Forum Discussion

New Ace

5 years ago

Solved

[PC] two ME3 installs - how to switch which is used?

Calling all ... Holgers 🙂 PC/Origin The whole story is convoluted, but it amounts to this: I temporarily moved my ME3 install (on non-Windows SSD drive) to a different folder to "hide it", so whe...

holger1405
5 years ago
@DoctorDAM

So you moved the old game out of its location.

Did you installed the new game in the same location the old one was in before?

In General:
Just renaming the "Mass Effect 3" gaming folder will do the trick.
So for example, just renaming the folder from "Mass Effect 3" to "_Mass Effect 3" is enough.

Origin or Steam need to be be closed at the moment you rename the folder.
At restart the clients will not recognize that the game is installed.

This way you can also switch between installations.

holger1405

Hero+

5 years ago

@DoctorDAM

So you moved the old game out of its location.

Did you installed the new game in the same location the old one was in before?

In General:
Just renaming the "Mass Effect 3" gaming folder will do the trick.
So for example, just renaming the folder from "Mass Effect 3" to "_Mass Effect 3" is enough.

Origin or Steam need to be be closed at the moment you rename the folder.
At restart the clients will not recognize that the game is installed.

This way you can also switch between installations.

DoctorDAM

New Ace

5 years ago

@holger1405

Your simple solution worked. Actually a combination of that and @mcsupersport suggestions.

All I had to do was:

Temporarily renamed the (call it #1) G-drive "Mas Effect 3" install (main account, all DLC)

From Origin, "move" the #2 (and currently used C-drive install) to the G-drive (alt account, no DLC)

Then rename both, depending which I want it to use. Simple.

[And I did make sure I exited Origin between steps]

I'll eventually delete #2. But it's sort of nice having both as I plan to play alt for the EAPlay month. And it's nice not being pestered about missing DLC authorizations.

Thanks both!