re install on new machine

[Alluj6]

Hello I will be getting a new computer Is it as easy as signing into my account at the frontier store and re-downloading my elite and then horizons or can I just download horizons.
Also will all my arx purchases be re installed and my game will not be overwritten will it?
If any Cmdr has experience in this please comment .
thank you in advance!

 

[Masta Squidge]

The purchases are all account based and don't really need to be "installed" as such. They are already installed with the game so that you can see these things when other commanders have them.

Just start the launcher, log in, install, and go. You will still have the same commander and everything you purchased on the account.

 

[VR Morgan Grimes]

The only thing you need transfer manually is your control settings.

 

[Alluj6]

thank you Cmdrs I appreciate your time

 

[GroG79]

And possibly save your journal files, the commander log files which should be at C:\Users\username\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\journal.xxxxxxxx.log

Save the entire "Elite Dangerous" directory at that location and then put it back in the same place on your new machine. Those journal files are your commander log files generated over the lifetime of your gameplay. You may want them as this is your game history.

Yes this might be important.. Can you also confirm that Elite Dangerous will not copy/populate the logs back during the installation process and loggin in as given CMDR? It would be logical if Frontier stores the same data as the client software?

 

[GroG79]

Also Alluj6; considering Elite dangerous; save your screenshot folder(s)

 

[the100thmonkey]

If you're going to copy the settings directory to an external SSD, you might as well copy the install folder as well and save some bandwidth.

 

[Capt. Hook]

I did the exact same thing only two weeks ago and very easy. Just need to download the launcher and really thats all there is to it.

Have to put control settings aside as others have said if you want to avoid abit of hassle.

 

[Stealthie]

The only thing you need transfer manually is your control settings.

On that note...

A while back I put a new HDD in my PC, upgraded from W8 to W10, installed ED and... somehow it retained the control bindings from my old HDD.

I am signed-up with a Microsoft account and I'm wondering if that automatically saves a whole bunch of stuff to a "cloud" and then automatically transfers it to a new machine.
I found that, somehow, my minty-freshy PC still remembered things like forum passwords, bookmarked websites and custom controls for the games I play regularly.

Beats me how it works.
Witchcraft, presumably.

 

[CMDR John Luke Paperbone]

On that note...

A while back I put a new HDD in my PC, upgraded from W8 to W10, installed ED and... somehow it retained the control bindings from my old HDD.

I am signed-up with a Microsoft account and I'm wondering if that automatically saves a whole bunch of stuff to a "cloud" and then automatically transfers it to a new machine.
I found that, somehow, my minty-freshy PC still remembered things like forum passwords, bookmarked websites and custom controls for the games I play regularly.

Beats me how it works.
Witchcraft, presumably.

Ms personal cloud auto saves the documents and other folders, and then restores them if you change pc but retain your Microsoft account.

Steam does the same for some games.

Browser bookmarks depends, if you use chrome and are logged in with your google account the yes, chrome saves and restore bookmarks in the cloud.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Seriously Peeps - why do you have to be so straightlaced and helpful? We could have had so much fun here, lemme see what sort of pranks we could have played:

To transfer from one PC to another, you need to go to, and be docked at one of the special save upload starports, the one in the bubble is located at hutton orbital, in alpha centauri, with another being available at colonia

Cloud saves are only available to rank 5 powerplay players, to upload your save onto the server, ie to not lose your progress and purchases, you need to have a merit balance of at least 10,000; remember that merits are halved on thursday morning server tick, so if your build is likely to see you offline for a few days, best bank 20,000+ merits.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Since we've missed the opportunity for some mildly malevolent fun at the OP's expense, I suppose I better contribute to the helpful and honest path this thread is going down...

The easiest way to get to your bindings file(s) is to using windows explorer, go to C: Drive, Users, your-name, then copy and paste the following address onto the end of the address shown in the windows explorer address bar:

\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options

You'll end up with something like:

C:\Users\Alluj6\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options

Note the Alluj6 in blue, this will be your username on the PC, or at least based on your username.

Once in there copy the bindings folder to pendrive / dropbox etc, from your new computer, after the install, access it and put it back in the same place.

Protip for extra awesomeness, makea shortcut to the folder, then every time there is a patch for the game rolling out, especially big version updates, make a backup copy of the binds, the amount of salty tears shed on this forum over the years about "new batch nuked my bindings file" really aint funny.