We all want more Virtual Reality (VR) games to use our Oculus Rift on, but we need more space to do so.
Unless users have an enormous default disk space, they will only be limited to the few precious spaces their default system drive offers.
There wasn't any chance to install a huge directory of games to allow for more varying virtual experiences since the Oculus Rift would default game installs to where the operating system (OS) resided, or for Windows users, Drive C.
Fortunately, that's all worries of the past.
A recent update from the Oculus VR company lets users take advantage of their extra ginormous hard drive spaces allotted for other activities and in this case, more virtual goodness.
New users now have the option to pick the hard drive space their Oculus app will install on while current users can redirect installs to a different directory.
However, current users who already have the VR app installed have to go through a couple of steps unlike fresh installs of the software. Apparently, picking a new install directory is not as easy as opening up the Oculus application and selecting the option, they have to uninstall the complete thing first.
The Oculus support page warns that uninstalling the Oculus "for any reason" will have currently installed games and apps uninstalled as well unless users backup their data.
Here are the steps to do just that:
How To Backup App Data
| 1. Make sure that your Oculus app is not running, else close the program. |
| 2. Open up your Windows start menu and search for "Run". Open the app. |
| 3. In the Run window, search and open the three locations listed below. |
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| Note: Make sure you organize your backup location to avoid a clutter of files and folders, ie. storing them in similarly labeled folders. |
Install An Updated Oculus Software
| 1. Uninstall your current Oculus app. |
| 2. While the uninstallation process runs, download the updated Oculus app. |
| 3. Once the uninstallation process is done, install your updated Oculus app. |
| 4. Follow the on-screen instructions. |
| Note: Make sure you select your preferred drive for installation. |
How To Restore Your Data
| 1. Close the Oculus software. |
| 2. Open up your Oculus install directory or the specified location you had selected earlier. |
| 3. From your backup location, copy the "Redistributables" folder into the Oculus folder, ie. D:Program FilesOculus. |
| 4. From your backup location, copy the backed-up contents of your previous "Software" folder to the new "Software" folder, ie. D:Program FilesOculusSoftware. |
| 5. From your backup location, copy the backed-up contents of your previous "Manifests" folder to the new "Manifests" folder, ie. D:Program FilesOculusManifests. |
| 6. Restart the Oculus app. |
| 7. Open up the Oculus settings window through the gear icon on the upper right. |
| 8. Select "Beta" from the menu, located on the left side. |
| 9. Select "Restart Oculus." |
| Note: Check if your backup was successful by locating your games under the "Installed" tab in your Oculus "Library." |
Follow these instructions carefully to avoid any complications with the backup process. You can now install additional games on your Oculus app depending on the space limitations your new drive has.
For an on-screen tutorial, users may refer to the video posted below:
