Why won't origin discover existing files?

[Duckers_McQuack]

I just transfered all the origin games to a new hdd, and changed the installed game directory, and yet, the bloody launcher * won't discover the files, just redownload existing games...

It redownloaded all my games and caused the hdd to be 35% fragmented...

[EA_David · Accepted solution]

@Duckers_McQuack Hey, ignore the installers location or download cache for now, just use the downloaded games section. Drop any backups into the location and it should work. 

I've done this dozens of times and the only time I've had issues is when the game folder names don't exactly match what they should be. So if you've been naming them "GamenameBackup" or similar, make sure you revert this back. 

If I'm unsure, I'll start a download, then cancel it. Then I'll go to the downloaded locations section, and copy the folder name for the game in question. Time to delete this folder then rename the backup. Move this to the right location and the aforementioned short "download" and verification should start, though you might need to restart Origin to give it a little kick. 

[Duckers_McQuack]

Bump

[Straatford87]

@Duckers_McQuack

I should start downloading momentarily to verify the files. Once that is done it should recognize them. More information is available in our Backup Your Games article.

[Duckers_McQuack]

But it didn't verify anything, it re-downloaded everything.

[Straatford87]

@Duckers_McQuack

The article details that you might have to pause the download and move some files during that time. However, from your answer I understand that you've just downloaded the files instead?

[Duckers_McQuack]

WEll, yeah i had to. And where would i move the games to? The download cache folder for the games where empty while the games where downloading, so i don't know what i should have done. but yeah, all my origin games has been downloaded, and used 6 hours to defrag the disk afterwards.

[EA_David · Accepted solution]

@Duckers_McQuack Hey, ignore the installers location or download cache for now, just use the downloaded games section. Drop any backups into the location and it should work. 

I've done this dozens of times and the only time I've had issues is when the game folder names don't exactly match what they should be. So if you've been naming them "GamenameBackup" or similar, make sure you revert this back. 

If I'm unsure, I'll start a download, then cancel it. Then I'll go to the downloaded locations section, and copy the folder name for the game in question. Time to delete this folder then rename the backup. Move this to the right location and the aforementioned short "download" and verification should start, though you might need to restart Origin to give it a little kick. 

[Duckers_McQuack]

So much hassle with origin.. it's no wonder why i barely use it anymore o.O

[scifihiki]

I know this is an old post, but I just had the same problem. Not fun redownloading >100GB when I got it right here.

For other searchers that struggles with Origin not recognizing existing files, the solution is in this even older post! Still works great!

This is the way:

• Start downloading the game for about a minute or so
• Exit Origin (I paused the download first, probably not important but that's what I did).
• Copy over your backup into the Origin game folder, where it downloaded the game (with overwrite everything)
• Start Origin, resume download and wait for it to discover and verify files.
• Happy gaming!

Simply copying over the game files first won't work. Origin will simply re-download anyway. And if you cancel it, it will delete all files in the folder. Wasted effort.

Also, this is something I strongly suspect, but haven't confirmed nor tried: Never point Origin itself to your backup folder! (That "Locate game" right-click thing. Just. do. not ever do that!)