GAME DELETED ITSELF

[joeheaventerry]

So I've been playing the new Monster Hunter World game since it came out... I've come back to play it tonight and its asking me to install the full game again? I've heard that its a simple fix that all you need to do is press install and it will find the old install files and will run as usual.. But I've done that and its began the whole install, the full 16.7gb... I went into the steam folder where my games are kept and all the files have been deleted... Nothing in there.. I have a shell of a folder left.. What and why is this? I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere with the download speed equivalent of a child with no arms playing ring toss... Seriously fuming about this... The game was kept on my Samsung EVO 850 SSD. My other game files are fine....

[The Giving One]

Is this on an external hard drive, where this game seemed to have disappeared from the Steam files ?

[joeheaventerry]

It is kept on my SSD, internal harddrive.. 500gb only 4 other games on there.. Fallout 4, Fallout NV, Rocket League and The Witcher 3... Which all work perfectly..

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by joeheaventerry:

It is kept on my SSD, internal harddrive.. 500gb only 4 other games on there.. Fallout 4, Fallout NV, Rocket League and The Witcher 3... Which all work perfectly..

Sorry, I see now the SSD info you posted above. I did read your whole OP, but somehow made that mistake.

Are there really no files at all in the game's folder ? Is this on Windows 10 ?

You can maybe try restoring a previous version of the folder in Windows, by right clicking the drive or folder where Steam is installed then properties and checking "previous versions". Check the restore points there, and try to get a previous version of relevant folders containing the game's files or the game folder itself.

[joeheaventerry]

There is nothing in the game folder, I have checked the previous version option but it shows nothing I'm afraid.. The only thing I have done recently that directly affected the folder was to copy the rocket league folder to put on my laptop.. I have done this because the internet here is so slow that Monster Hunter took nearly 24 hours to install.. I have tried searching for the .exe in the steam folder, but found nothing related to Monster Hunter...

[The Giving One]

I think you missed my question about this being on Windows 10.

Is your OS Windows 10 32 or Windows 10 64 bit ?

[joeheaventerry]

Ahh sorry, yes I'm on windows 64 bit..

[joeheaventerry]

windows 10 64 bit... Sorry been working all day!

[The Giving One]

Have you searched the PC in Windows for any of the files relevant to that game ? Not just the .exe file but any of the others ?

What is your antivirus program ?

[joeheaventerry]

The only relevant files I have are the Monster Hunter World folder in the steamapps > common folders.. I also have the desktop shortcut Icon... I have Kaspersky installed...

[The Giving One]

In the steamapps folder, there is normally an .acf file for each game you have installed. There should be one for this game still there. The .acf file number is the same as the number at the end of the URL on the Steam store page for that game.

If this file is still there, Steam should be able to see the game as installed. Yes, I did see that you don't want to have to redownload the game all over again, due to internet speed/use there.

So see if you can verify the game files in your Steam library instead.

If the .acf file is also missing, that is very strange.

It would maybe help to see this page, if so.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8379-RYIP-2998

I am really sorry if none of this really helps.

[joeheaventerry]

I have found the appmanifest_582010.acf file.. I believe this is the corresponding file..

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by joeheaventerry:

I have found the appmanifest_582010.acf file.. I believe this is the corresponding file..

Yep, that's it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/582010/MONSTER_HUNTER_WORLD/

So you should be able to try to verify the game files, as Steam should be seeing that game as installed now, due to the presence of that file. What happens when you try that ?

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

[joeheaventerry]

I had a look at this to see if it would work but in Properties > Local files the disk usage says "none" and because of this not one of the 4 options are clickable..

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by joeheaventerry:

I had a look at this to see if it would work but in Properties > Local files the disk usage says "none" and because of this not one of the 4 options are clickable..

So under the properties menu for that game, you clicked the "local files" button and the "verify integrity of game files" was not selectable ? Is that right ?

If so, that is strange. With that .acf file present, Steam should be seeing that game as installed, and try to correct the missing files issue. Have you restarted Steam yet since you posted here ?

You have exceptions for Steam and games in real-time scanning in Kaspersky, right ? I don't see how that would be relevant, and the AV should not ever totally clean out a game's folder, if any files are seen as false positives.

Which folders did you try with my "previous versions" suggestion above ? You can try the drive, the Steam folder, the steamapps folder, the common folder, and maybe the game's folder itself.

Try several restore points also. You have more than one option for trying to restore previous versiosn, to make the attempt that is.

[joeheaventerry]

That is right.. I restarted Steam several times now too.. So I've managed to make the buttons accessible by clicking uninstall game.. and then beginning a re-install of the game.. Yeah Kaspersky should not be affecting or controlling steam in anyway.. I tried out the Monster Hunter World folder, Common, and the steamapps folder. I might try a previous restore point... Probably the best way as this is starting to sound a little suspicious of deeper than it seems.. Hopefully Its not going to end up being a serious issue.. It is very strange that it is only my newest game and the last I played..