STEAM reinstall but now all my games are gone!!

All Discussions > Steam Forums > Help and Tips > Topic Details

This topic has been locked

Remigius Mar 25, 2015 @ 10:55pm

STEAM reinstall but now all my games are gone!!

Hello I just reinstalled steam but I had saved my /common folder with all my games installed, now I put the folder back but I cant see my games in steam, I have to reinstall them all again!!!?? WTF I did that in the past and had no problems?

< >

Showing 1-10 of 10 comments

Terminus Mar 25, 2015 @ 10:58pm

Installed games are appearing as uninstalled.

Tev Mar 25, 2015 @ 10:59pm

What happens if you try to install one of them? Does Steam start detecting the pre-existing files?

wuddih Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:01pm

common folder is one directory too deep. steamapps folder would be the thing to back up, because that includes the acf manifest files that steam uses for the installation detection. anyway, try to install a game where you know of that the files in the common folder are available, it should detect them .. maybe.

Last edited by wuddih; Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:02pm

Remigius Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:01pm

Originally posted by Teutep:
What happens if you try to install one of them? Does Steam start detecting the pre-existing files?

Yes, but it takes like half an hour detecting the pre-existing files of 1 game, its gonna take a week to get all my games back... Any ways to make it faster? :(

Tev Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:02pm

Originally posted by Remmy:
Originally posted by Teutep:
What happens if you try to install one of them? Does Steam start detecting the pre-existing files?

Yes, but it takes like half an hour detecting the pre-existing files of 1 game, its gonna take a week to get all my games back... Any ways to make it faster? :(

It should actually detect all your games once it's done with the first one; unless you have multiple drives you need to apply in Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.

I'll also say you'd be in better luck if you stored the whole SteamApps -folder; and not just the common -subfolder.

Last edited by Tev; Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:03pm

PirateGary Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:03pm

Did you happen to back it up first? restore and follow this. Also you might be able to use a system restore earlier point in time.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2251720
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/What-is-System-Restore#1TC=windows-7

Last edited by PirateGary; Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:10pm

Tev Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:04pm

OP, are you on Windows 7 or 8.(1) by the way?

IF Windows 7
This may be reversible, if you right mouse click Program Files (x86) -> Properties -> Previous Versions

Then you click a date that takes place before you uninstalled Steam; Open -> Navigate to Steam -> Copy the SteamApps folder.

Paste it in the present folder (You should now have the .acf files in addition for all the games.)

Last edited by Tev; Mar 25, 2015 @ 11:04pm

Jester Mar 28, 2015 @ 6:39am

This is not your exact problem, but some of the logic I figured out in here about the steam installs might help you to restore your files. The order that you do things is very important now, when it didn't matter in the past.

Originally posted by SacJester15:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate X64

In the past, I was able to buy the game in Steam and click Install (so Steam would create the file tree needed for the game on the Hard Drive of my choosing).

After a minute, I pause the download - Exit Steam - Copy the files from the backup drive "...\steamapps\common\GameFolder" to the new drive: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\GameFolder" (or the appropriate location)

I could then open Steam - Library - Right click on Game - Properties - Local Files - Verify Integrity of Game Cache...

The files would verify, then it would download a few small files/updates and I could play the game.

This method No Longer Works.

***SOLUTION***
DO NOT click Install before moving the files from one hard drive to the other.

1. Close Steam.
2. Copy Files to the new location...
3. Open Steam - Library - Game - Install - Choose the correct Install path up to "...\steamapps" and Install the game... (The Install should complete without having to download any files.)
4. Right Click the Game - Properties - Local Files - Verify Integrity of Game Cache...
5. You may or may not have some small files/updates to download, but after that, you are ready to play.

*Note:
~ If you already clicked Install before moving the files you messed up. Steam now uses a different location for downloading files: "...\steamapps\downloading". Having any files in there from your game will cause Steam to think that you still need to download the entire game even after you copy the files to the correct path. Steam recognizes the "...\steamapps\downloading" directory before noticing that all the files are already in the actual game folder. (Moving and downloading the files can also cause you to accidentally double the amount of space used on your hard drive by a particular game.) ~

If you clicked install before moving your files, you might have to add Step 0 to the beginning of this solution.

0. Open Steam - Library - Right click the game - Properties - Local Files - Delete Local Game Content...
(This will delete the game files from both "...\steamapps\downloading" and "...\steamapps\common\GameFolder")
Proceed to Steps 1 - 5 above.

This Process worked for me on several different games I was having trouble moving from a backup location to my new SSD on 3/28/2015.