The Question

Where does the Epic Games Launcher store metadata about what games are installed and where?

The Answer

On my machine, C:\\ProgramData\\Epic\\EpicGamesLauncher\\Data\\Manifests.

(found using ProcMon)

Inside that folder there is a bunch of *.item json files (example below) that contain most of the interesting metadata.

Interesting Fields

  • AppName: This seems to be an internal identifier the EGS uses to refer to it and create directories. I would assume that this is unique for the whole store.

    It seems earlier AppNames are human readable, like Fortnite or Sage refers to “Overcooked”, but later ones are a some kind of UUID, like GTAV is 9d2d0eb64d5c44529cece33fe2a46482.

    Someone should make a database of these… (like SteamIDs)

  • InstallLocation: Path to where the game is installed
  • LaunchExecutable: Relative path inside of InstallLocation to the executable. InstallLocation + LaunchExecutable always seems to be valid
  • bIsApplication: UE4 dev tools doesn’t have this flag set

Example .item file

This is “0B5BCCB6454D17D42D663B9E3C28B935.item”, the item file for the free “Nuclear Throne” which I have never played.

{
	"FormatVersion": 0,
	"bIsIncompleteInstall": false,
	"AppVersionString": "1",
	"LaunchCommand": "",
	"LaunchExecutable": "nuclearthrone.exe",
	"ManifestLocation": "D:\\Epic Games\\NuclearThrone/.egstore",
	"bIsApplication": true,
	"bIsExecutable": true,
	"bIsManaged": false,
	"bNeedsValidation": false,
	"bRequiresAuth": true,
	"bCanRunOffline": true,
	"AppName": "Turaco",
	"BaseURLs": [
		"http://epicgames-download1.akamaized.net/Builds/Org/o-6xk2nej4lbrlkq5q4vxdf9w5kens7c/af422c0d66204723b7b657f3e9686222/default",
		"http://download.epicgames.com/Builds/Org/o-6xk2nej4lbrlkq5q4vxdf9w5kens7c/af422c0d66204723b7b657f3e9686222/default",
		"http://download2.epicgames.com/Builds/Org/o-6xk2nej4lbrlkq5q4vxdf9w5kens7c/af422c0d66204723b7b657f3e9686222/default",
		"http://download3.epicgames.com/Builds/Org/o-6xk2nej4lbrlkq5q4vxdf9w5kens7c/af422c0d66204723b7b657f3e9686222/default",
		"http://download4.epicgames.com/Builds/Org/o-6xk2nej4lbrlkq5q4vxdf9w5kens7c/af422c0d66204723b7b657f3e9686222/default"
	],
	"BuildLabel": "Live",
	"CatalogItemId": "3524134c7a4e4cf2832d8d2a634baef8",
	"CatalogNamespace": "742f165671424189aecdfdadf5ea9755",
	"AppCategories": [
		"public",
		"games",
		"applications"
	],
	"ChunkDbs": [],
	"CompatibleApps": [],
	"DisplayName": "Nuclear Throne",
	"FullAppName": "Turaco: Live",
	"InstallationGuid": "0B5BCCB6454D17D42D663B9E3C28B935",
	"InstallLocation": "D:\\Epic Games\\NuclearThrone",
	"InstallSessionId": "FC9CEB0B4738CBD8667075B018992077",
	"InstallTags": [],
	"InstallComponents": [],
	"HostInstallationGuid": "00000000000000000000000000000000",
	"PrereqIds": [],
	"StagingLocation": "D:\\Epic Games\\NuclearThrone/.egstore/bps",
	"TechnicalType": "public,games,applications",
	"VaultThumbnailUrl": "",
	"VaultTitleText": "",
	"InstallSize": 164670619,
	"MainWindowProcessName": "",
	"ProcessNames": [],
	"MainGameAppName": "Turaco",
	"MandatoryAppFolderName": "NuclearThrone",
	"OwnershipToken": "false"
}