Are you wondering how to transfer your game or program to popular distribution platforms and you got lost in the maze of options? Not every application supports this feature, but there are ways in which we can transfer our entire library without having to download titles again.
Contents
Faster internet connections and increasing gaming demands. Downloading the entire library from scratch is a nightmare
Technology does not stand still and we download games and programs at an increasing speed. It is influenced by, among others the dynamic development of the fiber-optic network , the growing popularity of the Wi-Fi 6 standard and the implementation of 5G connectivity by operators who are constantly working to provide greater and greater coverage.
Unfortunately, with the speed of the games, the requirements for disk space increase. Today’s realities are quite brutal for people who have only one hard drive with a small capacity. Titles of 100 GB and more are not surprising, and among the high-profile items, it is enough to mention Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (231 GB), Microsoft Flight Simulator (127 GB) or Red Dead Redemption 2 (116 GB).
More and more large productions use very high resolution textures and photogrammetry , which is to be the next technological milestone (after recording actors to animate and reproduce the movements of the human body). Instead of creating models from scratch, a digital version of a real three-dimensional object is created by measuring and recreating shapes using photos .
New imaging techniques translate into an increased demand for disk space. Needless to say, the larger our library of titles is, the more difficult it is to manage this space.
Sometimes we have to move games and programs to a new, more sensible location and this is where the problem arises – how to do it? Each platform has different rules in this matter and unfortunately not all of them natively support this function.
How do I transfer my game to Steam?
The largest game distribution platform solved the issue of porting and installing games in a very intuitive way. After launching the application, click in the upper left corner and expand the Steam menu , then select the Settings option and the Download tab . At the top you will find the Steam Library Folders button , which will launch the Memory Manager :
In the memory manager window we will see previously added library folders with games and programs and the disks on which they are located. Navigation is done by the arrows in the upper right corner of the screen, and adding a new folder is possible using the + icon located just below them.
After selecting the appropriate item, just press the large Move button in the lower right corner of the window:
How do I transfer my game to the Epic Games Store?
Unfortunately, things get a bit more complicated with the Epic Games Store . While the feature for changing the location of game files is not officially supported, there is a trick that will allow us to transfer the data correctly.
First, we need to find the game folder we want to move (the default path is C: \ Program Files \ Epic Games \ ). After finding a specific title, we copy its content to the destination and rename it to something else, e.g. D: \ Epic Games \ Metro Exodus Copy .
In the next step, go to the Epic client, click on the three dots and select the Uninstall option :
After removing the game, start the installation by selecting the target path, but do not choose the folder with the note Copy (we do not want the installer to overwrite the previously copied files). Based on our example, it’s just going to be D: \ Epic Games \ Metro Exodus . As soon as the download starts, we cancel the process by clicking the x button :
Now in the file explorer we remove the new folder with the name without the note, and change the name of the previously copied folder with the note from D: \ Epic Games \ Metro Exodus Copy to D: \ Epic Games \ Metro Exodus . After returning to the application and resuming the download, the client will verify the files and display the game in the library, marking it as installed – without downloading the files.
How to transfer the game to the GOG platform?
The process of transferring games is similar on the GOG.com platform, although here we will not even have to start or cancel the download.
We’re interested in the options icon next to the purple Play button on the game card. After expanding the menu, click on Manage Installation and select Show Folder .
In the file explorer, we go one level higher and copy the entire folder with the game to a new location. When the copying process is complete, we display the Manage Installation menu again and this time we select Uninstall .
In the next step, all you have to do is start the installation and select the folder to which we copied the files earlier – the program will recognize the data in it and, after verification, it will allow us to play.
How do I transfer my game to Origin?
With Electronic Arts software, everything happens automatically. All you need to do is log in to your account, view the card of the game and click on the gear icon (next to the Play button ). From the expanded menu, select the Move game option :
The default location of the Origin games library and the path for the installation files themselves will be defined after displaying the Origin menu in the upper left corner and going to the Application Settings . The tab we’re looking for is Installations and Saved Game :
Read Also: Review of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti video card: testing performance and games
How do I transfer the game to the Ubisoft Connect platform?
Ubisoft’s launcher in operation resembles the GOG platform. We display the card of the game we are interested in, select the Game properties option and click on Open folder :
In the file explorer, go one level up and copy the game folder to a new location. After completing the process, go back to the Game Properties tab and this time select Uninstall .
The appearance of the game card will change. In the last step, just click on the previously invisible option Find installed game and select the folder to which we copied the files:
About Post Author
