How do you migrate steam games without .acf files?

[Tyr0n3]

Sorry there's probably another thread explaining this somewhere...
How do you migrate games between hardrives without .acf's?

Right now I've got a load of steam games saved on an external HDD, how do I get those games on to my C: drive and working with steam? I have the actual games but I didn't know you needed the acf's at the time, is this an issue, will I have to re-download everything?
All I have copied is the files/folders that were in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\Common". Just to clarify all I have saved is the files that are in the common folder from my old HDD, I don't have any acf's am I screwed, help?

[76561198218426745]

Steam should check for existing files when you try to install the game, and only download what is missing, if anything. That's on paper, anyways. In practice your mileage may vary.

[Tyr0n3]

habitualaction님이 먼저 게시:

Steam should check for existing files when you try to install the game, and only download what is missing, if anything. That's on paper, anyways. In practice your mileage may vary.

I tried, steam said something about renaming the "steamapps" folder to "old_steamapps" and then putting the files in but that just makes steam say "checking for preinstalled files" and then it just tries to donwload the whole game anyway. I'm getting steam support to tell me how now but they seem to like to take their time to reply... I'll make a thread / discussion when I know how so other people don't have to suffer a 2 day wait between replys from steam bc they cbf to just implement live chat

[ToxicKookie]

Any update on this? I used to be able to throw the game folder in the commons folder and steam would check for anything missing, but the last two games I've tried this with have demanded to be dled in full.

[The Giving One]

ToxicKookie님이 먼저 게시:

Any update on this? I used to be able to throw the game folder in the commons folder and steam would check for anything missing, but the last two games I've tried this with have demanded to be dled in full.

Are you sure you have the proper .acf file in the steamapps folder for the game in question ?

If you don't, that is why Steam cannot "see" your game as installed and tries to download it again.

Tyr0n3님이 먼저 게시:

All I have copied is the files/folders that were in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\Common". Just to clarify all I have saved is the files that are in the common folder from my old HDD, I don't have any acf's am I screwed, help?

No. You need the .acf files also. You are supposed to backup or copy the entire steamapps folder and not just the common folder, if that is what you did. Where are the .acf files that were previously in the steamapps folder ?

EDIT..When in doubt, the search really can sometimes help...

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882959061466924237&include_deleted=1&q=.acf

[ToxicKookie]

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

ToxicKookie님이 먼저 게시:

Any update on this? I used to be able to throw the game folder in the commons folder and steam would check for anything missing, but the last two games I've tried this with have demanded to be dled in full.

Are you sure you have the proper .acf file in the steamapps folder for the game in question ?

If you don't, that is why Steam cannot "see" your game as installed and tries to download it again.

Not sure I grabbed it. Got a friend to dl the game for me since my connection sucks and just grabbed the install folder from him. Are you sure the acf file is in the install folder? Any chance you could upload the file for me and tell me where it needs to go?

[The Giving One]

From the search result I edited in...

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/523898291490459975/#c523898291490484433

No, the .acf files are located in the steamapps folder. If you don't have them anywhere, I can only suggest you redownload that game.

[ToxicKookie]

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

From the search result I edited in...

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/523898291490459975/#c523898291490484433

No, the .acf files are located in the steamapps folder. If you don't have them anywhere, I can only suggest you redownload that game.

Pretty sure that moderator is wrong, because I've grabbed the common folder for games from my friends comp at least a dozen times before and it's worked fine.

[The Giving One]

ToxicKookie님이 먼저 게시:

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

From the search result I edited in...

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/523898291490459975/#c523898291490484433

No, the .acf files are located in the steamapps folder. If you don't have them anywhere, I can only suggest you redownload that game.

Pretty sure that moderator is wrong, because I've grabbed the common folder for games from my friends comp at least a dozen times before and it's worked fine.

My friend, he is not wrong. You can do that for game "folders" but not .acf files.

His words, exactly.

"Users cant share any steam files. Youll need a net connection for a few seconds to update the game."

See ? Operative word there is "files".

[ToxicKookie]

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

ToxicKookie님이 먼저 게시:

Pretty sure that moderator is wrong, because I've grabbed the common folder for games from my friends comp at least a dozen times before and it's worked fine.

My friend, he is not wrong. You can do that for game "folders" but not .acf files.

His words, exactly.

"Users cant share any steam files. Youll need a net connection for a few seconds to update the game."

See ? Operative word there is "files".

So, because he's a mod his word is law? I'm skeptical.

[The Giving One]

ToxicKookie님이 먼저 게시:

So, because he's a mod his word is law? I'm skeptical.

Fine, you can be skeptical if you wish. That is why I like to post search results on the topic when users seem to not belive me or that mod, for example.

Don't believe us, then use the search and see for yourself. I gave one result above in a link for you already.

Think about it. The .acf is the file that shows Steam that you have the game installed. Why would my .acf file work for you or anyone else ? And why would Steam know you have the game installed alraedy when normally you have that .acf file for that game.

Because that is how it is supposed to be.

EDIT..By the way, it is not really related to the topic here, but the word of the mods here IS law, actually. If they decide to post and take an active role in helping other users, you can consider it a blessing. They don't say anything that is not worth saying.

[ToxicKookie]

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

ToxicKookie님이 먼저 게시:

So, because he's a mod his word is law? I'm skeptical.

Fine, you can be skeptical if you wish. That is why I like to post search results on the topic when users seem to not belive me or that mod, for example.

Don't believe us, then use the search and see for yourself. I gave one result above in a link for you already.

Think about it. The .acf is the file that shows Steam that you have the game installed. Why would my .acf file work for you or anyone else ? And why would Steam know you have the game installed alraedy when normally you have that .acf file for that game.

Because that is how it is supposed to be.

This post says different.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=379830692

Not trying to be a ♥♥♥♥ or anything. I'm just trying to use existing installation files so I don't have to go over my absurd traffic limit on this isp.

Also, as I've said I have done this numerous times on numerous games WITHOUT an .acf file, and it has worked. It's just not working this time.

Please. Humor me and post the file.

[The Giving One]

I don't mean to be rude here either, but I am done arguing with you over this. You can "try" to right click the location (folder) where you had Steam installed before and go to properties then select the tab "previous versions" and see if you can get the files from a restore point.

That is all I can personally suggest here for you at this point. Good luck to you always.

[fido9dido]

the way I do it is, redownload the game b4 copying, this generate acf and empty game folder in common, stop downloading and close the client then copy the game into the common folders' empty game folder. then start client it will auto validate i did it just now

[101lols]

Just place the game files to in Steamapps\Common and then install the game in steam.
Steam will say Discovering existing files for Game...[i.imgur.com]
Then Steam will download a ~2MB file, and you are done (Unless the files are corrupted or there is an Update).

[Silicon Vampire]

/necro