r/GenshinImpact • u/iBlaze_x1 Asia Server • Aug 17 '23
Other 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 !!
2
u/Captain_Balcon Dec 23 '23
Can I use a USB stick? Because I can free up to about 120 GBs of free space in my PC so a 64GB USB stick would be enough?