How to locate games for steam that are already installed II

[Mindshaker]

There is a previous thread for this that is locked. This pisses me off because I am having the same problem and there is no solution.

The previous author wrote"I've done this "Go to Steam > Settings > Downloads tab > Steam library folders. Add the D:\Games folder there and restart Steam. Steam should then be able to find the installed games again." and it just pops up with "Steam Library folder must be empty". Thus, you cannot add a directory with a game to the library. This is pretty sad compared to battle.net's system unless I'm missing something."

The answer was "See Installed games are appearing as uninstalled." [on the Steam forum]

The answer contained there is outdated. When I try to direct Steam to the old folder it says that the new folder has to be empty.

I have directed Steam to old game folders in the past. Only now I am not able.

So I am calling you out Steam! What is up?

[ReBoot]

Do it the easy way. Close Steam, move the games into the apropriate subfolder of the Steam folder, start Steam. That's by far the easiest solution.

[Bee🐝]

Basics first: You tried the steps in the official FAQ, right?: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4578-18A7-C819-8620

Edit: Nevermind to early.

[TheFamousPoundy]

Do you have a folder called "SteamLibrary" where you installed those games, because as far as I understand, steam searches for that folder so point it towards that.
If not, you could try making a new download library folder in another place on the same drive and then moving the old games to that and restarting steam, steam should be able to detect them then

[Mindshaker]

My games folder is not in the "SteamLibrary" folder. They are in e:\games\steam\steamapps\common. The only folder that Steam sees is e:\SteamLibrary

[Mindshaker]

And to answer your question Bee, Yes I have scoured the document. It is out of date.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Mindshaker:

My games folder is not in the "SteamLibrary" folder. They are in e:\games\steam\steamapps\common. The only folder that Steam sees is e:\SteamLibrary

So do you or do you not want to move that stuff into Steam's folder?

[Mindshaker]

To answer ReBoot, I tried that too. No luck. I moved the Icarus folder to the "SteamLibrary" folder. Steam still does not see it. Storage manager says 0 games on e:\. The Time it took to move was not that much faster than reinsatlling.

[ReBoot]

That was not what I was talking about. That's actually the complete opposite of what I was talking about.

[Mindshaker]

Then I have no idea what you mean.

[ReBoot]

You move games INTO the Steam folder, not out of it. Where's your Steam folder? Where's Steam installed?

[Mindshaker]

c:\programfiles\steam. I can not put games on this drive. It is a small SSD mainly just for the operating system.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Mindshaker:

c:\programfiles\steam. I can not put games on this drive. It is a small SSD mainly just for the operating system.

Ok. Then move Steam to where you got space (be it E:, D: or whatever, anywhere you got space) and then move the games into the Steam folder.

[Mindshaker]

Again, It took 20 mnutes to move one small game. Ark is on the e drive. It would take forever to move that folder. How is that any better than reinstalling the game? Ark's size on disk is 277 gb.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Mindshaker:

Again, It took 20 mnutes to move one small game. Ark is on the e drive. It would take forever to move that folder. How is that any better than reinstalling the game?

Reinstalling the game would mean downloading it from scratch. No idea how fast your internet is but I can't really imagine downloading dozens of gigabytes (Ark is quite huge, last time I checked) in 20 minutes.
On the other hand, if you're happy redownloading everything, go ahead, I certainly won't stop you.

[Mindshaker]

Thanks for the help but this is all still unnessessary. Steam used to have a way to direct the client to the old download folder. I have done it many times in the past. It is only recently that that option has dissapeared. And there is no way that the Ark folder would be moved in 20 minutes. I said I moved the Icarus folder, in 20 minutes which is a far smaller folder. The Ark folder is 277 gb on disk.