As spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun, the new Steam beta adds more than just Big Picture mode. The feature everyone’s not so much been crying out for as screaming “WHY, WHY, WHY IS THIS NOT HERE?!” has finally arrived – the ability to install a game to any drive you like.
Yes, there have been ways around this – but it’s insane that they’ve been required – and this has been a constant thorn in many a Steam user’s side. If you buy an SSD especially, space on your main drive is at a premium. Now though, there’s an official way around it… if you do just a little fiddling.
To begin, download the new Beta – go to Steam/Settings, and under Beta Participation, opt-in to the latest. Restart Steam and let it update. Now, right-click on your Steam shortcut and amend it to:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe” -dev
or simply adding -dev after the ‘steam.exe’ if you have it set up differently. This will add a new option to your Steam window’s main options called Console. Click this, ignore the main window, and just type:
install_folder_ui
A new window will pop up.
Congratulations, Valve just made you a Console gamer.
At least, for the moment. Not every game will give you the option to install it where you please – for example, fans of the hit platformer ‘Granny In Paradise’ will still have to take that 10MB hit on their primary drive. The 20GB of Arkham City: Very Good Game Though Not Game Of The Year Edition however can go wherever you like. That sound you can hear is your SSD sighing.
Hopefully the next proper version of Steam will simply bake this into its main options though, because as handy as this option is, it’s ridiculous that it’s hidden behind a console. Things like Big Picture mode are dandy, but basic functionality first, please, Valve. And also Half-Life 3, if you’re listening.
Incidentally, was anyone else disappointed that Big Picture mode didn’t look like this?
Just me then. Okay…
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