Steam games and my Laptop

Ziac45

Got a new laptop today and instead of just downloading and installing the games that way I took the games off my desktop on my Flash drive and just put the files where they belong in the steam folder. Is there a way for me to link the steam icon with the files or do I have to download them and install them again?

TechBoy

Just putting the files in the right place in the Steam folder isn't enough for Steam to recognize that you have the games installed.

However, if you copy the files and then tell Steam to install the game, the install process will go a lot faster because Steam will realize that the bulk of the game data is already there and not redownload it.

Ziac45

Awesome it is working thanks, one last question will there be a difference int he files between Xp and Vista? The desktop is Xp the laptop is Vista

Ruckus

Ziac45 wrote: »

Awesome it is working thanks, one last question will there be a difference int he files between Xp and Vista? The desktop is Xp the laptop is Vista

Nope, the gamecache files are the same, and even if some weren't, steam would realize it and download the correct individual files.

wunderbar

TechBoy wrote: »

Just putting the files in the right place in the Steam folder isn't enough for Steam to recognize that you have the games installed.

However, if you copy the files and then tell Steam to install the game, the install process will go a lot faster because Steam will realize that the bulk of the game data is already there and not redownload it.

Actually, you're not 100% right there. I've been doing this for years, and what happens is that Steam sees the game is there, but the status is "update paused" just right click and resume updating, and about 2 seconds later the game is ready to play.