How do I move DCS World to a new SSD?

[mytai01]

I'm trying to move DCS World from my old HDD to a new SSD. I have several modules installed. Do I need to go through a process of deactivating each module before I uninstall the game? Or, is there a simpler method of moving the game to another drive?

Edited May 14, 2015 by mytai01

[mytai01]

How do I move DCS World to a new SSD?

 

I'm trying to move DCS World from my old HDD to a new SSD. I have several modules installed. Do I need to go through a process of deactivating each module before I uninstall the game? Or, is there a simpler method of moving the game to another drive?

[triarii]

Do you have steam or just installed dcs. you can just move the files and then try launching the game. most modules will re activate just fine. if any don't [mig-21 was a bitch] there is a tool on ED website to clean the registry to reactive moved files.

[mytai01]

I tried copy and paste of the whole Eagle Dynamics folder, but I'm concerned about any registry errors as well as install/uninstall issues later.

[cichlidfan]

The registry is not a problem. Just make sure all of the desktop and start menu shortcuts are updated to reflect the new path.

 

Of course, uninstalling and then reinstalling doesn't take long and you won't lose an activation as long as the disk drive is the only thing that has changed since you activated.

[Fish]

Check out the windows command 'MKLINK'. It allows you to create a kind of short cut which windows sees as a local folder.

 

This allowed me to move some games to my new SSD, and keep others in the original Steam folder, without making any changes to steam.

(you just need to keep a record of the folders, as they cannot be differentiated from the real folders!!)

[splash]

Hi,

you can follow this procedure:

 

1) Move your DCS World folder to the SSD.

2) Create a symbolic link by entering in command line (CMD) and typing:

mklink /d old_path new_path

 

For example, if you have DCS in C:\games\dcs and you would like to have it in D:\games\dcs, the command would be:

 

mklink /d c:\games\dcs d:\games\dcs

[sobek]

Move the DCS Folder to the new drive, update your shortcuts and you should be good. Just recently did so myself with several installs.

 

Addendum: Do mind that if you have a long list of minor hardware changes that have not yet required a reactivation, installing a SSD might tip the scale so you would have to reactivate. This concerns however *only* the unlikely case that you did change a lot of stuff around and haven't had to reactivate.

Edited May 15, 2015 by sobek

[fixen]

I think it's not possible. Registry entries are going to be corrupted. I would deactivate and install it the normal way on the new drive.

 

But, you can always try

Edited May 15, 2015 by fixen

[txmtb]

It works, I've moved mine around several times. Last move was when I installed an additional SSD just for sims.

Like sobek pointed out, as long as you don't hit a hardware change limit, you won't have any activation issues.

[sobek]

Registry entries are going to be corrupted.

 

The registry entries related to copy protection do not contain absolute paths. They sort of contain a hash made from the IDs of key hardware components.

 

I have at any point at least 2 versions installed on my system, release/open beta and closed beta. Due to the size of the closed beta SVN backlog, i've had to shuffle my installs (closed beta as well as release) around quite a few times and it has never resulted in the slightest of issues.

Edited May 15, 2015 by sobek

[fixen]

I stand corrected

[BlitzPuppet]

Junction link magic is an easy way of doing this. It's what I used when I moved from a HDD to a SSD.

[sobek]

Junction link magic is an easy way of doing this. It's what I used when I moved from a HDD to a SSD.

 

No need, a simple copy-paste operation will do the job if only DCS is concerned.

[whitehot]

No need, a simple copy-paste operation will do the job if only DCS is concerned.

 

I performed the move months ago, cut-paste and all has been fine. I had the same doubts as the op and the forum folks convinced me that there wouldn't had been any problem, and so it went.

[gooey_stewie11]

most SSD's come with a drive cloning software. it wont even know its been copied if you use it!

 

if not. just grab the DCS world on torrent for the latest version, and download all the modules you own, and get the serial numbers written down. I think you get 10 activations of each module. so u shld have some left

[Retu81]

I have used a program called SymMover to move my DCS World installation to SSD. It just moves the files and folders, while making symbolic links from the original folder to the new one, thus making sure there are no missing paths.

 

You can also reverse the migration by just clicking a button. Pretty handy tool.

[sobek]

Guys, please don't post unneccessarily complex solutions if it is not necessary. Symbolic links and cloning software are all good and well, but the problem at hand can be solved with copy pasting and updating a bunch of shortcuts. :)