Install OpenTTD on the D drive

[marqjc]

I have installed on my drive D OpenTTD (large disk) since the disk use it as database while the disc C (small disk) is available for formatting and reinstallation of the operating system with minimal loss of information.

My problem is that after install OpenTTD on the D drive, it also placed several files in "My Documents" on the C drive and would like to pass on D (there the downloaded files are saved, which I will not!). It can be done?

Thanks!

[FLHerne]

Sections 4.2 and 4.3 of the [donot]readme have that explained.

[marqjc]

Thanks for the quick reply! I found the solution to what we wanted in 4.0. I made the changes and ok! Now everything is in the D drive


4.0) Installing and running OpenTTD
---- ------------------------------

...

OpenTTD looks in multiple locations to find the required data files (described
in section 4.2). Installing any 3rd party files into a 'shared' location has
the advantage that you only need to do this step once, rather than copying the
data files into all OpenTTD versions you have.
Savegames, screenshots, etc are saved relative to the config file (openttd.cfg)
currently being used. This means that if you use a config file in one of the
shared directories, savegames will reside in the save/ directory next to the
openttd.cfg file there.

If you want savegames and screenshots in the directory where the OpenTTD binary
resides, simply have your config file in that location. But if you remove this
config file, savegames will still be in this directory (see notes in
section 4.2 'OpenTTD directories')

[adf88]

Installing application binaries on a volume different the the system one ("D drive" in your case) is pointless. After OS (re)installation most likely you will be installing these applications again, everything will be recreated. What you should watch for is your home directory, this is the place where application store informations specific to you. You can keep this directory on your D drive if you want.

[Phreeze]

Installing application binaries on a volume different the the system one ("D drive" in your case) is pointless. After OS (re)installation most likely you will be installing these applications again, everything will be recreated. What you should watch for is your home directory, this is the place where application store informations specific to you. You can keep this directory on your D drive if you want.

i call "bull's excrements" on this.

I have an openttd install for yeeeeeeeeeeears on my D:, since then i migrated 3 OS'es on 4 Harddisk (thx to OCZ SSDs that break like glass), and i'm still cool. why ? cause there's something called BACKUP (application data backup and user folder ftw).
Try LeoBackup, it's free, incremental, you can chose what to backup etc.

[adf88]

So ... what are benefits from installing applications on a D drive cause you didn't justified any. More over, if you are reinstalling your OS and reformatting your system drive then it is wise to wipe out these files too. Otherwise you may create an unnecessary mess (and you probably will).

[YNM]

So ... what are benefits from installing applications on a D drive cause you didn't justified any. More over, if you are reinstalling your OS and reformatting your system drive then it is wise to wipe out these files too. Otherwise you may create an unnecessary mess.

Is it true for Linux too ?

Anyway, it's down to the condition on everyone's computers. On my case (and probably something like ~50% computer users) the "local disk" is actually rather small, while other hard disk partition is larger. I just use the "local disk" partition for anything that's directly related to the Windows systems (Windows Office, drives, maybe Skydrive and such), while the rest can go in other partition.

[Phreeze]

i never reinstalled a game...

-openttd
-battlenet games like stracraft, diablo, world of warcraft (yeah, i do NOT install wow again, 12 DVDs + patching + all the addons = 25GB)
-emulators like SNES, MAME etc which all have more than 4GB of data
- etc etc etc


all of them are gone if you had them on C: and reinstall / format the drive.

[adf88]

Most likely you still will have to reinstall to make programs work again so this is valid only for some applications. I would still advise a re-installation anyway, just for calm, to be sure that nothing breaks at some point of time. Of course there may be exceptions but mostly not.

[marqjc]

So ... what are benefits from installing applications on a D drive cause you didn't justified any. More over, if you are reinstalling your OS and reformatting your system drive then it is wise to wipe out these files too. Otherwise you may create an unnecessary mess.

Is it true for Linux too ?

Anyway, it's down to the condition on everyone's computers. On my case (and probably something like ~50% computer users) the "local disk" is actually rather small, while other hard disk partition is larger. I just use the "local disk" partition for anything that's directly related to the Windows systems (Windows Office, drives, maybe Skydrive and such), while the rest can go in other partition.

Very true and thanks for understanding. Some answers were a bit hard to underestimate the knowledge of someone who handles chips from the Z-80 through the TK-80, TK-81 etc, etc.. He did not want to go into details but my current PC is a Dell Optiplex GX-270 with 40Gb C drive which does not give to much because my work activity also takes up space on the disk. Anyway, if my question seemed very stupid, my apologies.

[YNM]

Most likely you still will have to reinstall to make programs work again so this is valid only for some applications. I would still advise a re-installation anyway, just for calm, to be sure that nothing breaks at some point of time. Of course there may be exceptions but mostly not.

Yeah, that's the whole point of a "clean" re-installation, but I guess then not everybody cares to the same level.

Eh, the point of this thread is that the action mentioned is possible, pros and cons are not really the point of why the OP started the thread.

[bjgttd]

People are often unaware of the fact that NTFS supports symlinks (UNIX style).
Don't confuse them with Windows "shortcuts" or "links".

[kamnet]

Symlinks have certainly made my life more simple. I've got one set up for the OpenTTD directory in My Documents, which points to my cloud drive.

Of course, it doesn't help when sometimes my cloud drive doesn't sync correctly and inadvertently deletes stuff on my local drive....

[ZxBiohazardZx]

hating the default windows setup myself, you actually can configure windows to use a different path for your documents, downloads etc

[marqjc]

hating the default windows setup myself, you actually can configure windows to use a different path for your documents, downloads etc

Yes, I liked it! The answer lies in
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147/es

(Also said that supporting the Xp be completed in 99 days )

[adf88]

More usable is to change the whole home directory:
1) By GUI (XP only???): https://www.microsoft.com/resources/doc ... x?mfr=true
2) By registry (most Windows versions???): http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-cha ... windows-7/
3) By symlinks/junctions.

[notafrog]

You know, people, myself included, do have valid reasons for putting directories where *they* want and not where the OS or the application dictates. The classic arrangement is OS on one partition, programs on another, and data on a third. This means you can change OSs, update or relocate applications, even change machines, but the data always stays in the exact same place. Game saves, configurations, and other changeable files fall unambiguously into the data category, so they have to go on the data disk, which is as shareable as they come.

Anyway, enough of having to justify the reasons. The point is that due to the way I arrange things, I'm in the habit of fighting my way round default locations to get things exactly the way I want. And I insist that this be done at application level, not by fiddling with the OS default locations.

Here therefore is a very simple way of putting your OpenTTD data anywhere you like, on any disk on your system. It's much simpler than anything mentioned here and it affects nothing outside of TTD.
Just create a short cut, make the "Target:" your executable file, and in the "Run in:" box, enter the path of the directory you have chosen as your TTD data directory path.
For example my two boxes read "Target: D:\Games\OpenTTD64\openttd.exe" (the executable file) and "Run in: E:\App_data\OpenTTD" (the data directory)*. The .cfg file goes in the data directory and Bob's your uncle.

* The directory names and paths are my creation, customized to suit my arrangement. You can call them anything you want and put them anywhere you please.

HTH

Edit: I did forget to mention that the shortcut method is as far as I know Windows specific.