Question Concerning Install Size
corona2172
Newcomer
Hi all, I apologize in advance for asking what I am sure is a stupid question. I've had CC3 plus addons for about 6 or so years now, but I don't use it too often. Recently I became aware of the Humble Bundle. As far as I could see, I would be gaining a bunch of bundled annual issues, as well as a program or 2 I was missing. However, those 2 Cartographer's Collections are pretty hefty on my C drive. I have plenty of space there to be honest, but I'm weird about being minimalist with what I keep on the system drive. I have never chosen to install my data files anywhere but the Program Data folder. However, I am considering it now. I have uninstalled all Profantasy software to prep for a fresh install of everything and I was hoping you guys could give me your recommendations:
Is it important for me to keep it on my m2 ssd C drive? Or should I keep it on a standard SSD drive I also have?
Is there any possible downside to keeping my Data files on a different drive? (ie: technical issues, items not being found correctly, etc)
I would appreciate any and all advice!
*Bonus Question: What is the total disk space of your data folders?
Comments
Keeping the data folder on another drive is no problem, CC3+ is designed to allow that, just select the location from the CC3+ installer, and it will set up correctly for that. The data folder can grow pretty big, so not everyone will have space on their system drive for it. Just remember where you placed it.
You only risk items not found if something isn't done correctly. For example, someone may have manually imported official artwork into their map using the absolute path of their data folder, instead of the more appropriate relative path. Using a relative path means it is relative to the data folder location, and will work no matter where it is placed, which is the way all official ProFantasy resources is set up.
My data folder is ~50 GB.
Is it important for me to keep it on my m2 ssd C drive? Or should I keep it on a standard SSD drive I also have?
Here's something to consider...
Many Windows programs just won't work if they're not located in the C drive. Many years ago I had problems because I added a new hard drive but had little stuff to move to my new drive. And even more programs will either install everything in one drive or the other (without giving you the choice to separate the executables and the data).
The fact that CC3+ offers the choice and does it well (barring the scenario Monsen describes), may be a good enough reason to take advantage of it.
I have a SSD that is primarily for the OS. The goal is to boot up fast and minimize other issues. Most programs are on my other hard drive.
However, CC3 splits its install. While I specified to install things on my second hard drive, the core CC3 program is on my main SSD. However, all of the other files are installed on my second hard drive. So, I have 31 MB on my C drive and 22 GB on my E drive.
There is no impact on performance. Honestly, the only annoying there is how CC3 organizes things rather than what drive it is on. Most things are in program data and organized in a specific way. I much prefer those files being with the main program and organized there rather than the seperate program data area (something that is hidden unless you turn that off.)
There is no impact on performance. Honestly, the only annoying there is how CC3 organizes things rather than what drive it is on. Most things are in program data and organized in a specific way. I much prefer those files being with the main program and organized there rather than the seperate program data area (something that is hidden unless you turn that off.)
This is how it was with CC3 and older, the data files lived in the installation directory. But that causes all kinds of issues, because only administrators can write to that directory, so if you run CC3 as a non-admin user you get into trouble, and because of Windows UAC which runs everything in non-admin mode even if you are and admin unless you request otherwise, people would always need to right click on the icon and do a run as admin. Keeping the data files with the program itself is going right against the recommended way of doing things on Windows.
All modern programs split their data files up this way. My browser's data folder is found in App data in my user profile, my image editor puts its sample files in my documents directory, my games store their saves and settings either in my documents, or appdata (varies). It is generally a very bad idea to mix user-editable files with files the user shouldn't mess with (program files).
Some programs do allow people to pick the installation path, but CC3+ is so tiny that it shouldn't really make a difference no matter how small a C drive one have. (Note that Windows do actually make it possible to move the program files directory itself thus making all installations go somewhere else, although this isn't straight-forward to set up)
I chose a different data folder path. I have folders under that one for each of my web sites. About 15 of those, but I find it easier to locate maps for which web site.
2 sf sites, the rest are different rpgs.
I see. Well then, thank you all for the advice. I suppose I will split it up as there does not seem to be any downsides to doing so. I will have to look into the whole 'relative path' vs 'absolute path' that Monsen mentions so I don't mess anything up. Thanks again!
Once I've installed CC3+, is it possible to change the data directory without doing a complete uninstall and reinstall? I know I'd have to move all of the stuff in the current data directory to the new one, but can I point CC3 to the new directory?
Thanks - that seems like exactly what I needed to know.