Steam games are missing but still here?

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BadAtComputerss

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Dec 25, 2015
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So the other day I was cleaning up my SSD and thought nothing of it because it was almost full and when I finished deleting useless files, it was 30% cleaner. Come to the next day, I open my computer and 70% of my HDD (B:/ drive) was missing. I don't know if I accidentally cleaned out my B:/ drive or what happened.
I went onto steam and found that I only have 9 games installed (I had way more installed just a few days ago) So I check my B:/ and find that I still have my steam folder with all of my games in it, but when I go to play one it asks me to install it again. I went to the download settings and tried to repair the library folder but to no extent. Do I need to reinstall it all and delete the now useless folder? And does anyone know what could've happened? (I'm thinking it was a bug in the HDD).
Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
W
You probably, somehow, deleted the files telling steam the games are downloaded and where they are located.
If all the game files are still there then you can simply tell steam to install the game, like normal, to that location and steam will auto detect the existing files and download only the necessary files.
Click to expand...

Steam does "forget" a game is installed. I've had it happen several times. Then it tries to install it and does so in 1 second because all the files are already there. Unless you're low on space, then it says it can't install even though the files are already there. This has also happened to me. Very annoying.

As I recall, however, this only happened with a secondary drive and usually when a non standard shutdown or...
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ShadyHamster

ShadyHamster

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Jan 3, 2012
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You probably, somehow, deleted the files telling steam the games are downloaded and where they are located.
If all the game files are still there then you can simply tell steam to install the game, like normal, to that location and steam will auto detect the existing files and download only the necessary files.
 
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W

WashclothRepairman

Reputable
Aug 3, 2014
112
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4,690
You probably, somehow, deleted the files telling steam the games are downloaded and where they are located.
If all the game files are still there then you can simply tell steam to install the game, like normal, to that location and steam will auto detect the existing files and download only the necessary files.
Click to expand...

Steam does "forget" a game is installed. I've had it happen several times. Then it tries to install it and does so in 1 second because all the files are already there. Unless you're low on space, then it says it can't install even though the files are already there. This has also happened to me. Very annoying.

As I recall, however, this only happened with a secondary drive and usually when a non standard shutdown or reboot happened, like a dog tripping over the power strip yanking it out of the wall.
 
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Solution
ShadyHamster

ShadyHamster

Distinguished
Jan 3, 2012
1,925
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20,960
I've never had steam 'forget' where games are installed unless one of the files directing steam to where the game files are is deleted.
My games are installed over multiple drives as well as some on a NAS.
Unless you or something is modifying/removing files this shouldn't happen.
 
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