Genshin Impact 1.6 is coming later today, meaning players must soon spend some time away from the game while it updates.
Servers will be down for five hours for maintenance, though it could finish quite early like it has in the past. After maintenance ends, players can update their game to the latest version and begin playing.
There is, however, a way to speed up this process. By pre-installing the game files, players will be able to access version 1.6 as soon as maintenance ends.
To pre-install Genshin Impact 1.6, players must first open the game on their PC or mobile device. From there, players can update the game client before maintenance hours begin.
Genshin Impact first added the pre-installation feature for PC gamers months ago in version 1.2. Since version 1.3, both PC and mobile players have had this function. Pre-installation for version 1.6 became available a few days ago.
On PC, players will need about 4.57 GB of free space to pre-install the update. For mobile players, the pre-installed file size depends on their device. 1.25 GB is required for iOS users, and Android users need 1.98 GB.
Note: Pre-installation time varies by device, as well as the amount of languages installed.
PC players can still play Genshin Impact while the game pre-installs new content. Naturally, no new content will be available until maintenance hours end later today.
The pre-install process hasn't changed since it was first introduced. PC players can refer to the 1.2 pre-install guide below for the current update.
For a visual guide, mobile players can refer to the video below.
There’s also another way to pre-install version 1.6 on mobile devices. Players can pre-install files from the log-in screen by tapping the cloud icon in the bottom-left.
Unlike PC gamers, mobile players can’t play Genshin Impact while the files are being pre-installed. Mobile players should make sure their game progress is saved before updating their game client.
The Genshin Impact 1.6 update will be released later today. The release time is on June 8th, around 11:00 p.m. EST in America, and on June 9th, around 11:00 a.m. (UTC+8) in Asia.
As per the official announcement, maintenance will begin five hours prior to the release time mentioned above. Maintenance will start at 6:00 p.m. EST in America and at 6:00 a.m. (UTC+8) in Asia.
To compensate for the server down-time, players who are at least at Adventure Rank five will receive 300 Primogems. If maintenance lasts longer than five hours, they will get 60 more Primogems for each additional hour.