What gets migrated

The Items screen lists everything C4D Migrator can carry, with the recommended set ticked. Paths below are inside a Cinema 4D settings folder (the one named Maxon Cinema 4D <version>_<ID>) unless they say program folder, which is the Cinema 4D application itself — Program Files on Windows, /Applications on a Mac.

The tags

medium (orange) — carrying this item needs a decision from you, or runs a rule you should know about.
special (blue outline) — not a plain copy: the item runs its own logic, such as the plugin filter, the plugins.json rewrite or your Greyscalegorilla answer.
No tag — safe to carry as it is.

Merging, and “Replace if it already exists”

A new version that has been launched once already has its own prefs and library folders. So plain folder items merge into what is there:

files the new version doesn’t have are added;
a file it already has, with different contents, is backed up and then replaced;
identical files are left alone.

Those cards say Merges into the new version’s folder. Every other item has a Replace if it already exists box instead, off by default: with it off, anything that already exists in the new version is skipped and listed as a skip in the preview. Replace everything that already exists, at the top of the list, ticks all of those boxes at once.

The items

All of these are ticked by default.

Item	What it carries
Default scene (new.c4d)	The scene File ▸ New opens with.	More
Preferences (full prefs/ tree)	Every general preference, keyboard shortcuts, most third-party plugin settings, asset path settings, and your startup layout.	Preferences & layouts
Language preferences	`language.prf`, kept outside `prefs` by Cinema 4D. Carried if present.
Scripts — your settings folder	`library/scripts` — where script packs and your own scripts usually go.
Scripts — Cinema 4D program folder	`library/scripts` inside the application. Less common, but some studios keep shared scripts there.
Asset Browser catalogs	Your own local catalogs, `library/browser`. Maxon’s cloud catalogs re-sync on the new install by themselves.
Saved layouts (medium)	The layouts you saved by name, `library/layout`.	Preferences & layouts
Node groups (xgroups)	Custom node groups, `library/xgroup`.
Custom nodes (xnodes)	Custom nodes, `library/xnode`.
User repository	Saved presets and other items in `userrepository`.
Plugins — your settings folder (medium, special)	`plugins` in your settings folder — where most installers, Cargo and the Maxon App put them.	Plugins
Plugins — Cinema 4D program folder (medium, special)	`plugins` inside the application, shared by every user of the machine.	Plugins
External plugin folders (from plugins.json) (medium, special)	Plugin folders you added in Preferences ▸ Plugins, cloned to a new folder for the new version.	Plugins
Aturtur plugin/script prefs	`prefs/aturtur`, where Aturtur’s scripts keep their settings. Carried if present.
Greyscalegorilla / Cargo integration (medium, special)	Set by your answer on the Greyscalegorilla step.	Greyscalegorilla
INSYDIUM Fused (medium, special)	Set by your answer on the INSYDIUM step.	Plugins
Additional scripts (special)	The script packs you ticked on the Scripts step. Does nothing if you ticked none.	Step by step
Share my plugins with command-line and Team Render renders (special)	Links the new version’s `_x`, `_c` and `_s` folders to the migrated plugins.	Step by step

The Greyscalegorilla / Cargo and INSYDIUM boxes are locked: they show the answer you gave on their own step. Go Back to that step to change it.

Default scene

The Default scene card does a little more than copy a file:

If your old preferences point at a default scene outside the install, the card says so. It stays where it is, and your migrated preferences keep pointing at it.
If the old version has a new.c4d both in its settings folder and in its program folder, you pick which one to carry.
You can also drop any .c4d file onto the card to use it as the new default scene. A dropped file always goes into the new version’s settings folder.

What it never carries

Cinema 4D itself. Install the new version from Maxon first.
C++ plugins across a major version — they won’t load. See Plugins.
The bundled Redshift from the old program folder — every Cinema 4D ships its own.
INSYDIUM’s plugin folder, and connector plugins for Greyscalegorilla, GSG Hub and Cargo on a major-version bump — reinstall those from their makers.
Caches — prefs/symbolcache and prefs/cache, which the new version rebuilds.
Interface colour schemes (prefs/*.col) across a major version, because a new version’s colour slots differ.
Cinema 4D’s MCP Adapter token and audit log, which belong to one install.
Your scenes, projects, textures or anything else outside Cinema 4D’s own folders.