This bugs me also, ever since my first days on steam, when I didn't have many paid games.
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I wish there was a proper solution. What I do is review them and then I can just look at my reviews to find them again.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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sadly the only existing solution seems to be right now is to have a paid or free dlc for said f2p game (if there is any, which makes it so that genuinely f2p games with no microtransaction or DLC content just wont stay in your library).
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Not entirely, some F2P titles can still be activated by keys. Relic Hunters Zero, Grimm and Life is Strange being examples. Keys are also common for betas for F2P games which then stay in your library after release, a recent example being Pixel Puzzles: Ultimate.
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Microtransactions aren't working either, if you do an ingame purchase with steam wallet on a f2p game it won't count as buying a DLC and the game will still be gone when uninstalling, the only solution is to buy DLC but a lot of f2p games do not have DLC
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Yeah, it's annoying as hell. Another 'workaround' is to mark them by following them through clicking the corresponding button on their store page.
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But when you uninstall them they go away, don't they?
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They vanish from your library, yes, but you still follow them. At least like that you got them listed somewhere in a rather convenient way. Isn't perfect, I know. But Zetikla is right, only way to keep them in your lib is through owning a DLC.
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Micro Transactions by themselves do not always work, or at least not permanently in all cases. I used to play Dungeons & Dragons Online® & had even done a few different micro transactions inside the game. However they (at the time several years ago) did not checkout thru steam wallet, so steam has no record of micro transactions. I would imagine that in most cases that the micro transaction does process thru the steam wallet, it would though. On that game however, after i removed it, it did linger around in my account list for approximately 2-3months before it finally vanished from my library. I do not know what caused that "linger" though.
on the other hand DC Universe Online is still in my library almost 2years after playing it due to micro transactions & dlc purchases that did process thru steam wallet. (◑‿◐)
tl;dr / point being: in order to retain the f2p game in your library via micro transactions, the transactions themselves need to be processed thru steam wallet checkout.
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If you manually delete the files (and not click Uninstall) you can save the hard disk space for another game while keeping it in the library.
And if you want to play it again, make Steam have an integrity check to redownload the deleted files.
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You could also patch packageinfo.vdf, changing your packages billingtype from 12 to 0, Someone has written tool to do it. This way Steam thinks that you do have non-F2P version. Haven't tried.
You'd think it would make sense with removal feature to allow F2P show. But no.
Anyways it doesn't bother me that much.
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Welp.
Some asshole went around and downvoted every one of my reviews, what the fuck did I do?
There are really shitty reviews and mine get downvoted... Why do I bother putting effort into it and try to make reviews which actually help people if some vindictive anonymous dick head can just take their visibility away.
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so i just now got th'urge to try and figure how to do this and found this post:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/100pAG/discussions/1/616189106442781236/
it is by no means a fix, but it is something... pardon if this is deemed a useless thread, but i thought i should mention it
you could also just review the games and be able to find them from there: thanks Avantyr
as Skibby points out, Following a f2p game and then uninstalling it does nothing to retain it in library.
neither does reviewing them, actually, but both do leave some kind of log for you to (maybe) be able to track them.
yep, what Zetikla said - a paid DLC / microtransaction is
th'only legit wayto keep a f2p game in library after deletion.heed d3m4n's words regarding those microtransactions:
Steam is finnicky about retaining due to what service you pay through.
if by some means other'n Steam wallet, it is not guaranteed to persist.
thanks EggShen! yes, forgot that redeeming keys (from elsewhere) also ensures their place; there are also cases
such as that of ORION: Prelude, which was a paid game at one point and is now f2p- will forever be in library for those who bought them back then.way to make me look like an ass TREK Industries, eff off; checkit
to be sure, there are actual cases like this without back-peddling devs, i think Defiance and Evolve are some others
huh, interesting: cabfe says you can trick Steam by manually deleting all files without actually uninstalling, to Verify Integrity of Cache when you want to play it again. neat!
if using cabfe's method, be sure to disable Auto-Updates - thanks Omicron666
madjoki speaks too technically for me, but did link this what apparently tricks Steam into thinking the game isn't f2p and thus remains in library
i edit the description so as to not bump my own topic; it is up to the community to decide if and when to bump this
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