Possibility to save disk space by moving workshop folder

Maybe I am stating obvious or maybe someone finds this useful.
If you want to save disk space on drive where rf2 is installed there is a way to move steam workshop content to another drive.
Steam creates workshop folder where it downloads items user is subscribed to. This folder is used only for steam, rf2 unpacks these workshop items in its own folders so there is double content.
This can't be avoided as far as I know but workshop folder can be moved to another drive as described here: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/458606877310501802/

Note:
This is not the same as steam option of moving entire game by creating steamlib on another drive. In this way of copying only workshop folder user can keep rf2 on SSD for instance to have better track loading times.

DISCLAIMER:
After doing this Steam redownloaded all my workshop items. It happened only once when launching rf2 for the first time after moving folder. Then I had to recreate symlinks as if somehow they got invalid. All other subsequent launches went ok.

 

*sigh* I thought we'd avoided the doubling up when all the base content was no longer cached in rF2. At least it's still up to the user to decide what to subscribe to I guess, so no unnecessary doubling up.

Symbolic links are great for this, there were some instances of people using them with rF2 having their game suddenly downloading everything again after 'losing' all their content, but this also sometimes happened (/happens) to people not using links. And maybe now it's just steam it'll be more resilient, or something. Just something to keep in mind.

 

That explains my lack of SSD space then, I was puzzled by that the other day after seeing it dramatically increased after the Cache Folder became null void. Thanks for the tip will look into it later

 

If drive space is such a pressing matter you could always grab the rfmod file/s from Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\365960. Unsubscribe from those mods in the workshop, put the rfmod files in the Packages folder, then from the Launcher install and then delete ( not uninstall) those mods. Only one instance of the mod taking up your precious drive space.
Of coarse you won't get auto updates of those mods.
An even easier method, buy another drive, it's not as if they're dear. $60AU for 120gb SSD or 1TB HDD

 

I'm not sure if S397 can do something about it, maybe it's steam thing.

Now you are mentioning it I remembered it happened to me so I edited first post.

 

my god

I will just uninstall Assetto Corsa

 

Btw, how much time it takes to load sao Paulo track for in the second time to people with ssd?

 

Example if you have steam installed on C: drive

1. Exit the Steam client
2. Move the entire 365960 folder located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\ into previously created folder E:\workshop\ so as the result you have E:\workshop\365960 folder
3. Run command prompt as administrator and type:
mklink /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\365960" "E:\workshop\365960"

 

I followed the instructions in the Steam Forum thread and it worked perfectly, 22.6gb moved to a backup drive and away from my Sim Drive, I restarted my PC and checked the link (shortcut essentially) was still there and it was. I ran Steam and RF2 just fine and it never re-downloaded any Workshop Content.

Many Thanks @Filip for the Tip, much appreciated

 

Thank you. I´ll give try asap. Btw,i forget i´ve already uninstalled assetto corsa from drive c: in the past. This going to be really helpful

 

The only downside for me is that the "Synchronizing with Workshop ..." takes 2x longer as it's all on the HDD (which I can hear whirring into life), whereas the RF2 install is on SSD minor detail but one I can happily live with

 

I think i have to copy my own path because language, i think. Yes?

 

When i run command prompt, i get this message:

can not create an existing file


edit: ok, solved. I didn´t move the folder, just copy. Deleted the original and it worked. Now reestarting..
edit 2: sweeeeeet! 40gb, thanks a lot!

 

In the case that this does cause issues occasionally (hopefully not), another option would be to install the game to the HDD through steam, and use mklink to copy the game folder itself to the SSD. It might be more stable that way.

 

Thanks for posting this OP, works great!

 

Hello, I know this thread is old but I thought maybe someone could answer this.

I decided to delete the 365960 file from the steam workshop/content folder from my PC entirely to free up space on my drive (I have steam on a secondary "d" drive). After doing this I wanted to play the game but I didn't want everything to re-download so I turned off my internet connection before opening the rfactor 2. This worked just fine and all of the mods still showed up and worked in game. What I would like to know is if these mods will all be re-downloaded if I start the game online? The file was over 27Gb and I really don't want that space taken up again since the mods work just fine as they are. Is there any way I can prevent these files from downloading again if they will in fact be re-download next time I start the game with my internet on?

As a side question, is there anyway to get a list of all of the workshop Mods that are updated for the dx11 changeover? I could get rid of many of my workshop items all together if I knew which ones will work well with DX11. I have so many rF2 workshop items right now that it would take a very long time to try them all and determine which ones are working well, and I know that the workshop items I have played that are known to be DX11 ready work very well.

In short, I would like to find an easy way to keep the good workshop mods and get rid of the bad mods based on which ones have been updated for DX11.

Sorry for the off topic question.

 

I did the same for the settings and locations folder in RF2 and have not noticed any difference in performance or track loading time.
Gave me back 60gb on the SSD that is hosting RF2

 

Good idea. I think I'll try that too.

 

Yes mods will be downloaded again unless you unsubscribe those mods from workshop.

There is a way though.
After steam redownloads mods you can copy somewhere all .rfcmp files found in workshop folder.
Then unsubscribe from workshop and restart rf2. Now all your mods will again be deleted.
Then in launcher you can manually install those .rfcmp backed up mod files.
No double content this way but ofcourse no automatic steam updates also.

 

I think what's in the workshop folder is only used by the launcher, not the game itself.
I always use hardlinks to move the packages (and things like google earth cache) out of my SSD.