Setting up Steam games on individual computers
Setting up Steam games on individual computers
TL;DR I'm facing issues installing games on a shared Raid drive from another PC. I have several machines in my gaming area, wanting to run Steam on a few with the same account so each plays only one game per machine. I'm trying to set up Steam on a couple of them and store games on a separate NAS. I've encountered problems—some install fine, others get stuck or fail completely. I've uninstalled, reinstalled, cleaned disks, run diagnostics, and even performed a disk cleanup. After fixing things, the games still hang at the same spot. I've started backing up important files from the RAID but noticed they're copying slowly (200MB/s max). I'm curious if others have similar setups or issues and would appreciate any advice.
I have the following hardware:
- NAS Core 2 Quad: 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD
- Windows 10 Pro 32-bit PC: 2.5" 7,200RPM, 320GB HDD (tested)
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit PC: 2.5" 7,200RPM, 256GB SSD
- 3.5" 7,200RPM, 2TB HDD (Seagate Iron Wolf)
- RAID 0: 3x 3.5" 7,200RPM, 1TB HDD (Bios level)
- Gaming PC: i7-7700K, 32GB RAM, SSD 256GB Samsung 850 Evo
I'm mostly using the NAS for game storage and only need 2GB RAM. I've also got a 3.5" 7,200RPM, 2TB HDD (Seagate Iron Wolf) as backup and a 3.3" 3.5" RAID 0 drive for temporary games.
I tried everything: reinstalling, clearing disks, checking system health, running chkdsk, changing admin rights, and even using the command prompt. Still, some games install fine while others get stuck at the same error point. After restarting a few, they either finish or hang. I'm also experimenting with more storage options—planning to add more NAS drives and maybe a surveillance system later.
I'm hoping someone else has faced similar challenges and can help. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! I'm not sure how to proceed without setting up another PC just for sharing files.
I'm uncertain about using gaming over a NAS unless it's an iSCSI target, which seems possible in theory. From what I know, Windows would recognize an iSCSI target like any other local drive, offering improved performance if the server can handle it. Gaming systems would likely treat it as a regular drive rather than a network-attached storage device, which could yield better results. However, this remains uncertain. I haven't personally used iSCSI or attempted similar setups with SMB for network sharing. Standard networking is adequate for large files such as videos or photos, but it may struggle with the numerous small data transfers typical in games and assets. This performance would likely be poor, especially during loading and asset retrieval. I'm just speculating based on my understanding.
Additionally, if you really aim to develop this, having several servers isn't necessary—just ensure one is properly implemented if you believe it will succeed. Demonstrating a proof of concept is essential before investing heavily in something that might fail. However, I’d recommend looking into Freenas for its ZFS features, which I use in my home lab for storage. I haven’t set up iSCSI because my i3 isn’t powerful enough combined with the VM hardware I run alongside Freenas on ESXi. Also, adding more RAM would be costly, and ECC memory isn’t inexpensive. But a well-constructed server can handle a gigabit LAN easily; my NAS handles it without issues. A 10x4 TB drive would suffice, and I use RAID Z2 (essentially software RAID 6). While RAID 5 is generally insufficient today, you can research further. With the IOPS capacity you’d get, you’d likely need a solid Xeon processor—though an i7 would work since it supports ECC, which isn’t strictly necessary, but I chose that path because I’m already committed. For my setup, I’d probably aim for at least 64 GB of RAM. If you decide to go that route, feel free to share your experience on the Freenas forums—I have plenty of insight from running it myself. I can handle a lot more than what you describe, but I’m not as familiar with your project as the people here are.
Thanks a lot for your assistance. I’ll check the Freenas forum since my hardware isn’t powerful enough for a gaming PC yet. I don’t think ISCSI will work on my Core 2 Quad right now. I plan to make it function with what I have, but ultimately I’d like a server setup for all of this. As you mentioned, that would cost a lot, so in the meantime I’ll stick with what’s available. Also, I’ve played a few games and they all worked fine—usually they just open without issues. I tried GTA V briefly, and it ran smoothly at full settings in 1080p with V-Sync on. No performance drops noticed. It seems to be running perfectly.