Restore Origin games like Steam?

Hi, i have reformated my hdd(cheers mrs mendoza for browsing dody sites with a load of spyware,adeware that brought my pc to its knees) and i have my origin games installed on a different hdd.

After i reformated and installed windows 7 again. i tried to click on one of my games and it said i need to download origin.

ok so download orgin, logged in and set the correct path for origin to find my games.

did it work? nope! origin fails to find the games and when i try to manually launch say for example fifa 12 it says this

Error Launching Game, the game does not appear to be insalled(it is installed u fucking idiot) Please install it or try relaunching a game(fuck re downloading all my origin games again)

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i thought Origin was similar to steam where once u download your games, you dont have to re download or re install them if u reformat or move your whole collection on a new pc or hdd?

Something so basic missing from origin? or am i doing it wrong?

Origin uses some sort of unique key system tied to the content install and origin install. Once you lose your origin install your content is toast you have to reinstall everything. Least that's been my experience, but I haven't used Origin in some time.

pretty sure if you have tons of hard drive space, there was an option to cache the downloads so if you do need to reinstall the games you dont have to re download them but ive never used that feature and not sure if it is still around.

Yes in the options theres something like "save game installers" which takes a bit more space, but means you can reinstall games later.

When my friend and I were playing C&C over LAN via origin, we duplicated the install by starting the download, then quiting Origin and replacing the game files with the files from the other computer. It worked with that game, but it might not with others (and we mght have saved the installers...)

jonneymendoza said:

(cheers mrs mendoza for browsing dody sites with a load of spyware,adeware that brought my pc to its knees)

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This description made me chuckle.


Sorry it happened, though.

Go to your game's directory and locate \__Installer\ or \__Installer\DISK1\


Run EASetup.exe or whatever .exe there is (like Touchup.exe).

Here's what I do:

1. Go to Origin Games directory.
2. Pick a game.
3. Compress the folder with 7zip or something.
4. Move the archive to your external HDD or something.
5. Delete the folder.
6. To restore. Just unpack the compress archive in the Origin Games directory again.
7. Open Origin and select Refresh my Games.

jlocohustler said:

Here's what I do:

1. Go to Origin Games directory.
2. Pick a game.
3. Compress the folder with 7zip or something.
4. Move the archive to your external HDD or something.
5. Delete the folder.
6. To restore. Just unpack the compress archive in the Origin Games directory again.
7. Open Origin and select Refresh my Games.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing, just without compression. To note, Origin doesn't always see the game correctly after a restore. The game will still run regardless of Origin's iffiness.

I had to redownload Mass Effect 3, but it took about 2 minutes. My internet is not that fast. I think it just does a quick verification on the files.

I managed to download mass effect 3 through origin on my laptop then transfer the entire download file to my desktop and it installed without issue.

so its possible.