Moving the game to my SSD

[Bernkastel]

Hi, currently I have my game installed in an old HDD but I want to move the game to my SSD.
When I go into Local Files there's no option to move the game, is there any other way to do this?PD: I already have a game folder in my SSD and other games give me the option to move them.

[Your Mom's Oshi]

I tried but just had to redownload. I hope you can find a better way to do it.

[Tempus animae]

Can't you just copy and past the game to where you want it to be, then download to that place. The Launcher should act like downloading, but will find the files already there?

[Bernkastel]

I managed to do it.
In case someone is interested on how to do this without redownloading or veryfing/reinstalling anything.

1. Copy your game folder to your SSD, the location doesn't matters.
2. After the copying is finished, manually delete the game folder from the HDD
3. Open CMD as admin to create a symlink to your game folder and the previous installation folder running the following command.
In my case it was like this:
mklink /D "F:\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common" "C:\SteamLib\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online"

"F:\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common" being the previous location of your FFXIV folder (in your HDD) and "C:\SteamLib\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" being the game folder you copied to the SSD. Replace those routes to match your directories.

After that you can launch the game like normal and that's it.
Hope it's clear and it can help someone, as I didn't find any resource about doing this for FFXIV that wasn't reinstalling the game.

[オムグシーンド (omugushiindo)]

Originally posted by BerndKastel:

I managed to do it.
In case someone is interested on how to do this without redownloading or veryfing/reinstalling anything.

1. Copy your game folder to your SSD, the location doesn't matters.
2. After the copying is finished, manually delete the game folder from the HDD
3. Open CMD as admin to create a symlink to your game folder and the previous installation folder running the following command.
In my case it was like this:
mkdir "F:\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common" "C:\SteamLib\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online"

"F:\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common" being the previous location of your FFXIV folder (in your HDD) and "C:\SteamLib\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" being the game folder you copied to the SSD. Replace those routes to match your directories.

After that you can launch the game like normal and that's it.
Hope it's clear and it can help someone, as I didn't find any resource about doing this for FFXIV that wasn't reinstalling the game.

Thank you. I have been looking for a way to do this and this worked! Thanks a million!

[Cyrus]

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

[thelawlessone]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

Absolute legend mate!! been struggling with this all afternoon. many thanks

[Jetrel]

Originally posted by thelawlessone:

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

Absolute legend mate!! been struggling with this all afternoon. many thanks

This does not work. Just wasted ~45 minutes of my download to try this.

[Malfeasance]

Originally posted by Jetrel:

This does not work. Just wasted ~45 minutes of my download to try this.

For future thread searchers: it does work.

Not sure what you did wrong but as long as you uninstall and reinstall via Steam at the new location you should be good to just drag and drop. AFAIK the only thing you're doing is changing directories for Steam since for whatever reason it doesn't allow you to do it via itself like with most games. You may want to launch and login until the game starts patching, then exit and place the folders and files, I vaguely remember doing that.

[thelawlessone]

Originally posted by Jetrel:

Originally posted by thelawlessone:

Absolute legend mate!! been struggling with this all afternoon. many thanks

This does not work. Just wasted ~45 minutes of my download to try this.

This 100% works. maybe you did something wrong?

[Val]

This thread is a bit old, but thanks for the hint. Just bought an ssd and confirm,still works.

[CocoBerryBloop]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

You are beyond magnificent!!! Thank you!

[Polar]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

Also wanting to confirm that this still works! But I want to make one thing a bit more clear. You are not simply copying the "game" folder within the Final Fantasy XIV Online directory (at least in my experience). You need to copy the full "Final Fantasy XIV Online" folder from your steam common folder. Then once you've uninstalled the launcher via steam, and reinstalled to your new drive, you can copy the full "Final Fantasy XIV Online" folder you backed up to your steam common folder, replace all files, and boot. Worked perfectly!

[Mr Ley]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

Still works, did it just now, many thanks friend!

[Nifty 4000]

Originally posted by Polar:

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

Also wanting to confirm that this still works! But I want to make one thing a bit more clear. You are not simply copying the "game" folder within the Final Fantasy XIV Online directory (at least in my experience). You need to copy the full "Final Fantasy XIV Online" folder from your steam common folder. Then once you've uninstalled the launcher via steam, and reinstalled to your new drive, you can copy the full "Final Fantasy XIV Online" folder you backed up to your steam common folder, replace all files, and boot. Worked perfectly!

Legend that helped I had a inkling on what to do but I wasn't sure and didn't want a 8 hr install

[E102_Gamma]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

No need to create symlinks. You can do it by moving files and 're-installing' it via steam (without having to do full downloads)

1. Copy your game folder to another location, the location doesn't matters. As long as its not exactly where it will install via steam. (you don't want steam to overwrite the launcher data)
2. After the copying is finished, Uninstall Via Steam.
3. Install via Steam to the new location. (Steam only installs the launcher so should be a quick download)
4. Move files from the folder you copied earlier into the folder Steam creates.


It is important to Install it via steam before moving the game files to the new Steam location as the the launcher itself tracks what version the game is on. It does not do a manual check of existing files, so the 'base' launcher installed via steam will attempt to install the entire game.

Confirming that this still works! Thank you!

Originally posted by Polar:

Also wanting to confirm that this still works! But I want to make one thing a bit more clear. You are not simply copying the "game" folder within the Final Fantasy XIV Online directory (at least in my experience). You need to copy the full "Final Fantasy XIV Online" folder from your steam common folder. Then once you've uninstalled the launcher via steam, and reinstalled to your new drive, you can copy the full "Final Fantasy XIV Online" folder you backed up to your steam common folder, replace all files, and boot. Worked perfectly!

While I didn't see this part till later, I can confirmed that just copying the 'game' folder to the new location's 'game' folder worked just fine without having to copy the entirety of the FFXIV Directory. Considering the post was made in April, changes could of been made to the launcher to avoid having to copy the entire directory. Would recommend a copy of the directory somewhere just in case if just the 'game' folder moving only doesn't work.