download games on one computer and transfer to a second computer?

[Packy]

I finally joined steam in order to play arma3 and Assetto Corsa (when released).

I have a very slow internet at home for my PC, but a very fast internet at work. Downside is our boss is a mac person so we all have to use iMacs. One thing I love about GOG.com is that I can download games at work on my iMac, transfer the file to a memory stick and take it home and copy over to my desktop PC and install/play the game. easy as pie! :) Of course, GOG.com games are older and not as valuable thereby lacking any DRM.

Any suggestions to do the same with steam games that are not too cumbersome. If I bought a PC laptop to bring to work and download games is it easy to transfer over a game to my desktop PC at home?

thanks.
:)

[ReBoot]

Either just transfer the files directly or use the long-exisitng Steam backup feature.
No reason to suggest what already exists.

Unless of course you want to be able to download games via HTTP.

[Satoru]

Yes you can do it. Here's how it works

1) Download game on Computer A with fast internet
2) Copy c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game> to some portable device
3) On Computer B you MUST HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
4) Copy the above folder from the protable device onto the same folder in Computer B
5) Install game on Computer B

it will find the local files and install from there. It still has to download some files, but it won't download all of it.

Again you still need some kind of internet access on Computer B. But it doesn't have to be fast/reliable, only enough to install steam, activate the game, and download a small portion of the game.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Either just transfer the files directly or use the long-exisitng Steam backup feature.
No reason to suggest what already exists.

Unless of course you want to be able to download games via HTTP.

tbh the steam backup feature is kinda flaky

[Black Blade]

Yes it is easy to transfer so i believe (from PC to PC not mac) its mainly just copy pasta of the game from the library.. but i never done it so better wait for some one who did... any way i think these needs to go more into help then into suggestions forum

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Unless of course you want to be able to download games via HTTP.

tbh the steam backup feature is kinda flaky [/quote]It used to be that way. But it's fine since quite a while ago.

[Satoru]

Dunno unless you NEED the compression algorithms bulit into the steam backups, it's simply faster/easier to copy the directory structure.

It made sense when they were compressing stuf onto DVDs, but these days people can just sneaker net entire libraries on 1TB usb disks.

[ReBoot]

It's a matter of taste. For me, it's not fun to dig through directories. Especially when moving stuff between MacOS and Windows. I don't say it is this way for everyone. But you should also accept that your solution isn't the best for everyone.

[Satoru]

If you're going between mac/windows does the backup feature even work?

[ReBoot]

Good point here. I've no idea, but yeah, it might not work, at least for the binaries. The game assets however should be universal and the binaries are quite of a small size. So it works about 90%.

[Packy]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Either just transfer the files directly or use the long-exisitng Steam backup feature.
No reason to suggest what already exists.

Unless of course you want to be able to download games via HTTP.

What say makes no sense due to no details. but thank you! :)

[Packy]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Yes you can do it. Here's how it works

1) Download game on Computer A with fast internet
2) Copy c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game> to some portable device
3) On Computer B you MUST HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
4) Copy the above folder from the protable device onto the same folder in Computer B
5) Install game on Computer B

it will find the local files and install from there. It still has to download some files, but it won't download all of it.

Again you still need some kind of internet access on Computer B. But it doesn't have to be fast/reliable, only enough to install steam, activate the game, and download a small portion of the game.

This sounds possible.
Yes, I do have internet on home computer (B), it is very slow internet for downloading GBs of data, but works fine for internet gaming.

thank you!
:)

[Packy]

Originally posted by Black Blade:

Yes it is easy to transfer so i believe (from PC to PC not mac) its mainly just copy pasta of the game from the library.. but i never done it so better wait for some one who did... any way i think these needs to go more into help then into suggestions forum

Yes, I assumed it would be difficult to go from Mac to PC using steam, but it easy to do with GOG.com games so I was holding with a little bit of hope (I know nothing about computers and stuff)! haha I assume steam keeps an iron grip on their games and it would not be possible to download a PC game onto a Mac.
thank you.

[Packy]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Yes you can do it. Here's how it works

1) Download game on Computer A with fast internet
2) Copy c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game> to some portable device
3) On Computer B you MUST HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
4) Copy the above folder from the protable device onto the same folder in Computer B
5) Install game on Computer B

it will find the local files and install from there. It still has to download some files, but it won't download all of it.

Again you still need some kind of internet access on Computer B. But it doesn't have to be fast/reliable, only enough to install steam, activate the game, and download a small portion of the game.

OK, I have decided to follow your method.
1) buy a PC laptop or netbook that runs Windows. This will be Computer A.
2) Install steam on laptop (computer A)
3) download steam games onto laptop (computer A)
4) copy c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game> from Computer A to a thumbdrive
5) insert thumbdrive onto home PC (computer B) and copy to c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game>
6) start steam on computer B and allow any additional files to download and install.
7) enjoy game on home computer B
:)

[Packy]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Yes you can do it. Here's how it works

1) Download game on Computer A with fast internet
2) Copy c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game> to some portable device
3) On Computer B you MUST HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
4) Copy the above folder from the protable device onto the same folder in Computer B
5) Install game on Computer B

it will find the local files and install from there. It still has to download some files, but it won't download all of it.

Again you still need some kind of internet access on Computer B. But it doesn't have to be fast/reliable, only enough to install steam, activate the game, and download a small portion of the game.

ok, I bought a cheap, used netbook. I updated the Windows 7 and installed steam. the Arma3 key was approved and I downloaded the game to the netbook. :)

Next step is too copy the file onto a memory stick and transfer to my home PC. :)

[Packy]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Yes you can do it. Here's how it works

1) Download game on Computer A with fast internet
2) Copy c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\<game> to some portable device
3) On Computer B you MUST HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
4) Copy the above folder from the protable device onto the same folder in Computer B
5) Install game on Computer B

it will find the local files and install from there. It still has to download some files, but it won't download all of it.

Again you still need some kind of internet access on Computer B. But it doesn't have to be fast/reliable, only enough to install steam, activate the game, and download a small portion of the game.

it worked!! thank you!! :)