How do I access steam from 2 partitions on the same machine and retain save games,settings, game lists,etc.across partitions

[bobbygr]

I wrote this to steam support because a tech there, Toby, doesn't understand my question, and refuses to escalate it or pass it on to someone who might understand it. Forgive me for the long post, but this is directly from a steam support post. If you read my initial question that should be enough, but he kept passing it back to me, not understanding what a "partition" is or what "dual boot" means. There are three of my posts to him, and 2 coming back from him - without a clue what I'm asking. I beg someone take the time to understand my question and give me an answer -if there is an answer to the question. Again, it's long, but if you read my first original question, I believe most of you will understand. Thank You,,,,,Bob

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1 Message by you on Sat, 24th Nov 2012 10:41 pm
I am pasting a dialog with a tech named Toby who cannot understand what I am asking him, and hoping this gets assigned to someone who knows more about steam and computers in general. Due to the lack of phone support I know no other way to get someone else to help me solve my question.Not a problem,a question. Please read carefully my posts in the following thread, (ignore Toby's posts, he cannot grasp what I'm asking). If a supervisor or a more advanced, more knowledgable steam tech can read MY posts only- please give me an answer. I'm tired of going back and forth with a junior tech support person and going nowhere. Here is the thread:

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My computer has three primary partitions. The first partition is a whole 120gb SSD and contains windows 7.Let's call that partition "A". I installed steam on this windows partition into the second partition which is an HDD split into two primary partitions. Steam was installed into the first primary partition on this second hard drive , the HDD, lets call this partition "B". Finally, the second primary partition on the HDD contains windows 8, lets call this partition "C:.

I instructed steam from windows 7 to place all my games on the first primary hard drive on the HDD, partition B.

My question is this:

Can I install a second steam on the windows 8 partition, the second partition on the HDD, partition C BUT POINT THE GAME DATA TO THE GAMES ON PARTITON
B, THE SECOND PARTITION ON THE HDD THAT CONTAINS ALL GAME DATA.

You have the choice wherever steam is installed - to point steam to where you want your games. In both copies of steam, the one installed on partition B and the one installed on partition C, I want to point them BOTH to use the game data stored on partition B.

I will only access games from the either windows 7 (partition A) or from Windows 8
(partition C). I can never access the games from both windows 7 and windows 8 at the same time, obviously, because I can only boot one of these operating systems at a time. Please tell me if this will work. I need all settings (game profile settings, saved games, etc.) to be the same when I log on to play on windows 7(partition A) or windows 8 (partition B).

If this will not work, can you tell me a way to access the same games from Windows 7 (Partition A) or Windows 8 (partition C) so updates (profile settings in games, saved games, etc) will be in sync with the same list of steam games on Windows 8 (Partition B)?

Thanks for you help. I need to do this right. I will be using the SAME STEAM id from Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Thanks again,

Bob Grozier
2 Message by Support Tech Toby on Wed, 21st Nov 2012 12:51 pm
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

We apologize for the delay.

Here are some steps to help troubleshoot your issue.

***If you are running Steam on a PC:

Please exit Steam and go to the folder called C:\Program Files\Steam\ (this is the default location for a Steam installation - if you set a different installation directory, you will need to browse to it).

Delete all of the files in this folder except:

The \Steamapps\ folder and Steam.exe (this file is listed as an application and features the black and white Steam logo)

Restart your computer.

Then, launch Steam.exe from within the Steam installation folder, and not from a pre-existing shortcut.

With Steam running, re-test the original issue.

Note: This process will not affect your currently installed games.


***If you are running Steam on a MAC:

Please exit Steam and go to the folder Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Steam

Delete all of the files in this folder except for SteamApps.

Restart your computer.

Launch Steam and re-test the issue.

Note: This process will not affect your currently installed games.

Note: If you are using Lion please do the following to enable your Library folder:

1. Open Terminal
2. Type chflags nohidden ~/Library
3. Close Terminal

You should see the Library folder available through the Go menu on the menu bar while holding down the option key.


***For all Operating Systems:

If the issue persists, make sure your network is optimized for Steam:

Title: Troubleshooting Network Connectivity
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1456-EUDN-2493

If these steps do not apply to your issue, please respond to this ticket.

If you have any further questions, please let us know.
3 Message by you on Wed, 21st Nov 2012 11:34 pm
This did not answer my original question. Could you please escalate this QUESTION (not a PROBLEM) to someone who will read what I wrote MORE CAREFULLY.

I want to run the same copy of steam from two partitions on a dual boot system. It's already installed and working on the original partition (windows 7). I want to access the same steam from the new partition (windows 8) with all the settings and saved games in place.

steam is currently installed on a third data partition (not windows 7 partition or windows 8 partition). How do I go about doing this.

Please get someone up the ladder who better understands how to read a question to look at this. The original post goes into detail about what I want to do, this post is a summary and a plea to get someone who is more experienced with steam and can read questions not thinking they are problems. There is nothing to troubleshoot here, as the last tech said. This is a question NOT a problem, there is nothing to troubleshoot.

Please send this to a higher tier of support. Is there a phone number I can call for tech support?

Thanks,

Bob
4 Message by Support Tech Toby on Sat, 24th Nov 2012 2:06 pm
Hello Robert,

Games are installed to a subfolder of your Steam installation folder.

If you wish to install games to another drive, you will need to move your entire Steam installation.

Please follow the link below for information:

Title: Moving a Steam Installation and Games
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

If you have any further questions, please let us know.
5 Message by you on Sat, 24th Nov 2012 10:20 pm
Toby please get me your supervisor. I DON'T JUST WANT TO ACESS MY GAMES FROM ANOTHER DRIVE. I WANT TO ACESS MY GAMES FROM 2 DIFFERENT DRIVES (ONE WINDOWS 8 AND THE OTHER WINDOWS7). I WANT TO BE ABLE TO BOOT EITHER SYSTEM AND ACCESS THE EXACT SAME GAME LIST, HAVE THE EXACT SAVE GAME POINTS, EVERYTHING MUST BE THE SAME.

THIS IS A DUAL BOOT SYSTEM. RIGHT NOW I CAN ONLY ACESS MY LIBRARY OF GAMES, SAVED GAMES, ECT FROM WINDOWS 7 ONLY (WHEN I BOOT WINDOWS 7). I INSTALLED WINDOWS 8 IN ANOTHER PARTITION. I WANT THE SAME ACESS TOMY LIBRARY OF GAMES, SAVE GAMES, ETC. THAT I HAD FROM WINDOWS 7. HOW DO I SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE STEAM
GAME LISTS, SAVED GAMES, ETC. FROM WINDOWS 7 AND WINDOWS 8?

PLEASE ASK A SUPERVISOR, TOBY, OR ANOTHER TECH, TO READ THIS THREAD. YOU'RE NOT GETTING IT. CAN YOU GIVE ME A SUPPORT PHONE NUMBER. I WILL PAY FOR PHONE SUPPORT. I NEED A CORRECT ANSWER, WE ARE GETTING NOWHERE.
6 Message by you on Sat, 24th Nov 2012 10:29 pm
WHEN I PLAY A GAME IN WINDOWS 7 AND CREATE A NEW SAVED GAME,I WANT TO ACESS THE EXACT SAME GAME AND SEE THE NEW SAVED GAME I CREATED ON WINDOWS 7 UPDATED WHEN I LOG ON TO WINDOWS 8. TWO PARTITIONS MUST BE ABLE TO SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE UPDATES.

A CHANGE TO A GAMEL LIST ON WINDOWS 8 SHOULD SHOW UP WHEN I BOOT THE WINDOWS 7 PARTITION. DO YOU KNOW WHAT DUAL BOOTING IS? DO YOU KNOW WHAT A PARTITION IS? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I'M ASKING FOR? IF YOU DON'T , PLEASE DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK A SUPERVISOR OR A CO-WORKER TO READ MY POSTS BECAUSE YOU ARE EMBARRASSED.

ADMIT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND AND YOU WILL LEARN A NEW CONCEPT IN STEAM. PLEASE QUIT SENDING ME ANSWERS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I'M ASKING. HOW DO I CONTACT YOUR SUPERVISOR OR GET SOMEONE ELSE ASSIGNED TO THIS THREAD THAT IS A SENIOR STEAM ENGINEER? IS THERE ANYWAY (I WILL PAY) TO CALL STEAM SUPPORT WHERE I CAN GET THIS CRITICAL QUESTION ANSWERED? WE KEEP GOING BACK AND FORTH AND GO- NOWHERE. YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO GRASP WHAT I AM ASKING. PLEASE, SOMEHOW PUT SOMEONE ON THAT DOES......

BOB

[tmwfte]

There is no escalation procedure, Steam Support/Valve has a flat structure. Basically, in terms of game files, there shouldn't be an issue as to where the game happens to be, as long as you're in Steam beta and the game happens to be on the new content servers. Otherwise, you can use symlinks to stick them in the same place. Regardless, there will be a bit of fiddling to get both installations of Steam to sync up. Technically, he also gave you the correct answer in number 4, you just didn't like what he said.

As to your saved games, you're actually kind of hooped there. The saved game files/profiles are usually kept in a my documents or appdata folder, which will be unique to whichever Windows build you happen to be on at the time. Some games will let you manually move the things, but it would depend entirely on the game. For games that use Steam Cloud, I suppose you can upload on one and download on the other to make sure they're synced, but make sure you're doing the right one.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

I skimmed through to the important bits an I don't think this Toby is a gamer... or knowlegable of multi-boot systems or partitions... or that installing individual games to a different drive is an upcoming feature of steam itself. Oh and from Both OSes, install steam itself onto the shared drive. Thats probably the easiest way.
Perhaps he has been trained only to handle single OS default install issues. If he's paid, how do I get that job? Sounds nice. (Except I'm a programmer, destined never to speak to customers)

Well if you can't go up to his supervisor and he can't ask the guy next to him what the heck your talking about then he must be the ONLY guy working support tickets(of the 300+ people who work at Valve). Certainly he shouldn't have any problem asking anyone else there to help on your issue.

I think I'll be reading the rest of your messages with this Toby chap, they amuse me.