Moving my ED files to new PC

[racer1]

I have new windows install I want to move my ED installs to.

I have 3 installs at the moment for my 3 cmdrs, 1 is via steam.

I've seen this https://support.frontier.co.uk/kb/faq.php?id=108

I could just copy the whole lot across, although I'm not sure how steam will cope with that, and there looks like a lot of guff in the locations.

I don't want to lose locally held stuff like the visited stars stuff. I don't know what else if anything is local. I know about my keybinds directory so will keep that.

Does anyone know what I actually need to move across to keep local state but get rid of any superfluous stuff?

Thanks

 

[Aashenfox]

Steam procedure (will not include any fluff)...

1) Install steam on new PC.
2) Start to install ED, let it finish allocating space, and then start the download (you can do this with any game, it is just so the steamapps/common structure is created)
3) Cancel the download and the installation
4) Uninstall the files you installed in step 2 (right click on game in library, uninstall)
5) Take your game files ('Elite Dangerous' folder in steamapps\common) and paste them into the same location on the new pc.
6) Start the installation again, and you'll see it 'enumerating existing files' or something like that.

...don't know about non steam installation.

Hope it helps.

 

[biot]

*scratches head* I had to do something similar earlier this year moving from my old Win7 to my new Win10 machine. I think the support link and Aashenfox's post covers the most of it but if I remember rightly there is also some stuff under Users/<your Win username>/Saved Games/Elite Dangerous (or the last folder might be Frontier Developments - sorry, I do not have access to my machine right now so I can't check). I think that is the commander logs and *possibly* the visited star info.

 

[Aashenfox]

*scratches head* I had to do something similar earlier this year moving from my old Win7 to my new Win10 machine. I think the support link and Aashenfox's post covers the most of it but if I remember rightly there is also some stuff under Users/<your Win username>/Saved Games/Elite Dangerous (or the last folder might be Frontier Developments - sorry, I do not have access to my machine right now so I can't check). I think that is the commander logs and *possibly* the visited star info.

You're absolutely right. The OP said he already got those, but in the name of completeness, I might as well add the steps.

Right click on the start button and choose 'run'. In the box that appears, type %appdata% including the %% and press enter. This is your roaming application data folder (it's system hidden). Go BACK one folder and into Local and grab the Frontier Developments folder. In mine there is also a Frontier_Developments folder. I confess I don't know which is important or if both are, I always copy both. HTH!

 

[yianniv]

Hi,

Regarding the steam istallation, you don't have to manually copy the files. You can backup the game files through steam (there is an option) and then restore them on the new pc. I've done it recently.

You can copy your saved logs in windows. If you use edsm.net with ed market connector, you can visit your travel log in edsm and export the visited stars so that the new pc knows about the... visited stars. Please google it, I don't remember the procedure exactly, but you have to place a certain file in a certain location and start ED. After a while you'll get a message that the data has been imported.

 

[Aashenfox]

Hi,

Regarding the steam istallation, you don't have to manually copy the files. You can backup the game files through steam (there is an option) and then restore them on the new pc. I've done it recently.

You can copy your saved logs in windows. If you use edsm.net with ed market connector, you can visit your travel log in edsm and export the visited stars so that the new pc knows about the... visited stars. Please google it, I don't remember the procedure exactly, but you have to place a certain file in a certain location and start ED. After a while you'll get a message that the data has been imported.

I'm confused, maybe I'm missing something, but how is backing them up to Steam any different from installing fresh? The same number of bytes will still have to be downloaded at the maximum speed of the internet connection?

 

[yianniv]

I'm confused, maybe I'm missing something, but how is backing them up to Steam any different from installing fresh? The same number of bytes will still have to be downloaded at the maximum speed of the internet connection?

Sorry for the late reply, I was playing ED and just saw your post. I wasn't talking about backing up to steam. If you right click on a game it gives you the option to make a backup to a folder. The OP can create a share or use an external drive to backup and then restore it to the new pc. It actually gives you the option to back up multiple games at the same time. Very convenient.

 

[Aashenfox]

Sorry for the late reply, I was playing ED and just saw your post. I wasn't talking about backing up to steam. If you right click on a game it gives you the option to make a backup to a folder. The OP can create a share or use an external drive to backup and then restore it to the new pc. It actually gives you the option to back up multiple games at the same time. Very convenient.

Sweet. Thanks for explaining, I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Chabrias Athena]

Thanks to everyone here for explaining the procedure. I am about to move to a new PC and although the procedure to move the game installation is clear enough, what about visited systems? Yianniv mentioned using edsm, but my issue is this: I am still returning form the DW2 expedition, heading towards Colonia, and have not docked at a station in months, and will not be docking for at least another month. I have hundreds of millions worth of system scan data that I have yet to sell at universal cartographics, and I absolutely don't want to lose this hard-earned exploration data!! If I understand correctly, this info is stored locally on the PC? If so where and what files do I need to move to preserve this data? Sorry if the question seems redundant, but it's not immediately clear from the discussion how to preserve this data. Thank you!

 

[Lightspeed]

Thanks to everyone here for explaining the procedure. I am about to move to a new PC and although the procedure to move the game installation is clear enough, what about visited systems? Yianniv mentioned using edsm, but my issue is this: I am still returning form the DW2 expedition, heading towards Colonia, and have not docked at a station in months, and will not be docking for at least another month. I have hundreds of millions worth of system scan data that I have yet to sell at universal cartographics, and I absolutely don't want to lose this hard-earned exploration data!! If I understand correctly, this info is stored locally on the PC? If so where and what files do I need to move to preserve this data? Sorry if the question seems redundant, but it's not immediately clear from the discussion how to preserve this data. Thank you!

The journal stores where you have been on your computer, but the official record is stored on FD Servers.

So, if you logged out of one computer and onto another, the data on FD Servers, and hence a record of your unclaimed data, would remain. That's the most important point.

In addition, one of the external sites such as EDDB or EDSM will access your existing journal and where you have been travelling as a backup to anything you fear you might lose in switching computers. I think Cmdr Maylor Rom has probably covered keeping your journal if you wish, but (and I haven't tested this !) I should imagine it gets rewritten on your next computer when you start up ED again.

 

[Chabrias Athena]

You fine people are awesome! Thank you cmdrs Maylor Rom and Lightspeed !

 

[WildElf]

Sorry for the late reply, I was playing ED and just saw your post. I wasn't talking about backing up to steam. If you right click on a game it gives you the option to make a backup to a folder. The OP can create a share or use an external drive to backup and then restore it to the new pc. It actually gives you the option to back up multiple games at the same time. Very convenient.

Also likely MUCH slower: https://www.ozarc.games/how-to-move-steam-games-to-another-computer/

Only use backup if space is an issue. If you're copying over LAN or can fit your steam game(s) as-is on a flash/external drive, it's probably not worth the extra time backup takes to compress and uncompress.

Keeping in mind, Steam won't grab keybind and other config files you might want to keep from AppData, regardless of method.