Hi All,

I posted this question on the Origin forums over a day ago and have had NO response, so I thought maybe someone here on GOG would be more helpful. I only have a few Origin games (Spore plus those from the Humble Bundle), but I'd rather not have to redownload all that data :)

Here's the trouble:
"This seems so simple, but I can't make it work. I recently reinstalled my Win 7 OS and am reinstalling all my games. That worked easily with Steam, but not with Origin. I do not want to redownload if it can be avoided. The Origin client shows my owned games and I went through the process (found numerous references to this procedure): begin the download through the client, wait for ~1%, pause it, exit Origin (complete, full exit), copy game data folder into new install location, reopen Origin. Supposedly, it should detect the game files and magically know it's fully installed (or very close to it).

However, I've done this 4 or 5 times with no luck. Every time I bring the client back up, the download window shows them all paused (or just one -- tried one at a time, too). No matter how long I wait, it never wakes up and sees the files are all there. If I unpause the download, it actually deletes most of what's there and gets going again, from the beginning. This is very frustrating!

I'm working with Spore, if that makes any difference. If any one can help, I'd really appreciate it!

I'm on Win 7 Pro 64 with Origin 9.3.11.2762"

Any expert folks on GOG know a way around this? Here's hoping...

Thanks!
Justin

Try using the default install folder path for your games. I don't like it, but I had the problems you are describing when I changed it (even though there is an option to do that in the client).

There's also a possible Fix here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g2FXyAC2fE


I hope this helps!

A lot of Origin games aren't really "Originworks" like Steam games are Steamworks. Origin only started really integrating EA games into the client around Battlefield 3 time. Mass Effect 3, Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 are all linked to it but I don't think many others are.

In short a game like Spore is likely installing and running the same as if you bought it from the EA Downloader back in the day, or Direct2Drive or whever else. In other words I don't think the normal client trick of copying and pasting files will work in all cases.

Spore might also be a special case. Basically, EA screwed over all the retail customers, because you can't add a Spore retail key to Origin. You can only add games that were released from 2009 onwards, and Spore was released in 2008. Which also means that Spore retail customers no longer have any official way of patching their game.

In my case, simply copying the files into the Origin Games folder, then starting the client and then the download did the trick. Worked for FIFA 11 and Mass Effect 2 and 3.

Thanks to you all for the advice and info! In the end, though, I couldn't make it work and I'll just be downloading it all again. It's not too bad, as I don't have a data cap with my ISP -- just the wasted time (but less than continuing to try to figure this out :) ).

I did try using the default install location, instead of moving it (and the cache) around with the Origin settings. That made no difference. (I'm on an SSD/HDD system, so moving the directories around is essential -- using mklink now instead of app settings.) Also, I only have the games folders saved -- not the cache -- maybe that's the problem. I thought Origin would see the game files and not need the installer, but who knows?

And maybe Spore is a special case...

Again, thanks to you all for the help!

-Justin

Um...actually...that's exactly what I was able to do and the reason I even have Spore on my Origin account. I bought Spore years ago in a local BestBuy (it came in a hard, white plastic, oddly textured fancy case, if that's familiar to you). At some point the installation CD (or maybe it was a DVD) was lost (argh -- kids!). I contacted Origin and explained this to them, sent them emailed images showing some evidence that I had a retail copy, and they game me keys on my Origin account. There was some back and forth about whether I had the base game or the "Galactic Edition", but in the end, I was given keys to the full set on Origin.

I guess to clarify: I didn't add my retail key to Origin -- I was able to convince Origin support to give me new keys for the game that would work on Origin. I needed them simply because I no longer had the physical installation media. I proved ownership and they helped me out. Maybe you could do the same?

This happened in October 2012, if it matters. Maybe I was just lucky? I'd be glad to show you the chat transcript that worked for me -- let me know...

Thanks,
Justin

Worse comes to worse, you should be able to backup the directory where the Origin client downloads the game installers... check your settings in Origin to find the directory

Origin support can also add older games to the account as mentioned above on a case by case basis... how successful you are depends on the person helping though