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Steam has introduced a feature to move game installs from one location to another. This is awesome, since I don't need to uninstall/reinstall when moving from my SSD to a larger HDD.

However, i cannot move Half Life 2 and Episode One. I was able to move Episode 2, but the option is not there for the others. Is there a reason for this, or am I missing another component somewhere?

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  • My guess is that the game files are still needed by other games based on those two engines.
    – dly
    Commented Feb 13, 2017 at 8:14
  • @dly I would agree, but it's strange that Episode 2 was allowed to move. I haven't tried playing it though, so perhaps it won't work anyway, since it's primary resources are on the C drive. Commented Feb 13, 2017 at 14:28

1 Answer 1

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Even when Steam added support for multiple game 'libraries', there always seemed to be a few games that do not support being located anywhere but the default directory.

However, it is always possible to move the files yourself manually, and create a link back to them from their original location. This way, Steam thinks that it's still in the same location, and your SSD has less clutter on it.

  1. Shut down Steam (make sure it isn't still in your notification tray)

  2. Cut the game's install directory from C:\Path\To\Steam\steamapps\common

  3. Paste the game directory where you want (e.g. E:\Games\

  4. Open a Command Prompt Window and navigate to where the folder was, i.e.
    cd C:\Path\To\Steam\steamapps\common

  5. Create a directory symbolic link with the same name as the original folder using the mklink command. The format is like so: mklink /D "<Folder Name>" "<Path To Moved Folder>"

    eg: mklink /D "Half Life 2 Episode One" "E:\Games\Half Life 2 Episode One"

  6. If you now look at the steamapps/common directory in Windows Explorer, you will see what looks like a shortcut icon. Double clicking it will take you to the folder located on the E: drive

Start Steam again and you will be able to play the game normally, as far as it is concerned the game hasn't moved.

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