# storing games on NAS/network drive?



## Jimbags

bump


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## tycoonbob

To answer the following question:
"Is it possible to install games on a NAS"

The answer is yes. However, it's not like what you think it is. Basically, you would create an iSCIS Target on your NAS, and connect that to your PC which will then show up as a secondary drive. That will do nothing but give you more space. From the sounds of it, you want to install a game on your NAS and use the resources (CPU, RAM, and GPU) of the NAS to play a game on a different computer. There is only one scenario (that I know of) that will allow this, and I seriously doubt it's going to be something that you would be interested in doing, but it's RemoteFX. It would require installing Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V (or VMware, which also has a version of RemoteFX) and create a Virtual Machine on your NAS with the game installed. It would use the GPU on your NAS, but probably wouldn't be worth your trouble.

Installing games on a NAS can be done, but not over wireless. If you are talking about a laptop, don't even bother. Get a better laptop with more recent graphics, or hook up a monitor/keyboard/mouse to your NAS and let her play on that.


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## Jimbags

sorry wasnt more clear... dint wanna use nas resources. i already have it as the network drive for all the pc's in my house. so can i install steam an origin on the network drive will it then act as a local hdd from all pc's? so then she can play it on my sig and utilise the more capable hardware?


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## tycoonbob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Jimbags*
> 
> sorry wasnt more clear... dint wanna use nas resources. i already have it as the network drive for all the pc's in my house. so can i install steam an origin on the network drive will it then act as a local hdd from all pc's? so then she can play it on my sig and utilise the more capable hardware?


You can't install software with a UNC path, aka mapped drive.


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## BorisTheSpider

Yeah, map a drive and install there. If you've already got origin/steam games on the laptop itself, use steam mover to create symbolic links to the games that are on the NAS (so they look like they're actually in C:\whatever). It'll be OK over gigabit, but wireless probably will be too slow.


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## Jimbags

so i can store the games on there. but cant actuslly run steam app itself on a mapped network drive. so run steam on whatever pc but have nas as storage for game folders? should work?


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## parityboy

*@OP*

Theoretically if you set up a G:\ drive or something on your NAS, there's no reason why you couldn't install Steam there unless there's something in Steam that's hard coded.


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## BorisTheSpider

You could run steam straight off the share (install it there), indeed unless you use symlinks (steam mover) to move the games, you'll have to, since by default they are in c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common.

Alternatively, you could put steam on c:\ (install it on each separate machine, settings and saved games should sync via steam cloud) then symlink steamapps\common so it points to somewhere on the NAS, so that way steam is on the machine itself, the games are on the network.

If you do option 1, you'll just have to install from both machines (to set up the registry entries and create the start menu shortcuts to steam) allowing the second one to overwrite the steam files on the NAS, the first one will still work.

You'll then have to click "install" for the game on one machine, let it download all the game files and put them on the NAS, then once it's finished, click "install" on the second machine and that will find the existing files and won't redownload them, it'll just set up registry entries on the second machine and create start menu links to the game.

I think you should probably avoid uninstalling steam on either machine at any point, since doing so might well remove the (big) downloaded game files, meaning they would need redownloading.


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## driftingforlife

I wanted to do this, will try it later.


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## Jimbags

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *driftingforlife*
> 
> I wanted to do this, will try it later.


please let me know how you go?


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## cslayer211

I've always thought about trying this too. The idea of remotely running games is cool. The only problem is a typical network environment is 1 Gbps, where as an HDMI transmitting the video to a monitor is 10.2 Gbps. So, my guess is that there would be a lot of lag or reduced video quality.

Then again, this reminds me of of OnLive which streams games to people. You don't even need a very fast internet connection to use the service. Maybe the methods talked about here are completely different to the what they use, but either way I'm curious about it.


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## Jimbags

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cslayer211*
> 
> I've always thought about trying this too. The idea of remotely running games is cool. The only problem is a typical network environment is 1 Gbps, where as an HDMI transmitting the video to a monitor is 10.2 Gbps. So, my guess is that there would be a lot of lag or reduced video quality.
> 
> Then again, this reminds me of of OnLive which streams games to people. You don't even need a very fast internet connection to use the service. Maybe the methods talked about here are completely different to the what they use, but either way I'm curious about it.


yeah true. just in this day alot of people haveore than 1 pc so the ability to play on different rigs depending on hardware requirements or just because would be great! although now i realise my wife can play simcity on any pc as long as the game is installed along with being logged into origin.. now my pc has been taken over due to being much more capable. time to save for a new laptop for the wife







.

another thing why is there no faster tjan gigabit for home use? surely companies could make fibre capable routers/switches in homes? btw typing on my S2 4G so sorry bout grammar and stuff


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## driftingforlife

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cslayer211*
> 
> I've always thought about trying this too. The idea of remotely running games is cool. The only problem is a typical network environment is 1 Gbps, where as an HDMI transmitting the video to a monitor is 10.2 Gbps. So, my guess is that there would be a lot of lag or reduced video quality.
> 
> Then again, this reminds me of of OnLive which streams games to people. You don't even need a very fast internet connection to use the service. Maybe the methods talked about here are completely different to the what they use, but either way I'm curious about it.


I think you have mis-understood. The idea is to use the NAS as a HDD, so you install a steam game on it and point steam on all you other devices to the game folder so they all load from that meaning you don't need space on the client devises. The speed depends on how the NAS is set-up and the 120MB/s limit of 1Gb which is the same as running one HDD in you rig for you steam games, the difference is the access time.


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## tycoonbob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *driftingforlife*
> 
> I think you have mis-understood. The idea is to use the NAS as a HDD, so you install a steam game on it and point steam on all you other devices to the game folder so they all load from that meaning you don't need space on the client devises. The speed depends on how the NAS is set-up and the 120MB/s limit of 1Gb which is the same as running one HDD in you rig for you steam games, the difference is the access time.


Does Steam have the ability to share the install directory with multiple PCs like that? I know most applications can't do that, so I would be surprised if Steam can. The only benefit you will get is the ability to save some space on your PC...that is it.

EDIT:
So after not hearing your results about trying this (guess you hadn't got around to it), I created a shared folder on one of my other boxes. Made the share wide open (sharing and security permissions wise), and mapped that share on my PC as drive letter S:. My PC is running Windows 8, and the remote network share is running Server 2012.

I uninstalled Steam, and was going to reinstall it, and here is what happened:


As you can see, Steam cannot be installed on a Network Drive, nor a floppy or CD-ROM drive. This makes complete and total sense, just like I thought. You CANNOT install steam on a network share. As I previous said in Post #5...

"You can't install software with a UNC path, aka mapped drive."

This may not be the case with all software, but it's definitely the case here. The only way you can "install software on a NAS, or network storage resource" is by using an iSCSI Target, which will only benefit you if you are tight on space on your PC. Two PCs can't share a normal, standard install directory. If you are thinking about iSCSI over wireless, it's going to be more trouble than it's worth if you can even get it to work.


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## driftingforlife

I have no idea, I will find out


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## SamKook

You can manually choose multiple installation dir for the games in steam so pointing it or one of them to a shared drive from more than one installation shouldn't be a problem as long as the base steam software is installed on all machines.
Unless it locks the files for some reason and you want to play the same game on more than one pc at the same time but I would be very surprised if it did.

I never tried it personally though since I bought an ssd to make loading faster so having the games data files on a network share would pretty much defeat the purpose.


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## tycoonbob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SamKook*
> 
> You can manually choose multiple installation dir for the games in steam so pointing it or one of them to a shared drive from more than one installation shouldn't be a problem as long as the base steam software is installed on all machines.
> Unless it locks the files for some reason and you want to play the same game on more than one pc at the same time but I would be very surprised if it did.
> 
> I never tried it personally though since I bought an ssd to make loading faster so having the games data files on a network share would pretty much defeat the purpose.


I see what you are saying. I am going to test that with installing to a shared drive, which I just don't think will work. If it does allow me to install a GAME to a network share, while having the Steam software on MY PC, I will be really surprised.

Sharing game install files just seem to me like it would be a hit in performance, and could possibly lock certain files in certain conditions, but I don't know. I don't game nearly as much as I used to.

EDIT:
Well well, I was able to add a mapped drive as a SteamLibrary. I am now installing DiRT 3 to that Library, and it's currently in the process of downloading (6.3MB/s -- Will take a few minutes). Once it finished downloading, we will see if it installs on that Library and if I can run the game from there.

EDIT 2:
I found a post on the Steam forums, where a guy managed to install the client and move it to a mapped drive, meaning he had the client installed on a network drive. He ran into several issues with certain games, and updates so it was best to keep the client installed locally and use a Mapped drive for your SteamLibrary. According to him, concurrent access to the same game from two Steam Clients, generally did not work. Performance was not an issue in his case as he had 10 drives set up in a RAID array.
Something he mentioned that I did not think about was running different operating systems (Windows 7 on one PC and Windows 8 on another, accessing the same SteamLibrary on a network share). Some games cache OS specific binaries, which will cause problems if doing something in this scenario. He had to run validation on a game install before he could play it, basically.

So in short...Steam cannot be installed on a mapped drive, but once installed locally you can move the install directory to a mapped drive (not supported or recommended). SteamLibraries can be set up on a network share and games can be installed there. Performance should be just fine over a gigabit link. Sharing a game install directory between two Steam client may work, but will likely cause issues.

Something else to mention is speeds. Gigabit speed comes to around 120MBps, maybe less depending on quality of networking equipment (cables, switch, router, NICs, etc) and overhead. A single drive locally can achieve almost double that performance, if it's a more recent drive (i.e. Toshiba DT01ACA300 is what I am using, and basing my results on). Even though a single drive can reach that speed, it doesn't mean the game would use all of that speed. Lets also keep in mind that that speed is for sequential/linear reads and writes. Play a game is very very very VERY unlikely to have many sequential reads, so IOPS is what really matters. A 7200 RPM spindle drive probably gets anywhere from 80-120 IOPS.
** IOPS are Input/Output Operationgs per Second, aka random read and writes. These are usually done in 4Kb sections. This means a drive with 100 IOPS can read (or write) 100 4Kb sections a second, or 400Kbps in speeds. When thinking about this logically over a network, games should play just fine without a problem. If you have a RAID array with 10 drives, you will have more around 800-1200 IOPS, meaning your performance is much higher than that of a single disk. So it's important to know the different between seq and random read/writes, and when each come into play.

I guess the answer is you CAN install GAMES to a SteamLibrary on a mapped drive, but can't share them without causing problems. Very interesting, but makes sense.


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## Jimbags

whoa thanks guys ive been way to busy to try this out but thanks so much rep+ for your time


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## Marc05

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *tycoonbob*
> 
> I see what you are saying. I am going to test that with installing to a shared drive, which I just don't think will work. If it does allow me to install a GAME to a network share, while having the Steam software on MY PC, I will be really surprised.
> 
> Sharing game install files just seem to me like it would be a hit in performance, and could possibly lock certain files in certain conditions, but I don't know. I don't game nearly as much as I used to.
> 
> EDIT:
> Well well, I was able to add a mapped drive as a SteamLibrary. I am now installing DiRT 3 to that Library, and it's currently in the process of downloading (6.3MB/s -- Will take a few minutes). Once it finished downloading, we will see if it installs on that Library and if I can run the game from there.
> 
> EDIT 2:
> I found a post on the Steam forums, where a guy managed to install the client and move it to a mapped drive, meaning he had the client installed on a network drive. He ran into several issues with certain games, and updates so it was best to keep the client installed locally and use a Mapped drive for your SteamLibrary. According to him, concurrent access to the same game from two Steam Clients, generally did not work. Performance was not an issue in his case as he had 10 drives set up in a RAID array.
> Something he mentioned that I did not think about was running different operating systems (Windows 7 on one PC and Windows 8 on another, accessing the same SteamLibrary on a network share). Some games cache OS specific binaries, which will cause problems if doing something in this scenario. He had to run validation on a game install before he could play it, basically.
> 
> So in short...Steam cannot be installed on a mapped drive, but once installed locally you can move the install directory to a mapped drive (not supported or recommended). SteamLibraries can be set up on a network share and games can be installed there. Performance should be just fine over a gigabit link. Sharing a game install directory between two Steam client may work, but will likely cause issues.
> 
> Something else to mention is speeds. Gigabit speed comes to around 120MBps, maybe less depending on quality of networking equipment (cables, switch, router, NICs, etc) and overhead. A single drive locally can achieve almost double that performance, if it's a more recent drive (i.e. Toshiba DT01ACA300 is what I am using, and basing my results on). Even though a single drive can reach that speed, it doesn't mean the game would use all of that speed. Lets also keep in mind that that speed is for sequential/linear reads and writes. Play a game is very very very VERY unlikely to have many sequential reads, so IOPS is what really matters. A 7200 RPM spindle drive probably gets anywhere from 80-120 IOPS.
> ** IOPS are Input/Output Operationgs per Second, aka random read and writes. These are usually done in 4Kb sections. This means a drive with 100 IOPS can read (or write) 100 4Kb sections a second, or 400Kbps in speeds. When thinking about this logically over a network, games should play just fine without a problem. If you have a RAID array with 10 drives, you will have more around 800-1200 IOPS, meaning your performance is much higher than that of a single disk. So it's important to know the different between seq and random read/writes, and when each come into play.
> 
> I guess the answer is you CAN install GAMES to a SteamLibrary on a mapped drive, but can't share them without causing problems. Very interesting, but makes sense.


I should have googled around before trying things myself. Looks like hosting game servers through a UNC path doesn't work either. I was planning on using an iSCSI drive but apparently that isn't supported on ReFS. Looks like there's no other choice than to host locally... unless maybe offline files can be enabled on a secondary drive and have it sync between network share/local drive. Thanks.


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