What happens to downloaded Steam games? (new pc)

[Benbay001]

Ive got a number of games that ive purchased on Steam and downloaded, and therefore dont have discs for.

Ive got a new PC on the way, so what happens?

Do i just download and install steam, and then download all the games again?

Thanks.

[BonzoG]

That's pretty much it.

If you CBA waiting on the downloads you could transfer the library from machine to machine over your network, but it can be a hassle.

[MissChief]

You could see about taking the old Hard Drive and putting it into the new one or copy the steamapps folder over to the new Hard disk. Make sure steam isn't running then restart steam, 'download' the games and it will check the files, possibly download a few more and you'll be golden.

[snuffy]

That's exactly what you do.

I had a HDD failure a while ago and lost all my games (now I have a backup external HDD on continual backup) and when I installed Steam again, when I went to my library, it showed them all there, just not installed.

Or you can copy them from your old PC. When you run steam it will sort out installing them, i.e. it knows they are there, it just needs to rebuild it's catalogue. You could give that a try if your download speed is not that fast.

[kowalski655]

Exactly this,just login.IIRC you get an email from them asking you to confirmthat it is really you logging on to a new machine

[snuffy]

Or, you can back up your games and then restore them on your new PC. (Go to your Steam library, right-click on any game and you'll see a backup option, you can then select the games you want to backup). I can't find the restore option mind you, but there must be one !

[Benbay001]

Do i literally just copy over my steam apps folder? My download speed is uber slow

[Brigand]

I upgraded my PC recently and copied several of the game's folders from the steamapps section (IIRC) then pasted them into the new folder on the new PC. You then have to go into the Steam library and install them. A few of the games were detected on the HDD and were instantly 'installed', but others weren't recognised for some reason so I'd have had to download them again.

Best you can do is copy and paste your games into the new Steam folder, and just see which games are recognised.

[kowalski655]

I moved mine from 1 Hard Drive on a PC to another,nd that was fine,IIRC you can just copy the Steam folder via USB or whatever,my take a while if its anything like my 562gB(and thats AFTER a clear out!!! How the hell does it get that big?No wonder I have so little space left)

[Benbay001]

Can i connect one computer to the other via usb lead?

[Brigand]

Benbay001 said:

Can i connect one computer to the other via usb lead?

Interesting question, but I'd say no AFAIK. Only way to connect the two would be via a cross-over Ethernet cable. Easiest thing to do would be to just copy the games onto a USB stick or external HDD then just transfer them to the new PC.

Ethernet cable would work, but involves setting up network connections, so probably not worth the hassle unless you know what your doing.

[Benbay001]

Brigand said:

Ethernet cable would work, but involves setting up network connections, so probably not worth the hassle unless you know what your doing.

In that case, probably not worth doing!

[snuffy]

The best way is to use the backup and restore in Steam and copy as many games as you can fit at a time on a USB stick or usb HDD. It will take you a while mind you.

Or you could connect your old hard drive to your new PC and copy them off (but if you're struggling connecting the two together with an Ethernet cable then maybe not !!).

[Benbay001]

Simply run an ethernet cable between the two?

[Benbay001]

Currently copying it over with an ethernet cable.
cheers guys!