Score:2

How to change steam installation so that games are system wide?

am flag

Steam seems to install games under ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/ which is fine if you are the only user and only want these games. However if you have family sharing set up and multiple accounts re-installing these games locally will eat up a lot of disk space. How can I get steam games installed under a global context?

ar flag
This is how steam was designed and supposed to work.
David avatar
cn flag
This is a question you may want to ask Steam support as it has noting to do with Ubuntu.
SumNeuron avatar
am flag
@user68186 I am sorry but that comment is a bit ambiguous in context. *was* supposed to work as I described, or more "it's a feature not a bug" sort of thing?
Score:0
au flag

Not a full answer to your question, but I'm using an external HD for most of my SteamApps. The HD is formatted (by default) with NTFS. Therefore, the user that mounts the device will be the owner of every file on it and I can add this drive's steam folder as a Steam Library for any user.

--Edit--

To be more precise:

  1. Attach an external HD that was formatted with NTFS (or use an internal partition and format it in NTFS)
  2. Open Steam
  3. Go to the main menu:
    • Steam
    • -> Settings
    • -> Downloads
    • -> Steam Library Folders
    • -> (+) icon
    • add your drive or a folder in it as an additional storage

When installing a new game you can select if you want to use your new drive/partition or the one in your home folder.

You can move existing games using their Properties (right click in the library) -> Local Files -> Move install folder...

That way, you can move them both ways.

SumNeuron avatar
am flag
so can you update your question to be a bit more step-by-step for how to do that? If that is the solution, then I guess, although I don't necessarily love the idea of having the games run from an external HD...
random person avatar
br flag
Isn't NTFS only for Windows devices?
Streunekater avatar
au flag
@randomperson Linux supports all file systems, even Windows ones :)
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