One DCS installation with two separate profiles

[draconus]

This is in response to the question asked here:

It is not tested on actual DCS installation yet but it was tested positively on some other Windows program with the same folders and files structure to test the code (simple batch files). Please backup your current dcs_variant.txt from your main DCS installation folder to get back at any time to what you have now*. Also you should always keep your original DCS profile backup to keep your DCS bindings, logbook, options and other stuff safe.

It is not intended to use with two different branches of DCS like beta and stable! Obviously your one DCS installation will be the same, so you won't change any DCS files or their versions beside the dcs_variant.txt file and thus you only make DCS use two separate profile folders in your Saved Games folder for whatever reason you might have.

The uploaded file is totally safe. It contains stuctured folders and files witch are batch files that copy one text file and run your DCS. That's it.

How it works?

Running DCS main.bat file will copy dcs_variant.txt file from DCS variants\DCS main to your main DCS installation folder overwriting the existing dcs_variant.txt file. Then DCS will be launched and it will create (on first use**) or use (if already exists) the \Saved games\DCS main folder.

So does the DCS other.bat but for the \Saved games\DCS other folder.

Attention! The program assumes "DCS World" as your main DCS installation folder name so if you have different name like "DCS World Openbeta" you must edit both .bat files and make a change to the second line which runs DCS from correct folder name.

Also you might want to change "main" and "other" variant names. You have to properly rename DCS variants\DCS main folder and dcs_variant.txt content to whatever name you choose. Do the same with the other variant. Next you have to change the batch file names and their content in first line where it copies the dcs_variant.txt file from the correctly name folder.

**First use

You're about to unpack the uploaded DCS variants.zip file into the same root/folder as your main DCS World installation is located (not into it, parallel). So it should look like this after unpacking in the correct folder:

DCS main.bat - this file will start your main variant
DCS other.bat - this file will start your other variant
DCS variants - here are the files that change the variant name
DCS World - your main DCS installation folder

...and whatever files and folders you might have in this root/folder

Running DCS main.bat for first time will create the \Saved games\DCS main folder and make a new profile there. You probably want to exit DCS now and copy the content of you previous profile into the \Saved games\DCS main folder.

Running DCS other.bat will create the \Saved games\DCS other folder and make a new profile there. This will be your second profile, independent from the main one. Do the changes as you wish. You probably want to copy options.lua and Config/Input into your other profile to save you from resettings everything from ground up.

So yes, you run one of the .bat files instead of your usual DCS shorcut. You can make shorcuts to them if you want.

*How to get back to where you started?

Remove the DCS variants folder and its subfolders. Also remove DCS main.bat and DCS other.bat files and any shorcuts to these files. Now go to your DCS World installation folder and restore the original dcs_variant.txt from backup. To finish the cleanup go to \Saved Games\ folder and make sure you have the original profile there. Do what you wish with DCS main and DCS other profiles. You might want to save some data from them or just remove them if you're sure there's nothing you want to keep.

Have fun!

DCS variants.zip

[jackmckay]

can one run two variants at the same time?

[draconus]

1 minute ago, jackmckay said:

can one run two variants at the same time?

DCS does not allow running two dcs.exe processes at the same time afaik but I have not tested this myself.

[jackmckay]

yeah, it sends back that message if trying to run another instance, but can that be overridden? need it for 3D view on ME but another base install asks foe 120GM even egg. Caucasus only is about 18GB, like with 25T and TF51D focused on ME. Bump. 

this --> 

 

[draconus]

This is way beyond the scope of this thread, which is to only make DCS use two separate profile folders in your Saved Games folder for whatever reason you might have.

Try VM install or simple changing file name (doubtful and probably performance killer). Easiest would be to have another PC.

[jackmckay]

You're right, but it solved my problem of lacked space for another DCS installation (omit--norender on multiple server instance). I got enough RAM and cores though. tnx for brainstorming path.