# [Guide] Moving/Reinstalling Origin and Games Without Re-Downloading



## Nocturin

This is awesome, make sure to put a link to the guide in your sig. I'm going to use your guide in a couple weeks so subbed!


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## haste266

thanks for the guide. it helped me!

I just did a system restore from an image backup that was two years old, so i'm currently in the process of updating, organizing all my programs again...

bf3 worked automagically after reinstalling and pointing origin to the proper directory for my games, but it didn't want to recognize Batman: AC for some reason. Some googling brought me here.

i started the download as instructed, exited out of origin completely then copied the old game dir into my origin games folder and also copied all the data into the downloads dir. restarted origin and the game came up as 97% complete, close enough! I'm only having to download 500mb...not sure why but its better than the whole 16gb.

thanks op!


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## Novae

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *haste266*
> 
> thanks for the guide. it helped me!
> I just did a system restore from an image backup that was two years old, so i'm currently in the process of updating, organizing all my programs again...
> bf3 worked automagically after reinstalling and pointing origin to the proper directory for my games, but it didn't want to recognize Batman: AC for some reason. Some googling brought me here.
> i started the download as instructed, exited out of origin completely then copied the old game dir into my origin games folder and also copied all the data into the downloads dir. restarted origin and the game came up as 97% complete, close enough! I'm only having to download 500mb...not sure why but its better than the whole 16gb.
> thanks op!


I'm glad someone found a use for this ^_^
Sometimes there are files that need to be redownloaded as they link to that particular Origin install; but usually it works without having to download a thing


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## haste266

Well, it turns out that Origin doesn't like existing data to be reused for the install w/ Batman Arkham City. I tried adding the data manually to the "cache" .zip file in the origin download directory...it detected 16.1gb out of 16.5gb so I let it finish downloading. After it reached the full download amount it just continued downloading and went all the way up to 16.9gb before Origin finally just crashed. I did this twice and got the same results. Having the old Batman data in the origin Games directory doesnt seem to make a difference at all.

Well, decided to try running batman all by itself this morning without Origin, and it worked! haha, screw you EA!


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## MPIXAPP

Thank you! I plan to reformat soon.
This will certainly help me









+rep

*EDIT : Working like a charm for Mass Effect 3







*


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## Detroitsoldier

This guide is really unnecessary now. All you need is Steam Mover and you can move all of your games without having to uninstall/reinstall Origin.


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## MPIXAPP

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Detroitsoldier*
> 
> This guide is really unnecessary now. All you need is Steam Mover and you can move all of your games without having to uninstall/reinstall Origin.


Can you explain that ?








Will it work for Mass Effect 3 ?


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## Novae

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Detroitsoldier*
> 
> This guide is really unnecessary now. All you need is Steam Mover and you can move all of your games without having to uninstall/reinstall Origin.


.... You've completely missed the point of this guide. Steammover creates a link back to the original place, in the OS using "xcopy, rd, and mklink"commands. This data is lost in a reformat (which is what this is for). So I suggest you do your research before posting clearly provocative and incorrect posts; if it was unnecessary then I wouldn't have made it.

And in any case, I posted this as a resource, for people to use if they choose. Its a method that works. If you can do better then be my guest.


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## Detroitsoldier

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MPIXAPP*
> 
> Can you explain that ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Will it work for Mass Effect 3 ?


Basically, Steam Mover just moves all files into a different location. It is used mainly for, you guessed it, Steam games, for when you are moving to different drives.

Yes, it works with Mass Effect 3.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Novae*
> 
> .... You've completely missed the point of this guide. Steammover creates a link back to the original place, in the OS using "xcopy, rd, and mklink"commands. This data is lost in a reformat (which is what this is for). So I suggest you do your research before posting clearly provocative and incorrect posts; if it was unnecessary then I wouldn't have made it.
> And in any case, I posted this as a resource, for people to use if they choose. Its a method that works. If you can do better then be my guest.


I looked at this as a guide on how to move games around without having to re-install them. Did I miss the mark?


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## Novae

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Detroitsoldier*
> 
> Basically, Steam Mover just moves all files into a different location. It is used mainly for, you guessed it, Steam games, for when you are moving to different drives.
> Yes, it works with Mass Effect 3.
> I looked at this as a guide on how to move games around without having to re-install them. Did I miss the mark?


Aye, that you did lol. Read the title, the re-installing part is pretty key.
Also, it works for any folders, as I'm aware, so if you point it to your C:\Program Files\OriginGames it should pick up your origin games. The best way? Have two steammover exes in different folders, name one originmover and use the other for steam. win-win.
Its also worth noting that steammover creates a virtual link within windows, not just moves it (though it does that too). So if you reinstall windows, steam wont pick it up unless you move it back to its original drive.


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## Rayleyne

Granted this may be considered necro'ing I found this very helpful with a reinstall i just did, Thank you.


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## Savre

After the recent update this no longer works for me. I get "download failed" instead of jumping to 99% and then completing like it used to. I get Error 131079:6. This has become really frustrating as none of my Origin games work now except for BF3. It seems my post re-format install-work flow has hit a snag. Anyone know how to resolve this problem?


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## narutosage10106

Quote:


> I get Error 131079:6.


*I also get that error and i don't know what the hell to do. I hate EA and there dumb idea of not including a back-up feature in Origin like Valves' steam.*


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## Skoobs

sometimes you have to let the game finish doing its thing, then right click it and select "repair install"

i just used this method a couple days ago. worked perfectly. on games that were already fully updated as well as outdated games.


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## narutosage10106

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Skoobs*
> 
> sometimes you have to let the game finish doing its thing, then right click it and select "repair install"
> i just used this method a couple days ago. worked perfectly. on games that were already fully updated as well as outdated games.


*Ummm is it possible you could show a screenshot of that perhaps?*


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## narutosage10106

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Novae*
> 
> Hey All!
> Recently, my PC has been playing up, and so I found myself having to do a number of reformats; which of course meant I needed to reinstall all of my applications, including Origin.
> After searching there was only one such guide on how to reinstall/move origin and its games without redownloading the games, but unfortunately it actually only works for a few games, with the majority "ready to install" looping (where clicking on the install button does nothing and just loops it back) or giving an "1624" error code.
> After fiddling around myself, Ive found out how to do this properly without having to fiddle with registry settings or using the "eainstall.exe" (which invariably doesn't work)
> =========================================================================
> This guide applies to :
> - Moving Origin and Its Games From One Drive to Another.
> - Reinstalling Origin after a windows reinstall.
> - Reinstalling Origin on a secondary/external hard drive
> - Fixing any install issues regarding "error code 1624" or "Ready To Install" Looping.
> 
> ========================================================================
> Step By Step Guide Below
> This is written with the assumption you want to reinstall origin after a windows reinstall, however it works for all of the above scenarios.
> 
> 1. Find your Origin Games install folder. This is found under Gear Button > Settings > Downloaded Games.For most users, this will be "C:\Program Files\Origin Games"
> 
> 2. Close down Origin (if its open), Navigate to the folder, and back up all of the game installs In the folder you will find subfolders that are named after all of your games (i.e. "Battlefield 3" ) - copy or move these to the desktop (or another easy to find place) - this may take a while depending on your setup, my games were ~60gb.
> 3. Uninstall/Delete current Origin install. You'll then need to get rid of your current origin setup. If you're moving from one drive to another, you'll need to first uninstall origin, then delete its install folder. Make sure to select "No" if it asks if you want to keep its settings. If you're reinstalling origin after a windows reinstall, you wont need to do this and can just delete the Origin folder.
> 
> 4. Reinstall Origin. The natural next step is to reinstall origin in its desired location. It really doenst matter where you put it! Make sure that you've ran the program and logged in, and make sure the games install directory is where you want it to be ( again this is in the settings)
> 
> 5. Initiate a download for your games. Don't worry! we're not really going to redownload all of your games. This next step makes origin do all of the registry linking and whatnot. Make sure the download has got to at least 0.01% or had created the folder for the game in the origin games folder.
> 6. Close down Origin, and move your games back. leave the downloads running, close down Origin in the tray and then proceed to move your games that you backed up earlier to the desktop (or wherever) back to the games install directory. When prompted to "Merge Folders" click yes, and select "Move and Replace" if windows asks to overwrite any files.
> 
> 7. Open Origin up, and install the games! Open Origin back up, and after giving it a few seconds, it should start to read the games. After a few more seconds, it'll tell you it's ready to install! click "install", and you're ready to go!
> Hope this helps everyone; make sure to leave a comment saying wether or not this worked for you, or with any more problems you have. Also, if this worked for you, ask the mods to sticky it; Im sure more people would benefit from it.


Your method isn't working for me? What are your pc specs? I have windows 7 64-bit


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## kerai

Two games (DA2 and ME3) worked like a charm.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Savre*
> 
> . I get Error 131079:6.


On one game (ME2)when this happened I paused the download, then resumed, and that fixed it.

Two games (DA:O and Bastion) got the same error, I tried the same fix, no luck. Interestingly these games say they are *partially downloaded but never made a directory*. I thought since they were partly downloaded I could move the file back but that didn't work.

I moved those files back to my backup folder, and I'm waiting for them to make more progress in the new downloads so the directories show up. I will update with success/new details.

*Definitely wait for the directory to show back up before you move the files back.*
Quote:


> Update with fix/workaround


Some games don't appear to make a folder in the directory until the install stage. This was the case with Bastion and DA:O. *The fix is to run the game from within the backup folder.* Cancel the Origin download. Once you have run the game successfully, it will register that it exists on your computer, and will provide the option to launch from Origin. I believe you can then move it back to wherever you want.


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## Czarnodziej

Worked for me, BF3 and BF:BC2.


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## LuminatX

Doesn't seem to work any more.
I overwrite etc, and go into origin and it still proceeds to download lol.


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## CaptainMidnight

I can confirm that this still works, at least on Win7 x64 and the latest version of Origin. Just saved me from downloading ~16GB of Battlefield 3 again.


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## bmgjet

Only worked for 1 of my games (BF3)
Rest of the games are stuff in a install loop but run fine if I launch them without origins running.


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## superj1977

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bmgjet*
> 
> Only worked for 1 of my games (BF3)
> Rest of the games are stuff in a install loop but run fine if I launch them without origins running.


This is the case with nearly all my Origin Games, the only one that now launches as it should using Origin client itself is BF3, the others have all failed to be recognised and im damned if im downloading them all again.
Origin really do need to fix this, this was the case 6 months ago so why they didnt fix it already is beyond me, we need a verify button just like Steam


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## JuliusCivilis

It helped me!

When you have done this and it is stuck at joining game my fix was to delete Lucid Virtu and a reboot. Than it worked.


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## computerfreak09

This worked for me as well! I only have BF3 on Origin, so I can confirm it works for BF3.


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## MxPhenom 216

Worked for me just now for BF3 at least, but its the only game I currently play on Origin so. +rep


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## kleinbird

Just want to say it worked! Thanks.


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## vinton13

Thanks buddy! Worked like a charm!


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## Phillychuck

Just worked with BF3 premium +rep.

Now figure out uplay for me!


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## pratesh

Thanks man. Save me 30+ GBs for BF3.


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## airspoon

No longer works, unfortunately. I hate Origin and the EXTREMELY slow download rate is pathetic enough to scare anyone away from buying Origin exclusives. I'll pay twice as much for a game to get it through Steam or Gamestop if I had to. I have tried everything to move my BF3 installation over and Origin refuses to see it. Even though I have the 30+ GB BF3 folder in the installation path, Origin still feels the need to download the game. Where is downloading to? I have no idea because it's all there already.


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## Phillychuck

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *airspoon*
> 
> No longer works, unfortunately. I hate Origin and the EXTREMELY slow download rate is pathetic enough to scare anyone away from buying Origin exclusives. I'll pay twice as much for a game to get it through Steam or Gamestop if I had to. I have tried everything to move my BF3 installation over and Origin refuses to see it. Even though I have the 30+ GB BF3 folder in the installation path, Origin still feels the need to download the game. Where is downloading to? I have no idea because it's all there already.


I just reinstalled Windows 8 a couple days ago and this works fine.

Rename your old origin folder, install origin and start the download for a game for a few seconds. Exit origin completely, copy the folder from the old origin folder over top of the partially installed folder. Launch origin. For BF3 it goes through the motions of reinstalling stuff, but its going at 20mb/sec but did it all locally.

It worked for Simcity, BF3 with Premium, and NFS: Most wanted.

If you don't move/rename the original files and click download I think it deletes the folder and tries to re-download.


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## BigFuzzyArchon

couldn't get it to work


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## Gregster

Worked a treat for me and I really appreciated this simple guide







Thanks and +rep


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## tronic592001

I use steam mover for steam games,but a bit tricky with none steam games.

So i use Symlink Creator with this there is no need for steam mover.

So basically wherever you got your games from steam or any online store just move them with Symlink Creator and its free.

not sure where i had it but just google it .


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## afdude2018

Doing a bunch of hard drive swapping around and this worked for me. Thanks!


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## Born For TDM

Thanks, you just saved me like 6 hours of downloading BF3 again haha.


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## Pcsx2006

Works like a charm with latest origin


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## ThaSpacePope

Still works as of origin 9.3.2.2730 (9/3/2013).

Make sure you adjust the games folder location from Origin --> Application settings --> Advanced


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## frizkie

Origin has started picking up games automatically. All I did was install Origin, open it up, point it at my old games directory, and start the download on my game. Re-checks at 20-30 megs per second.


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## methodunderg

I know this is a big bump, but thought I would post it here anyway for other people wanting to do the same thing?

I don't know why they don't include this feature in their programs .. I've just swapped drives for my Steam and Origin games; was a lot easier than I thought.

The guide works perfectly, thanks OP.

A bit of a pain getting the game to re-install itself. For some weird reason, when I copied the folder to my desktop, and then un/re-installed Origin on a different drive and change the settings; and then started the download, quit origin and then copied over the BF3 folder on my desktop, it wouldn't copy all the files. It was missing a few key files in the root folder, and god knows what was missing within folders.

My advice, would be to do a check after copying by going right clicking on the BF3 folder(s) and checking properties, to make sure the folder/file count is the same ,and the same size on disk.

Opened back up Origin, and waited a minute or two and nothing. Clicked on the game to install, too a couple of secs to "prepare" .. Then came up with the screens asking if I wanted shortcut on desktop etc, and if I wanted to accept EULA. I accepted both, and then it started to download, but quickly switched to 'install' mode.

Great success with this, thanks again OP.


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## Totally Dubbed

After quite a while pondering, even using the guide - got it to work! Thanks


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## Kamycrs

Thanks man! it worked with BF3 Premium (35gb)....


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## SM411

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover works just as well on origin as on steam.


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## Coletrain

Thanks!

This worked great for BF4 Premium!


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## Racersnare21

I dont know what I'm doing wrong. I followed all the steps, but when I re-open origin it just resumes my download automatically. I have to cancel the download and it never gives me an install option.


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## mr.alba

Thank you! Worked almost flawlessly BF4 premium. Only problem I had was after I merged files etc. the dowload kept going, I simply had to pause then resume ( as mentioned by a previous post). Saved me 2 full days downloading. Now the sad part, I just dumped almost $400 more into my already capable machine, and the effing game still crashed twice in 10 min. I'm so furious with EA and/or DICE.
I5 750
P55-ud4p
16gb ram
Gtx 560 it
840 pro ssd
WD black hdd


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## FEAR.

Thanks heaps! I can install Dead Space 3 now.


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## VectorRoll

This did not seem to work for BF4 *with* Early Access to China Rising. I can play the regular maps just fine just not China Rising. I'll have to try and just re-download the thing from scratch. I hope that moving it did not revoke any Early Access I had. I enjoyed playing the maps.


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## XLifted

Confirmed works for BF4 (standard edition [no premium]) Thanks


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## jdfrosty

Much easier way: open the application settings and change the directory from the default to the location in which the games are already downloaded. Once you have done this, just click "download" on your origin games. Origin will detect that the game is already downloaded and it'll just install.


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## Falcy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jdfrosty*
> 
> Much easier way: open the application settings and change the directory from the default to the location in which the games are already downloaded. Once you have done this, just click "download" on your origin games. Origin will detect that the game is already downloaded and it'll just install.


I can confirm this. Thank you!


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## The Wannabe

Non of this seem to work any more, every single time I try (in this case fifa 14) origin only detects 32% of the files and continues downloading the rest of the game although the files that I copied over are up to date and fully working on my other pc ..


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## XLifted

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The Wannabe*
> 
> Non of this seem to work any more, every single time I try (in this case fifa 14) origin only detects 32% of the files and continues downloading the rest of the game although the files that I copied over are up to date and fully working on my other pc ..


Maybe it's game specific.

Battlefield 3 and 4 still work. I let it load to like 3-4% and then close Origin, and replace the files from my backup hard drive


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## The Wannabe

Perhaps it's game specific, but I do remember it working a few versions ago.. now I'm gonna have to download 4gbs when the whole intention of this was to avoid downloading a 600mb update lol ..


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## XLifted

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The Wannabe*
> 
> Perhaps it's game specific, but I do remember it working a few versions ago.. now I'm gonna have to download 4gbs when the whole intention of this was to avoid downloading a 600mb update lol ..


Hey, dude

Just wanted to give you heads up, since I just came across that issue.

If you reinstall your system and you switched your Hard Drive wires around, your drive letters will highly likely be different which causes the system to think you have not downloaded the game, since the path is different. (Installed on E drive for an example but now it's a D drive)

You can change the drive letter path to what it was before you reinstalled the system in Win 8.1 by searching Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions, right click the hard drive in question there, and select change Drive Letter and Paths.

I ran across that issue today, when I was reconnecting the drives. It wanted me to install Battlefield games and redownload them again. Clearly I got them there.

So keep that in mind.

Unfortunately Battlefield Hardline Beta now wants to be FULLY redownloaded, so clearly it is game specific issue on some games as well. Since I already changed the letter and did a quick folder replace.

Yet, it still wants me to redownload it again....uhh...I guess that's what I need to do now :-/


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## The Wannabe

Hmm that wasn't the case for me, I already had fifa 14 up and running on my pc, I just wanted to reinstall it on my laptop not on a new windows or a different partition etc, you know the rest of the story..

But then, after finally redownloading the game, it kept crashing after the Messi logo (creates FIFACrashDump_CL1621917 file every time), did a repair and it found nothing and all what the EA support could tell me is that this crash has something to do with memory leak which apparently only started happening after that 600mb update, tried everything I could find to fix this problem but got nothing .. It seems I will never play fifa 14 on my laptop again, it ran fine for months before that stupid update ..


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## XLifted

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *XLifted*


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *The Wannabe*
> 
> Hmm that wasn't the case for me, I already had fifa 14 up and running on my pc, I just wanted to reinstall it on my laptop not on a new windows or a different partition etc, you know the rest of the story..
> 
> But then, after finally redownloading the game, it kept crashing after the Messi logo (creates FIFACrashDump_CL1621917 file every time), did a repair and it found nothing and all what the EA support could tell me is that this crash has something to do with memory leak which apparently only started happening after that 600mb update, tried everything I could find to fix this problem but got nothing .. It seems I will never play fifa 14 on my laptop again, it ran fine for months before that stupid update ..


LOL, I think EA is the problem.










I don't know if you ever played BF4, but everytime a new "patch" comes out it fixed 1 thing and brakes 3-4 more things that were fine before.

Battlefield Hardline I had to redownload is made by EA too, sooooooooo

Gotta love EA


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## totaluni

Tks you very much.
I have installed game in Partion D (Windows 7), after that, i install Windows 8.1 and follow your guide -> succesffully.


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## Nfsdude0125

I love you. Thank you so much.


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## LoneAssassin112

HI, well this guide would have helped me but I have a problem.. Its because I don't know where my game files are! When I downloaded the games I had an old version of origin meaning it did not create a Origin Games folder and I didn't change the directory so Its in the default one wherever that is :/ Plz reply if you know where the files could be it would help me alot Thanks


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## glussier

The default Origin install directory was and still is "Origin Games". However, some Origin Games are not installed in this directory.

For example:

Bioshock 1 is installed in "3k games"
Dead Space 2 is installed in "EA Games"
Crysis 1 is installed in Electronic Arts"
Batman Arkham Asylum is installed in "Square Enix"
Batman Arkham City is installed in "wB Games".
etc, etc, etc.

What games are you looking for?


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## LoneAssassin112

Battlefield 4 and 3
Mirrors Edge
Crysis 3 and Medal of honor Warfighter Thanks


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## LoneAssassin112

Nevermind I have found the directory for all the games now


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## glussier

Man, you are faster than your shadow.


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## TLTD

I restored Windows recently and had the problem with Mass Effect and Dead Space 3. Initially, I just found some nocd fixes but my saves were not available from the cloud, as the game wasn't really installed. I got a save game editor for ME3 that, that was fun but I want to actually play through the game, sooo...

I reinstalled Origin, and changed the directory back to D:\Origin Games and it looks like it's just getting a few files and going back into installing.

I also bought the character looks pack or whatever and it downloaded that soon after the reinstall. Did this "help" the whole thing? Who knows...

Upon launching, I have a cloud save option...replace the new save (with tons of goodies at the beginning of the game), or get my old save back...Since I crashed the game with either a cracked exe or modified save file, I think I will go all natural once again. It's always better that way.

I am grateful for the Origin cloud save. I had a problem with ME2 with no way to get my save back and started manually copying the save file, but it just kiled the will to replay the game again. I got a family of five and a full time job, I'd rather not waste even more time replaying games that I rarely get time to play as it is.

DID THE SAME FOR DEAD SPACE 3. SAID "PREPARING FOR DOWNLOAD" THEN WENT FROM 99% TO DONE. EITHER IT IS "FIXED" NOW, OR YOU SHOULD INSTALL ORIGIN WITH DEFAULTS, THEN CHANGE DIRECTORIES TO WHERE YOU INSTALLED THEM. I ALSO OPTED TO KEEP INSTALLERS EACH TIME I DOWNLOADED GAMES, BUT I THINK I EVEN DELETED ALL THE EXTRA STUFF LIKE THAT TO SAVE SPACE AND IT STILL WORKED. THIS TIME, I ALSO OPTED TO KEEP INSTALLERS AND NOT TO DELETE THEM AFTER INSTALL OR WHATEVER.


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## ducanh2410

Thank you very much for the guide. However, it didn't work for me, it keep downloading without skipping the process. So, for those people who have the same problem as mine, I recommend you log out the client at step 6. I log out origin when it is downloading the game, wait for the copy to be completed and relog the client. Finally, it worked for me.


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## rcoones1

Hey there,

First off, I want to say thanks. I do not want to take away from the OP by making this post. Without this guide I would probably not have tried to move my games and never found out that they have made this much easier. Also, this may also be already mentioned in this thread but I did not feel like clicking on all seven pages to check before posting.

I just recently moved all my origin games as I accidently left the default install location instead of changing it to my non OS partition. What I found out when I did it is this.

Instead of having to uninstall and reinstall Origin you can simply change your install location (Origin>Application Settings>Advanced) then close Origin (by using the tray icon to ensure its closed and not just minimized).

Go to your game files and move the entire game folders over to your desired destination. If you are not exactly tech savvy or worried about losing your downloaded files I recommend making a backup somewhere you trust. I use the cut option instead of copy to avoid needing to do the next step.

Ensure the original copies are deleted.

Open Origin and what used to be installed games with a play option when hovered over should now give a download option. Click download and accept all the applicable options and the Terms and Agreements.

It should say its downloading for a couple seconds and then move on to Installing. After it completes the installing step you will have successfully moved your game files to the desired location.

Again, I would like to thank the OP for starting this thread.

I would also assume that if you keep a backup of your game files (on an external or something of that nature) you can probably do this with a fresh install of Origin by placing the backed up folders in the same location that the install folder is pointed to by following the same route to change your desired install destination. I have not tested this but it is only logical that it would work the same way.


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## wytefang

Sadly this doesn't work at all.

Followed the steps to a letter, doesn't work at all. After you've moved everything (which is itself AFTER you've let Origin make new download folders for everything), Origin will still say DOWNLOAD but when you click on it, it just sits there - the download meter does nothing, other options are greyed-out, you can't even click to cancel or log-out of Origin because it'll say it's in the middle of downloading the game. Then it sits there. And sits there. AND sits there doing nothing. For fun, I let it sit there for an hour. Still nothing.

I should say that BF3 seemed to work and it even gave me the INSTALL option. But when I clicked to INSTALL, it did nothing for a LONG time and then finally gave me some error message that the VC redist program wasn't installed.

Sigh.

What a pain.


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## Nfsdude0125

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wytefang*
> 
> Sadly this doesn't work at all.
> 
> Followed the steps to a letter, doesn't work at all. After you've moved everything (which is itself AFTER you've let Origin make new download folders for everything), Origin will still say DOWNLOAD but when you click on it, it just sits there - the download meter does nothing, other options are greyed-out, you can't even click to cancel or log-out of Origin because it'll say it's in the middle of downloading the game. Then it sits there. And sits there. AND sits there doing nothing. For fun, I let it sit there for an hour. Still nothing.
> 
> I should say that BF3 seemed to work and it even gave me the INSTALL option. But when I clicked to INSTALL, it did nothing for a LONG time and then finally gave me some error message that the VC redist program wasn't installed.
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> What a pain.


That's weird because I used Origin to detect my pre-installed games and it worked without a hitch. Try it again.


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## wytefang

Update to my earlier negative remark - it DOES work but it's wonky to say the least. Sometimes you just have to wait for it to find the game. Sometimes it never will work right at all but that's pretty rare at least. Some games make you still do some downloading, which is annoying. It did still save me a lot of time, though, so thanks for this walkthrough either way.

I stand corrected!


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## Nfsdude0125

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *wytefang*
> 
> Update to my earlier negative remark - it DOES work but it's wonky to say the least. Sometimes you just have to wait for it to find the game. Sometimes it never will work right at all but that's pretty rare at least. Some games make you still do some downloading, which is annoying. It did still save me a lot of time, though, so thanks for this walkthrough either way.
> 
> I stand corrected!


Glad to hear you got it sorted, though! For me, it usually ALWAYS redownloads the DLC's, which is fine because I just play the campaign in the meantime


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## aips

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rcoones1*
> 
> Hey there,
> 
> First off, I want to say thanks. I do not want to take away from the OP by making this post. Without this guide I would probably not have tried to move my games and never found out that they have made this much easier. Also, this may also be already mentioned in this thread but I did not feel like clicking on all seven pages to check before posting.
> 
> I just recently moved all my origin games as I accidently left the default install location instead of changing it to my non OS partition. What I found out when I did it is this.
> 
> Instead of having to uninstall and reinstall Origin you can simply change your install location (Origin>Application Settings>Advanced) then close Origin (by using the tray icon to ensure its closed and not just minimized).
> 
> Go to your game files and move the entire game folders over to your desired destination. If you are not exactly tech savvy or worried about losing your downloaded files I recommend making a backup somewhere you trust. I use the cut option instead of copy to avoid needing to do the next step.
> 
> Ensure the original copies are deleted.
> 
> Open Origin and what used to be installed games with a play option when hovered over should now give a download option. Click download and accept all the applicable options and the Terms and Agreements.
> 
> It should say its downloading for a couple seconds and then move on to Installing. After it completes the installing step you will have successfully moved your game files to the desired location.
> 
> Again, I would like to thank the OP for starting this thread.
> 
> I would also assume that if you keep a backup of your game files (on an external or something of that nature) you can probably do this with a fresh install of Origin by placing the backed up folders in the same location that the install folder is pointed to by following the same route to change your desired install destination. I have not tested this but it is only logical that it would work the same way.


Hello!

I did this exactly, and it all worked fine until.... I started the game and got an error message like this:



hope this is the right thread to ask, please help out with ideas how I can fix this or what I might have done wrong? Thanks!


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## tMuRd3R

Worked for me. Thanks for the help.


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## SQZY

For future people that might be reading this thread: Origin (Version 10.3.2.64935) seems to support the easy way now, which only requires you to set the default download folder and then start the "download". That's it.


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## iARDAs

I have my BF1 installed on a HDD and want to move to my SSD.

Does this method still work?


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## TexRob

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *iARDAs*
> 
> I have my BF1 installed on a HDD and want to move to my SSD.
> 
> Does this method still work?


Yes. I had trouble with the way as described, but what I did was simply cut and paste the folder to the new location, uninstalled in Origin, changed the default location for my games in Origin to point to the new location on the new drive, and then hit download. It prepared for a while then after accepting EULA it said downloading and then installed within a few seconds, jumping to 100%. When I tried as OP described, it didn't work, but I might have done something wrong.


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## Rodinaz

I did a clean install from Win 7 to Win 10. Origin was on C and the games on E. A few years ago I think I pointed the download to E/ Origin. I install Origin again on C and pointed it to the same folder on E named Origin. Its says preparing as I type this so I have yet to see if it actually works. On a recent chat with Origin the guy said - since I went from 7 to 10 I have to re-download all games. EA is seldom helpful, they usually never mention or do not know there are options. I had a few choice words for the chat help and disconnected. I'll reply back if my method works or not.


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## Rodinaz

Yes it worked, have 7 games up & ready to play BF3 is downloading some extra content. It took about an hour once I knew the first one was finished. For reference, went from 7 to a fresh win 10 install.
Origin was an is on C. I Did not copy the C/ origin games folder to E origin because my games was on E. I logged into Origin and under application settings I changed the install to E/ Origin and all is well.
I won't be buying anything else from Origin, cause for the most part > they suck big time


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## ScriptKiddie

i think i have to download bf1 again because dont or work or i could not do it.

Origin just staying resuming for last step.


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## Rodinaz

It might be resuming a download. If it was saved in the cloud and you pointed to the correct install directory it should go fairly quick. The default directory is C/ origin. If your games are on another drive you have to point to that location under application settings on origin.


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## ScriptKiddie

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rodinaz*
> 
> It might be resuming a download. If it was saved in the cloud and you pointed to the correct install directory it should go fairly quick. The default directory is C/ origin. If your games are on another drive you have to point to that location under application settings on origin.


I installed default area but 2 hours past still resuming


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## Rodinaz

It sounds like it's resuming a download. I hope your connection is fast







even then on a Sunday Origin's server is probably slow.


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## The Wannabe

I know origin is supposed to detect game files when initiating download at the same location now but since sometimes it screws up and starts all over, I suggest using this method here
https://help.ea.com/en-gb/help/origin/origin/backing-up-and-restoring-your-origin-games/
No need for uninstall/reinstall/close Origin while doing it or any of that, just set the desired origin games folder in the setting then follow the instructions.
Works for me every time just fine.


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## ScriptKiddie

The next time i will do.

I downloaded again complete.


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## Kaltenbrunner

yup recently learned even win7 (which I switched back to) can use games installed from other windows installs, still on drives


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## my naem jeff

not all heroes wear capes , you're and absolute legend my dude thank you !


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