That's odd. I use PS v2 at work, and I've never had a problem with setting RemoteSigned. Typo? Could be a bug of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Duomages',index.php?page=Thread&postID=59700#post 59700
That's odd. I use PS v2 at work, and I've never had a problem with setting RemoteSigned. Typo? Could be a bug of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Duomages',index.php?page=Thread&postID=59700#post 59700
I am not sure what the problem is, but I believe I got a signature error until I just set it to Unrestricted- then it worked fine :)
Hmm this sounds like a nifty idea : )
Can I ask a couple of things tho (being as I’m a noob at this!)
I can see the advantages using this over 4/5 separate copies, disk space, patching etc.. but could I ask what sort of advantages I could expect over just having them run from the same directory (as I do atm)?
Will it reduce disk activity too? And having this sort of system in place, will it reduce the load on your CPU?
Or is the aim exactly the opposite.. to increase the CPUs activity in loading up each WoW client by enabling the CPU to process the same physical file more then once? or allowing it to apply it to more then one Client?
(don't laugh :P I rly don't know anything about this sorta thing :P )
I.e. Faster loading, less strain on the disk, allowing the CPU to process more
Am I even close? :P
You're very close! :) The OS will try to load the files individually, but the file system knows that the symlinks all point to the same location so it will use a cached copy generally. You should get the same reduced disk activity that you do running from 1 physical directory, but you can keep your settings, macros, addons, etc. separate.
I don't think that the disk configuration will have much effect on CPU activity no matter how you do it. That's my theory anyway. You can check using perfmon.
Great script I just got this all done. I too had the wow.exe problem and ended up just copying the wow.exe to each WoW[X] directory. No big deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Chorizotarian',index.php?page=Thread&postID=70250 #post70250
A few questions still troubling me:
1. I'm also confused at the advantage of doing this vs. running everything from 1 physical directory. In my case I've linked the interface and wtf directories (I recognize the video and config file inplications of doing this). But then what advantage is left vs. running c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Wow.exe five times? Almost every FAQ about mutli-boxing says you MUST make sure you don't just load "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Wow.exe" but I've yet to understand why not (besides seperating settings, macros, addons).
2. I followed the instructions to link the WTF directory as well and that worked great BUT how do I modify the script to instead link the .\WTF\Account instead in this way my save variable files would be linked (what I want) but my c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\wtf\Config.wtf would be independently maintained - allowing my slave WoW video settings to differ from that of my main WoW toon?
Cheers.
PS this community rocks.
To me, the scripts are so difficult to interpret as if they were encrypted. I searched on the net and found this little software:
Link Shell Extension
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...kshellext.html
It has a built-in menu in your Windows Explorer so it's pretty easy to understand and make use of. What you do is install if (of course!) then pick the source file (i.e. the file you want to "copy") and select the hardlink location (i.e. where you want to "paste" the file) and voila it's done!
Frankly though, I see 0% performance improvement in terms of memory and CPU usage, but a drastic reduction in harddisk light "blinking" is observed. It really feels like the file is only read once.
I just wanted to add my thanks for this fantastic script. I've been having issues with long loading times and occasional crashes running 1 main and 3 slaves from a second install. New loading times are superb and we'll see about the BSoDs, but I believe they are related to two clients attempting to write to the same file at the same time.
Great work.
What am I missing?
I've downloaded and renamed the file New-wow.ps1, downloaded PowerShell (v1). I fire up PowerShell and I am lost from there. I have attempted to paste the file name to the default directory (C:\Users\Administrator) and got an error. I went to the directory where New-Wow.ps1 is saved, did a paste of the name and a " \run New-Wow.ps1" as well as " run new-wow.ps1" and got an error.
I followed Steps 1-3 and attempted to do the same paste of name as well as the two types of " /run " "run" command attempt I had done earlier (in the c:\bin folder). I got an error all three times. Note: When I did Step 2, "Path" was already there as the Variable name and had a Variable Value which I then replaced the value field with " c:\bin " . I saved the old value to a notepad incase I'd need to revert to the old variable value.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Duomages',index.php?page=Thread&postID=59700#post 59700
I run Vista 64bit with WoW saved to ( c:\program files (x86)\world of warcraft). I run four wow instances on this machine and use my 5th account on my second machine. In the future I forsee running all five accounts on this machine with combinations of 5x shaman and will look to running tank/healer, 3x dps for 5mans.
My Questions would be:
-What am I doing wrong?
-To run the script, do I need to move my WOW folder to ( c:\wow1) and make additional wow2-5 in my c:\? I made wow1-5 under my C:\Program Files (x86) folder.
-Is there any way to link two accounts to one folder and three to the other? Tank/healer accounts on one folder, three dps accounts on a second folder. After typing this question out, I'd figure it would just be two links total and keeping the two or three accounts within the corresponding folders.
I found a website to do symlinks (how-to geek) and ran
I also linked the Cache, Interface, Screenshots folders and copied all the files in the main WOW directory except the patch/downloader files (patch# to patch#-enUS-downloader(patch).exe) type files. After doing this I made a shortcut of the Wow.exe file and double clicked on the shortcut... I got:PHP Code:
C:\mklink /D C:\wow2\Data C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Data
" Failed to open archive interface.MPQ: The system cannot find the file specified" and got stuck. Someone in [Other] Winbolic Guide - Symlinking for XP had the same error but there were no further replies on that thread :wacko:
I went back to Powershell and New-wow.ps1 figuring spacing might help in the ps1 file, renamed my "wow2-4" folders and went into the new-wow.ps1 file and changed:
to:PHP Code:
"$env:ProgramFiles\World of Warcraft"
I got to c:\bin and did the " Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned" I ran "c:\Bin> new-wow c:\wow2" in powershell. I end up getting an error:PHP Code:
"c:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft"
I end up getting a new wow2 folder containing a WTF folder and Launcher.exePHP Code:
At c:\bin\New-Wow.ps1:86 char12
cmd <<<< /c "mlink $d `"$link`" `"$target`"" > $null
The term 'cmd' is not recognized as a cmdlet, function, operable program or a script file. Verify the term and try again.
Any suggestions or insight?
/Sigh
I've been staring at this thread and attempting to run the script for five days now, Would anyone be able to offer some insight?
I'm having the exact same problem as DyzzyD.
When I run the script I keep getting spammed with the same error
At c:\bin\New-Wow.ps1:86 char12
[align=left]cmd <<<< /c "mlink $d `"$link`" `"$target`"" > $null [/align]
[align=left]The term 'cmd' is not recognized as a cmdlet, function, operable program or a script file. Verify the term and try again.
If anyone have a solution it would be grately appreciated[/align]
Ok so I think I got it working. I created wow1 and run 4 off of that and my main of the normal wow install. Do I need to run all 5 off of the one or a seperate for each?
Is there anyway to tell in the task manager if its working?
Seems you have five accounts and are setting yourself up to use your wow1-5 folders and leaving your main wow folder alone. Am I right? You would run one from each individual folder, ie wow1-account1, wow2-account2 and so forth. When I mlinked my folders individually (without script), I went into each new folder, made a shortcut of wow.exe, named it according to the folder it would be originating from, and put the shortcut onto my desktop. Unfortuanately, when I went to start the accounts, I would get the "Failed to open archive interface.MPQ: The system cannot find the file specified" error.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'TheHamburglar',index.php?page=Thread&postID=12432 8#post124328
When I have my four accounts up, the task manager shows four individual processess of "Wow.exe *32"
Cmd.exe is in c:\windows\system32, which should be in your path. Have you by chance removed it?Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Rax',index.php?page=Thread&postID=121938#post1219 38
At the moment I only have 1 copy (Wow1) and then the Original World of Warcraft folder. I run my Pally off of the normal install then 4 clones off the copy (wow1). I was pretty much wondering If i needed to create a copy for each Character.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'DyzzyD',index.php?page=Thread&postID=126527#post1 26527
I have it setup Like this:
World Of Warcraft = Bugged
wow1 = Shamin, Shamiin, Sheamen, Shaemen
Should Leave it or change it to this:
World of Warcraft = None
wow1 = Bugged
wow2 = Shamin
wow3 = Shamiin
wow4 = Sheamen
wow5 = Shaemen
I currently run 5clients from one dir and get insane lag when I go to any major city aswell as when in Zangramarsh. Will doing this improve the performance at all? will I notice less lag in shatt for example?
Yes it will, and significantly.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'ChaoticMonk',index.php?page=Thread&postID=127438# post127438
When you zone you swap one potion of the datafile for another. If one of your multiple characters reads its portion of the datafile and another and so on.
The computer optimizes this behavior normally by caching the data being read (like putting into short term memory the last few things you did) on the computer this shorter term memory is in RAM with nanosecond access time versus the long term memory which is in millisecond access time. So whenever possible you want to utilize cache since its many many times faster.
When you dont symlink you cause the computer the avoid using cache because each character will read in separate copies of the files. When we symlink them we allow for all the characters to load the same actual data and thus its cached.
This is obvious when one character zones and then shortly another character zones without any lag hit that the first character might have experience.
How much cache do you have and just how much is sped up varies on your machine specs like hard drives with more cache memory are going to aid in this, ide controllers with memory, possibly raid0 configuration (two drives that split the data load between them), dedicating a drive to your WoW toons, these all should help and likely some more.
Thank you for the extreamly informative reply...I'll be linkin when I get home tonight :)
Edit: So let me see if I got this right"
- Make 1 installation of WoW
- Create 4 duplicates of the original installation omitting the \Interface and \Data folders
- Symlink each of the duplicated wow folder's Data & Interface folders to point to the original installation's Interface & Data folders.
Thats it?
If you haven't gotten an answer, change to your 2nd option.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'TheHamburglar',index.php?page=Thread&postID=12729 4#post127294
World of Warcraft = None
wow1 = Bugged
wow2 = Shamin
wow3 = Shamiin
wow4 = Sheamen
wow5 = Shaemen
This seems to be the setup that helps with performance.
I went into Control Panel->System and Maintenance->System->Advanced System Settings->Environment Variables... "ComSpec" is the one that has the value of c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe while my Path has a value of c:\binQuote:
Originally Posted by 'Chorizotarian',index.php?page=Thread&postID=12717 6#post127176
Quote:
Originally Posted by 'DyzzyD',index.php?page=Thread&postID=129041#post1 29041
I'm having the same problem as this user. Anyone find a fix or know what I've done wrong?
Thanks.
Heh, I've almost given up symlink'ing files... Too bad I'm persistent with stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'bdybldkris',index.php?page=Thread&postID=140450#p ost140450
With 3.02 and expac coming, I don't believe we'll be able to get this resolved before then. Do be patient until then. I'm sure the community will give some insight on our issue. Again, don't distress.
DyzzyD,
I gave up on the Powershell deal....I did a forum search for Symlink. The very first result will be Symlink Help. Look at that post and you'll find a link to a different program that helps with the associations. Here's what I did:
- Downloaded and installed the program.
- Created copies of my main Warcraft folder (I ended up with World of Warcraft, WoW2, WoW3, WoW4, WoW5 all on my E:\ drive)
- Navigate to your copies and DELETE your Data and Interface folders
- Navigate to your main World of Warcraft folder and Control Left Click your Data and Interface folders
- Right click on one of your highlighted folders (should be Data or Interface)
- Choose Pick Link Source
- Navigate to one of your copies (ie. WoW2) and right click on the folder
- Choose Drop As...Symbolic Link
- Repeat 4-8 until you've created the symbolic links for all your copies
Now you should have a main World of Warcraft folder with 4 copies that use the Data and Interface folders from the main. I linked the interface folder to use the same mods on all accounts. You can just link the Data folder if you prefer different mods on each.
This save me a ton of space on my hard drive and appears to have improved my performance too. Good luck! If you need any help or have questions just yell.
Kris
Not sure why everyone wants to overcomplicate this....
1. Copy Wow directory for each clone (ie. Wow1, Wow2, Wow3, etc)
2. Delete Data, Interface, Screenshots, Cache in the clones folders
3. Paste into text file called makelinks.cmd (change drive letter of course)
mklink /D Data D:\Wow1\Data
mklink /D Interface D:\Wow1\Interface
mklink /D Screenshots D:\Wow1\Screenshots
mklink /D Cache D:\Wow1\Cache
pause
4. Run that in each clones Wow directory, they are now all pointing to Wow1 as the source for those directories.
5. Done
Thanks for the explanation. I don't believe anyone's trying to "overcomplicate" anything. If you were familiar with symbolic links prior to 24-48 hours ago, I'm sure this would be no problem. Learning about them and trying to implement it was a little more difficult, as there were very few detailed instructions.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Crucial',index.php?page=Thread&postID=141335#post 141335
Again, thanks for the detailed info and I now have my cache linked as well. I still prefer the method I outlined above, as it takes no time at all to get everything linked and no bothering with text files and command strings. Now members have both methods and can choose what works best for them.
So what it this symlink? Do I need to do that in addition to running the powershell script?
Edit: Ok so this is just an alternate to running the script the OP posted then correct? I think I'll try this as the script doesn't allow me to use maximizer since I have to run the games with the launcher instead of the wow.exe.
Just wanted to say thanks for this guide. Up and running now and its very smooth. I would suggest adding the information about the Environmental variables into the OP as that is what had me stumped at first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Duomages',index.php?page=Thread&postID=60355#post 60355
You sir, win an internet !
Even though I had set "Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned" It kept telling me that it would not run, cause it was not signed. I then ran Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted and it worked !
Now my only question is this. I have 2 copies of wow. When I log in I always see the first account's username. Is there anyway around this? (So when I log into the second account, I don't have to change the username to that account).
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier !!!! =) =)... man I spent about 1 hr looking at the other stuff, kept reading and man im glad I did find your post. That worked, saved some space and gave me some good directories for wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'bdybldkris',index.php?page=Thread&postID=141304#p ost141304
Hopefully running it off a SSD will outperform my raptor drive to.
ok, this right here should be stickied....tyvm for this...quick question tho, i run mine on a duel core, and want to use keyclone, how should i set the affenity or what ever it is for each wow.exe to each core for 4 copies? main on core 1, slaves 2-4 on core 2?Quote:
Originally Posted by 'bdybldkris',index.php?page=Thread&postID=141304#p ost141304
I must be missing something in reading people's troubles here. I guess people kinda gloss over the setup instructions, or it's foreign enough to not make sense. From the file itself:
So after PowerShell launches, type "Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned" and hit enter. Then type "Get-Help About_Signing" to read what's going on and why. To see if you've set yours correctly, type "Get-ExecutionPolicy", it should return "RemoteSigned".Quote:
# Setup:
# 1) Download and install Windows PowerShell:
# http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...l/default.mspx
# 2) Run PowerShell as administrator
# 3) Set your script execultion policy to run local scripts without a digital signature:
# Get-Help About_Signing
# Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
# 4) Copy New-Wow.ps1 to somewhere in your path OR replace "new-wow" in the examples below
# with the script path.
Kudos to the author, it works great on my system and REALLY reduced the amount of disk activity. :thumbsup:
why isn't this thread stickied? :P
I'll admit from the beginning that I didn't read anything but the first few posts, but:
What's the point of Symlink'ing folders? If your hard drive is reading from the exact same location for data being accessed for all five (or whatever) clients, then how does it help performance?
The only reason I can see this being helpful is if you're wanting to keep separate settings/addons for each of your slaves. This may be the entire reason for it altogether... like I said, I didn't read. I'm just bored and skimming DB.com posts. :D
And yes, it's Friday, and I type well when I'm drunk.
With a symbolic link the OS knows that the 5 copies of the same gignormous data file that are simultaneously being loaded by wow.exe really are the same file, so it only loads them once. If you just copy and paste the wow folder it thinks they are different files and you get disk thrashing.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Ellusionist',index.php?page=Thread&postID=155663# post155663
Hmm, odd. I'm sure much testing has been done to prove it works, I'm still just not understanding how. I realize only one file location is being accessed, but five instances of wow.exe accessing that same "loaded data" one time instead of five, at a CPU/memory level, seems a little extreme.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Chorizotarian',index.php?page=Thread&postID=15726 1#post157261
Seems like all it would cut down is seek time from fragmented data to fragmented data between individual folders. I guess that answers my confusion!
*shrug* :S
Other than the settings, is this really better than running 1 wow folder for all your toons? Or is it the same and you just get the benefit of separate video, sound, etc settings?
It is _much_ better in my experience (actually using junction points in XP, which are analagous but not identical to symlinks in Vista) then running 1 wow folder.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Talamarr',index.php?page=Thread&postID=157788#pos t157788
Whats the deal with this? I have the same issue telling me that cmd is not recognized. This is on a brand new (1 hour out of the box) computer. :thumbdown:Quote:
Originally Posted by DyzzyD',index.php?page=Thread&postID=120528#post12 0528]I found a website to do symlinks (how-to geek) and ran
[php]C:\mklink /D C:\wow2\Data C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Data
[/php]
I also linked the Cache, Interface, Screenshots folders and copied all the files in the main WOW directory except the patch/downloader files (patch# to patch#-enUS-downloader(patch).exe) type files. After doing this I made a shortcut of the Wow.exe file and double clicked on the shortcut... I got:
" Failed to open archive interface.MPQ: The system cannot find the file specified" and got stuck. Someone in [Other] [url='http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=6697
Just a small note, highlight all for the copy/paste and then ctrl click off data and interface folders. Saves you copy/pasta 7GB for 2 or more times.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'bdybldkris',index.php?page=Thread&postID=141304#p ost141304
I was having the "Failed to open archive Interface.MPQ" issue as well, but I could tell my symlinks were not working correctly by clicking normally on each folder (Data and Interface) and I would receive an error. I figured out it was pure user error for me, I needed to put in the fully qualified path in the mklink command for the target:
No workyCode:cd C:\Users\Public\Games
Works!Code:mklink /D "WoW 1\Data" "World of Warcraft\Data"
mklink /D "WoW 1\Interface" "World of Warcraft\Interface"
mklink /H "WoW 1\Wow.exe" "World of Warcraft\Wow.exe"
(I'm running Vista Home Premium and I had already created the directory "WoW 1" and copied everything but the Data, Interface and Wow.exe)Code:mklink /D "WoW 1\Data" "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\Data"
mklink /D "WoW 1\Interface" "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\Interface"
mklink /H "WoW 1\Wow.exe" "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\Wow.exe"