Steam error on run

[LightBrigade]

Hi,

Anyone else getting this error?

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/614/screenshot20100512at204.png

Disk Utility reports disk is formatted:
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)

Any clues on how to fix?

[robodude666]

Wait and see if Valve will fix this error. Otherwise, reinstall OS X to just "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)" with no case-sensitivity enabled... Unless you need it for particular unix tools.

[DerrickG]

Steam does not support case sensitive file systems. You can read the support FAQ here (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8601-RYPX-5789).


You will need to reinstall Steam on a hard drive that does not have a case sensitive file system or a different partition.

[docmach]

If you create a disk image and symlink the appropriate directories onto it then you can at least launch steam and log in. I haven't finished downloading any games yet but I don't see any reason for them not to work.

[LightBrigade]

Thanks for the workaround, docmach.

[mazedlx]

i've tried installing steam to an external hdd, formatted case-insensitive, and created a symlink from user/me/applicaion supprt/steam to the external hdd, but still no luck, getting ao support/steam needs to be on case-insensitive file-system. any suggestions?

[CaseSensitive]

Steam is installed on a case-insensitive partition or hard drive <---- this one is easy
Your User folder is installed on a case-insensitive partition or hard drive <--- This one is unacceptable.

[LightBrigade]

docmach - I've installed Braid and Osmos to a disk image with the two directories symlinked across, and both work absolutely fine. Not tried any Valve games, my old Macbook graphics might not be too happy!

For others - I created a disk image* called "Steam", stuck the .app in there, then created two folders in the mounted disk image (obviously the image needs to be mounted for any of this to work) - the first called "Library", the second "Steam Content". I then executed the two following commands in the terminal to link the directories to the places Steam requires to be case-insensitive:

ln -s /Volumes/Steam/Library /Users/username/Library/Application\ Support/Steam
ln -s /Volumes/Steam/Steam\ Content /Users/username/Documents/Steam\ Content

Then I started Steam from the .app in the disk image (you could always drag and drop a shortcut/alias to Applications), and it worked!

A moderate amount of hassle, but better than the Valve fix (?!) of reinstalling OS X.

* Any disk image formatted as HFS/HFS+ without case sensitivity should work, personally I created a 10GB sparsebundle image to only use the space I needed.

[weareape]

could you please explain how to do this for someone a little less familiar with macs os?

[LightBrigade]

weareape:

Firstly, you need to create a disk image (a file on your computer that Mac OS will use as an entire disk). Open up disk utility, select File -> New -> Blank Disk image, and go from there - the help is pretty decent at explaining the different options. Make it big enough to store Steam and any applications you want to install on it. Call this "Steam" as I did, and my above post will work without more modification.

The .app bundle I referred to is the Steam application that is contained within the steam.dmg (another disk image) file that you downloaded from this site.

Obviously, you need to replace username with your own username. If you don't know what that is, executing "ls /Users/" from the terminal will output the directories here - your username will be one of those entries.

Hope this helps.