Where Do I Upload a Pc Windows Game
How to transfer game files betwixt PCs
Well-nigh every major publisher these days has its ain digital storefront. Most of them likewise offer a certain minimum gear up of features, or at to the lowest degree take plans to release such features. Cloud saves and game syncing are manifestly critical components, but as someone with far too many PCs—they're for testing, honestly!—I have my own feature that often gets overlooked: importing game files from an existing location. That might seem like a relatively minor detail, but with game install sizes frequently passing the 100GB mark, my 1TB per month information cap from Comcast Xfinity can be a problem, especially with up to eight dissimilar examination PCs.
Let me quickly run through the major stores and mention how they work right now, before I become to the worst offender (at least in my book). Not every store is 'perfect,' merely most at least offer a workaround. Gauge which visitor comes upwardly short.
Steam: The process on Steam is relatively simple: go to your Steam games binder (the default is C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps, though I always install Steam to C:\Games instead). You'll need to grab two things. The outset is to go the appropriate appmanifest_######.acf file. You tin can detect the number for the game in question by searching for the game on Steam and looking at the URL. So as an example, Hunt: Showdown is game number 594650.
The other affair you need is the game files, which are in the Common subfolder. Usually this is pretty easy to figure out—again, Hunt: Showdown's folder is but called "Chase Showdown". Re-create both the ACF file and the game folder to the appropriate Steam binder on a different PC and when y'all next start Steam, y'all'll find the new game listed. You tin can use the same process to back upwardly a game's files, rather than trying to apply Steam'southward born backup functionality.
GOG Galaxy: GOG Galaxy and several other digital storefronts brand things even easier than Steam. That's mostly because at that place'southward no carve up ACF file to worry about. Go to the appropriate binder for GOG (my files are in "C:\Games\GOG Galaxy\Games") and re-create the contents to a unlike PC. I do this over a Gigabit Ethernet connection, which is withal pretty slow if yous're looking at moving 100GB of data (typically most xv minutes).
Technically the folder can exist placed anywhere on the new PC—or even a network drive, though if you're not using 10GbE I wouldn't do that. Outset upwards GOG Galaxy, go to your library, and click on the appropriate game. On the game page, next to the Install button, click on the More than dropdown so "Manage installation->Import folder…" Bespeak it to the appropriate files and it will validate the installation, and you lot're finished.
Uplay: The process of transferring a game from one PC to another with Uplay is near identical to GOG. Notice the game folder (mine are in " C:\Games\Ubisoft Game Launcher\Games") and copy that to a new PC, either via network or USB storage or any. Once finished, offset Uplay on the other PC, click on the appropriate game icon in your library, and below the big blue "Download" button you should see a link that says "Locate installed game." Once more, the files can be anywhere on the PC; just navigate to the correct folder in Explorer and Uplay will validate the files.
Battle.net: The formula is basically the aforementioned every bit Uplay and GOG. Find the game folder (information technology tin exist anywhere, though the default is the same as the Battle.cyberspace app, ordinarily "C:\Program Files") and copy information technology over to the new PC. Side by side to the big, blue Install push is a text link that says "Already installed? Locate the game." Click that and point it to the game binder yous copied over, let it verify the files, and you're ready.
Origin: EA's Origin isn't e'er as overnice as Uplay, GOG, or Blizzard but it'due south ordinarily pretty easy. First, you lot need to catch the game folder—the default install location is usually in "C:\Program Files" but I've changed my install location to C:\Games. (D:\Games if y'all really want to know, only whatever.) The location for your Origin games tin be institute under the Origin menu, and so "Awarding Settings," and then click the "Installs & Saves" tab.
Whether you've used the default location or changed it to some other folder, that binder on the new PC is where y'all need to copy the game folder. Once the file transfer is complete, however, y'all however need to click the orange "Download" push button—if everything was done properly, rather than downloading the files, Origin will verify the files and install the game. It'due south a flake less obvious but overall relatively painless.
Bethesda Launcher: The process is nigh identical to that of Origin. Copy the source files from the appropriate folder (mine is "D:\Games\Bethesda.net Launcher\games") to the destination PC's folder. Showtime the Bethesda Launcher customer, click on the game, and then click on the "Download" button. If the files are present, the launcher will verify them and sync your cloud saves. Washed.
The above are all very easy compared to the final two options. First let's hit everyone'southward favorite…
Ballsy Games Launcher: This 1 will involve more work, but if you're familiar enough with PCs and Windows Explorer, it's possible to skip a full 2d (or third…) download of whatsoever game on EGS. First, get the Epic Games Launcher installed on the new PC, log in, and go the confirmation email code for your account (which can sometimes take several minutes to arrive). Get to your library, detect the game you want to transfer from the other PC, and click the Install button. Yes, exercise this first. One time the install/download process starts, let it catch the first 20MB or so and then pause information technology, and and then exit the Epic Games Launcher. That'south footstep ane.
Now, copy the files from the original PC location (mine are in D:\Games\Epic Games, but the default is in "C:\Program Files"), but the destination folder may vary a bit. Basically, find the game binder on the new PC where EGS started to download the files, and look for an ".egstore" binder, so within that should be an "Installation" folder. You want the files and folders from within the game folder, and not the root game folder—and then every bit an case for me, that's the files in "C:\Games\Epic Games\Control" that has 69 items in the root folder, including 4 folders.
Finally, once the file copy is finished, restart the Epic Games Launcher, go to the Library, and click resume on the game. You should see the game begin validation of files—open Chore Director (Ctrl+Alt+Esc) and wait at the Functioning tab, and your network connectedness should evidence very lilliputian activity while your storage drive (C:, D:, or whatever) should show a heavy workload. It can have several minutes on a slower drive to validate the files, just somewhen the game should be available to play. Whether your cloud saves will come along for the ride is another story.
Yeah, this is a hurting in the butt compared to Uplay or GOG, but at to the lowest degree information technology's possible. Which brings up the caboose.
Microsoft Store: And finally, the black sheep of digital software platforms known every bit the Microsoft Store (or formerly, Windows Store). Do you want to transfer an existing game download from one PC to some other, without downloading the game once again? Also bad! You can't do it. Or at least, I couldn't get information technology to piece of work after much effort. The files themselves are initially endemic by the TrustedInstaller user, and you probably don't want to accept ownership equally it can screw things upwards. Merely even if you practice take buying and give your account full access rights—on both the source and destination PCs—then copy the files over, in that location's a trouble. The Microsoft Store won't recognize the files and it won't take the appropriate license.
If you've already downloaded a game in the Windows Shop, you're pretty much out of luck. Your but choice is to download the entire game, again, on another PC. That might not be such a horrible thing if you lot're dealing with Candy Beat Saga, merely the bigger games similar Forza, Sea of Thieves, and Gears tin easily annals at more than 50GB.
Merely! There is a sort of workaround if you haven't nevertheless downloaded the game and you know you want to have it on multiple PCs. This old Forza Horizon 3 Reddit thread has the details, which I'll summarize hither. First, you need an application to monitor network traffic, and the free utility Fiddler is recommended. Install Fiddler and go it running, and and then commencement the download of any game/app you want on the Windows Shop. In Fiddler, you should see a agglomeration of requests show up for a Microsoft URL of some form. I did this for Gears of State of war five and got a link that was at assets1.xboxlive.com, but information technology volition vary past region and game. Anyhow, catch that URL then you'll probably want to paste it into a file downloading utility. Over again, from the Reddit thread, I used Firefox with the DownThemAll extension.
Many games are quite large—Gears of War 5 checks in at 66GB—so this tin can take a while. Once the download was finished, I concluded up with a single massive file, named "Microsoft.HalifaxBaseGame_1.1.56.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixvc", but what do you do with this? The final step is to install the awarding via PowerShell. Open a PowerShell prompt (Win+X and then "I" should exercise it), navigate to the correct binder ("cd $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads"), and and then run the PowerShell cmdlet add-appxpackage with the file (so "add-appxpackage Microsoft.HalifaxBaseGame_1.1.56.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixvc" for Gears 5).
Y'all should meet a progress bar across the top of the PowerShell screen indicating installation progress. Fun fact: on a new X570 motherboard with PCIe Gen4 SSD, I saw sustained read/write speeds of ane.5GB/s for virtually a minute while Gears 5 installed. Plainly, a slower bulldoze will take much longer to complete the installation.
Closing thoughts
There's been a lot of discussion over the past year, more often than not cheers to Epic, about the minimum characteristic set a digital storefront should provide. There are many opinions here, and I won't claim to be correct, but these days I call up it's safe to say that a storefront should at the very least support buying games, cloud saves, automatic updates, and bankroll up / transferring files. Localization, ratings, news, forums, and plenty of other items are important likewise.
Why is bankroll upward or transferring files in my list? Because imagine you take an existing gaming PC that's a bit long in the molar. Information technology happens every few years for most of us. So y'all go out and buy a new motherboard, CPU, memory, storage, graphics carte, case, and power supply. You're ready to rock. Now all you lot demand to do is copy over your games—because unless you take an unlimited data cap and a massive internet pipe (I'm thinking gigabit fiber), information technology would suck to have to download everything again. Been there, done that. It's more often than not possible, simply Microsoft ends up every bit the odd homo out.
How is it that Microsoft, a trillion dollar company, tin accept such a bad digital platform? The Epic Games Store has gotten a lot of flak (deservedly then in many cases), but at to the lowest degree information technology's improving over time. The Microsoft Shop meanwhile has been pretty awful from solar day one, and years later it's still extremely user unfriendly. Ideally, Microsoft (and Epic, forth with any other digital storefronts) should add a fashion to import game files from an existing location. Uplay and GOG did that several years back. At the very minimum, a way to back up and restore applications would suffice.
PC upgrades do happen, and information caps are a harsh reality for many of u.s.a..
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/how-to-transfer-game-files-between-pcs/
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