Allow multiple library folders on the same drive

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

The reason I say this is because Steam usually likes to default to Program Files by default which then causes a good deal of mayhem with Win10 security, such that mods often don't work (especially if you have to install them manually).

Another library folder on a different drive is easy peasy, but on the same drive it complains "Seletcted drive already has a Steam library folder. Steam will manage multiple game installs into a single folder for you."

Of course, you could just reinstall Steam to a different location completely but Steam itself can be in Program Files - it's just the games & it would be nice to have a not so clunky way of doing things.

[ExE Boss]

You can do this by going into: Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Add Library Folder.

I have two library folders on the “C:” drive now (one in “C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam” and another in “C:/Games/Steam”).

Then, to move your game installations you need to do: Game Properties > Local Files > Move install folder… for every game that you have installed.

[TorMazila]

+1. Here's why:

a) This "error" didn't appear sometime in the past
b) This feature is good when you sort the games on HDD also - and apply e.g. compression to one kind of games and don't apply it to the other.
c) You can mount a drive partition into the empty folder - so you can have e.g.:
C:\drive1\partition1
C:\drive1\partition2
C:\drive2\partition1
C:\drive2\partition2
and each of that will have individual amount of free space but to most ordinary software it'll be "all things get installed to the C: drive"
d) you can have symlinks to folders on the other drives

Actually, it's not a problem to achieve what you want by editing a config file.

The games are moveable manually as well - you need to move the game folder and its appmanifest_(appid).acf file

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

Originally posted by ExE Boss:

You can do this by going into: Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Add Library Folder.

I have two library folders on the “C:” drive now (one in “C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam” and another in “C:/Games/Steam”).

Then, to move your game installations you need to do: Game Properties > Local Files > Move install folder… for every game that you have installed.

I do that and Steam complains with the error message

Originally posted by Steam:

"Selected drive already has a Steam library folder. Steam will manage multiple game installs into a single folder for you."

[ExE Boss]

It works fine for me.

I might have done it by editing the “C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/libraryfolders.vdf” and adding the following before the “}” character:

	"1"		"C:\\Games\\Steam"

If you already have some folders in there, then replace “1” with the number that is one larger than the largest number.

It is required that Steam is not running when you edit this file.

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

Originally posted by ExE Boss:

It works fine for me.

I might have done it by editing the “C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/libraryfolders.vdf” and adding the following before the “}” character:

	"1"		"C:\\Games\\Steam"

If you already have some folders in there, then replace “1” with the number that is one larger than the largest number.

It is required that Steam is not running when you edit this file.

So you're saying we can do this by editing some Steam files with no shenanigans whatsoever but we can't actually do this manually ourselves?

Seriously Valve?

[The Spider Monk]

Originally posted by ExE Boss:

It works fine for me.

I might have done it by editing the “C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/libraryfolders.vdf” and adding the following before the “}” character:

	"1"		"C:\\Games\\Steam"

If you already have some folders in there, then replace “1” with the number that is one larger than the largest number.

It is required that Steam is not running when you edit this file.

OMG thank you sweet jesus I finally can add libraries on the same hdd!! Have been trying to figure this out for months.

[Darklocq]

Sadly, that trick no longer works. I can't get Steam to use any directory other than its default one, except on another disk. This is just dirt-stupid. It's not like the Steam people can't be aware by now that storing user-specific, editable game data under Program Files or Program Files (x86) is a terrible idea.

[EDcase°]

Originally posted by Darklocq:

Sadly, that trick no longer works.

Still works, just done it on a fresh windows install right now.

1: Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Create new one on another drive / partition and set as default.

2: Ok > Restart Steam > Close Steam. Open file found here:
"C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/libraryfolders.vdf"

3: Add new location on C:\\ Drive eg:
"2" "C:\\Games\\[Steam]"

4: Save, open Steam, and change default, it's now in the list from step 1.
Done. [can't delete the original C location as an option.]

[BoGy1980 MzegdietsasgedeesleestM]

Please, let us have more than the current 8 steamfolders...
i'm running up to a limit now (i have 3500+ games installed).

Currently i'm using 3 disks in my pc + 2 ssd's which each have a steamfolder, and then i have 4 more network shares that deliver games (all game-drives are linked to folders, so they don't have diskletters, just a foldername under c:\steamdrives and up to now it worked fine, but i recently had to add another 4gb disk which i now can't use cuz of this limit...and no, i'm not using multiper folders per drive like i see some guys doing, and all my gamedisks have only a single partition so i can't 'unsplit' those ...

the only other thing i could do is start jbod'ing all those disks into one single partition, but that would create a very big risk; if one disk fails i lose the whole collection and i'd need to download ALL games again instead of the lost disk only.
please, just up the limit to 10, i'd be very grateful!

[BoGy1980 MzegdietsasgedeesleestM]

There's indeed libraryfolders.vdf, but i also edit config.vdf and add a line to the BaseInstallFolder_x lines (it accepts up to 7 'extra' folders next to the installfolder (which isn't listed.

Originally posted by EDcase°:

Originally posted by Darklocq:

Sadly, that trick no longer works.

Still works, just done it on a fresh windows install right now.

1: Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Create new one on another drive / partition and set as default.

2: Ok > Restart Steam > Close Steam. Open file found here:
"C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/libraryfolders.vdf"

3: Add new location on C:\\ Drive eg:
"2" "C:\\Games\\[Steam]"

4: Save, open Steam, and change default, it's now in the list from step 1.
Done. [can't delete the original C location as an option.]

[@R+5]

also an improved way to detect libraries in external disks (portable), so if we play or not in laptop, we could have a different drive only for games, and maybe also encrypted so anyone opening that drive couldnt see, change or move individual files without the account they are linked to.

[nikko]

For anyone else looking for this in 2022, you need to use the updated format in libraryfolders.vdf, this worked for me:
"2"
{
"path" "C:\\Games"
"label" ""
"totalsize" "0"
"update_clean_bytes_tally" "0"
"time_last_update_corruption" "0"
"apps"
{
}
}

[Leo]

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