reconnecting origin to a installed game [ Edited ]

[Cmdr_Black_Catz]

Steam, Uplay and Battle.net apps all do this with a single click. Imagine recovering and moving your origin library from a busted HDD, then doing this inane, slow process one app at a time. In case EA might wonder why people have a problem downloading the same thing twice, just ask around about bandwidth limitations. This can be automated with minimal development effort and really, your client already manages checksums anyways, so why not add that one little button like real developers?

[Zer0_Calculati0N]

ya true i dont know why they doing this .thats not looks like official solution lol thats funny > u have to pause then to copy ur game so wht if i dont have hard space or wht if the game size is too large and if u pressed cancel it dont work and if it worked maybe it removed the entire game files :D

[TakahashiAkihiko]

This is soo helpful! I've been trying to download the Sims onto a terabyte USB for the last 2 hours but it kept saying game directory invalid. This solved it

[Kidnose]

Yeah I just followed the "experts" suggestions and it deleted my whole BF4 folder.... 70 GB POOF. The most stuipd 3rd party client. Open the Blizzard client and learn how to make one.

[Bati_Trakya_Ali]

Fantastic. Thank you!

[SPCHH]

so after all process completed can we delete the game folder from drive C? because i need more space on drive C too...

[TaidanaKage]

Thanks, EA Tom, but there's an issue with your solution.  You still have to have enough free space on the target drive, even after copying all files, because stupid Origin is just stupid.

So if you copy let's say 40 GB to the target disk, you still need another 40 GB of free space, otherwise Origin won't even start "downloading"

EA - the epitome of stupidity and laziness.

Steam - 1 click solution.

[Lodhar79]

- Go into the game directory
- There is a "__Installer" directory, go inside
- you must see a "Touchup.exe" executable
- Open "InstallLog.txt"
- Search for the line looking like this:

   "CommandLine: install -locale en_US -installPath "#Game Directory#" -autologging -startmenuIcon=1 -desktopIcon=1"

- copy the line from the "install" word to the end
- Open a command line in the directory "__Installer"
- Launch Touchup.exe with the install parameters

    "Touchup.exe install -locale en_US -installPath "#Game Directory#" -autologging -startmenuIcon=1 -desktopIcon=1"

- Type enter, a desktop icon must appear.
- Launch the game, Origin will show a notifications asking to update the game. Click ok.
- That's it!

Hope it helps ;-)

[MrDecepticon]

Yeah, this method is BS, EA!  I just installed origin on a new machine where all my games were on a separate drive in the old system.  EVERY game required to download the entire game all over again even after checking the folders.  This is * poor basic game management that literally EVERY other game client out there (Steam, uPlay, Battlenet...hell even Gaijin) can do with ZERO issues.  

After trying to get Origin to recognize that all my data was there (and I expect a few gigs to DL) several times I HAD to delete the games to 'make space' for the 'new download'.  Dumb.....just pure stupidity.

[StarryMight]

@Lodhar79: I reinstalled Origin today (I broke my Windows 10 install recently and had to reinstall it). I was able to make it detect "The Sims 4" with your advice, thanks so much!

I'd like to add that in my case, I had to open the folder in PowerShell (that's what you mean by "command line", right?) and when it gave an error, I followed its advice to put "./" in front of the .exe, so it was (borrowing your example):

"./Touchup.exe install -locale en_US -installPath "#Game Directory#" -autologging -startmenuIcon=1 -desktopIcon=1"

I TOTALLY agree that Origin needs to be able to detect installed games like other clients (e.g. Steam and Battle.net), though!