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Aver: ...Anyone knows how to fix it? I've tried to contact Steam support, but after they sent me few 'basic' answers, they stopped replying to me.
A well written software shouldn't do this. But I also never had such problem, neither with Steam nor with any other kind of thing. I would demand either a fix from Steam or a refund. They are effectively stealing your time (and money).
Post edited July 02, 2013 by Trilarion
Funny, I've had this same problem for a while now, mostly with Source Engine games (Half-Life, Dark Messiah) but also with a couple of others such as Binding of Isaac. I suspect in the case of the Source Engine games, it's related to the updates of the Source Engine runtime.

Never really bothered me like that though and I just chalked it up to one of Steam's many glitches. Either I reinstalled from my backup when I had a slower connection or I redownloaded.
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Arghmage: As already pointed out this is not the steam support forum.

But if this happens again, try to use the option "check local files". Most of the time the check will be quick and maybe only a few MB are missing/altered.
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ChrisSD: Would Steam's forum be more helpful then GOG's for this, maybe?
Spend a little more time on these forums than your reps would suggest and you'll learn that this forum is for more than just GOG stuff.
Post edited July 02, 2013 by jamyskis
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ChrisSD: Would Steam's forum be more helpful then GOG's for this, maybe?
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jamyskis: Spend a little more time on these forums than your reps would suggest and you'll learn that this forum is for more than just GOG stuff.
Aye I'm aware of that. I just thought that Steam places would be better for Steam support. But I've been told that the steam forums aren't very good so GOG members use this forum for Steam support instead. Which makes sense.
When I'm not actively installing/updating a game or the Steam client itself I lock Steam in offline mode with the steam.cfg method. This is great for setting up a known working state; games that are working when you set the offline mode stay working (Steam can't see any pending updates).

I'm not sure how well Valve's multiplayer games work in offline mode but anything that doesn't use Valve's multiplayer system will be fully functional.
Post edited July 02, 2013 by Arkose
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Arghmage: But if this happens again, try to use the option "check local files". Most of the time the check will be quick and maybe only a few MB are missing/altered.
Another good idea is to test your HDD
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Arghmage: As already pointed out this is not the steam support forum.

But if this happens again, try to use the option "check local files". Most of the time the check will be quick and maybe only a few MB are missing/altered.
I checked Steam forums and there are plenty threads about this issue and nobody found solution yet. Steam support don't know how to fix it either.

I can't check local files because such option is unavailable for games that are not installed and when this problem occurs, Steam consider those games uninstalled even tho files are on the disc.

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Rebel44: Another good idea is to test your HDD
My hard drive is fine. I bought a new one recently and this problem still occur just as on old one. I don't have problem with anything else, all programs, files, OS, games and other clients (Desura, Origin, Uplay) work perfectly fine.
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Aver: I have problem with Steam. From time to time it insists that game that I've installed and played already, is not really installed when I'm trying to launch it. It's rare, but it's extremely annoying when it happens. I always check if games files are really on HD and they always are, but it seems that Steam can't see them. Sometimes restarting Steam helps, but sometimes not and then I'm forced to reinstall whole game which takes 45min - 1h of time and if it was prearranged multiplayer game session with friends, then it forces us to cancel it, so it's a big deal for me. Yesterday it also happened to my friend, so it seems that it's not a problem with my PC.

Anyone knows how to fix it? I've tried to contact Steam support, but after they sent me few 'basic' answers, they stopped replying to me.
Some months ago I managed to get in touch with a real, live, competent Valve rep via email who wasn't just re-pasting stuff from their FAQ. Your problem sounds a little like the one I had, so I'll offer the answer I was given:

A good while ago, Steam began to change the way their games are stored on your computer. It's considered an optimization, and the client generally can compress your files and download what's necessary without you being very aware of it. There are some cases where the Steam client can't, and those cases seem to be less about what you're running as a user, and more about how the various hops getting traffic to you manage that traffic.

The answer made sense given where I was at the time and how awful my internet connectivity was. It's strange to me that near two years after they started their file format change that games are still throwing up all over everything, but it's somewhat plausible. The fix for me was to just suck it up and remove and reinstall the games I really wanted to play. But if I had it to do over again, I'd back up the game data locally, remove the game from the steam client, restart the computer (and also thus the Steam client), and recover the game data in the hopes of not having to redownload the whole mess. If you've got good broadband, though, you could set it to run overnight and it wouldn't be a problem.
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carnival73: Which games does this happen in?
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FreedomWings: It has been a few over a few years.

Dark Messiah might and magic multiplayer
Shank
I think portal
One or more of the Half life 2 bits, that is HL2, Episode 1, or Ep2.
The Ball
I think Serious Sam classis TFE
I am pretty sure it happened with Red faction 1 or 2

I don't think it has happened with Team Fortress 2.

I know for sure it has never happened with Oblivion or Unreal tournament 3.

Aver and I seem to be in the same boat.

Also if you want to know my HDD is a Western Digital caviar black 1TB 7200RPM.
They are rolling out a new feature called steampipe , This might have something to do with your games
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7388-QPFN-2491
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Licurg: Stop using Steam - problem solved.
Absolutely Licurg! This is what i planning to do. But then how we can play the Steam-only games?
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grinninglich: Absolutely Licurg! This is what i planning to do. But then how we can play the Steam-only games?
You get them DRM-free from thepiratebay or similar sites. Ideally, every time you pirate a game, send the publisher an e-mail and tell him "I wanted to buy your game, but because of your idiot DRM I pirated it". If we'd all do that, then we'd finally get rid of this DRM situation...
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grinninglich: Absolutely Licurg! This is what i planning to do. But then how we can play the Steam-only games?
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Licurg: You get them DRM-free from thepiratebay or similar sites. Ideally, every time you pirate a game, send the publisher an e-mail and tell him "I wanted to buy your game, but because of your idiot DRM I pirated it". If we'd all do that, then we'd finally get rid of this DRM situation...
Have you ever done this? Are they replying? =)
Post edited July 02, 2013 by grinninglich
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grinninglich: Have you ever done this? Are the replying? =)
Not yet. But that's just because I don't play steam-only games, because my PC can't run any of them :/ But first thing when I get a new PC, I'm e-mailing Sega and telling them that I pirated Shogun 2 :D
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grinninglich: Have you ever done this? Are the replying? =)
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Licurg: Not yet. But that's just because I don't play steam-only games, because my PC can't run any of them :/ But first thing when I get a new PC, I'm e-mailing Sega and telling them that I pirated Shogun 2 :D
Lol!

And if you feel guilty and want to go the legitimate route, you can purchase a broken game on Steam and then liberate it from and fix it with a nocd patch.
That sounds very risky there. I think it would be better to do what I have seen others do, thats is buy the game and then download a pirate copy. Then you can email them. Other wise they may sue you, ofcourse they could sue you either way but they can't prove damages if you bought it first.

I have read a good number of forum posts of people doing this for all Assassin's Creed games post the first one.
Post edited July 03, 2013 by FreedomWings