Can I have 2 versions of the same game installed at the same time in different directories?

[Tazor]

title

[Satoru]

Not unless they’re actually different games like Skyrim vs Skyrim SE

[Tazor]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Not unless they’re actually different games like Skyrim vs Skyrim SE

That's bad.

[WinterJax]

Originally posted by Tazor:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Not unless they’re actually different games like Skyrim vs Skyrim SE

That's bad.

This is not correct, it's actually quite simple to do if the different versions you're talking about are betas or something. First, have one version installed. Rename the folder to for example "Game Name X" instead of "Game Name." Then, download the beta/different version of the game. Steam will install it as "Game Name." Now when you want to switch from v1 and v2, just get rid of the added "X" to the version you want to play and add "X" to the version you don't want to play. You may have to turn off automatic updates though.

[Tazor]

Originally posted by WinterJax:

Originally posted by Tazor:

That's bad.

This is not correct, it's actually quite simple to do if the different versions you're talking about are betas or something. First, have one version installed. Rename the folder to for example "Game Name X" instead of "Game Name." Then, download the beta/different version of the game. Steam will install it as "Game Name." Now when you want to switch from v1 and v2, just get rid of the added "X" to the version you want to play and add "X" to the version you don't want to play. You may have to turn off automatic updates though.

It's not working. Steam fails to validate the install folder then downloads the entire thing again. No, it does not create a 3rd folder. I re named it properly. Yes, I am trying to validate the correct version. Auto updates are disabled.

After fiddling with it some more, I realised that I don't have to select an older version from the betas menu when trying to run the older version. I run the default latest version of the game from Steam even when playing older versions.

Works now. Thanks for the tip.

[parspegame]

You could install an instance of Steam in a Virtual Machine (VM) and install the other version of the game in it.

[Steven]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.