Moving the "cache"

[xane]

I've noticed the "cache" folder for BF2 is in My Documents, is there any way it can be moved somewhere else ?

[KevinUK]

I hate this, quite a few games do it. I hope theres some file you can edit to change its location.

I half see the sense as to why they do it but they should give you the option where its saved during installation.

[Poag]

Download powertools from Microsoft.

Change where your my documents folder is stored....presto.

The only way

[Shovel]

Ah, another game that doesn't understand the purpose of the <username>/Application Settings directory.

Best idea I can think of is to use a Windows resource kit tool called ‘linkd.exe’. It creates Junctions that point from one physical location to another. I forget the source, but Google will find it in a flash. It's on the Microsoft website somewhere.

Basically, move whatever the cache directory is to a location you really want, then use LinkD to create a Junction pointing to the new location, in the old location, with the original name. It will appear in Windows Explorer looking like a folder, but if you get a directory listing from the command line, you should see it says ‘Junction’ where real directoires say ‘Dir’, meaning that it's pointing at the physical location you specify.

In the event that it doesn't work, you can use LinkD.exe to remove the Junction again and move the physical files back.

Beware that if you just press ‘delete’ on the folder icon in My Documents to remove the Junction, it may well delete the files it links to as well, so make a backup of the folder for safety as well!

Once you've got it working, you should just be able to set the Junction in My Documents to ‘hidden’ and you'll forget it's even there.

Also, this requires your File System to be formatted with NTFS, but I assume most people are these days.

Sorry for not being able to offer specific ‘what to type’ style instructions but I'm working from a Mac so I can't run LinkD to check it I think that running it without any arguments should spit out the help text, if not then ‘linkd.exe /?’ will.

[Paradroid]

Why does it matter if it's stored in My Docs?

I'm interested 'cause I've got my HDs all nicely laid out (IDE0 for Windows & program files only, SCSI0 for game installations, SCSI1 is standalone for swapfile, SCSI2 is a big backup drive)....

[Cwini]

Originally Posted by Paradroid

Why does it matter if it's stored in My Docs?

Most people have their "My Documents" pointing to their system drive ... If the system drive becomes full then Windows usually stops working. That is why it's a pain when games designers use it. They should use a folder that is relative to the install diretory imo.

What about right clicking the "My Documents" folder -> Properties -> Move ?

[xane]

I want to regularly backup/synchronise My Documents and not have a crapload of cache files included.