Recently activated a product on steam that is already installed via disk. Can I move it to steam? [duplicate]

I recently activated my 2007 physical copy of Supreme Commander on Steam that has been installed via disk since that time. It gave me access to Supreme Commander AND Forged Alliance (yay free game! :D) but according to Steam I have to re-download and re-install SupCom, even though it is already installed.

Is there a way to move the original game files around such that Steam knows it's installed? Yes, I know I can uninstall the already installed copy and re-download it but I'd like to avoid that if I can.

steam supreme-commander

Best Answer

Try moving the entire Supreme Commander folder to steam/steamapps/common/ then installing the game through steam. On the install page with the progress bar (that usually says e.g. Allocating disk space), it should say at some point something like 'checking existing installation'. This can take a while.

The game will then be added to the download queue, but it will only download updates, even though the displayed size will be that of the whole install.

I've done this with several games I own physically, and its always worked.

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How do I move my Steam games to another computer?

Launch Steam and go to Steam > Settings > Downloads and click the Steam Library Folders button. This will open a window with all your current Steam Library folders. Near the top of the window click the "+" button and select the folder with your installed games.

How do I get Steam to recognize already installed games?

Launch Steam.

Click the. Games. menu, choose. Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library.

Browse for games on your computer or put a check next to the game(s) you wish to add to the. Library.

Click on. Add Selected Programs. .

How do you add a game to Steam that was downloaded elsewhere?

You will naturally first need to install Steam on the new computer first. Once done, open up the exact same default Steam library location (C:\\Program Files\\Steam\\steamapps\\common) on the new PC and copy the game folder/s there.

Game Already Installed Yet Steam Asks to Install Game Again! Easy Solution.

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