Steam is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and does not recognize installed game

[Karlovsky120]

So, after Middle Earth: SoW crashed yet again after a few hours of running, steam decided the game was no longer installed.

So, in order to detect it, I need to reinstall it so that steam recognizes the files.

However, I do not defecate (♥♥♥♥ you filter) SSDs and my 256GB SSD does not have room to install the game twice. And you have to have room in order for Steam to even attempt to detect the game.

Other than moving the game out on a HDD, starting the download and then moving it back (and I'm not sure it would work) is there another method that won't take two hours of my time, or is the QA at Valve so incompetent that they managed to miss this obvious flaw in the day and age where games take up huge percentages of storage drives?

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

So, after Middle Earth: SoW crash yet again after a few hours of running, steam decided the game was no longer installed.

So, in order to detect it, I need to reinstall it so that steam recognizes the files.

Because something is wrong on your PC causing crashes, and the game to appear as uninstalled.

What is your antivirus program ?

[Perfect Cell]

Try verifying the game files. Maybe that helps. I hear about all those steam problems and I get afraid. If it really unistalled it without freeing gbs then thats a big problem.

[The Giving One]

Are you using an external hard drive for any games ? That can cause issues, too, in some cases.

Installed games are appearing as uninstalled

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

[Karlovsky120]

I cannot verify the game files if Steam thinks it's not installed. It's beyond stupid. I don't run it off of external drive. I have more games in the same library that are being detected just fine. I use ESET NOD32, but no files were touched by it.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

I cannot verify the game files if Steam thinks it's not installed. It's beyond stupid. I don't run it off of external drive. I have more games in the same library that are being detected just fine. I use ESET NOD32, but no files were touched by it.

Oh yea. ESET NOD32 is one of the worst ones to use with Steam. Are you sure you have that totally ignoring your games ?

Run msconfig and then go to services and startup and actually see what processes that are children of NOD32 that may be running in the background, even if you have exceptions for games in ESET.

[Karlovsky120]

It's not ESET.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

It's not ESET.

Do you have ESET fully ignoring your Steam games in real time ? It's not Steam, either, or these forums would be getting hammered all the time with the same issue. Forcing Steam to close can also cause corrupted data. The issue is on your end, and you also mentioned game crashes.

What are your computer's specs and operating system ?

ESET NOD32

NOD32 incorrectly identifies some third party game files as malicious and will quarantine the files during the download process. This often results in the message "This game is currently unavailable" when trying to launch the game.

Add your game folder to . The default folder location for third party games is C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common. Follow the link for further instructions: How do I exclude certain files or folders from real-time scanning?
Once your folder has been added, you need to verify your GCF cache files in order for the files to re-download. Please see the Verifying GCF Cache Files article for instructions.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4361-MVDP-3638

EDIT..............................................................

Did you read the support page I linked above ?

At the bottom of that page of helpful information, there is a link to this page also in blue :

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

Did you also read that ?

It seems from your OP that you have had this issue before, so something is causing this on your PC.

[Karlovsky120]

I'm sorry if you have dyslexia, let me write it again: It is not ESET.
Both the game and steam crashed at the same time (were forcefully closed is a better term). Specs of my system are completely irrelevant. The problem here is that Valve is incompetent to write a proper piece of software. How do I force Steam to reevaluate it's life choices and really, really scans the library folders to find the games that might already bee there?

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

I'm sorry if you have dyslexia, let me write it again: It is not ESET.

It's not my reading that is the issue, but you just refuse to answer questions and post information asked of you.

You can keep blaming Valve and Steam all you want to, but the issue is on your end, sorry.

Last time, please :

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Do you have ESET fully ignoring your Steam games in real time ?

Originally posted by The Giving One:

What are your computer's specs and operating system ?

I also added an edit with another support page to check out to try to help you.

[Karlovsky120]

IT IS NOT ESET.

That means that the answer to the question "Do you have ESET fully ignoring your Steam games in real time ?" Is yes, yes it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is.

I have i5 4960K@4.6Ghz, 16GB of DDR3 and GTX 1080Ti. It makes no difference what so ever. Steam files were somehow damaged, causing it to act more stupid than usual. All I care about is how to fix it without wasting 2 hours on it or redownloading a 150GB game.

[Silicon Vampire]

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4361-MVDP-3638&l=

ESET can definitely be causing your issues. I suggest you start listening to the advice YOU asked for...

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

IT IS NOT ESET.

That means that the answer to the question "Do you have ESET fully ignoring your Steam games in real time ?" Is yes, yes it [REMOVED] is.

Then a simple answer of yes is all that was required.

You did not post the operating system.

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

Steam files were somehow damaged, causing it to act more stupid than usual.

It would seem this is the case, and a software conflict is often the cause. There can be other programs that can cause issues with Steam.

I linked the relevant page for you above. But it make take deeper digging to find the conflict, if it is software related.

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

All I care about is how to fix it without wasting 2 hours on it or redownloading a 150GB game.

That is what we are trying to do. To prevent this from happening again. Fixing it now, may not fix this permanently, and prevent it from happening again.

If the game files are missing from the game folder, you can right click the parent folders and then properties, and try the "previous versions" tab on top, and then try to get a previous version of the folder from a Windows Restore Point.

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.

[Karlovsky120]

The issue is fixed, I moved the game to another steam library and then installed it there, luckily I had enough free space to cram two full games on it. I'll delete the original files and move it back to the SSD. This was never about fixing the issue that caused this. It doesn't matter, files got corrupted, it happens. The issue was how to force steam to see what is in front of it's nose and detect the stupid game that is there without me having to juggle it over different drives. To force it to flush all the info it has and rebuild it's database by actually checking what is there. If it were able to do that, events like this would be a minor inconvenience, not a giant pain in the rear.

Also, I have Win10, I forgot. Effort needed to show you all my programs exceeds the amount of work I planned to invest in resolving this. It wasn't some program or service, it was the game. It froze, I had to crash the system, it messed up steam in some way that, if it was worth anything, should be easily fixable. I'll probably have to lower the clock on the CPU because the game doesn't like it, or so the internet thinks. This will probably fix the root problem of this, which you're trying to solve, for which I requested no assistance. What I want is a quick way to fix the aftermath. I appreciate your help, but you're mostly wasting your time trying to fix a problem that does not need fixing.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Karlovsky120:

This was never about fixing the issue that caused this. It doesn't matter, files got corrupted, it happens.

If files are getting corrupted or missing, then there is an underlying cause. And yes, an overclock on your CPU could be causing the game itself to crash, but if Steam itself was also crashing, then something else was/is still going on there.

But thanks for the kind words and for the reply to the thread telling us what you did. Feel free to check out the support pages that were linked previously, if you wish, for further information.

[Karlovsky120]

Windows crashed steam when I forced it to reboot because the game froze complete system. Ironically, reboot sequence kill the game and I was able to interrupt it before it turned of the PC, bit probably not before it killed steam.

I wish Valve would fix this, it is really easy to fix. But it's a huge pain to deal with.