Easily Learn How to Copy DOTA 2 from Another PC

Trying to figure out how to make a copied Dota 2 from another PC work? Which ultimately is the reason why you visit this page. In this article, we will discuss different ways about how to copy Dota 2 from another PC other than the conventional Steam Back-up method.

Dota 2 is one of the biggest title that most gamer play nowadays along with international competitions that professional players participate in to win millions of prizes and as day passes by, technology evolves and so do games.

Valve have introduced a new platform source for Dota 2 which is called “Dota 2 Reborn”. This Reborn client started off as a 7 GB optional update for Dota 2 players. This new client comes with the new Source 2 engine, Valve’s latest game development platform. This means that ongoing development in the new engine will continue to improve Dota 2. Source 2 includes technology for rendering improvements, performance optimizations, higher fidelity content, and richer, more dynamic games.

If you have been playing Dota 2, you pretty much have seen the Dota 2 Reborn Beta Icon that you can find within the usual Dota 2 in-game UI.

But enough of that introduction about the Reborn beta, we know what you came here for. You’re probably one of those people that plays Dota 2 but subscribed to the shittiest Internet Service Provider because you live in a 3rd world country where everything is expensive like hell or your ISP is imposing some daily data cap that prevents your to download that whopping 7 GB file size which can approximately take you 2 weeks to complete without shutting your PC off.

Well, to add more to it, Valve just released a 5.8 GB update for reborn last September 3, 2015. Making the Reborn client file size to hit 10 GB and up. Moreover, Valve will soon impose a mandatory installation of Reborn client in the near future because they will be leaving the Source 1 soon and move to the new and much better Reborn client.

Worry not, there’s this one way you can get the Reborn client without going through the hassle of downloading so much data and that is to copy the whole Dota 2 folder from a friend who already enjoys the Reborn client. However, it is not as easy as copy and paste. Your Steam client would probably recognize the old Dota 2 content but it will not acknowledge that you already have the necessary data you need to play Dota 2.

There are 2 methods to make things go smoothly after copy pasting the Dota 2 Reborn that you copied from another PC. Here’s how to copy Dota 2:

Methods to Copy DOTA 2

Method 1

1. From the PC where you are about to get a Reborn Copy; look for the file location of that PCs Steam then go to SteamApps -> Common -> Dota 2 Beta, open the Dota 2 Beta folder.
2. Copy the Game folder and Content (Note: In some cases, some of you might not see the Content folder, if this happened just copy the game folder instead.)
3. Paste the copied folder/s to the location of your Dota 2 Beta. Make sure you paste the copied content inside the Dota 2 Beta folder of your PC.
4. Next, from your friends PC, copy the appmanifest570.acf. You can find this acf file inside the SteamApps folder and paste it to the same directory of your PC.
5. Log in to your Steam account on your PC and let Steam validate Dota 2.

Method 2

1. From your friends PC, locate the Dota 2 Beta folder and copy the whole folder.
2. Delete Dota 2 from your PC via Steam. To do this, right click on your Dota 2 within the Steam library and click Delete Local Content. Make sure that your Dota 2 is fully uninstalled.
3. Paste the copied Dota 2 Beta folder to your PC and make sure that it replaces your PCs current Dota 2 Folder (If the folder is still present).
4. On your PC, install Dota 2. Let Steam do its thing. It will recognize the Dota 2 Beta you’ve just pasted.
5. Once the installation of Dota 2 is complete, run the game. Once you are inside the Dota 2 in-game UI, click pre-load Reborn and let it run for a few seconds.
6. After letting the pre-load run for a few seconds, close the Dota 2 game. This will make the Steam run validate the Reborn client.
7. Let the Steam validate the file, it will try to show a download for Dota 2 worth 6 to 8 GB but it will now download anything at all. It will just show that it is downloading and within a few seconds, you are done. You can now play Dota 2 Reborn.

I have opted to Method 2 since I did forgot to copy the manifest.acf file from my friends PC. Regardless of which method you go, we have verified that both methods work. Thank to our filthy rich friends who can afford fast internet plans.

Editor’s Notes: DOTA 2 has evolved significantly overtime and with the latest 2021 patch, has significantly improved. This includes Steam’s own handling of files. Steam in 2021 can now scan its install directories and look for partial or full installations so you can just copy DOTA 2 off a friend’s hard drive or another PC and drop it on your Steam Library folder or your Steam apps folder and you’re good.

DOTA 2 is one of our favorite games is we use it heavily on our GPU benchmarks