Copy a shared game instead of downloading

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matt.soccio Nov 14, 2014 @ 6:15pm

I have downloaded a few games and enabled Family sharing. I can play games after downloading them, but if I go to my son's account, and try to play the shared game, it wants to download the entire game again. I have found the files at /Users/yermomanine/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/<game>. If I copy the folder to another user's Library, Steam still tries to download the game. Why does every user even need the entire game, shouldn't they live in /Applications, and just the save files live in the /Users space? I have slow DSL, so spending another 8 hours downloading a game that's already on my computer is rough. Does anyone know to copy a game to another user on the same computer?

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Showing 1-15 of 15 comments

Ron ︻气デ一 Nov 16, 2014 @ 2:47pm

you can copy them - but is the user name yermomanine the user name on both computers? If not the path won't be right. Did you look for the steam apps/common/ path in your sons computer? You can try that - but they still likely won't work. there are some status files on your computer that are responsable for updates. Which are downloading, downloaded etc.

0hgre Apr 8, 2015 @ 2:48pm

Ever find a solution to this? Just set up family sharing and am wondering if there is a way around having each account download the shared game. Such a waste of bandwidth and disk space.

banger Apr 8, 2015 @ 9:47pm

you dont have a son and your not a dad.

Teksura Apr 8, 2015 @ 11:57pm

First read this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1549

Now on each account where you intend to share, enable the following folder as a shared folder:

/Users/yourname/Library/Application Support/Steam

What you've just done is you've made it possible for each account to access these folders regardless of who is logged in.

Now go into Steam on each account you intend to share. Go to your Preferences menu. Go to the Downloads section. Click the button that says Steam Library Folders. This tells Steam where to look for downloaded games. Add each folder to all accounts, telling Steam to look in those folders on other accounts for games as well.

Let me know if you have any unexpected problems, but this ought to work.

Another method is to set each Steam Account to only save games onto an external drive. Since external drives are all shared across accounts, it doesn't care who is logged in.

You might have some redundant files after setting this up, which might need cleaning. I don't know if Steam does the cleanup automatically by itself or not.

Last edited by Teksura; Apr 9, 2015 @ 12:01am

[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace Apr 9, 2015 @ 12:14am

Just use Steam Backup and Restore

Teksura Apr 9, 2015 @ 9:02am

Originally posted by TabrisDarkPeace:
Just use Steam Backup and Restore

This has exactly nothing to do with the problem described in the topic and will not help in any way.

Please make sure you know what you're responding to and what you're suggesting before you attempt to provide others with help in the future.

Last edited by Teksura; Apr 10, 2015 @ 5:49pm

[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace Apr 10, 2015 @ 3:57pm

Steam menu dude, Backup and Restore games... you can Backup a game on one PC and restore it on another.

It has been a feature for ages.
Works fine when I use it.

Copying the folders manually is just asking for trouble and I know this works which is why I posted it.

Last edited by [AU] Tabris:DarkPeace; Apr 10, 2015 @ 3:57pm

Teksura Apr 10, 2015 @ 6:03pm

Do you mind explaining how you think backup and restore is supposed to allow someone to access downloaded games which were exist in another OS user acount or are you only posting here to offer misleading advice?

Shouting with bold and underline formatting that you "know it works" doesn't help anyone. Especially when, as I already explained, your suggestion has nothing to do with the problem presented in the first post.

In order to solve the problem in this thread using the "Backup and restore" function, here are the steps that need to be made:

1: Go into each OS acount and make a backup of each library.
2: Delete everything from every library across all accounts.
3: Move all backups over manually to make them available to all accounts by placing them somewhere that can be accessed by everyone (see: Shared folders[support.apple.com])
4: Restore all backups on whichever account you intend to play for that moment.
5: Play games until you're done, and then make a new backup and overwrite the old one.
6: Make sure you delete all library files when you're done otherwise you have the very same duplicate files you were trying to avoid in the first place.
7: Realize this is perhaps the single most insane method for saving disk space and cutting down on duplicate programs in history.
8: Use the shared folder method I described above.

Keeping a common backup file for the purpose of saving disk space is just plain insane. Seriously. For Backup and Restore to even come CLOSE to solving the problem, it is still necessary to set up a shared folder. So why not just have Steam put the games in that folder and look for games there rather than messing with backups?

Last edited by Teksura; Apr 10, 2015 @ 6:07pm

[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace Apr 10, 2015 @ 6:25pm

/facepalm /troll
Dude, it works, I have five PCs and only download on one.

Teksura Apr 10, 2015 @ 9:35pm

And yet the only explanation you can offer for how you have 1 common copy saved read by all 5 is to say you're trolling. Nice.

Last edited by Teksura; Apr 10, 2015 @ 9:51pm

#10

[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace Apr 10, 2015 @ 9:37pm

/facepalm /troll
So he comes back to look like a total ♥♥♥♥♥♥ on a public forum.
Smooth moves ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

#11

Shadok Apr 10, 2015 @ 10:13pm

Originally posted by TabrisDarkPeace:
/facepalm /troll
So he comes back to look like a total ♥♥♥♥♥♥ on a public forum.
Smooth moves ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Says the guy who's just posted on a thread asking how to save space on a computer by telling those after a solution to make multiple copies of all the files involved, thereby costing them loads of space and ultimately not achieving the goal which was set out to go. Then you proceed to attempt to belittle the guy who provided detailed instructions on how the people presenting the problem can achieve their goal, in contrast to your pathetic attempts to mislead them.

If you don't know how to solve a computing problem, don't post. You just result in confusion for those who're searching for a solution. You clearly don't know what you're doing. Your comment about owning "5 PCs" only reinforces this, as owning 5 PCs in no way relates to skill using the Mac OSX platform. Stop wasting everyone's time and go away.

Last edited by Shadok; Apr 10, 2015 @ 10:15pm

#12