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Is there any way to store game installs from Steam/Origin/etc etc locally so said game can be re-installed later without having to re-download?

I thought of this for two reasons:
I like to occasionally go back and replay some of my more favorite games.  This could be a number of years after I first played/beat said game.  Normally I play a game through and then uninstall it from my SSD to make room for the next batch.  In the past, when you bought games on CD/DVD, it was a matter of just popping the disc back in and doing the install.  With the advent of online stores like Steam, you download/install the game from the host (ie Steam).  This wasn't a big deal up until a couple years ago when the largest game was 6GB.  Nowadays, games are HUGE.  They take an eternity to download, not to mention a growing number of ISPs have download caps.  It seems like it would be so much easier if you could save the install locally.  I feel like this should be possible.  You then install the game from your local storage, and when you launch the game it looks for your Steam credentials, maybe download some minimal patches, and you're in.

A co-worker of mine used to game quite a bit.  Nowadays life is busy so he doesn't have as much time for gaming.  He also has a pretty restrictive 20GB/mo download cap which essentially prevents him from being able to download modern games.  I figure if I could download the game install to an external hdd for him so he could install it locally, that wouldn't affect his cap.

For  steam  games just copy the steam-->steamapps-->common folder and then verify integrity of game cache before you run the game. Works every time.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8794-YPHV-2033

Steam has a built in backup feature.

[Edit]
No way to help my co-worker though, unless I:
1) take his tower home with me, log into his his computer and steam account, and download the game for him.
2) get his steam account credentials to log in as him to download games he's purchased.

Edited for clarity.  Keep in mind, I haven't necessarily purchased all the games on Steam that my co-worker has/will.  Unless he gives me his UN/Password, I can't download games for him off Steam/etc.

With Origin to install locally you just need the game in the current download dir, and to tell it to install said game.  It investigates that all the files are there then installs normally.

With Steam you can do the same thing as said above, but I check which .acf file correlated with the game and get it to its proper place too.

Steam backups always seemed like a lot more hassle than they were worth.  Don't know how they are now.

As pointed out before, copy/paste on the "common" directory works fine.

Alternatively if your'e looking to keep games stored locally anyways, just not on your SSD, you could use something like Steammover to leave the games installed but move the files to a larger mechanical drive.  If you're looking to backup to CD/DVD, use Steams built-in backup functionality - it even breaks it down into CD/DVD sized chunks for you.  If you're downloading for your co-worker to install at home i think you can do each game individually to a disk or multiple - it seems to Just Work either way.

frumper15 wrote:

Alternatively if your'e looking to keep games stored locally anyways, just not on your SSD, you could use something like Steammover to leave the games installed but move the files to a larger mechanical drive.  If you're looking to backup to CD/DVD, use Steams built-in backup functionality - it even breaks it down into CD/DVD sized chunks for you.  If you're downloading for your co-worker to install at home i think you can do each game individually to a disk or multiple - it seems to Just Work either way.

Might want to add to that Steam's built-in backup function even compresses games, I believe. Sometimes it might be more space-effective to have chunks of compressed data than a direct copy of the game folder.
Things like this is why I wish Origin also had something similar to it. Almost all games benefit somewhat from having compression - 7zipping Origin games, usually I got like 15-30% space savings and the benefit of the resulting file being a continuous chunk that's easier to be copied to and read from a spinning external drive.
I'm still trying to figure out how to backup uPlay stuff, though...

When it comes to saving space with Steam game installs, NTFS folder compression works wonders.

morphine wrote:

When it comes to saving space with Steam game installs, NTFS folder compression works wonders.

If you have cores to spare it's nice, but it does tend to increase latency for random reads a bit. If you're short on SSD space it can stretch things quite a bit. Indy games are the worst for uncompressed assets.

DPete27 wrote:

[Edit]
No way to help my co-worker though, unless I:
1) take his tower home with me, log into his his computer and steam account, and download the game for him.
2) get his steam account credentials to log in as him to download games he's purchased.

Edited for clarity.  Keep in mind, I haven't necessarily purchased all the games on Steam that my co-worker has/will.  Unless he gives me his UN/Password, I can't download games for him off Steam/etc.

No, Steam will not allow you to install games that you have not purchased, same as the floppy and CD days.

I copy games I want on an SSD by copying them and using mklink.  I haven't had any issues with it, yet. It works retroactively, too.

For transferring, you should backup like the gerbils said.

Noinoi wrote:

frumper15 wrote:

Alternatively if your'e looking to keep games stored locally anyways, just not on your SSD, you could use something like Steammover to leave the games installed but move the files to a larger mechanical drive.  If you're looking to backup to CD/DVD, use Steams built-in backup functionality - it even breaks it down into CD/DVD sized chunks for you.  If you're downloading for your co-worker to install at home i think you can do each game individually to a disk or multiple - it seems to Just Work either way.

Might want to add to that Steam's built-in backup function even compresses games, I believe. Sometimes it might be more space-effective to have chunks of compressed data than a direct copy of the game folder.

Steams built-in backup feature does indeed use compression, but my experience has been that it chokes if you try to go much over 100GB (a fraction of my library).  I honestly don't think Valve has updated the feature since 2004.  

I've also tried copying the steamapps folder with mixed success (some games need to be re-downloaded anyway).  It seemed like a bit of a chop-job.  Haven't bothered with any 3rd party solutions, but Valve should really address this themselves.

Copy the folder with Steam not running. Copy it back with Steam not running.

I've done this many times and never had an issue.

To run games from an SSD, why make things more complicated than necessary?  Steam allows you to have multiple directories assigned to your Steam library.  Just put some of your games on your SSD and leave the rest on your hard-drive.  Let Steam look in both directories.

Under your Steam settings, go to "Downloads" and click on the "Steam Library Folders" button under Content Libraries, then click on the "Add Library Folder" button.

For backups, I have also had good success with copying.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

To run games from an SSD, why make things more complicated than necessary?  Steam allows you to have multiple directories assigned to your Steam library.  Just put some of your games on your SSD and leave the rest on your hard-drive.  Let Steam look in both directories.

Under your Steam settings, go to "Downloads" and click on the "Steam Library Folders" button under Content Libraries, then click on the "Add Library Folder" button.

Yeah, that feature has been around so long I'm surprised people bother with the link hacking method.

Perfect I wondered about this hopefully this can prevent a long download and wasted bandwidth to just copy/paste the "common" folder back in.

I take it you install the SteamSetup.exe copy the "common" folder back over to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps then fire up steam again and all should be ok?

Simon

The steam-mover function is now built directly into Steam.

Steam will move the entire game for you to another drive and you can also specify where a game is installed during initialization before downloading a new game.

Aranarth wrote:

The steam-mover function is now built directly into Steam.

Steam will move the entire game for you to another drive and you can also specify where a game is installed during initialization before downloading a new game.

Aranarth thanks this is my first time using steam as a means for gaming since November last year where would I find this steam-mover function? I was poking around in steam today but was unable to see this tool any chance you could point me to its location? Thanks

Simon

I gooled it for you:

https://www.techspot.com/article/1429-m ... e-library/

Aranarth wrote:

I gooled it for you:

https://www.techspot.com/article/1429-m ... e-library/

Awesome Aranarth that has a lot of detail in a number of methods thanks. I located how to do it via steam might have to buy new drive just for doing this.

Simon

No problem at all.

Telling someone to go google something is only handy if you know what to google for.

Aranarth wrote:

No problem at all.

Telling someone to go google something is only handy if you know what to google for.

Aranarth no worries mate I know what you mean the number of times I have googled things using different word combos to not find my answers or solutions but then someone comes along with a word combination that does the job and you get pages of info that hits the mark.

Simon

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