Store Page
Baldur's Gate 3
All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

Baldur's Gate 3

Store Page
Baldur's Gate 3 > Guides > SweatyPauls's Guides
Not enough ratings
How to Move Saves & Mod Folders Off AppData
By SweatyPauls
Little guide to help those who have a smaller OS drive or just don't want their ever growing saves and mods folder inside AppData. This will let you move them elsewhere and create a link back to the original folder so it still works properly without having to change much. Don't have to move AppData itself and no need for any third party software.
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Created by
SweatyPauls
Offline
Category: Modding or Configuration
Languages: English
Posted
11 Sep, 2023 @ 11:25pm
1,208 Unique Visitors
28 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Creating a Directory Junction 
Comments
Creating a Directory Junction
We will use the directory junction method to move the folders to your desired location.

Your saves and mods are located in your "Baldur's Gate 3" folder inside "C:\Users<yourusername>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios"
There will also be a folder for the Launcher, but you can leave that alone.

Firstly, you'll want to back up the "Baldur's Gate 3" folder to somewhere safe just in case. Remember, all your save files are in there!

Now you will pick out the location you want to move the "Baldur's Gate 3" folder to.
For this example, I moved it into the "My Games" folder in Documents on my E: Drive.
So the new path would be "E:\Users<yourusername>\Documents\My Games\Baldur's Gate 3"

Now, go back to "C:\Users<yourusername>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios" (the original location). There should only be the Launcher folder here now.
While inside this folder, you will run command prompt as administrator (open start menu, type cmd, choose run as administrator).

Now enter the following into command prompt (and remember to replace with your own location path):

mklink /j "Baldur's Gate 3" "E:\Users<yourusername>\Documents\My Games\Baldur's Gate 3"

Then press Enter

You should now see a shortcut linking to your new location inside the Larian Studios folder.
Now you can manage all your saves and mods from the new location!
15 Comments
< >
SweatyPauls  [author] 25 Mar @ 10:11am 
@Spider-Bun Seen some people who've had their games not close properly or crash sometimes start to make debug profiles or it could be to do with mods or mod managers. Seems like you created the directory junction correctly so it's most likely not a problem with that. Backup your saves and maybe try deleting all the debug profiles, restart pc, run game and see if it starts to recognize your saves in the main public profile?
Spider-Bun 25 Mar @ 9:17am 
@SweatyPauls I did all that and made sure that the cmd prompt was in the right folder so me to make the junction. the folder is next to the launcher folder, has the little arrow, and works properly when clicking through it but the game just can't read it for whatever reason and starts making debug profiles
SweatyPauls  [author] 25 Mar @ 1:19am 
@Spider-Bun Hmm sounds like maybe you didn't create the junction in the original folder possibly? Check "C:\Users<yourusername>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios" and see if your "Baldur's Gate 3" junction folder (has a lil shortcut arrow) is in there next to the "Launcher" folder and not inside it.
Spider-Bun 24 Mar @ 1:34pm 
hi! so I followed the instructions exactly and my mod manager can read the junction perfectly but the game itself just doesn't and acts like there are no mods, saves, or anything on it
is there something I'm missing? :0
Sim bồ 15 Mar @ 5:05am 
You are wonderful my friend, I really need some free space for my Dragon age mods.

For those who have issues with the "file already exists", you need to MOVE the Baldur's Gate 3 file to your new path then do the cmd like the guide. The file must be move out of the Local file.

If you don't know how to open cmd direct to local file path, there is a long box show something like User > AppData > Local > Larian Studio, left click the box and it will show the path of the Local file. Delete it and type "cmd" and you can access to the direct path in cmd.

And if you have mods, make sure to change your mod manager to the new path.
SweatyPauls  [author] 14 Mar @ 11:53am 
@Destroyah340 Yes, if the folder has the little arrow on it then that means it just links to the new folder, so you've done it correctly. You can check yourself with both folders open side by side. Temporarily move the files on/off the new folder and see that the contents of the appdata folder will update and match your new folder but the size won't be affected. They are not duplicate files.
Destroyah340 14 Mar @ 11:07am 
@SweatyPauls the folder in appdata has an arrow icon on it while the other one doesn't. so are you saying the original folder having files inside is purely visual & it's not actually taking up space like it would without the junction? if it's purely visual then it seems like it's working but would like a way to confirm, otherwise there's no point to having duplicate files on different drives
SweatyPauls  [author] 14 Mar @ 1:37am 
@Destroyah340 Have you checked if the one in the original place is just the shortcuts to the new folder? If you've done everything correctly then both folders on both drives are supposed to exist, but the one in the original place is now just shortcuts linking to the new folder and doesn't actually have anything stored in it. All the actual files are stored in your newly chosen folder location which are just being linked back to the original folder so your game can find them.
Destroyah340 13 Mar @ 10:25pm 
at first it wasnt creating the receiving folder of the junction command, but now its simply making duplicates. Both folders on both drives have the same content which is NOT what I want. I want the boot drive folder to cease existing as to not take up space on a dwindling drive & so the new folder on the bigger drive takes over its role completely.
SweatyPauls  [author] 26 Feb @ 12:45pm 
@Southey Have you checked both locations to see if it's already made the linked folder?