Question on Directory and Folders for multiple installs

[Ebphoto]

Hello,

I recently purchased a new desktop and installed a few SSD's that I had. So I installed DCS beta on the main M.2 SSD and then I wanted to install another on a bigger drive. So the question I have is will they both look to the C:\users\name\savedgames\DCSopenbeta Directory or can I have the new installation look somewhere else? That way I can have a clean version with no MODS for multiplayer and another version that has MODS for playing single player etc? Right now it doesnt seem like the second installation on the larger drive is seeing the MODS that the other installed version is seeing, so not sure how this works. Thanks in advance for any help or assistance, I really appreciate it!!

E

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, Ebphoto said:

I recently purchased a new desktop and installed a few SSD's that I had. So I installed DCS beta on the main M.2 SSD and then I wanted to install another on a bigger drive. So the question I have is will they both look to the C:\users\name\savedgames\DCSopenbeta Directory

 

yes, if both DCS are of the OpenBeta type, they will both use by default the folder /saved Games/dcs.openbeta/ to store their configurations.

 

1 hour ago, Ebphoto said:

 

or can I have the new installation look somewhere else?
 

 

Yes, There are two options for setting your recording directory located in Saved Games:

 

1. The -w switch in the DCS launch line, for example:

 

"E: \ Eagle Dynamics \ DCS World \ bin \ DCS.exe" -w "DCS 2"

 

in this case, the recording directory will be located at:

\ Users \% USERNAME% \ Saved Games \ DCS 2

 

The -w switch only works with the DCS.exe executable file (the dcs_updater.exe updater executable does not know about it).

 

Thus, you can make several DCS World shortcuts with different options, different mods ('Saved Games \% USERNAME% \ DCS \ Mods \ tech \ MySuperMod'), forced activation of the VR helmet (additional key --force_enable_VR), different inputs and so forth

 

2. The dcs_variant.txt file in the root directory of the installed simulator, this file is processed by both executable DCS.exe and dcs_updater.exe. The file should contain only the name of the future recording directory, which is then preceded by DCS through a period, for example:

test

The recording directory will be as follows:

 

\ Users \% USERNAME% \ Saved Games \ DCS.test

 

(spaces in the dcs_variant.txt file are ignored, so the name of the form 'test 15' will be converted to the recording directory \ Users \% USERNAME% \ Saved Games \ DCS.test15)

 

1 hour ago, Ebphoto said:

That way I can have a clean version with no MODS for multiplayer and another version that has MODS for playing single player etc?

I prefer to use a Mod Manager, to enable or disable Mods as needed, it is more space efficient than having two copies of DCS, as this is a rather large software.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Rudel_chw

[Ebphoto]

Thank you so much for getting back to me! Makes a lot of sense and I didn't know about the switch -W Cool stuff thanks. As far as MIOD managers what do you think is a good one to use? I'm not familiar with any since I've never needed one before?

Thanks.

E

[Rudel_chw]

12 hours ago, Ebphoto said:

As far as MIOD managers what do you think is a good one to use? I'm not familiar with any since I've never needed one before?

I use OvGME, tough unfortunately it is currently unsupported, since its author moved on to develop a more advanced Mod Manager … I like his previous one better, so I’m still using the old OvGME, here is a tutorial:

 

 

[Ebphoto]

Awsome! The video is great. Thanks for the help. Its a little confusing the way it works. The one on the C drive where Windows is installed is a 1T drive and it seeing all the MODs etc just fine. The other newer install is on my second SSD and has 2T but its not seeing the Liveries or MODs etc. So I just want to make sure its all working as it should. This will help greatly and thank you for the reply. This community of DCS Virtual Pilots is just the best bunch of people EVER! Everyone is so dedicated and into this wonderful bit of Code called DCS and its refreshing to see people helping out instead of the constant bashing and negative comments etc you see on other platforms like Twitter etc. So again Thank you!!!

E