use Mklink /j to move my maps to USB drive

[johnmjones1975]

I share a gaming computer with my son.

500Gb HDD got eaten up by DCS/ Call of Duty/ and Fortnite

 

I have an empty 4TB drive on a usb 3.0 connection.

 

I am new here and see this topic has been discussed

I did search the forums but did not see the specific question answered.

 

I think I'm close but need a little guidance as I'm not understanding something in the logic of where the link has to actually be to get this to work properly

 

Using the Mklink /j command I created a hardlink at

 

C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\Mods\terrains

 

which links to my usb drive

d:\DCS

 

I then dragged and dropped the "Nevada" folder into the "LINK" folder which is INSIDE terrain

 

so C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\Mods\Terrains\Link

 

I can see that there is now a Nevada folder inside my d:\DCS folder

that is 33gb. So the link is working

 

when I fired up the game, my Nevada map is nowhere to be found.

 

I have a feeling that I'm one directory off in one direction?

 

I've also tried making a link inside the C:\program-------\nevada folder itself

and then dropping all the files from the Nevada file in the link

 

I see all of the files on the external USB

but the game still does not give me the nevada map

 

Figured it wouldn't hurt to ask for a little help

 

(coincidentally, I noticed that while my USB drive ihas 33gb in it. My C: drive only picked up 22gb in space?)

 

i wanted to establish that I knew how to do this with just one map, and see how long it actually took to load before I screwed up my install moving them all and I can't play tonight when he goes to bed!!!

 

Believe I could always re-download the map from Mods menu, but trying to see if I can figure this out and save us the space. The transfer rate on the connection are not lower than 60MB/s and usually up around 100mMB/s so I don't think it will take that long to load maps, and might even be where the "Preload Radius" setting could come into play?

 

I saw some other posts that were incomplete or just simply say "use mkdir /j" but I'm not that familiar with it, and need a little help

 

i'm assuming when you try to load a mission, the game looks and sees the map = nevada then goes to the "terrains" folder looking for a Nevada folder, then extracts what it wants from there

 

I don't understand where the link needs to be placed and what gets dropped into it to move the files AND allow the game to see it

 

make sense?

 

any help greatly appreciated.

[Aluminum Donkey]

I have Windows installed on a SATA SSD (C drive) and DCS World is installed on my 250 GB NVMe drive.

 

So, I used mklink to move my Saved Games\DCS folder to the NVMe drive, instead of having it on the C: drive (SATA SSD.)

 

Works for me, so... as they say, "Suck it and see"! :) Depending on how fast your USB drive is, it might take an hour to load a mission instead of the usual half hour. Personally, it makes much more sense to me to use a SATA3 SSD for DCS and use an external USB drive for 'bulk' storage (flicks, tunes, misc smaller apps/games 'n' shyte.)

 

AD

Edited March 11, 2020 by Aluminum Donkey

[johnmjones1975]

Thank you for the reply,

 

My saved games folder is <1gb so that's not a problem

it's the almost 90gb of maps!

 

so I have been succesful in creating a link that does what i think it should do

there is a link that any file or folder dropped in it does appear on my D: drive (USB)

 

Where i seem to stand now is DCS no longer sees my Nevada maps

 

Nevada is not offered as an option in the game

It does not appear in the Module Manager

to re download

 

it doesnt appear as an option in mission editor

and the missions I have created don't appear

 

I'm going to do something really silly and restart the machine.

nope that didn't work either....

 

I'm thinking I have something slightly off someplace that someone in this community has dealt with before.

[overalien]

Tip: the link REPLACES the folder and has to have to same name exactly like the original folder including capitalization. Before making the link you should move all contents to the target folder and delete the original empty folder. Then replace it with a link with the same name.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[johnmjones1975]

THANK YOU!!!

 

I knew it was something stupid like that!!!

 

I was being a bit too literal in all the videos where the string ended in "LINK" and I was not realizing that was what was supposed to say "Nevada".

 

also, I did not know I had to delete the original folder

 

Once you explained it, I got it.

it worked perfectly, I now have plenty of space left on my C: drive

 

The link you're creating is the folder itself

so when the game points itself to that folder, its directed to the USB drive

 

that was the 'link' in the chain I was not comprehending

 

 

the million dollar question is was it worth it

well the first time I loaded the map it did seem to take a little while longer than usual

 

I then went in a second, third and fourth time and it was noticeably quicker and back to normal

 

Jumped into another map just to clear things out

 

When i went back into Nevada it was a normal load time

 

Thank you very much for the help

 

now i'm gonna go bomb stuff awhile.