Transfer the Steam game to a different storage device.
Transfer the Steam game to a different storage device.
Sure thing! You're looking to transfer your Fallout 4 installation from an old hard drive to an SSD for faster loading. It's smart to optimize performance, but you're right about keeping mods and tweaks. There’s no official way to move the game files without Steam checking them first, but you can use a third-party tool or manually copy the necessary folders. Just be careful with backups!
When I need to relocate games, simply click and drag; then update the shortcut to the new position. In Steam, you may have to search for it.
With a game from Steam, the installation is linked to your library. Moving the folder can confuse Steam and might make it think the game is removed. You’d need to reinstall and it would re-scan and replace files, including mods. Since you don’t use shortcuts, you launch games directly through the Steam client.
Create a new Steam folder on the drive by first making one on that drive, then navigate to Steam settings, select Downloads, and choose Add library folders. After that, open the game in Steam, right-click its icon, go to properties, select local files, and click Move install folder, assigning it to that folder.
theres a program called steam mover which does exactly this, ittl move your entire game over to a new drive and takes care of all the redirects, even works for other programs not just steam games
Ensure Steam is connected to the desired folder on your storage drive. Open Steam, right-click the game, choose Properties, navigate to the Local Files tab, and click the Move Install Folder button. It will ask you to specify a new location, which should be the SSD folder, and then the game will transfer from its current drive to the new one.
In theory, you could remove FO4, reinstall it elsewhere, then return to the original place and re-upload all remaining files since Steam only deletes the main installation files, not the mods, textures, etc. If you're using NMM, just re-scan and direct it to the new location. I've tried this with Skyrim, Fallout 3/NV/4 before, and it generally works—though some mods might still have issues.