SUCCESS: Notes on how I moved Forza 4 to a new system.

Forza Motorsport Legacy Motorsport FM4 Discussion
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Acknowledgement – First and foremost, without the helpful article posted by Tonka Crash on the Internet (and a couple of emails while in process), I’m not sure I would have had all of the information I needed to make a successful transition to a new system. Many thanks, brother.

Background – A billion-plus credits earned in the Storefront and Auction House peddling my 100-plus Designs and Vinyl Groups (over 1,300 hours in the Paint Shop). Over 90% of the Event List completed. Collected all 18 Unicorns. Let’s just say the thought of losing my Save Game was something I didn’t want to dwell on for very long.

My old system was Gamestop refurb Elite with a 20 GB Hard Drive. The fans were annoyingly loud, and the system was getting old enough to make me think I was pressing my luck against hardware failure. I wanted to move up to a new system since I had no plans to go to a One, and I really love playing Forza 4. Once I decided to get a new 250 GB Model E, I had to figure out FOR SURE what the procedure was to move everything over and not be one of “those guys” that had a story to tell about losing everything.

The notes that follow are the steps I took. If additional commentary beyond a description of the step I took was felt necessary, it’s included along the way.

  1. Decide how you want to move your Saved Game Data. You can use a Data Transfer Cable, The Cloud, or a Flash Drive. I chose to use a Flash Drive.

  2. Verify that your Flash Drive satisfies the requirements for use on Xbox before proceeding. More info. Is available HERE: Xbox Support

NOTE: STEPS 3 THROUGH 5 ARE ON THE “OLD” XBOX

  1. MOVE your Saved Game from your Hard Drive to your Flash Drive. From the Home Screen, go to Settings\System\Storage\Hard Drive\Games and Apps\Forza Motorsport 4. Select the Saved Game for your Gamertag, then select Move, then select the destination Flash Drive. For reference, my Saved Game was about 250 MB. Did I say MOVE? Yes, I said MOVE. DO NOT COPY. A lot of stories we read about lost or corrupted Saved Games are due this particular error.

  2. Copy any other Forza 4 Data files you want to bring over. These could include your Design Catalog, Layer Groups, Car Setup Files, Photos, Movies, and Ghosts. Copy works fine for these files.

While you’re looking through the list of files stored in your Forza 4 game folder, you should take careful note of the “Downloaded Items”. The Downloaded Items are the Downloadable Content, or “DLC” that your Saved Game needs to see when you start Forza 4 under your Gamertag. Here’s what my DLC List looked like:

Launch Track Pack (DH)
Launch Bonus Pack (DH)
Autovista Car Pack (D2)
1950-2000 Model Year Car Pack (D2)
2001-2005 Model Year Car Pack (D2)
Limited Collector’s Edition Pack
SP (DH)
Forza Motorsport 4 VIP Membership (DH)
November Speed Pack (SP)
December IGN Pack (SP)
January Jalopnik Pack (SP)
February American Le Mans Series Pack (SP)
March Pirelli Car Pack (SP)
April Alpinestars Car Pack (DH)
May Topgear Car Pack (DH)
July Car Pack (DH)
August Playseat Car Pack (DH)
September Pennzoil Car Pack (DH)
Meguiar’s Car Pack (DH)
Hyundai Veloster Bonus Pack (DH)
Porsche Expansion Pack (DH)
2013 SRT Viper GTS Bonus Pack (DH)

  1. Turn off your old Xbox and disconnect it. If your story is like mine, you’re done with it. Give it to your dog, or maybe your little sister.

NOTE: STEPS 6 THROUGH 17 ARE ON THE “NEW” XBOX.

  1. Setup / connect your new system, including initial setup and download your existing Gamertag.

  2. Perform License Transfer. This is necessary to bring whatever DLC you purchased on your old Xbox over to your new one. You can only perform this action once every 4 months, so be sure you’re ready to commit before doing so. Go to License Transfer by going to Settings\Account\License Transfer. Once you’ve performed this action on your new system, your Download History (also in Account Management) will be populated with a list of available DLC.

  3. Download your Forza 4 DLC. After I performed License Transfer, what I saw in my Download History wasn’t exactly what I expected. Having performed research, I knew that several items identified as DLC weren’t truly DLC, but instead were items that the game installed off of Disc 2. Each of the items the game installed off of Disc 2 are marked on my DLC List above with a (D2) after their name.

Items that were an easy match to my Download History are marked with (DH) after their name.

What got me confused and a bit distressed however were several other DLC items I had on my list but couldn’t see in my Download History. What I couldn’t find were basically 5 Car Packs that ranged between the November Speed Pack and the March Pirelli Car Pack. It turned out that this DLC came as a group under the Season Pass. The Season Pass was listed in a rather nondescript manner in my Forza 4 folder as “SP”. Once you download the Season Pass from your Download History, you should be able to see the missing DLC, right? Wrong! It turns out the only way you can get these remaining DLC packs is from within the game itself. More on this below.

  1. Get a friend with Xbox Live Gold to help you out. Notice that I haven’t said anything about popping the Forza game disc in yet. The reason (again) is because you want to get all of the DLC loaded first. Well until now, you’ve been able to do that. The remaining DLC requires installing the game and then running it. The trick, however, is NOT running the game under YOUR Gamertag until all of the DLC is the same on the new system. You don’t want the game to create a Saved Game on the system because this would be the equivalent of Marty McFly seeing his future self or the Ghostbusters crossing the streams.

  2. Sign Out and let your Friend Sign In to Xbox Live. Let your Friend start Forza 4. Let your Friend run the very first race at the Alps, then buy a cheapo car and run the first Career race. After this happens, there will be a prompt to install Disc 2. This process will get all of the “D2” DLC installed and avoid letting Marty cross the streams (a double whammy).

  3. Let your friend back out of the Forza 4 menus to the first one where the Marketplace is available on the far right. From the Forza 4 Marketplace, you can access and download the remaining Car Packs that become available through the Season Pass. One other Car Pack that remained but you won’t have to actually download is the American Muscle Cars. This pack automatically gets downloaded as an integral component of the Season Pass, so there’s nothing you need to do to get it.

  4. The last DLC item I needed to find was the Limited Collector’s Edition Car Pack. This DLC is integral to the VIP Membership, so again there was nothing to download and install.

  5. The last thing I recommend before taking the last steps is to go back into Settings\Storage\Hard Drive\Forza Motorsport 4 and double-check the list of installed DLC items against the list you made from your original installation. At this point, everything should check out as the same.

  6. Have your Friend Sign Out (if you haven’t already done so).

  7. MOVE your Saved Game from the Flash Drive onto your Hard Drive. Yes, MOVE it over.

  8. Copy your other Forza 4 files from the Flash Drive onto your Hard Drive.

  9. Start Forza 4 for the first time under your Gamertag. Have a look around. Is everything EXACTLY the way you left it on your old system? Congratulations!

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I nominate this thread for a sticky!

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At first, I thought that the thread was for getting Forza 4 to work on the Xbox One. I was like “Oh my gosh! Backward compatiblity on the Xbox One? I never knew that it could happen!” Once I read this, I was like “Aww… no backward compatibility? This didn’t turn out how I thought it would be like…” I’d never own multiple copies of anything.

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I want to thank Burg for taking the time to write this thread. I’m really lucky that he is on my friends list, saw a post where I mentioned my new 360 was on its way and then he referred me to this thread.
I was in the same position as he was. A first gen 360 elite that was loud, always hot and beginning to freeze and shut down intermittently, I had pushed my luck far enough, but wasn’t ready for Xbox One. So I ordered the new 500GB COD Holiday Bundle.
I also had earned billions in the SF and AH, had a full garage, all unicorns, tons of designs, vinyls and tunes and many hours spent in the game. To say I was apprehensive about the transfer is an understatement.
Although I was using a MS hard drive data transfer cable, I still read this thread carefully and checked all my files twice before loading FM4 and giving it a go. Frankly, none of the other games concerned me, but I have checked for corrupt files and I am now confident things went as planned.
Thanks Burg, I can breathe now.

Peace

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Hippie,

As we discussed, I’m really happy that everything worked out right for you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on how it went with the Community.

ooollBURGllooo

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I just got a new 360 E model since my first gen’s disc drive was on it’s last thread. I used a transfer cable to move all of the HD’s data. I haven’t done the license transfer yet but that is the next step. After reading the original post, I’m more cautious than ever about what I do next. Any advice or tips on what steps to take next (after the license transfer)?

I do have a second non-Gold profile I could use to test the DLC if necessary. I bought the season pass and every pack except for Porsche.

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bump

Any help/advice is appreciated. I don’t really want to take a leap of faith but I might have to.
A 2006-Present Car Pack appears in my FM4 HD folder. Launch Bonus car pack didn’t appear, re-downloaded it from DH, still doesn’t show up.

Nevermind, I got lucky. The leap of faith paid off.

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Did this about a year ago. Used a transfer cable, transferred everything, did the license transfer, fired up, it worked. Wasn’t anywhere near as complicated as outlined in this thread but it’s good to have detailed instructions in case stuff goes wrong.

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I saw this thread and figured I had reason to worry but luckily not, agree that it’s good to use as a backup. I second the recommendation of the transfer cable, which is definitely the easier and safer method. You still need to be cautious but it does most of the work.

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I admit it, I’m old school. I also like to do stuff the hard way in some people’s eyes. And…I’m too cheap to pay for a data transfer cable. I published this article so people would have a comprehensive view of everything involved in the process that worked flawlessly for me in the end. I apologize if the information I offered gave anyone reason for concern. That surely wasn’t my intent.

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I understand feeling the need to do things “the hard way”- sometimes that’s the best way. I was concerned because I didn’t want to lose anything during or after the transfer, that’s not anyone’s fault but the methods used to transfer aren’t perfect. Thank you for posting this thread, if I didn’t have a transfer cable I would have followed your instructions to a T.