I thought I'd make a thread on how to successfully backup and restore Origin games after recently having issues doing this.
I have two HDD's - as most people probably do - one for Windows etc and the other for Games. This guide will also work for people with one HDD and you have backed up your Steam and Origin games folders. I recently did a clean install of Windows on one HDD and while Steam reinstalled no problem, Origin was more difficult.
I have both Steam and Origin stored on my Games HDD.
After reinstalling Windows I tried starting Steam by going to the root directory and launching Steam.exe which didnt work. So to get Steam working again I just redownloaded the setup app and installed it to the same location as it currently is on the Games HDD (eg G:\Steam). I did NOT uninstall Steam first as this will delete all my games. The setup app said 'updating' and once logged in to Steam, all my games were in the list and all the installed games were correct. I tested some games and they launched no problem. The only issue I ran into on a couple of games was not having the right Microsoft .net framework installed, this is because I had not run the Windows update yet to get all those updates. After doing so, the games ran fine.
Now, Origin. I went to the root directory to launch Origin.exe (eg, G:\Origin) this launched Origin to install it again/update it. Once installed and logged in I found all my Origin installed games were not "found" and according to Origin, had to be downloaded again. Despite them still being in their installed locations. I store my Origin games in G:\Origin\Games, others will probably have them stored in the default location of C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games or wherever you chose to store them. I tried launching the game .exe from the install directory but it came up with an EA/Origin error 'Displayname field missing from registry'.
I believe this is because Origin relies on Windows Registry entries to know where the games are stored in order to run them. As for Steam, I have no idea but it seems they are programed differently. After searching Google, I found a solution on this very forum no less:
Thread here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18439511 (post #9)
So, I cut and paste all the installed games from the Origin games location (mine is G:\Origin\Games) to a temp folder. Opened up Origin and began the download of a game, after about 3% percent I paused the download and exited Origin completely. I cut and pasted the whole game folder from my temp folder to where my Origin games are stored and overwrote/merged the folder with the small amount that Origin had started to download. Re-open Origin and resume the game download, the percentage downloaded shot from 3% up to about 92%! Once completed I tried launching the game but it crashed at startup with a Windows error. I solved this by right clicking on the game in Origin and repairing the install. This scanned the games file integrity and downloaded approx 100mb. After this, the game ran fine.
Just for info, the Origin registry entries for the games should be in here, if they are not then the game will not work. Using the above method, re created the needed entries for the games:
Location of registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node
Example: (in here you will see all the required info)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\EA GAMES\Battlefield 3
I hope this helps anyone with backing up and restoring games for Steam and the more difficult Origin.
I have two HDD's - as most people probably do - one for Windows etc and the other for Games. This guide will also work for people with one HDD and you have backed up your Steam and Origin games folders. I recently did a clean install of Windows on one HDD and while Steam reinstalled no problem, Origin was more difficult.
I have both Steam and Origin stored on my Games HDD.
After reinstalling Windows I tried starting Steam by going to the root directory and launching Steam.exe which didnt work. So to get Steam working again I just redownloaded the setup app and installed it to the same location as it currently is on the Games HDD (eg G:\Steam). I did NOT uninstall Steam first as this will delete all my games. The setup app said 'updating' and once logged in to Steam, all my games were in the list and all the installed games were correct. I tested some games and they launched no problem. The only issue I ran into on a couple of games was not having the right Microsoft .net framework installed, this is because I had not run the Windows update yet to get all those updates. After doing so, the games ran fine.
Now, Origin. I went to the root directory to launch Origin.exe (eg, G:\Origin) this launched Origin to install it again/update it. Once installed and logged in I found all my Origin installed games were not "found" and according to Origin, had to be downloaded again. Despite them still being in their installed locations. I store my Origin games in G:\Origin\Games, others will probably have them stored in the default location of C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games or wherever you chose to store them. I tried launching the game .exe from the install directory but it came up with an EA/Origin error 'Displayname field missing from registry'.
I believe this is because Origin relies on Windows Registry entries to know where the games are stored in order to run them. As for Steam, I have no idea but it seems they are programed differently. After searching Google, I found a solution on this very forum no less:
Thread here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18439511 (post #9)
So, I cut and paste all the installed games from the Origin games location (mine is G:\Origin\Games) to a temp folder. Opened up Origin and began the download of a game, after about 3% percent I paused the download and exited Origin completely. I cut and pasted the whole game folder from my temp folder to where my Origin games are stored and overwrote/merged the folder with the small amount that Origin had started to download. Re-open Origin and resume the game download, the percentage downloaded shot from 3% up to about 92%! Once completed I tried launching the game but it crashed at startup with a Windows error. I solved this by right clicking on the game in Origin and repairing the install. This scanned the games file integrity and downloaded approx 100mb. After this, the game ran fine.
Just for info, the Origin registry entries for the games should be in here, if they are not then the game will not work. Using the above method, re created the needed entries for the games:
Location of registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node
Example: (in here you will see all the required info)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\EA GAMES\Battlefield 3
I hope this helps anyone with backing up and restoring games for Steam and the more difficult Origin.