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Hi, So I own The Witcher 1 on Steam and GOG, is there someway to copy over the installed contents from the GOG installer to the steam install directory so that I don't have to download another 15 gigs? Thanks.
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TheImpZA: Hi, So I own The Witcher 1 on Steam and GOG, is there someway to copy over the installed contents from the GOG installer to the steam install directory so that I don't have to download another 15 gigs? Thanks.
I've tried to do similar things with Steam, and there used to be a way to do it. However, once they added in the new steamapps\downloading folder and the new SteamPipe content format, just putting the game files into the relevant location in steamapps\common no longer works.

I also tried starting a download, then pausing it and exiting Steam, then copying the files into the created subfolder within steamapps\downloading, but on restarting Steam and resuming the download it just proceeded to overwrite the files, even though they were identical.

It has something to do with the appmanifest files, so maybe you can find out what it needs to be for the game, but I gave up in the end and just let Steam do its thing.
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TheImpZA: I've tried to do similar things with Steam, and there used to be a way to do it. However, once they added in the new steamapps\downloading folder and the new SteamPipe content format, just putting the game files into the relevant location in steamapps\common no longer works.

I also tried starting a download, then pausing it and exiting Steam, then copying the files into the created subfolder within steamapps\downloading, but on restarting Steam and resuming the download it just proceeded to overwrite the files, even though they were identical.

It has something to do with the appmanifest files, so maybe you can find out what it needs to be for the game, but I gave up in the end and just let Steam do its thing.
I've also tried all of the methods that you mentioned, but none worked. Guess I'll just continue playing GOG version, I really don't feel like downloading it again (with my line speed it'll take about 3/4 days of constant downloading to complete).

Pretty stupid that Valve removed the ability to do that. I prefer the way GOG handles downloads (with the installer and of course DRM-free), but wanted all my games in one place.
Post edited July 05, 2013 by TheImpZA
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TheImpZA: Pretty stupid that Valve removed the ability to do that. I prefer the way GOG handles downloads (with the installer and of course DRM-free), but wanted all my games in one place.
I agree. Seems like now you need to have the contents of the steamapps\common\<game> aswell as the associated appmanifest acf file for Steam to detect that the game is installed. And if that appmanifest is even just slightly incorrect then it downloads all files again rather than use the existing ones found and download the missing bits. :(
I've never tried it myself, but isn't there an option to "add non-Steam game" somewhere in the Steam menus? I always thought that would just add the game to your Steam library list, regardless of where you had it installed. Of course, it won't use the Steam cloud or anything fancy like that, but if you just want all your games in the Steam list it should work.
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Waltorious: I've never tried it myself, but isn't there an option to "add non-Steam game" somewhere in the Steam menus? I always thought that would just add the game to your Steam library list, regardless of where you had it installed. Of course, it won't use the Steam cloud or anything fancy like that, but if you just want all your games in the Steam list it should work.
He doesn't want a non-Steam game added to his Steam game list. He wants to install The Witcher on Steam (he owns it on Steam and GOG) without having to download it all through Steam as he already has the game files from his GOG installation.
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korell: He doesn't want a non-Steam game added to his Steam game list. He wants to install The Witcher on Steam (he owns it on Steam and GOG) without having to download it all through Steam as he already has the game files from his GOG installation.
Ah, sorry. Somehow I missed that in the first post.
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TheImpZA: Pretty stupid that Valve removed the ability to do that. I prefer the way GOG handles downloads (with the installer and of course DRM-free), but wanted all my games in one place.
Cancel your Steam account and buy back the games you can on GOG: you can still put them in one place: a good external HD (what I do).
Post edited August 07, 2013 by ERISS
high rated
Solution for posterity.

Problem:
- You own the game (witcher 1 or witcher 2) on GoG and Steam.
- You have installed the GoG version, and want to get that install recognized by Steam, so you don't have to download the game again through Steam.

Answer (after some quick info) :

All directory and folder locations are between quotation marks ("folder\subfolder").
All games on Steam have a steamID. To find it easily go to the game store page.

store.steampowered.com/app/20920/

The numbers ending the url are the steamID, in this case 20920 for Witcher 2.

Witcher 2 steamID: 20920
Witcher 1 steamID: 20900

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1. Close Steam client.

2. If the game started to download through Steam, go to "\Steam\steamapps\downloading" and delete the folder with the SteamID you're trying to install. Also delete the .patch files in the same folder. You may have multiple patch files. Only delete those with the correct SteamID number in them.

My patch files looked like this for Witcher 2:

state_20920_20921.patch
state_20920_20922.patch
state_20920_20923.patch

state_SteamID_XXXXX.patch

3. Go too "\Steam\steamapps" and find the appmanifest file with the correct SteamID. Appmanifest_20920.acf for Witcher 2 or appmanifest_20900.acf for Witcher 1. Delete it.

4. Now go to your Steam game folder. The default one is "Steam\steamapps\common".

5. Make a folder called "the witcher enhanced edition" for witcher 1 or "the witcher 2" for Witcher 2. All lower caps.

6. Move everything from inside the GoG installation folder into the new folder you just made.

7. Start Steam and click the 'install' button for the game. It should then start to validate the files.

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Just want to say that this works for every steam game. If you already have the steam install on another computer for instance. For step 5, you have to find the name of the game's install directory for Steam. You can usually find it with a google search. Or you can start downloading just to get the appmanifest, and then open the appmanifest file in notepad. The folder name is written there after "installdir".

Edit:
If TheImpZA or a mod could change the thread title to something clearer, that would surely help some more people to find this. I didn't understand it at first, as I thought it was about the GoG.com downloader. Something like "Can I use the install folder from GoG to install the Steam version?" would be great.
Post edited January 14, 2015 by marcusblon
I was trying various things before Google brought me here, including things very much like the above. However, after verification it would still basically start from scratch. Steam downloader would still say it has 15.9 GB to go, and I'd find the "the witcher 2" directory had become about 4 GB in size rather than the 22 GB pasted in there. Stopping Steam, repasting the game contents into "the witcher 2" and restarting Steam, it then continues on thinking it's got 11.9 / 15.9 GB downloaded. Much closer, but still not the whole thing. *shrug*