Games randomly being uninstalled from library

[Mr. Fox]

Super inconsistent, but its happening more and more, but occasionally when I open steam some of my games appear as uninstalled, and when I reinstall them it says "discovering existing files" then is just installed again. All my games are installed on a different drive to steam, as steam is on my C: SSD without much space. I've tested the hard drive and it passes a S.M.A.R.T test, so I don't think the hard drive is faulty. I've tried repairing the library in the steam options. This is incredibly annoying when it uninstalls games that ive added mods for as I have to install them all again. Any ideas?

[Phantom]

See what they said about external Hard-drives...

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

[The Giving One]

Steam does not uninstall your games unless you tell it too. You have an issue there that is causing this, and I suspect that the good Robin3sk above is correct, as you are probably using an external hard drive with Steam and/or games.

Or, security software such as antivirus or other is quarantining or blocking the access to certain files or the location of the games and then Steam is having issues launching them and has to "discover" the files and fix the issue each time.

If you have Steam installed on your C drive as you said, and that is an internal drive, then do any of the games you have in the Steam folder on C ever have this problem ? Unless you don't have any games in the Steam folder on C, that is.

Because if you only see the issue with the games on that other drive, I bet that is your problem.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by Robin3sk:

See what they said about external Hard-drives...

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

:yinyangflip:

In my eyes an external hard drive is one you plug into the back of your PC through a USB connection and yes this can cause issues since it wont have the same transfer speeds and can disconnect very easily if the USB controller decides to play up. I'm simply using a different drive connected through SATA which I've used for going on 4 years now with no issue, so I see no reason why the issues should just start now. :(

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Steam does not uninstall your games unless you tell it too. You have an issue there that is causing this, and I suspect that the good Robin3sk above is correct, as you are probably using an external hard drive with Steam and/or games.

Or, security software such as antivirus or other is quarantining or blocking the access to certain files or the location of the games and then Steam is having issues launching them and has to "discover" the files and fix the issue each time.

If you have Steam installed on your C drive as you said, and that is an internal drive, then do any of the games you have in the Steam folder on C ever have this problem ? Unless you don't have any games in the Steam folder on C, that is.

Because if you only see the issue with the games on that other drive, I bet that is your problem.

I don't use any specific anti-virus program since I've too many issues with them messing up programs like this in the past, I jsut have windows defender, so that shouldnt be an issue. I have 3 games on my C drive I think, and 600 or so on my D drive that this issue is happening on, and yesterday one of the games on my C drive did the same thing, Arma 3, which when I reinstalled, decided I needed to download all 28gb of workshop files I'd had previously again, so Im nearly positive it isnt an issue with my drives.

The only other thing I can think of, is I enabled the steam beta in the options a few months back, but I tried reverting that a few weeks ago and the issues are still happening.

Thanks for your replies though :)

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I don't use any specific anti-virus program since I've too many issues with them messing up programs like this in the past, I jsut have windows defender, so that shouldnt be an issue.)

Some antivirus programs are bad or have poor settings for you to allow exceptions, but some are ok to use with Steam and games, as long as you make those exceptions in the real-time scanning of that antivirus. But yes, Windows Defender should be fine and not cause issues with Steam and games.

There are other programs that can mess with Steam and games, though. CCleaner is one example. It has a monitoring mode that messes with Steam and games and that has to be disabled, or the program itself disabled or uninstalled to prevent this issue.

Just one example.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

One thing you need to do is check the files. Are the game files actually missing or are they there and Steam only sees the game as uninstalled ? There is a difference.

For example, in the Steam/steamapps common folder, there are all your game folders. Or on D, it's steamapps/common. But in the steamapps folder, there are .acf files for all these games.

The .acf files are the files that tell Steam that game is actually installed. So you can still have the files in the game folders and they are intact, but for some reason, the .acf files are missing or not seen by Steam.

So check the game folders for the games that give you this problem and see if the files are still there. That might be a good thing to know, so you/we can narrow down where the problem maybe is.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I don't use any specific anti-virus program since I've too many issues with them messing up programs like this in the past, I jsut have windows defender, so that shouldnt be an issue.)

Some antivirus programs are bad or have poor settings for you to allow exceptions, but some are ok to use with Steam and games, as long as you make those exceptions in the real-time scanning of that antivirus. But yes, Windows Defender should be fine and not cause issues with Steam and games.

That's interesting to know, thank you. :)

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I don't use any specific anti-virus program since I've too many issues with them messing up programs like this in the past, I jsut have windows defender, so that shouldnt be an issue.)

There are other programs that can mess with Steam and games, though. CCleaner is one example. It has a monitoring mode that messes with Steam and games and that has to be disabled, or the program itself disabled or uninstalled to prevent this issue.

Just one example.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

I've looked through that list, and I think the only program I use that fits that list is Hamachi, but I've had Hamachi for longer than I've had steam so I doubt that is now causing issues :/

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I don't use any specific anti-virus program since I've too many issues with them messing up programs like this in the past, I jsut have windows defender, so that shouldnt be an issue.)

One thing you need to do is check the files. Are the game files actually missing or are they there and Steam only sees the game as uninstalled ? There is a difference.

For example, in the Steam/steamapps common folder, there are all your game folders. Or on D, it's steamapps/common. But in the steamapps folder, there are .acf files for all these games.

The .acf files are the files that tell Steam that game is actually installed. So you can still have the files in the game folders and they are intact, but for some reason, the .acf files are missing or not seen by Steam.

So check the game folders for the games that give you this problem and see if the files are still there. That might be a good thing to know, so you/we can narrow down where the problem maybe is.

Ok so I ran a quick test on Delver, one of the games appearing as uninstalled to me in my library, all the files seem to be there in steamapps/common and there is a .acf called "appmanifest_249630" which is the ID for Delver, so I guess that is the .acf file. When I reinstall it, the size of the install file stays indentical, and the size of the .acf file stay the same as well, the only thing I can see that it changes is the "Date modified" column in windows explorer. So I would assume it is the latter of your two options, steam is jsut seeing the games as uninstalled for some reason, as all the required files seem to be downloaded and present.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I've looked through that list, and I think the only program I use that fits that list is Hamachi, but I've had Hamachi for longer than I've had steam so I doubt that is now causing issues :/

Before the support page was updated, Hamachi was once listed there. It might not be a conflict anymore as that list was old, but just so you know about the possibility.

It can sometimes not make any difference if you never had any issues with a program before now. A new update to the OS, a game, or maybe that program itself can cause a new conflict, possibly.


https://web.archive.org/web/20160602193816/https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

(It's a web archive, so the page may take a while to load)

Something is causing the games to appear uninstalled to Steam. If the game files are intact, and you have the applicable .acf file for that game, as you said you do, then Steam should see the game as installed, and there should not be a problem. You might have to wait until the issue happens again, to see if the files are there and the .acf file is still present.

As long as there is an .acf file for a game in the steamapps folder, your library should show a "play" button for that game, instead of an "install" button. However if the game files are missing, and the .acf file is there still, then Steam will see this when you log in, and try to update (redownload) that game again, noticing that the files are missing.

Unless you have updates disabled for that game, of course.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I've looked through that list, and I think the only program I use that fits that list is Hamachi, but I've had Hamachi for longer than I've had steam so I doubt that is now causing issues :/

Before the support page was updated, Hamachi was once listed there. It might not be a conflict anymore as that list was old, but just so you know about the possibility.

It can sometimes not make any difference if you never had any issues with a program before now. A new update to the OS, a game, or maybe that program itself can cause a new conflict, possibly.


https://web.archive.org/web/20160602193816/https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

(It's a web archive, so the page may take a while to load)

Something is causing the games to appear uninstalled to Steam. If the game files are intact, and you have the applicable .acf file for that game, as you said you do, then Steam should see the game as installed, and there should not be a problem. You might have to wait until the issue happens again, to see if the files are there and the .acf file is still present.

As long as there is an .acf file for a game in the steamapps folder, your library should show a "play" button for that game, instead of an "install" button. However if the game files are missing, and the .acf file is there still, then Steam will see this when you log in, and try to update (redownload) that game again, noticing that the files are missing.

Unless you have updates disabled for that game, of course.

I'll try uninstalling hamachi tomorrow to see if that changes anything, then I'll come back to you if it happens again with any more information I have :) I don't have updates disabled on any of my games. if I can provide anything in the mean time that would help, I am more than willing to do so.

Thanks for all your help so far!

[The Giving One]

Thanks for the kind words and for the willingness to provide other information.

Also, from the support page below, if Steam is ever forced to close for any reason, it can possibly cause corrupted data, as in the library files which would make sense in this type of issue.

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

To ensure that you do not encounter this issue, always allow Steam to close properly when shutting down your computer. Allowing Windows to force Steam to close when it is writing to a hard drive may cause Steam library and installation information to become corrupted.

You can see there also why we were asking about an external hard drive with this problem, but you said that does not apply in your case (EDIT..unless that SATA drive above that you were talking about is external). The most common thing we usually see here that this leaves is Steam being forced closed, as explained there.

If you want to look at other software that might be an issue with this error, as that programs support page is linked at the bottom of the "appearing as uninstalled" page, I will request the following, if you wish to take the time to provide it. Take your time and gather the info all together and then post it here, if you wish.

1. Take screenshots of all of the programs you have installed on your computer. Control panel then programs/programs and features. (Windows 7,8,8.1) or "apps" (Windows 10 click "Start" (Windows icon on bottom left))

2. Click Windows Start and type in msconfig and run that resulting process. Go to the services tab and check the box on bottom "Hide all Microsoft services". Take screenshots of all that is left.

3. Then go to the startup tab on top of that same window (Task Manager in W10). Take screenshots of all that there also. Don't forget to scroll down if needed and get everything in the shots, please.

Post all the links to the above screenshots here, using a file hosting site such as imgur.com, which is free to use.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Thanks for the kind words and for the willingness to provide other information.

Also, from the support page below, if Steam is ever forced to close for any reason, it can possibly cause corrupted data, as in the library files which would make sense in this type of issue.

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

To ensure that you do not encounter this issue, always allow Steam to close properly when shutting down your computer. Allowing Windows to force Steam to close when it is writing to a hard drive may cause Steam library and installation information to become corrupted.

You can see there also why we were asking about an external hard drive with this problem, but you said that does not apply in your case (EDIT..unless that SATA drive above that you were talking about is external). The most common thing we usually see here that this leaves is Steam being forced closed, as explained there.

If you want to look at other software that might be an issue with this error, as that programs support page is linked at the bottom of the "appearing as uninstalled" page, I will request the following, if you wish to take the time to provide it. Take your time and gather the info all together and then post it here, if you wish.

1. Take screenshots of all of the programs you have installed on your computer. Control panel then programs/programs and features. (Windows 7,8,8.1) or "apps" (Windows 10 click "Start" (Windows icon on bottom left))

2. Click Windows Start and type in msconfig and run that resulting process. Go to the services tab and check the box on bottom "Hide all Microsoft services". Take screenshots of all that is left.

3. Then go to the startup tab on top of that same window (Task Manager in W10). Take screenshots of all that there also. Don't forget to scroll down if needed and get everything in the shots, please.

Post all the links to the above screenshots here, using a file hosting site such as imgur.com, which is free to use.

I'll try and make sure Steam doesn't get force closed. I have never exited steam before turning off my PC, but I've always made sure that all the downloads were finished, would that be ok?

All the programs on my PC:

https://imgur.com/EQzTIio
https://imgur.com/6Iiy9A2
https://imgur.com/UeBVuSZ
https://imgur.com/KAGPT1K
https://imgur.com/6NxXikN


All non-Microsoft services:

https://imgur.com/QCmVxit
https://imgur.com/Ivbp6SZ


Startup Programs:

https://imgur.com/0OzAOqG

[The Giving One]

It's a long list, but mostly games it seems, and I don't really see anything that should be a problem. Yes, you need to properly log out and close Steam and not allow Windows to do that instead, even if you are not downloading anything at that time.

There might be some background operations going on that you cannot see, and if Steam is forced closed at that time, it could cause library data corruption, as per the support page.

So from what has been discussed here so far, that seems to maybe be your issue. As well as the fact that you said you have had this issue for a while.

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I have never exited steam before turning off my PC, but I've always made sure that all the downloads were finished, would that be ok?

So since you said you never do this, but have continued to have this problem of games appearing as uninstalled, even though the files are still there because you checked, it's a very logical and sound theory as to your problem.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

It's a long list, but mostly games it seems, and I don't really see anything that should be a problem. Yes, you need to properly log out and close Steam and not allow Windows to do that instead, even if you are not downloading anything at that time.

There might be some background operations going on that you cannot see, and if Steam is forced closed at that time, it could cause library data corruption, as per the support page.

So from what has been discussed here so far, that seems to maybe be your issue. As well as the fact that you said you have had this issue for a while.

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

I have never exited steam before turning off my PC, but I've always made sure that all the downloads were finished, would that be ok?

So since you said you never do this, but have continued to have this problem of games appearing as uninstalled, even though the files are still there because you checked, it's a very logical and sound theory as to your problem.

I guess I'll try exiting Steam fully before shutting down my PC for a few weeks and see if the issue persists. :)

I'll keep you posted, thanks for your help again!

[The Giving One]

You are welcome and that is a great idea. In the meantime, just to be sure there is no issue on the computer still causing this, have you made sure all device drivers are fully up to date on the computer ?

It looks like Windows 10 from the shots. Go ahead and please post your full OS, as in what Windows you have as well as if 32 or 64 bit.

Post the exact model number and model of the computer, or if custom built, the exact motherboard instead. Identify the exact computer you have, and we can look at driver possibilities.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

You are welcome and that is a great idea. In the meantime, just to be sure there is no issue on the computer still causing this, have you made sure all device drivers are fully up to date on the computer ?

It looks like Windows 10 from the shots. Go ahead and please post your full OS, as in what Windows you have as well as if 32 or 64 bit.

Post the exact model number and model of the computer, or if custom built, the exact motherboard instead. Identify the exact computer you have, and we can look at driver possibilities.

Geforce drivers are fully up to date, as well as windows updates. I built my PC, it's specs are:

CPU: i5-4690k @ 4.4GHz
RAM: 16GB Corsair LPX DDR3 1600MHz
MOBO: Asus Z97-K
GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 HYBRID @ 2177/5603
PSU: Thermaltake Smart SE 630W
SSD: SanDisk 240GB
OS: Windows 10 Home 64 bit

[The Giving One]

Windows 10 should take care of driver updates on it's own, which I personally dislike, but making sure they are all up to date is important. I was more referring to these than display drivers :

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97KCSM/HelpDesk_Download/

If that is the correct board, that is. All looks well though, as it's supported to run Windows 10 64 bit fine, of course. Just wanted to be sure. I have seen a rare case where a driver update, manually installed, fixed an issue here that a user was having. So make sure they are all up to date.

But I still think your issue is Steam not shutting down properly, myself. I could be wrong, but so far, it seems like the most likely possibility.

Are you overclocking the CPU ?

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

CPU: i5-4690k @ 4.4GHz

That CPU does not even trubo to that speed, is why I am asking.

https://ark.intel.com/products/80811/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

Funny thing is, another user here the other day had the same issue, where his game was appearing as uninstalled and he was overclocking the same exact CPU. I can link that thread if you wish, too. But I doubt that is your problem here.

But just in case, you need to be aware, if you are not, that an unstable overclock may cause all kinds of issues. So keep this in mind, if you are overclocking it, please. If you keep getting the problem, I would suggest removing the overclock, and testing it again.

[Mr. Fox]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Windows 10 should take care of driver updates on it's own, which I personally dislike, but making sure they are all up to date is important. I was more referring to these than display drivers :

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97KCSM/HelpDesk_Download/

If that is the correct board, that is. All looks well though, as it's supported to run Windows 10 64 bit fine, of course. Just wanted to be sure. I have seen a rare case where a driver update, manually installed, fixed an issue here that a user was having. So make sure they are all up to date.

But I still think your issue is Steam not shutting down properly, myself. I could be wrong, but so far, it seems like the most likely possibility.

Are you overclocking the CPU ?

Originally posted by Mr. Fox:

CPU: i5-4690k @ 4.4GHz

That CPU does not even trubo to that speed, is why I am asking.

https://ark.intel.com/products/80811/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

Funny thing is, another user here the other day had the same issue, where his game was appearing as uninstalled and he was overclocking the same exact CPU. I can link that thread if you wish, too. But I doubt that is your problem here.

But just in case, you need to be aware, if you are not, that an unstable overclock may cause all kinds of issues. So keep this in mind, if you are overclocking it, please. If you keep getting the problem, I would suggest removing the overclock, and testing it again.

Yes it is overclocked, but I'd never realised it could mess with things like that. Very intriguing. If shutting down steam properly for a few weeks doesn't fix the issues I'll try removing all the overclocks, but it does seem unlikely, you're correct.