it... I've since done this anyway, and it appears Apocalypse, you might be correct too - it needed a small update, but now I can launch the game!

I don't really want to have to either keep 30gig of space free or delete the equivalent each time I want to play it, though - does anyone have any idea what would cause Steam or the game to behave this way?

Having the files in the wrong place, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\Common" is default. Make sure they are there or in a Steam library folder, you can create one through;

Steam > Settings > Downloads and click the Steam Library Folders button. This will open a window with all your current Steam Library folders. Press the "Add Library Folder" button and select the folder with your installed games.

Deleting appmanifest files can also cause it from what I understand, as they keep track of those things.

Thanks - this makes sense (I guess my question now is why did it start happening now and what would cause the need to perform the above, but given it doesn't appear to be at all common and I can work around it, eh). I completely forgot about the add library function through the Download settings though, thanks.