Game files not picking up??

[Rancid]

So I bought Just Cause 3 a few weeks ago and my internet is complete crap. My friend had already gone through the trouble of downloading it and offered to copy the files from his Just Cause 3 directory (I should say that he did buy it legally to be clear) and bring them on a ex. Hdd to my house and just put the files into my jc3 directory so I won't have to download the whole 35.8GB. So we did as we planned, but for some reason Steam didn't pick up on that the files were there and so procedded to try to download the whole game. I have looked up a fix with no help. When I try to verify the integrity of the game cache the loading box just takes a second and says nothing is wrong. So I am looking for a fix that would not mean downloading the whole game again or deleting the files (though I do have a backup of them if neccecary). Thanks for the help

[The Giving One]

Have you tried to right click the .exe for Just Cause 3 directly from the game folder and run the game that way ?

[Rancid]

@thegivingone yeah I've done that and I would use that and not have a problem, but I like to use set launch options and use other things to increase performance

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by The Entire Population of Iceland:

@thegivingone yeah I've done that and I would use that and not have a problem, but I like to use set launch options and use other things to increase performance

I meant for you to do that to try to get Steam to recognize the game files, not as a permanent solution.

What exactly happened when you launched the game directly from the .exe ?

[Rancid]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by The Entire Population of Iceland:

@thegivingone yeah I've done that and I would use that and not have a problem, but I like to use set launch options and use other things to increase performance

I meant for you to do that to try to get Steam to recognize the game files, not as a permanent solution.

What exactly happened when you launched the game directly from the .exe ?

It took it's time and then just launched the game. (Side note) I am also trying to get this fixed so I can get future updates

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by The Entire Population of Iceland:

It took it's time and then just launched the game. (Side note) I am also trying to get this fixed so I can get future updates

So since you said this happened and the game did launch, can you now see it available in your library and attempt to verify game files normally from there ?

Please see this, as this is the proper way to do it. Sure it will work, as far as I know, straight from your library, but still.....this is the support page and official info......

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

[Cathulhu]

Most likely you forgot to copy the .ACF file from the steamapps folder. That would tell Steam that the game is installed and present.

[Silicon Vampire]

you also need the proper .acf file...

[The Giving One]

Wow...I should have not assumed that OP did in fact have the .ACF, and therefore I should have asked that much sooner. I am the fool of the day here, it seems. Thanks to you above for that very important detail.

[Rancid]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Most likely you forgot to copy the .ACF file from the steamapps folder. That would tell Steam that the game is installed and present.

Where can I find the ACF file to copy? do i need my friend to come back over and get it rom his hard drive or would I be able to find it online somewhere?

[Cathulhu]

It's a really small file, but also very important

As i said, it's in the Steamapps directory. Your friend can send it to you in an email. It's about two kiloybtes. Really, really small.

appmanifest_225540.acf <-- This is the one he needs to send you.
Copy it into \Steam\steamapps\

[Rancid]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

It's a really small file, but also very important :claugh:

As i said, it's in the Steamapps directory. Your friend can send it to you in an email. It's about two kiloybtes. Really, really small.

I looked in my steamapps folder and found the .acf file #225540 which is the number for jc3 (I looked it up) so does it matter if the contents of the file are correct or what. Im thinking of deleteing the .acf file and verifying the game cache. Edit: Sorry didn't see your edit there.
Edit: Ok just realised that deleting the ACF file is a bad idea so i won't do that.

[The Giving One]

Why would you delete a file that we stated that you actually needed ?

Do you still have that file in your recycle bin ? If not, right click that steamapps folder and select properties, then "previous versions" tab. See if you can get a previous version restored that contains the .acf BEFORE you deleted it. You may want to back up that old version of that folder first, just in case....

Otherwise, it seems you will need the help of your friend or to actually download it. It seems at this point you could have just downloaded the game anyway, since all this time you have spent doing it this way....just saying...

[Rancid]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Why would you delete a file that we stated that you actually needed ?

Do you still have that file in your recycle bin ? If not, right click that steamapps folder and select properties, then "previous versions" tab. See if you can get a previous version restored that contains the .acf BEFORE you deleted it. You may want to back up that old version of that folder first, just in case....

Otherwise, it seems you will need the help of your friend or to actually download it. It seems at this point you could have just downloaded the game anyway, since all this time you have spent doing it this way....just saying...

Lol I get smart and decided to not delete it because, you know, the obvious. The reason that i did things this way is becuase my internet downloads games at about 150 KB/s and steam usually predicts downloads for around 200-300 KB/s and jc3 would have probably taken me a week to download. Anyway, Im just waiting for my friend to come online so I can get his email and the file

[The Giving One]

I see. Is that normal for your internet there, or is this only a problem you have with Steam downloads ?

[Rancid]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

I see. Is that normal for your internet there, or is this only a problem you have with Steam downloads ?

It's very normal around where I live. I live in the country, almost in the middle of nowhere. Also, no it's not just with steam, let's just say if we could see the size of our bandwidth, it would probably be the size of a hair.