scanning games without enough free storage

[Igami]

I just moved borderlands 3 (100gb) from my laptop to my desktop pc, but i don't have enough space or a 2nd storage to scan it, i only have 35gb left of free space
Any way to scan the games files without having to start the download? or Do i have to uninstall and install again?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Did you use the Local Transfer?

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43

[Katana DK]

Are you sure you put the files in the right location? AFAIR Steam won't try to download the game if it already sees the files in the correct location in one of its library folders.

If you already deleted the files from your laptop it's gonna suck, as you need to move them away temporarily, but one usual thing to attempt, when one already has the correct files available, is to:
start the download process, where Steam allocates files and reserves space, wait until it starts downloading, exit steam, overwrite files, and then Steam will start up (or trigger it manually) and verify the existing files, instead of downloading again.

But like Hotsauce said, Local Transfer is also an option if the files are coming from a running PC.

[Igami]

okay so, found a video on youtube that helped me fix it
Basically i just had to move the appmanifest too (you can also just copy a different one and edit it)
And restart steam and it'll be add the game to the library and just download a couple files
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BcQ8DwAzjo
Hopefully it'll help others

Thank you for your help!