App manifest transfer to new pc

[thesavior]

Hello all, so I recently got a new pc and I am currently copying my files on my old pc on a usb drive to transfer to my new pc. I’ve looked up videos on how to transfer my games that I got from steam. My question is do I have to copy the manifest as well. One video says you just need to copy the game file and insert it in the new drive and when you go to download it on steam it will discover the game files on your c drive. Another video has the same steps but they say to copy the app manifest and move it to the steam apps folder. I’m just confused do I have to copy the manifest or can I just have steam discover the files ?

[rawWwRrr]

You want to copy the entire contents of the \steamapps\ folder.

[rawWwRrr]

The structure of the Steam Library folder is important to understand if you're copying game files outside of the Steam client.

Let's use the default location as an example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common


"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\" - this is the actual "library folder"

In each library folder, Steam places \steamapps\ where all of the game files will be saved to.

It places, among other things, an appmanifest file at the \steamapps\ folder which corresponds to an installed game whose actual files are placed into \common\ under the game's folder.

The appmanifest file is unique to your installation. You can't borrow one and it is the only thing that tells Steam that the game is installed, where it is, what version it is, etc.

If you only copy the game folders from \common\ without their associated appmanifest files, Steam will refuse to acknowledge the game files.

This is why I suggest to copy the entire contents of the \steamapps\ folder.

Once you have that, you can copy/merge it into whatever existing library folder you have on your new PC.

[thesavior]

Gotcha that clears up my confusion thanks a lot I’ll be sure to copy the app manifest as well

[AhmedBigGamer Allkeyshop]

You copy the app manifest on the drive where you want to copy the game. If the game is to be copied to a different partition than where steam is installed, you put the app manifest in SteamLibrary\steamapps. If the game is to be copied to a partition where Steam is installed, you will copy the app manifest to Steam\steamapps.

[xarvn]

On both machines, after connecting to the same network, logging in to the same Steam account, and enabling the setting in Steam > Settings > Downloads, you can use "Game File Transfer over Local Network." When you attempt to install games, Steam will automatically transfer files from the old PC.
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43