active XPLANE Symbolic Links

[Sasi1971]

Hi community,

 

I've purchased all scenery packages for English regions, but seem to have insufficient drive space for UK North. I have a second SSD available, but not sure if I can span this package to the other drive. Has anybody successfully done this at all?

 

Thanks,

 

Andrew.

[Doug Sawatzky]

Hi

 

Yes

 

 

[The_Flying_Potato]

Hi Andrew,

 

Here's what I wrote a few weeks ago on the same topic. I'm essentially echoing Nick's thoughts and confirming that his suggestion works.

 

Quote

Like many, I suspect, I have a SSD and an HDD. One is speedy, the other has more capacity. The problem has always been that both the X-Plane and the Orbx installers / updaters expect custom scenery files to be in a certain place.  (C:\X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery, in my case.) Moving the scenery files manually to my D: drive did work but failed each and every time an update was recommended or a bit ore scenery was purchased.  Your suggestion of creating a symbolic link solved it all. I was aware of symbolic links but had not considered using one as a solution to my problem. FWIW, I used the GUI Hard Link Shell Extension. So, thank you. To close, I occasionally backup my X-Plane folder to an eternal drive, and my PC is convinced that the Custom Scenery directory is still on my C: disk. Hurrah. Winners all around. 

 

... and... 

 

Quote

 

A symbolic link convinces your PC that files or folders aren't where they really are. In the example I gave earlier, my scenery files are actually on my D: drive, but my PC (not just X-Plane or Orbx) thinks they are on my C: drive. So, the whole set up behaves as if the files are on C: Symbolic links are sort of like shortcuts, but on steroids.  

 

A couple of links for you.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-take-advantage-of-symbolic-links-in-window-10/

http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html

 

I downloaded the second to set up my link. It sounds a bit daunting, but really isn't.

 

To add a bit: you can have the files wherever you wish and create symbolic links from your external drive(s) to your X-Plane folder.

 

 

... and...

 

Quote

 

I'll try to explain (sorry!).

 

Having downloaded the Link Shell Extension - http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html - move some, more or all or your scenery files to your external hard disk(s). Keep the empty \X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery where it already is.

 

Then right click on the folder or files you wish to create a symbolic link from - click on "Pick Link Source".

Then navigate to the folder where you want the link to appear, probably \X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery, and right click on "Drop as..., symbolic link"

 

It's easier to do than to explain.

 

 

Good luck.

James

 

PS I've actually got more scenery on what my PC thinks is my C:\ drive than there is space on the actual SSD. Of course, the scenery is really on my D:\ drive. 

[The_Flying_Potato]

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

 

Assuming that X Plane 11 is already on your D drive, then please read this topic:

 

 

Assuming that for some reason, it is on your C drive

 

before you can use symbolic links, you will first need to install the scenery  to your D drive.

Here is a workaround to do that.

 

and disable disk space checking in FTX Central.

[The_Flying_Potato]

This guide to symbolic links is reasonably comprehensive. https://tinyurl.com/mp8e37x