Big Picture Mode Doesn't Handle Multiple Libraries

steamclosed Big Picturereviewed

ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#4057 · opened 2015-10-10 by voice06 · updated 2025-07-05 · 4 comments · github

Vvoice06 2015-10-10 github

Steam Big Picture Mode does not appear to let me select which Steam Library to download to on my system which has multiple drives due to it also being used as a DVR. Here is the output from lsblk showing it's current drive layout:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0  59.6G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0  55.6G  0 part /
├─sda2   8:2    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0     4G  0 part [SWAP]
sdb      8:16   0   1.8T  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   0   1.8T  0 part /dvr
sdc      8:32   0   1.8T  0 disk /steamgames

So obviously I want to use sdc since that drive was specifically added to hold any games I download from Steam. When I am in desktop mode this is not a problem as Steam provides a dropdown list that shows the Steam Library on that drive and I can select it. However when I go in to Big Picture Mode it defaults to the one Steam initially set up on the system which is on sda and as you can see from the lsblk output, sda is rather small. Is it possible to set up Big Picture Mode so that when INSTALL is highlighted one of the options that shows on the bottom of the screen is "Advanced" and selecting that will bring up options including selecting a Steam Library to install to?

Mmdeguzis 2015-12-16 github

Have you checked the beta client lately? The desktop client standard mode will respect multiple paths now. When you return to BPM (having > 1 path configured), you will see that in disk management.

MMrChaos1993 2018-01-28 github

another way is change .local/share/Steam/config/config.vdf file
you need add

"BaseInstallFolder_1" "/steamgames"

"BaseInstallFolder_2" "/dvr"

in "InstallConfigStore"->"Software"->"Valve"->"Steam" section
if your steam installed in /

MManagor 2025-05-26 github

The new big picture mode has options to select which library you want to download a game to.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2025-07-05 github

Closing per the last comment.

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