Epic Games Store - 88% split goes to devs

Thanks. T’is what I feared.

Is anyone else having a hell of a time getting the EGS app to be usable? I start it up and here it is 5 minutes later stuck on “Preparing the Epic Games Launcher.”

I managed to fix the issue by deleting the Manifests folder in the C:\ProgramData\Epic\EpicGamesLauncher\Data hidden folder.(To be specific, delete all the files with .item extension in the Manifests folder )

The above fix on Reddit worked for me. Be warned that it could require a re-d/l of your games.

Thanks, that fixed it but yes, I had to re-download Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (the only game actually installed), which is some serious BS. Worse, the EGS app wouldn’t let me install the game to the same folder unless I emptied it of its contents, so that means it’s not like some other installers that can see the files already downloaded and in good shape, and go on to the next ones in the queue, saving time and bandwidth.

Imagine if I’d had 10 or more EGS bought or freebie games installed (especially GTA V, which stands at about 100 GB!)…

Anyone find a different workaround? The only thing I can think of that might have provoked this is that I installed a motherboard BIOS update a week or two ago.

this is what i do to make it resume an existing folder so i don’t have to redownload a game–start a download, have it make the folder. pause the download. exit EGS, copy the contents over (merging an installed copy with one with the temp folders it has just created) and reopen EGS and resume the download. it will verify the files. this is what i did for 50gb of fortnite.

OK, thanks. But honestly having to do all that is kinda bullshit. Epic’s gotta up its game here. There shouldn’t have been an issue opening the app in the first place.

Not disagreeing. I don’t recall Steam or Origins or Uplay ever failing to launch or update properly.

Workaround is probably to download Process Monitor from SysInternals/Microsoft. This tool will let you see what EGS tries to find as it launches in terms of registry locations and files.

Most likely it is failing to find a file or registry key that tells EGS that you have game X installed in folder Y.

Once you recreate this key, you should be good to go (i.e. restarting EGS and it should find the folder/reg key).

Sometimes you’ll need to recreate more than one.

All of the app stores have issues like this in my experience. For example EA Downloader might let you pick the folder the game resides in, but it still runs a verification on ALL files AND then does a “touchup.exe” which basically reinstalls the game/components, so, get ready to get Visual c++ and directX redistributables run for the 21000th time.

Edit:
Turns out the .manifest files are the installation settings for each game you have installed.

So if someone sends you their manifest file for Rebel Galaxy (they can try replacing their SessionID with 0s before sending) it might work (The installationGUID in the file is the same as the file name).

You’ll just have to edit it to pick the right path.

More on the epic launcher being idiotic.

So GTAV has this folder called ‘Redistributables’. So you’d imagine that this folder contains something related to the installation of the game right, such as the “SocialClub-Installer.exe”.

Turns out, the game will not launch if you delete the 100s of MBs of installation files located there…

gg.

Are those hundreds of GB in addition to what the game itself takes up?

If you really think the game doesn’t use those exe files why not replace them with teeny ones that are named the same? Yeah, it’s a stupid thing to have to do but if it works, you saved a lot of space?

I’m toying with the following games because of the never ending supply of $10 coupons. I’d prefer to get them on Steam because that is where my library is, but I won’t ignore saving money. There are also some games where achievements can add interesting goals to achieve, and I know Epic will get them, but Steam has them now. Also, I’m not crazy about the paid exclusives.

  1. Control Season Pass: The game was so good and I have it on Epic so it’s a no brainer to get the season pass with the $10 coupon for $15.

  2. Hades: Looks good and for $10 a great buy if it lives up to all the positive talk.

  3. Before We Leave: Looks like an interesting builder type game. Not on sale, but for $10 post coupon a good price.

  4. Surviving the Aftermath: Looks like it has promiss and for $6 post coupon it seems like a crazy good deal if it lives up to the potential. Any word if the price is going up once it hits 1.0?

  5. Superlimal looks different and is $5 after the coupon. I should try the demo on Steam.

  6. Griftlands looks promising too and would be $5 after the coupon. Klei has been hit or miss for me. I loved Invisible Inc, but didn’t like Oxygen Not Included or Don’t Starve.

Superlimal is basically a glorified Tech-demo. Some nice perspective gimmicks in there, but overall I got bored really quickly. If 2-3 hrs of playing around is worth 5 bucks to you, go for it. Just don’t expect a full game.

Surviving the Aftermath looks pretty cool and I almost bought it, but looks like it’s early access? Looks like it’s pretty far along though, I mean it’s playable and has a lot of features right?

Thanks for the info. I can wait or get it in some bundle. Looked different, but not a must buy.

I have bought both Hades and Surviving the Aftermath and I’m not happy. Those two are too good for playing them prior to 1.0. Both have some fundamental things coming (narrative-wise). It’s a bit like with Subnautica for me: Waiting was worth it. Well, buy them (of course!) but for a full playthrough… I won’t do it.

I also liked Invisible Inc, but not ONI or Don’t Starve (I also really liked Mask of the Ninja). I bought Griftlands and played it a bit. I like it, and I’m going to wait for it to be done before I really dig into it. You should probaby buy it, especially for 5 measly bucks :)

Heh. For years Steam had issues sometimes starting up, and you had to delete some cache files and let it rebuild it at start. But I’m talking of… the first 6 or 7 years of Steam. They eventually fixed it.

I’m glad to hear you like them. That is my feeling too. If I get them I may give 'em a try, but I’d wait to really dig in. I tend to stay away from early access.

I didn’t realize they made Mark of the Ninja, which I also liked a lot. Yeah, for $5 it seems like a no brainer.