Trying to get Steam to recognise game files copied from old PC to avoid re-downloading the whole game.

[everway9]

Hi there everybody. :)

Please would you help me out?

What I am trying to do is get GTA V working on a new computer without having to re-download all 67'ish Gigabytes of data as I have a very slow broadband connection.



I had assumed that the following instructions for Borderlands 2 would be the same for GTA V. Maybe they aren't. :(

To copy Steam game files from another computer to save you having to download the full game, simply do the following;

Cancel the download on your machine and delete local files for the game
Close Steam on your computer
Copy the whole folder Borderlands 2 from your brother's PC into Steam\SteamApps\common
Delete the .exe since every user has it's own .exe if Steam DRM is used (what BL2 in fact does)
Tell Steam to download Borderlands 2 and it will discover the existing files
Verify files to get your own .exe and make sure nothing is corrupted.



I have installed Steam on my new PC and started the GTA V install. I paused the download, exited Steam and deleted the local GTA V folder from the Steam Apps\Common folder. I then copied the Grand Theft Auto V folder from the Steam Apps\Common folder on my old PC into the Steam Apps\Common folder on my new PC. I then opened Steam and went to the properties of GTA V and clicked on 'Verify integrity of game files'. I believe it should then display something like 'Discovering existing files'. However it doesn't. It displays 'Validating Steam files' and immediately goes to 100% and says 'All files successfully validated'. I restarted Steam again and it still wants to download the whole game again. :(

So it appears that Steam is not recognizing the GTA V files I copied across from my old PC.

If anyone can help me to get Steam to recognize the files so it doesn't have to download the whole game again on my 2.4Mb connection I would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks in advance.

Andrew :)

[everway9]

It's OK. I figured it out. :)

When copying the data from the old PC I forgot to copy the .acf file for GTA V.

It's verified the files now except it said 23 files needed to be replaced. Only 8.2GB to download though so it's not so bad. Still though... it's going to take about 9 hours at my speed. :D

I hope this is helpful to others who may have the same problem in the future. :)

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by everway9:

It's OK. I figured it out. :)

When copying the data from the old PC I forgot to copy the .acf file for GTA V.

This...

I was just about to reply, and saw your first post here after the title was read by me. Yes, you must have the .acf files for the game(s) or Steam cannot "see" them as installed. It is recommended usually to copy the entire steamapps folder, therfore.

Because the steamapps folder has all the .acf files in it also. The .acf file number matches the game's Store page URL number in the Steam store. That is how you can tell what .acf file goes for what game.

Hope that helps. Good luck to you.

[everway9]

Hi The Giving One. :)

Thanks for the added info. :)

[SHiИOBi]

So I have all my gta v files but I don't have the afc file so I was wondering where I can get it

[Cathulhu]

You don't as it is personalized.

[SHiИOBi]

so I'm basically screwed...... thanks anyways

[TGP1994]

To anyone who's found this topic later, there's an answer if you do have the game files from the Common folder, but no ACF file.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/a/97368

1. Ensure that Steam thinks the game is not installed. Close Steam just to be sure.
   
2. Copy the game files to SteamApps\common\<game_name>, where <game_name> is to be found out via googling/equivalent. In my specific instance, this was Batman Arkham City GOTY.
   
3. Launch Steam and install the game. The installation will go through a "Discovering existing files for _" stage.
   
4. Watch and wait as it downloads only the missing parts.

For the version of Steam I'm using, it just says Validating in the Downloads screen. In addition, Steam doesn't have to be closed. Just make sure it thinks the game is uninstalled, copy the game files to where Steam would eventually put them, then begin installing the game in Steam. Helps save time and bandwidth!