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Another Steam Beta Client update released, allows moving game location

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Valve have released another beta of the Steam client and the major change is that it will finally allow you to move games between your Steam Library folders.

Like me, you may have an SSD for the operating system and then a large/cheaper HDD for massive storage and games. So I have my games actually installed into a non-default Steam library on my storage HDD.

Some games heavily benefit from being on an SSD, so I've often wanted to move them around, but it's not easy.

Valve are fixing this with this new option to move games between you library locations! I haven't personally tested it, but GOL follower "libgradev" said in the livestream I did just now that it does not work on Linux for them.

See the update notes here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Beta, Steam
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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8 comments

Faattori Jan 18, 2017
After the whole rm -rf fiasko I have been real hesitant in doing any fiddling with Steam libraries. Maybe someday it will get my trust back...
Dribbleondo Jan 18, 2017
This is excellent news for Dual-booters like me!
Nanobang Jan 18, 2017
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Sounds great, but the beta prior to this latest release was playing merry hell with my controller configurations, for some reason. I'll stay on stable for another couple beta releases.
staticx27 Jan 18, 2017
Ha! Option comes two days after I deleted 100 gigs worth of games from my SSD and redownloaded it all to my HHD. I like to keep multiplayer games on my SSD for faster loading and single player games on HHD cause who cares about loading times, then.
Guy Fawkes Jan 18, 2017
Huh? I noticed a couple of comments removed from recent thread and comments section then closed completely too https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/gabe-newell-of-valve-is-doing-a-reddit-ask-me-anything-soon.8931

What happened? :|
gurv Jan 18, 2017
Quoting: staticx27Ha! Option comes two days after I deleted 100 gigs worth of games from my SSD and redownloaded it all to my HHD. I like to keep multiplayer games on my SSD for faster loading and single player games on HHD cause who cares about loading times, then.

It's a shame so few people know it but it's actually very simple to move games from one steam library to another (be it on the same os or another or even on another computer entirely).
You just have to move the steamlibrary/common/gamedirectory and the steamlibrary/appmanifest_xxxx.acf to their new location (where xxx is the steam id of the game. if you don't know it just grep "game name" steamlibrary/*.acf.

For example :
mv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Victor\ Vran /mnt/ssd/steam/common/

grep -i "victor" ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/*.acf
/home/zzzz/.steam/steam/steamapps/appmanifest_345180.acf: "name" "Victor Vran"
/home/zzzz/.steam/steam/steamapps/appmanifest_345180.acf: "installdir" "Victor Vran"

mv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/appmanifest_345180.acf /mnt/ssd/steam/

Done ^^
Note: do it preferably with Steam closed.
Grim85 Jan 19, 2017
The ability to add a non empty library folder would be a nice addition too
Creak Jan 19, 2017
Quoting: gurvYou just have to move the steamlibrary/common/gamedirectory and the steamlibrary/appmanifest_xxxx.acf to their new location (where xxx is the steam id of the game. if you don't know it just grep "game name" steamlibrary/*.acf.

For example :
mv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Victor\ Vran /mnt/ssd/steam/common/

grep -i "victor" ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/*.acf
/home/zzzz/.steam/steam/steamapps/appmanifest_345180.acf: "name" "Victor Vran"
/home/zzzz/.steam/steam/steamapps/appmanifest_345180.acf: "installdir" "Victor Vran"

mv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/appmanifest_345180.acf /mnt/ssd/steam/

Done ^^
Note: do it preferably with Steam closed.
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