How to effectively change Steam games on multiple PCs?
How to effectively change Steam games on multiple PCs?
I'm preparing on moving my Steam games between PCs. From what I've read online, there are three main approaches:
1.) Re-download the games, though this will take a long time.
2.) Use Steam's backup utility as demonstrated here, but I'm worried about using it on an external drive.
3.) Back up the games manually, as shown here.
All these methods mean I need to separately back up my save files and organize them correctly after reinstalling the games. Alternatively, I could restore saves from Steam Cloud if supported.
My question remains: am I overlooking something or is there a better solution?
Move the SteamApps folder to the alternate drive.
On the second PC, inform the Steam client about these locations.
Steam games location
In the Steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder
You could try one thing, migrate the game library to your storage of choice, then on the new system, after the OS is installed, plug in the drive that has your game library, install Steam and redirect the launcher to see the game library drive. Ofc, this only means that you backup any and/or all content in case anything goes sideways.
This is a concise way of putting it;
https://gaming.stackexchange.com/qu...ea...-installed
You can move the Steam library to the new PC directly, following Steam's Settings -> Downloads. Point the library to your new location and it should recognize the games. If needed, you might need to restart the initial launch process to install any required dependencies, but that’s generally all.
Move the SteamApps folder to the alternate drive.
On the second PC, inform the Steam client about these locations.
Steam games location
In the Steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder
Sure, let me check. On the first PC, I copied SteamApps to my external hard drive. Next, I transferred those files to the new PC. In the Steam client, I specified the folder where the games were stored. Does that sound correct?