How do I make a shortcut to an origin game?

Question

I deleted my original shortcut to Mass Effect 3 as part of an ill-conceived attempt to get a steam overlay within Origin.

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to create a desktop shortcut from within origin, nor do I know where to target with a manually created shortcut.

Does Origin not have the ability to make shortcuts outside of installing a game?

I'm using Windows 7.

Answer 1

Assuming windows 7, you should already have a shortcut available in your windows Games folder. For me, this is located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games.

Alternatively, if you hit the start button (or windows key) and type "games explorer" and open the folder it displays, it will list all your registered games. .

From either of these folders, you should be able to right-click-drag the game's icon onto the desktop, and selecting either copy here (games folder) or create shortcuts here (games explorer)

Answer 2

Dave's answer can show you one way to create a shortcut, but if you don't see the game you're looking for listed there, you have another option. For most games, the steps below will let you find the target .exe that you can manually create a shortcut to.

1. In Origin, you click on the Gear icon and choose Settings.

2. Look at the directory listed for "Downloaded Games".

3. Navigate to that directory in Windows. The game you're looking for should have a folder with its name here.

4. Usually for a game, there's an .exe with the game's name either in the base folder for that game, or under a /bin folder. You have to dig a little deeper for Mass Effect 3 than most. For Mass Effect 3 in particular, the .exe you want is under ~/Mass Effect 3/Binaries/Win32/MassEffect3.exe. Every game is going to be a little bit different, but it's usually not too hard to identify which .exe will launch the game.

5. Having identified the .exe, right-click on it and select Send To->Desktop (create shortcut) from the context menu.

Answer 3

As near as I can tell, you simply can't make a shortcut to a already installed game in origin

Seems to be a very silly oversight but that's the way it is. If you want the shortcut, you can browse to your directory where origin installed the game, this can be found under Settings->General and look for the Downloaded Games section to see where it is.

Inside there, you'll find your Mass Effect 3 folder, and the MassEffect3.exe will be in Binaries\Win32.