Windows 7 File Paths and Shortcuts

JackKieser

Ok, so I would like to know if something can be done in Windows 7. I have a game that has fan translation files and a custom launcher that applies those files. The launcher needs to be pointed to a folder that holds the translation files, but there are 3 batches that the files come in (essential files, non-essential files, and story content), and the three kinds of files are updated irregularly; I'd rather keep the files in separate folders, so that I can better keep track of which files need updating when.

Is there any way I can make a custom file path / shortcut / whatever that I can feed into the launcher program that will point it to 3 separate folders at the same time? In essence, I need to make some sort of shortcut that references 3 folders simultaneously. If I can even get at least 2 of them, that would be a big help. I'd rather not have to have duplicates of all of the files compiled in a separate folder, so if anyone can assist, that'd be awesome.

Aioua

It doesn't appear that this is possible. You can't have a single path direct to multiple directories because of naming issues. Or, rather, NTFS has nothing built in to handle those issues (and probably never will, since I'm sure that'd be considered worst practices).

It sounds like you're already doing it the right way, by having a separate directory where you build your updates and then copy them over to the live environment. If you want I could help you write a batch file or something to make the copying process smoother.

Foomy

You should be able to do what you need with Symbolic Links:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/ is a decent tutorial on them.

and a nifty utility for them: http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/

Aioua

Foomy wrote: »

You should be able to do what you need with Symbolic Links:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/ is a decent tutorial on them.

and a nifty utility for them: http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/

Oh, duh. I forgot you could do symlinks for files. Not just folders. Yeah that would work.

JackKieser

Ok, so I tried using the utility that was linked to, and... nothing happened. It said that it did its job, but there's no link or shortcut or anything in the target folder, and it doesn't look like Windows is treating either folder any differently. I'm... not sure what exactly that utility did.

Quake Matt

If the launcher doesn't look inside subdirectories, I don't think symlinks are going to help you out. Not unless you want to symlink every single file into the same place, in which case you're probably not saving much time.

Might be a better idea to try some kind of sync software - SyncBack's what I use. You can set up a profile to have it copy files (and only overwrite with newer ones) from your three locations into a single folder.