Amount of space on ssd/hdd

I

IvysaurRF2

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Dear reader,

When you unsubscribe a workshop item it will not remove the content from you computer and the launcher. Therefore I recommended only to download stuff you really want. You can delete the workshopfolder in steam common workshop folder and validate the game for a clean workshop-subscription again.

I discovered that the game downloads workshop stuff in a folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content and it also installs it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\Installed so I doubles the amount of gb it uses from your SSD or Harddisk. This should not be the case. The game should load files from the workshopfolder. Not copying it into the installed folder.

So In fact you can unsub from workshopfolders, it will remove the data from there, but the content will stay in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\Installed

Cache folder also has to be cleaned regulary. This should not be the case and I hope the new Studio will remove this absurd stuff.

Hmm thought deleting cache folder was a good thing to do but it just downloads 10 gb when I verify the game. Guess cache isn't cache, here.
Click to expand...

Thank you for reading,

Ivy.
 
Cache is all the standard content that comes with the game. Just like any third party content, installing it makes another copy in your Installed\ folder. I agree this isn't great and shouldn't really be necessary, but it's how it is. (to be fair, having package files that are then 'installed' without copying, could easily lead to people moving package files that are needed for currently installed content - so there's no really good way to do this as long as people are playing with files/folders manually).

Now, really, these days, even double 12 GB isn't all that big for a game. Having it twice on an SSD might be annoying, but you can use mklink to move the cache to a HDD instead and only have the Installed\ on your SSD.
 
Lazza said:
Cache is all the standard content that comes with the game. Just like any third party content, installing it makes another copy in your Installed\ folder. I agree this isn't great and shouldn't really be necessary, but it's how it is. (to be fair, having package files that are then 'installed' without copying, could easily lead to people moving package files that are needed for currently installed content - so there's no really good way to do this as long as people are playing with files/folders manually).

Now, really, these days, even double 12 GB isn't all that big for a game. Having it twice on an SSD might be annoying, but you can use mklink to move the cache to a HDD instead and only have the Installed\ on your SSD.
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Lazza,

How do you mod the mklink to move the cache off the SSD to a HDD? Thanks for the info.
 
jerrymcc said:
How do you mod the mklink to move the cache off the SSD to a HDD? Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

There are tools and stuff you can download to make it easier (and less error-prone), but I did it directly using a command prompt:

First, move the folder to the HDD. In this case your cache folder will no longer be under your steamapps\ folder, but will only exist somewhere on your HDD. My original cache folder was at "C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\cache" and I moved it to "D:\LinkedFromC\rFactor2\cache"

Now run a command prompt as administrator. You'll know if you haven't done this correctly because the mklink command will fail.

At the command prompt, you need to enter a command in the form:
mklink /j <link> <target>

The link and target are folder names, and they're where you moved the folder from, and where you moved it to. So for my example, exactly the folders as above, but remember to put "" around them so any spaces don't break the command. So my command was:

Code: 
mklink /j "C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\cache" "D:\LinkedFromC\rFactor2\cache"

Now when I go to the first location, the cache folder appears to be there but has a shortcut icon on it to indicate it's a link. When I go into it, however, the path is still under C:\ etc. So the files appear to be in C:, just as they do to the game, but I know they're actually in D.

Couple of notes:
  • Once you have a link like this setup, it's apparently really really important you don't create more links into or under the same folder. The reason I created a "LinkedFromC" folder on my D drive was to remind myself it's a linked folder, so I'd never for any reason be tempted to link into it from somewhere else, or link from it to somewhere else.
  • It's probably a good idea to avoid any typos when entering the folder names. I found it easiest to open the folders in File Explorer, then you can select the entire path in the address bar and paste them in (not forgetting the " before and " after)
  • Removing the link later is as easy as deleting the cache folder in the C: drive. Don't delete the one in D, as that will delete all your files :)
 
Thanks Lazza, works like a charm.
Mitigates the inconvenients of the very poor implementation of RF2 in Steam.

Cheers.
 
and Lazza, THANKYOU for putting the entire line down as an example. Mklink <link> <target> never seems to register with me. I always seem to understand it better when I can see exactly what your command is so I can modify it to match my folder structure.
thanks
 
Thank you for the big insight. I already had to mklink some stuff before, like chrome tempfolders, etc. works like a charm. I hope the studio find another way to reduce the amount of space the game eats.
 
Important to all the users that tried this solution with MKlink.

Seems there is no way to defeat the dumb implementtion of RF2 in steam, after working very well, this morning steam decided to download again all content of the cache to the original location.

So I have the cache duplicated now!
 
The game (or steam) can't know to do that. Maybe your drives somehow changed on bootup and the linked folder wasn't visible? I've had no issues for ~6+ months, anyway. At least until my SSD died last week :(
 
I followed your advice knowing what I was doing (heavy IT background), so don't be worried.
I have lost cache content, but not the drives, so I should be happy. All drives visible and working (for the moment).
Sorry for your SSD.

Cheers.
 
Lgel said:
Seems there is no way to defeat the dumb implementtion of RF2 in steam, after working very well, this morning steam decided to download again all content of the cache to the original location.

So I have the cache duplicated now!
Click to expand...
Yep, I got a huge 5 Go download from the workshop too, not sure what happened: iI must have downloaded again all the content I had already?:confused:
 
alexSchmurtz said:
Yep, I got a huge 5 Go download from the workshop too, not sure what happened: iI must have downloaded again all the content I had already?:confused:
Click to expand...
Probably, hope you don't have a monthly top to your internet suscription, if not most of it has gone...
Cheers.
 
I wonder if there was some sort of core update that converted some recent 3PA stuff to standard content? It just doesn't make sense for this to be related to mklink... unless the link was somehow broken, but then you should be able to access and modify the two cache\ folders separately. I don't know how a folder junction can be broken, and what would happen if it were, because I've never had an issue with it. But I also currently don't have rF2 installed as I get my system back up and running (and cleaned out, finally!).
 
Lazza said:
I wonder if there was some sort of core update that converted some recent 3PA stuff to standard content? It just doesn't make sense for this to be related to mklink... unless the link was somehow broken, but then you should be able to access and modify the two cache\ folders separately. I don't know how a folder junction can be broken, and what would happen if it were, because I've never had an issue with it. But I also currently don't have rF2 installed as I get my system back up and running (and cleaned out, finally!).
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I suppose, Steam program deleted content of Cache (removing redirection to the other disk) before copying again content. No problem, it is error proof and designed to help newbies.

Cheers.
 
But steam can't do that (specifically for a link). It can't see that it's a linked folder - that's why it works. Either we have here at least two coincidentally timed instances of a link breaking (maybe a hardware re-enumeration of the drives can make that happen, though I suspect you'd need a drive failure/disappearance - and even then I don't know what a program would see or be able to do), or for whatever reason you've both had updated/'new' files to download. If the entire cache disappeared it should be a 11-12gig download, which I'm guessing @alexSchmurtz wouldn't have called 5 gigs.
 
I use also linked folder from time to. Used it a lot on the non steam version. Since to switch to steam i only tried to move the moddev to my hdd. And this is something i could not get working. It always crahed on loading. Same content no linked folder and its working.
 
Mine hasn't changed since I created the link, thanks to Lazza. At least I don't think so ... the cache folder still has the little arrow on it and no new folder.
 
Lazza said:
But steam can't do that (specifically for a link). It can't see that it's a linked folder - that's why it works. Either we have here at least two coincidentally timed instances of a link breaking (maybe a hardware re-enumeration of the drives can make that happen, though I suspect you'd need a drive failure/disappearance - and even then I don't know what a program would see or be able to do), or for whatever reason you've both had updated/'new' files to download. If the entire cache disappeared it should be a 11-12gig download, which I'm guessing @alexSchmurtz wouldn't have called 5 gigs.
Click to expand...
There was a problem yesterday with the steam client update, many RF2 installations were damaged.
see post https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/apex-modding-gt3-mod-0-940.41988/page-117#post-875528

Cheers.
 
@Lgel Oh. Ouch. Well if there's a positive at least mklink isn't implicated. On a personal positive maybe I chose the right time to have problems :p
 
Maybe I should have specify I'm not using mklink! I wanted to say it seemed unrelated since I got a huge download without using it… :rolleyes:

I have moved my Steam games to a different folder (but same drive as Steam), all the workshop content was in the same folder. And still is!
C:\GAMESSteam\SteamApps\workshop\content
But the 5 Go correspond to a download of all my workshop content again, this time in the original path
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\workshop\content
It installed these when I first opened the launcher yesterday…

The download started right after the Steam client update so it is probably related. It did not delete the items in the original location tho, so I have everything twice…:confused: It is 8.8 Go each time, so the download was probably bigger than what I thought...
 
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