Can I Copy The App Manifest File?

[ThunderStruck597]

Something's really been bothering me. I recently went into Steam Apps and inside the document I saw the app manifest file and I decided to look up what it's for. It eventually struck be that if anything were to happen to it, a lot could go bad.
So this leads me to this question... Am I able to copy the file without it causing any problems?

Also, if i can... Am i able to rename it to [FILE NAME---Backup]?


Replies would be much appreciated, Thanks!

[The Giving One]

If anything happens to that file, such as it is no longer in the steamapps folder where it normally should be, then the game that file is for simply appears as uninstalled, which can be easily fixed :

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

Can you copy the file ? Yes, sure you can, as a backup for whatever reason, although you really do not need to.

What you do not want to do, is have that file in two different locations, as then Steam will get confused as to where the game is installed that that file belongs to.

[ThunderStruck597]

OK thank you so much. also, when you say 'You don't want it in 2 different locations'. do you mean don't have it out side of steam apps?

[Zekiran]

Keep a backup renamed, with a date stamp of some kind, so it won't try looking for it other than where it's supposed to be.

Basically it's not going to *destroy* everything, but it will make steam as Giving One suggests: confused.

[76561199085082289]

lol

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by ThunderStruck597:

OK thank you so much. also, when you say 'You don't want it in 2 different locations'. do you mean don't have it out side of steam apps?

Yes, sorry for the late reply. You can have a copy of the .acf file saves somewhere as long as it will always be in a location where Steam cannot see it.

If Steam ever sees a copy of that file, then the game could be installed to that location also, which can make a huge mess.

So if you just had a folder on a hard drive that was "My ACF Backups for Steam", or whatever, and that folder was all by itself, then that should be fine.

[ThunderStruck597]

Ok, really sorry to be a pain but... so it has to be on a separate drive to the original steam folder or no?

[りﾑ刀ﾉ乇ﾚ]

Yes

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by ThunderStruck597:

Ok, really sorry to be a pain but... so it has to be on a separate drive to the original steam folder or no?

You can keep them on the same drive, as long as you keep them in a folder all to themselves. For example, if you make a second library using the feature to do that, you do not want those .acf files that you backed up getting in that same library folder, as that would make a real mess of things.

Even if you keep then on another drive, the location you keep them in needs to not be accessed by Steam. Feel free to ask any further questions on this.

[ThunderStruck597]

Hey again, Thanks a lot for the patience mate, You're a real help! Anyway, so when you say 'you can have the backup on another drive, but make sure steam can't read the file', how is steam able to read the file if its on a separate drive and how would you stop it from reading it?

Also, in Libraries, is that to do with all the drives in the computer or just the HDD(where my steam apps is installed).

PS. it's a real pleasure for someone to help me because I'm new to PC and don't know much. So thanks a lot mate ;).

[Zekiran]

Just rename it and it can be anywhere you like.

It will only really look for that specific file name, so if you put 'old-' in front of it you should be fine. A rename can always just be changed.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by ThunderStruck597:

Hey again, Thanks a lot for the patience mate, You're a real help! Anyway, so when you say 'you can have the backup on another drive, but make sure steam can't read the file', how is steam able to read the file if its on a separate drive and how would you stop it from reading it?

The good Zekiran touched on some of this, and for some reason, I just now got the notification of this post. Something is wrong with my notifications, apparently.

If you make a second library folder on another drive, then Steam will read from that library and the steamapps folder on that drive.

So there would be no reason you would keep the backups there anyway, but I just stated that to be complete in my reply and specific. Sorry if that caused confusion. If you ad a second library folder using the feature in your library, you only want the .acf files for THOSE games you have on that drive in that steamapps folder.

If for some reason you also placed the backups of the other library in there, that would make big mess as Steam would then "see" the game was installed to two different locations. So you can have them on a different drive, as you asked above, but you cannot have them in another steamapps folder. Hope that explains it better.

Originally posted by ThunderStruck597:

Also, in Libraries, is that to do with all the drives in the computer or just the HDD(where my steam apps is installed).

This is the feature that allows you to make other libraries on your computer. You can have as many libraries as you want, but you must create them according to that feature. For example, if you make a new library folder, then that folder has to be totally empty when you create it. Then, you can add it to the list there and Steam will ask you which library you want a game to be installed to when you go to download a game.

EDIT....People normally do this if one of their hard drives is getting too full and they need more space for games. A second or third or whatever library can be made on another drive if that is the case.

Originally posted by ThunderStruck597:

PS. it's a real pleasure for someone to help me because I'm new to PC and don't know much. So thanks a lot mate ;).

It's also a pleasure to help others, and especially new and friendly users such as yourself.

Feel free to keep the questions coming if you need help with anything on this topic you made.

[ThunderStruck597]

Thunders_brain.exe has stopped working.

1. So is steam only able to read stuff that is in a steam apps folder?

2. what is an .acf files and wdym the .acf files of the games?

3. Also what is steam.dll?

Again thanks a lot dude, you're a real good person. we need more ppl like you in the world :D.

[ThunderStruck597]

i meant what is steam dll file? idk it was saying there was a link :/.

[The Giving One]

1. Basically, for the purpose of this discussion, yes. There are other folders and files that Steam uses, but it's not important to go into that for the purpose of discussing .acf files. I answer what they are below.

2. .acf files are the appmanifest files. If you have file extensions set to visible in Windows, then you will see the file is an .acf file. For example, .exe is a file extension.

.acf is the file extension for the appmanifest files. The number you see there is the same number that is at the end of the URL for that game on the Store page for the game in Steam, so you can figure out what file goes for what game that way.

This is the file that tells Steam the game is installed, and where it is installed. So it's a very important file. But as said before, you really do not "need" to back them up, but you can if you want to. It might save some time in the event of a drive issue or computer issue, but it's not the end of the world if you do not have them saved as a backup.

3. LINK REMOVED is the forum filter doing it's job filtering out suspicious or bad links. They have been added to the filter by those that monitor the Community because they are malicious or problematic. Now there can be mistakes, but most of the time, it is a bad link when you see that. Do not try to bypass the filter if you get the urge to do so, as that is against the forum rules.

You are welcome and I hope that all helps.

A .dll file is a dynamic link library file. It's better to Google that for understanding as that's not something I can really explain well or quickly from within this topic.

[ThunderStruck597]

Thank you and if you don't mind me asking one more thing, should steam library be on SSD Or HDD, or does it really not matter. because steam library ( the one that came with steam when downloaded) has my games/game on it and i don't want my games on SSD. so do i need it on the SSD or No?