PC Game Pass (was Xbox Game Pass for PC)

strumpusplunket · 28 Oct 2019 at 10:27

The current introductory deal looks like a great one, and the inclusion of The Outer Worlds makes this very relevant to my interests.

I have some questions and concerns, though, based on my experiences with other games on the PC Xbox app.

I've found that despite MS's mantra of "knowing what PC gamers want", what they seem to have decided we want is an obstuse, utterly imprenetrable alphanumeric naming system for game files that makes it almost impossible to locate save game files, ini files and the like.

A quick Google search reveals a lot of people having problems when trying to do locate and modify these files and, most importantly, to back up and transfer save files.

Anyone tried any of this with the Game Pass games?

TBH, I'd rather pay the extra £35 for a standalone key knowing that I could backup and transfer my savefiles rather than get the Game Pass and not be able to.

Yrkoon · 29 Oct 2019 at 03:59

hey guys is it possible to move say metro from my hdd to my ssd through the gamepass app like steam lets me do?

McPhee · 29 Oct 2019 at 08:02

strumpusplunket said:
The current introductory deal looks like a great one, and the inclusion of The Outer Worlds makes this very relevant to my interests.

I have some questions and concerns, though, based on my experiences with other games on the PC Xbox app.

I've found that despite MS's mantra of "knowing what PC gamers want", what they seem to have decided we want is an obstuse, utterly imprenetrable alphanumeric naming system for game files that makes it almost impossible to locate save game files, ini files and the like.

A quick Google search reveals a lot of people having problems when trying to do locate and modify these files and, most importantly, to back up and transfer save files.

Anyone tried any of this with the Game Pass games?

TBH, I'd rather pay the extra £35 for a standalone key knowing that I could backup and transfer my savefiles rather than get the Game Pass and not be able to.

It uses the same install system as other Windows Store apps. So yes, the files are buried deep and stored unconventionally.

ic1male · 29 Oct 2019 at 12:05

Yrkoon said:
hey guys is it possible to move say metro from my hdd to my ssd through the gamepass app like steam lets me do?

Yup, go to the Apps section in Windows Settings and click on the game. It will pop up asking to move or uninstall.

strumpusplunket · 29 Oct 2019 at 12:43

satchef1 said:
It uses the same install system as other Windows Store apps. So yes, the files are buried deep and stored unconventionally.

Yeah, I caved and gave it a go since £1 for The Outer Worlds was too tempting to pass up in the end. It does indeed use MS's weird and cryptic filenaming (why?!) but fortunately, the save files go into the saved games folder in the user folder. They still have a stupidly long string of numbers for file names, but I'm guessing at least I can just copy the whole folder for back-up and transfer purposes.

zom247 · 29 Oct 2019 at 18:07

Got a message in my app today saying I have to use my MS points by the 31st, checked my account and got just under 6k. Do I lose them if I don't use them by that date? It mentioned gaining rewards with game quests but not sure if this works on the pc side or just for xbox games. Also got no idea where I got my points from

ic1male · 29 Oct 2019 at 18:34

Have you never had an Xbox? Sounds like you've either got them from past purchases or quests on an Xbox via the rewards app. The only way you get points on PC or mobile is with Bing search.

zom247 · 29 Oct 2019 at 19:04

ic1male said:
Have you never had an Xbox? Sounds like you've either got them from past purchases or quests on an Xbox via the rewards app. The only way you get points on PC or mobile is with Bing search.

I had the original XBox years ago so it may be from that, certainly not used Bing enough to get 6k points. Still not enough for me to spend on anything interesting though.

ic1male · 29 Oct 2019 at 20:16

6000 points is enough to get you a £5 gift card which redeems on your account and you can put it towards a game on the Windows store. It takes about two months to save up that amount so not to be sniffed at.

Yrkoon · 29 Oct 2019 at 20:23

ic1male said:
Yup, go to the Apps section in Windows Settings and click on the game. It will pop up asking to move or uninstall.

awesome thank you

Tombstone · 1 Nov 2019 at 13:26

Dead by Daylight added today, which is worth a download for anyone who hasnt got it, pretty fun game for the occassional knockaround

SixTwoSix · 1 Nov 2019 at 14:33

Went to renew yesterday and no £1 offer anymore, had to pay 4 whole english pounds

It's arguably the best gaming sub out there right now though.

Tombstone said:
Dead by Daylight added today, which is worth a download for anyone who hasnt got it, pretty fun game for the occassional knockaround

Does it include all the DLC content? There is bucketloads on steam.

Tombstone · 1 Nov 2019 at 15:08

SixTwoSix said:
Does it include all the DLC content? There is bucketloads on steam.

Dont know, I already own it on steam anyway, but I imagine its just the base game

SixTwoSix · 1 Nov 2019 at 15:09

Tombstone said:
Dont know, I already own it on steam anyway, but I imagine its just the base game

I would have checked but on work Internet. I've played the free weekends and loved it so glad it's on game pass.

almoststew1990 · 1 Nov 2019 at 21:27

Has anyone else had an issue where none of your gamepass games will launch? I get:

Rise of Nations: Extended Edition is currently not available in your account. Here’s the error code, in case you need it: 0x803F8001

I get this for all of my gamepass games that I've got downloaded. They all worked fine yesterday. I did disconnect (from the mains power) the PC yesterday for a day. I don't have any internet issues and my Game Pass runs out November 25th. The Store seems to think I have a valid Game Pass so I am not sure what has gone wrong

ic1male · 1 Nov 2019 at 21:34

Your CMOS battery hasn't gone flat and you've lost the date or time? That happened to someone here.

almoststew1990 · 1 Nov 2019 at 21:40

Nah that was fine. I loaded up Dishonored 2 which I have not run beforr and it asked me for my Xbox account pin on first time start up etc. It Signed in just fine and now I can run all my Game Pass games, so it must have signed out at some point. All better now!

Mercutio · 1 Nov 2019 at 23:00

I can't seem to be able to add the 3 months to my subscription:

Change your Microsoft Store region
You currently have a subscription from a different region. If it still doesn't work, please contact customer support.
Change your Microsoft Store region You currently have a subscription from a different region. If it still doesn't work, please contact customer support.
PUR-ConversionBlockedCurrencyCountryMismatch
mkk*******S2aDmU.5.0.6.9
2019/11/01 - 22:54:54 UTC

I've tried setting my MS store region to UK and US, the AMD reward code has been turned into the activation link but nothing I do seem to work.
Apologies if it's been covered already.

Edit: Can it only be used once my current 1 month intro sub expires?

Yrkoon · 1 Nov 2019 at 23:32

Mercutio said:
I can't seem to be able to add the 3 months to my subscription:

Change your Microsoft Store region
You currently have a subscription from a different region. If it still doesn't work, please contact customer support.
Change your Microsoft Store region You currently have a subscription from a different region. If it still doesn't work, please contact customer support.
PUR-ConversionBlockedCurrencyCountryMismatch
mkk*******S2aDmU.5.0.6.9
2019/11/01 - 22:54:54 UTC

I've tried setting my MS store region to UK and US, the AMD reward code has been turned into the activation link but nothing I do seem to work.
Apologies if it's been covered already.

Edit: Can it only be used once my current 1 month intro sub expires?

mine worked while my 1 month 1 quid intro was still running, dang that sucks where did you get the code from?

edit: i would contact who ever you got the code from and see if they give u a uk one, pro tip if you do get a working one have auto renew disabled as when you are redeeming the 3 month code you will get another month on top for turning auto renew back on

strumpusplunket · 3 Nov 2019 at 11:00

I finished The Outer Worlds, and am feeling very pleased with the value from my first £1. There are six or seven other games on the pass I'm vaguely interesting in trying too, BUT...

They really don't make this user-friendly, do they?

I was in the Xbox Companion app trying to find the eligible games, and I only see truncated lists. Clicking on a game or on "show all" opens the Microsoft Store app, but in that app the games are only showing up as Xbox games and it doesn't give me a link to dowload for the PC. I keep ending up on the page encouraging me to sign up to the Xbox Console Pass.

So far it seems the only way to make it work is to Google "PC game pass games" in my web browser and then go though the options to display all, list A-Z and show all on the same page. What a ****** system! This is by far the least user-friendly set-up of any game client I've used. I've now bookmarked the page and just click away the pop-ups suggesting I switch to the UK page rather than the US one (doing so makes it lose my existing subscription).

This is really not encouraging me to stay on with this sub beyond the introductory offer period.

Am I missing something obvious?