Random Steam Question..

[Deleted]

So, this may seem rather random but I'm still curious all the same.

Recently, a family member (a Gamer, like me), had his computer die on him, what went wrong with it is an entire other story so we will not touch on that but..
Me being the kind person that I am, I have offered to give him my *old* computer, which is in by no means a bad state, I just fancied building my own comp which will be ready in a couple of weeks so my current comp will be neglected.
As I said, I'm offering it to my cousin who is delighted at the prospect, but, here comes the question!

I have a heap of different games on this comp bought from Steam, Arkham City, Dead Island, Crisis 1 and 2 to name a few, also my cousin has them on his current computer.
He asked me if, when I give him my computer, will the games launch as they're supposed too, although they were for initially another Steam Account.. I didn't actually know the answer to that so I thought I'd ask here since I'm sure someone here would have experienced such a thing, or at least have knowledge of it.

If I left the games on the Hard drive that he also had listed in his Steam account as purchased, would the launch normally or would he have to re download them specifically to his own Steam Accounts file destination?
I'm a total noob when it comes to Steam and it's ins and outs.. Can anyone clear this up for me?

Thanks!

[Slotter11]

I've never had any issues logging into another Steam account and playing the same game. As long as both accounts have the game purchased, there shouldn't be any issue with it.

[Deleted]

I've never had any issues logging into another Steam account and playing the same game. As long as both accounts have the game purchased, there shouldn't be any issue with it.

Nice, if that is the case, I'll just leave all the games on the hard drive that I have and that he also has on his Steam Account.

Thanks for the reply

[belfpala]

Nice, if that is the case, I'll just leave all the games on the hard drive that I have and that he also has on his Steam Account.

Thanks for the reply

Not sure if games downloaded on another account will work, but...

I recently had to switch computers... you can log into your steam account on any computer and it will let you re-download any games authorized for that account.

(Really effing awesome, btw... was scared I lost most of my games).

[Szemere]

That's a tough one... It kinda depends on where on your hard drive steam installs games... If it is just a single location, no matter what account, they will probably also get recognized by his steam account on that computer.

By just looking through it, in the steam folder in program files, I have a folder called steamapps with the folder common in there, with all the games installed in there.

I think it should work, but why won't you just let him log in on your computer on your steam, and see if he can launch them? If that works, of course he won't have to reinstall them when you just leave them there.

[Deleted]

That's a tough one... It kinda depends on where on your hard drive steam installs games... If it is just a single location, no matter what account, they will probably also get recognized by his steam account on that computer.

By just looking through it, in the steam folder in program files, I have a folder called steamapps with the folder common in there, with all the games installed in there.

I think it should work, but why won't you just let him log in on your computer on your steam, and see if he can launch them? If that works, of course he won't have to reinstall them when you just leave them there.

I should do, but he doesn't live near me. I would have done this but I didn't ask for his loggin details for Steam, I'll ask him tomorrow if he will let me log his Steam to see. I was just asking the MMOC community just in case anyone had experienced a similar thing

[belfpala]

I should do, but he doesn't live near me. I would have done this but I didn't ask for his loggin details for Steam, I'll ask him tomorrow if he will let me log his Steam to see. I was just asking the MMOC community just in case anyone had experienced a similar thing

Worst case, he'll just have to re-download his games (and potentially uninstall yours first if there are HD space issues).

[Deleted]

Sorry for bumping this slightly, not intentional.

I logged his Steam account this morning and it'll let the games Launch even though there were downloaded for my Steam account. Obviously the saved data would be an issue, although that's not my problem, he will just have to play them all through if he cannot find a way to get to his current saved stuff.

[Suggs]

it worked for me on my pc and my gf's laptop, doesnt matter what game is installed its all down to the seperate folder that holds all your account data in the main steam folder, which is why you can log in to as many accounts as you want yet will only see on the list the games that account has purchased.

[Remilia]

Sorry for bumping this slightly, not intentional.

I logged his Steam account this morning and it'll let the games Launch even though there were downloaded for my Steam account. Obviously the saved data would be an issue, although that's not my problem, he will just have to play them all through if he cannot find a way to get to his current saved stuff.

Well assuming he had sync on, maybe the save will be kept. Don't know how each game handles or even uses it.

[kushan]

Yes it works fine..

[Ratyrel]

That's why the folder in steamapps is called "common"; the game installs are generally not user-specific