Moving MTX Aircraft Folder?

[dolph98]

I looked thru the forum and didn't see the answer I was looking for so here goes:

Is it possible to move the MTX aircraft folder off the C: drive and onto another drive? What changes to which file do I need to make to do so? Or is the location hard coded in the MTX program and it can't be done?

I have a relatively small SSD and it's getting pretty full. I have already done this with all my add-on AI planes such as MAIW and all my add-on scenery too. I would love to move this folder as well.

Thanks in advance! Great program by the way.

[Burkhard]

It should be possible with some limitations. As example the tools to change the aircraft models will not be callable from the communicator. The only thing you have to do is to change the entry in FSX.cfg for the simobjects to the new location. So copy the MyTraffic\aircraft folder to F:\MyTraffic\aircraft and then set the simobjects path to it as example. If it works, you can delete the original MyTraffic\aircraft folder

Of course, if problems occur, I cannot help you, but try it out and report here if it works. It should give you 10 GB on your SSD.

[Andydigital]

Do a search on the internet for "Symbolic Links", that way you can move the MyTraffic folder (copy and paste) to somewhere else then create a Symbolic Link back to the FSX root folder and the communicator can still make any changes as needed because as far as the communicator can tell the files are still look like they are in the FSX root folder even though they aren't.

This guide is pretty good and there is even a simple way to create the links with a right click on the folders. http://www.howtogeek...ndows-or-linux/

[Burkhard]

While I will not support it case anything does not work, and having as example scenery files not in the FSX structure has been reported to really give weird effect. It mustn't, it can work, but if it doesn't nobody can explain why...

[Andydigital]

It will work I can assure you, I've been using it for over 6 months for other purposes, its a core NTFS function that has been around for a long time and as far as FSX and the OS is concerned the files are still in the same location. As long as the files are actually where the sym link points to it will work.

[Burkhard]

OK I will send them to you in case they have problems. If you have many thousand installations, you experience that there is much more between computer and software than you can imagine...

[dolph98]

Burkhard,

Thanks for the original idea. I tried it and it did not work. Now I realize that it's the MyTrafficX program that needs to find the planes in a relative path to itself, not FSX. FSX couldn't care less where I put MyTraffic's planes. So the only way to make this work is find a way to move MyTraffic in its entirety. Aha, Andy suggested such a way! So I undid the changes and got the AI back then used Andy's method and it worked. It wasn't that difficult to do, here's exactly how I did it:

1. Renamed the original FS folder "MyTraffic" as "MyTrafficDeleteMe"
   
2. Opened an admin DOS prompt. Navigated to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X"
   
3. At the prompt, I typed mklink /J "MyTraffic" F:\FSXSimObjects\MyTraffic
   
4. The command returned Junction created for MyTraffic <<===>> F:\FSXSimObjects\MyTraffic
   
5. Fired up FSX to find that it did work as expected.
   
6. I then deleted my original "MyTrafficDeleteMe" folder.
   
7. Done
   

Thanks guys for the help!

BTW, for your information:

• /D – creates a soft symbolic link, which is similar to a standard folder or file shortcut in Windows. This is the default option, and mklink will use it if you do not enter a prefix.
  
• /H – creates a hard link to a file
  
• /J – creates a hard link to a directory or folder
  

Cleaning up the link if it is ever unwanted is cake: just type del "MyTraffic" (you must be sitting in the folder where you created the link, in my case it's the FSX folder on C:). You can then delete the "MyTraffic" folder from F:\FSXSimObjects".

You can also type del F:\FSXSimObjects\MyTraffic but you better not want what is in that folder as it will literally delete the everything in the folder as well as the link. It does not delete the folder though.

To see what symlinks you have in effect, type "dir" at the prompt (you must be sitting in the folder where you created the link, in my case it's the FSX folder on C:). The link will also show up as below in the list of files. Also, if you use Windows Explorer, the links will show up as a shortcut in the folder tree view. Pretty slick.

07/21/2012 04:45 PM <JUNCTION> MyTraffic [F:\FSXSimObjects\MyTraffic]

I ain't scairt of symlinks no more thanks to Andy. He made me get 'spiramental' I guess. Now I'm gonna try to do it with the default scenery folder. No, not really. Joking. Kids, don't try this at home...

[Burkhard]

Thanks for explaining in detail. Fine it works. I will put this over to the FAQ with a separate title in a few days.