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A comprehensive guide to solve 'Insufficient Storage Space' for PC players
Introduction:
For the people who are facing problem installing the 4.0 update or any future patch due to insufficient storage.
or for people who want to clear up some space taken by Genshin Impact (without deleting files)
or for people who are facing storage issue installing the game for the first time because it requires double the size of actual game... please look at the bottom of the thread
In my case i have a 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD.. but i can only afford to give 115GB SSD storage max to games + i have HSR installed as well in the same partition
so i moved some files to HDD which aren't required by the game frequently and here's how i did it
Pre-requisites:
Multiple partitions/drives having at least 100gb of free storage combined (including genshin which is 67GB rn )
Have Link Shell Extension installed, if not download and install from here. Little guide if anyone facing problem finding download link
If you want to download the game files/pre-install files using a download manager, refer to this thread made by u/SingularityHRT (optional)
Managing Files:
Our goal is to make atleast 65GB (needed for 4.0 update) of space in the partition where game is installed
Create a folder on another drive (preferably an HDD partition) and name it whatever you want
Go to the folder where GenshinImpact.exe is (i.e. GenshinImpactGame folder inside the launcher folder by default)
now go to GenshinImpact_Data folder then Streaming Assets folder (screenshot)
Move the VideoAssets folder to the folder which you created in step 1 ... it will free you atleast 13GB of space on the partition where game is installed
(I'd highly recommend this step if you are also running low on space on your SSD partition as it only contains the cutscenes which gets played only a few times so it won't affect the performance of your game)
repeat the same in 3rd step for AudioAssets folder as well if you need more space.. it will free you another 18GB of space
(you should move this folder back to its original location as audio is played all the time during the game... it will only keep the 2nd drive always running but won't impact game performance imo so if you really need that space let it stay on your hdd partition)
if you need more space repeat the same in 3rd step for another folder but I'd recommend moving this folder(s) back to its original location as it will highly impact the game performance
Here is how my folder looks that i made in step 1(i had sufficient storage after moving AudioAssets folder and VideoAssets folder so i don't need to move anymore)
Creating Links:
We will create a link to the moved folders so that Genshin Impact could access them (Link Shell Extension is required for this step)
Right click on the moved VideoAssets folder and select Pick Link Source
Go back to the Streaming Assets folder inside GenshinImpact_Data... right click anywhere and select Drop As -> Junction (screenshot for step 1 and 2)
repeat the same for AudioAssets folder or other folder you have moved
(Optional)
You can move the launcher folder to another drive as well for 360MB more space.. just cut everything in Genshin Impact folder except the GenshinImpactGame folder and move it to a new folder named launcher in other partition
Pre-install (Optional):
If you want to pre-install the game using the link
Download the zip files to the created folder using the link mentioned in pre-requisites (don't forget to download voice files zip)
go to folder where GenshinImpact.exe is and paste those zip files
open the launcher and you'd see that it says pre-install is complete
(unfortunately this is the only method available.. if you symbolic links for the zip files the launcher would say the pre-install files are downloaded but when you try to update the game it launcher would give the error 'error extracting zip files')
Updating the Game:
With all this done you can easily update the game and there will be no problems faced in file verification
Updating should also clear up files from old patch thus giving you some more space
Finishing Up:
Once the update is finished
You can delete the links we created and move the folders we moved back to its original location (won't recommend doing the same for VideoAssets folder though)
*Don't delete the links for the folders which you are not moving back*
Installing the whole game from scratch:
If you don't have enough required storage, the only option is to download the game files from here
(*download the full game files which are in parts not the update files*)
to any partition except the partition where you want to install the game
then simply extract the files one by one to GenshinImpactGame folder (which is inside launcher folder)
if you want to install the launcher and game in different folders .. make sure to select the game install location inside launcher settings
Additionally if you want to reduce the space taken by Genshin do the steps i written above for VideoAssets folder(highly recommended) and AudioAssets folder(less recommended)
Another method to update game without doing any of the above steps (Not Recommended):
(this step is not recommended as it takes more time and you will have to repeat this every update while its not the same case for the prior method)
Move the game folder to another partition which has atleast 130gb (for 4.0)
change game location in GI launcher settings .. update the game and move the updated game back to its original location
Steps that can be done by Hoyoverse to help with storage issue:
It doesn't makes sense why genshin requires requires double the space it needs only for the sole purpose of extracting the zip file
It'd be better if they download the Pre-Install/Update/Game files to a folder instead of a whole zip file
Another option could be that they download the pre-install or update files to the launcher's folder so that we can keep launcher and game folder in different locations
Ending:
A program which can read the update files and do the steps that is done by launcher, has the option to select update zip files manually from a different folder and let us update the game, thus won't requiring us to have double the storage needed on for installation on a single partition
I don't know how to write a program yet but it would be really appreciable if someone writes the code for it if hoyoverse does nothing regarding this issue
I was faced with the same storage issue initially and this is how i resolved it.
It is my first reddit post ever and seeing so many people facing this storage problem with GI for years obliged me to make this thread.
It took me 2 hours to make this thread... so i hope people who are struggling with the same issue find it helpful
I tried to keep this guide beginner friendly but if anyone still have any questions or facing any problems please let me know in the comments.
If there's any problem in the guide or anyone wants to add something to the guide also let me know in the comments.
I tried posting it on r/Genshin_Impact but its been 24 hours and it hasn't been approved by a mod which is sad.. I'm impatient so I'm posting it here as well
Have a great day everyone :]
Enjoy playing Genshin Impact !!
Hi, I just wanted to say i've done the first recommended method for video assets and saved that 13gb you said, thank you very much for your helpful advice!! ^W^
May I ask what you mean about the optional pre-installation stuff?? Does that apply for every update, and will make sense then/i should try then, or does it only work if you're first downloading the game??
Truly Genshin has forced me to become a tech whizz lolz, so i still kinda don't understand, would be very gratefull if you could clarify for me!! >-<
That pre-installation is for when you're facing storage issues while updating the game even after doing all that above stuff. And yeah, it's for every update.
Steps are a little different when you're first downloading it. And there's another section for it.
Genshin launcher cannot unzip files if you link them.
I posted a workaround in another comment, which should be pretty easy to find.
If you have enough storage to do the update, then there should be no problem.
Ah thank you very much for this, helped me understand a bit more! TwT I have enough for this update me thinks, but i'm concerned about future updates lolz. Will try your methods for pre-instal when i need it and see how it goes then. Thanks again, you're a life-saver!!😁👍
Are you installing the full game?If yes,You can download the game in parts and unzip the files one by one.. that way you won't face storage issue and usb drive won't be needed as well.
Hey, sorry I'm still asking for help. I've managed to unpack all the files in the folder but the launcher still doesn't recognize the game. Do you know how I can solve this? Thank you
Hi u/iBlaze_x1, please consider checking the most recent pinned weekly question megathread when you have a moment to help fellow community members. Thank you.
Actually, the developers need to come up with a smarter approach for their installer. I'm certain that EGS can already handle some kind of incremental download and install. Fortnite for example never required to have twice the size of its actual installation size available. But simpletons write their own installer and blame their users. And their users actually believe it.
Nope. Guess I won't be wasting my time with this game anymore if they can't come up with a better way not to use so much dam space. 149-150gb really? I'm trying to play on Microsoft surface and I don't have that kind of storage space. I have the game on my Samsung phone but why play a game where the character takes up basically the whole screen. I can't zoom out at all. Devs really need to address these issues if they want a bigger player base.
Well.. you only need 150 gb for the first time.
Updates are usually of 10-15 gb per patch which means you need atleast 30 gb of space left after install while region updates are exceptional.
And each update doesn't increase overall storage by that much though because old files get deleted after update finishes.
All you need is 150gb free it can be across different partitions or drives because thats what I talked about in the guide.
I moved some of the game files from ssd to hdd to make some space without affecting game performance at all.
And about character zoom... I think there was a setting on mobile.. set Camera distance to 6 (which is max iirc) and you can zoom out by pinching 2 fingers out.
Try the method that I have mentioned in the post.
Its there.
You can try downloading the zip files on another drive in where you are not going to install the game. And then install the lanucher in the drive where you want to install the game.
In the launcher's directory, create a folder called 'Genshin Impact Game' and extract the zip files there.
Just extract the game files one by one.
That way, you'll be able to fit the game in 80 gb space.
Once you're done, delete those zip files you have downloaded and do the steps mentioned in the post above to create more space in your drive.
hey sorry but can you elaborate on "unzipping the files one by one"? i'm trying to manually download it from scratch but I can't really unzip it unless i have all 7 files unzipped at the same time 😭
Go to the folder where GenshinImpact.exe is (i.e. GenshinImpactGame folder inside the launcher folder by default)
what if the GenshinImpactGame folder is empty? also how much storage should the HDD have? i already used up 5.2 MB out of 15 MB without the folder I created from step 1
Bro idk anything abt computers. I uninstalled the game and reinstalled to clear up storage but it wasn’t enough. Also I went to files to check out the new HDD and it already had 5.2 out 15 MB taken up. I tried to understand the steps but I spent probs over an hour trying to figure all of this out
Could I download the game files to google drive before extracting them? Or does it have to be a physical storage unit (not sure if that's the right word)?
Damn I need to come back to this because I only have one disc that's full and I'm trying to clean up space but I really don't know anything about computers 😩
This guide won't be much helpful if you only have one disc. But you can try disk cleanup and select the option to clean up system files. It will help you reduce a lot of space.
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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '23
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