PowerShell script to create symbolically linked (mklink) copies of WoW

[FattyMoBookyButt]

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:

cd C:\Users\Public\Games

No worky

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"

Works!

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"

(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)

[Liquidity]

Thank you Chorizotarian for your work on this script! I am running Windows Vista 32 Ultimate Edition currently and I was able to get the script running by doing the following:

1. Made a directory called c:\bin
2. Added c:\bin to Control Panel->System and Maintenance->System->Advanced System Settings->Environment Variables->PATH.
3. Renamed New-WoW.text to New-WoW.ps1 and saved it in the c:\bin directory
4. Downloaded Windows PowerShell V2 and installed it. I received a corrupt data error when I tried to run version 1 for Vista.
5. Launched PowerShell V2 in command line mode and ran Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted. I received an error with the RemoteSigned option, I belive it is a problem with this version of the software.
6. Ran New-Wow c:\wow1

The script created the directory flawlessly! I think my next challenge will be to work with Octopus with a 2 account setup.

Ok folks. I followed the above example and it worked perfectly. :thumbsup:

[Spirithawke]

*Takes big breath* My first needing help post. I have soo been trying to avoid this...ggrrr...OK, Running windows vista home premium. I followed your instructions.

1. I got and downloaded powershell v1 (did not see a link to v2 that was mentioned from powershell site)
2. Made the c:\bin directory and added it to the path variable.
3. Saved the text file there as New-Wow.ps1.
4. Ran powershell in admin mode.
5. Gave it the command to Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
6. Ran the command new-wow c:\!games\wow1,c:\!games\wow2 -sourcePath c:\!games\World of Warcraft

Here is where the problems begin. I recieved the following error

Source directory does not exist
At c:\Bin\New-Wow.ps1:62 char:42
+ if (-not (Test-Path $sourcePath)) { throw 'Source directory does not exist' }

Does powershell not like the ! perhaps in the name of my custom install directory? (c:\!games\World of Warcraft)
Also, for future reference, is there a way to copy and paste errors from powershell? Highlighting and ctrl-c did not work. (my DOS days are so far in the past I have forgotten most of what I knew)

[Chorizotarian]

More likely Windows does not like the !games. Can you really create a directory called !something?

Try quoting the sourcePath arg like this:

new-wow ... -sourcePath 'c:\!games\whatever'

[Spirithawke]

Can you really create a directory called !something?

I have been doing that for years so that my games directory is always on top of the directory list in windows explorer. This is the first time it has been a problem. I'll note that while powershell did not like the !, the bat file approach did not have issues with it. *shrugs* I'll have to give your suggestion a try later as I really am not keen on the bat file approach, but at least it works for me. I guess that is what I get for having a custom install. I have never liked my games in the program files tree, so I always made the c:\!Games directory for my games.

[Chorizotarian]

Sorry, I wasn't thinking when I typed the above. The problem is the spaces in your path, not the "!". PowerShell doesn't know that c:\!games\World of Warcraft is all supposed to be part of the sourcePath argument. Quoting the path should fix you up.

[thefunk]

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.

a million times easier than running scripts (I prefer going to the dentist :P) - works like dream on Vista 32bit and had it up and running in 10 mins.

[jak3676]

Page 1 in this old thread had mostly what I wanted. I'm not sure if some files have changed with recent patches or maybt its something else. But I was getting errors when I tried to run the earlier bat file. This is what I'm using now.

**// copy /interface and /wtf folders on your own first! //**

 
md Errors
md Logs
 
mklink /d Cache "C:\WoW-Main\Cache"
mklink /d Data "C:\WoW-Main\Data"
mklink /d Patches "C:\WoW-Main\Patches"
mklink /d Screenshots "C:\WoW-Main\Screenshots"
mklink /d WDB "C:\WoW-Main\WDB"
 
mklink "BackgroundDownloader.exe" "C:\WoW-Main\BackgroundDownloader.exe"
mklink "Battle.net.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\Battle.net.dll"
mklink "BNUpdate.exe" "C:\WoW-Main\BNUpdate.exe"
mklink "dbghelp.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\dbghelp.dll"
mklink "DivxDecoder.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\DivxDecoder.dll"
mklink "ijl15.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\ijl15.dll"
 
copy "C:\WoW-Main\Launcher.exe" Launcher.exe
 
mklink "Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest" "C:\WoW-Main\Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest"
mklink "msvcr80.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\msvcr80.dll"
mklink "Patch.html" "C:\WoW-Main\Patch.html"
mklink "Patch.txt" "C:\WoW-Main\Patch.txt"
mklink "Repair.exe" "C:\WoW-Main\Repair.exe"
mklink "Scan.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\Scan.dll"
mklink "unicows.dll" "C:\WoW-Main\unicows.dll"
 
copy "C:\WoW-Main\Wow.exe" WoW.exe
 
mklink "WowError.exe" "C:\WoW-Main\WowError.exe"

[Blackwater]

Missing the file you need to run the script. Could someone please repost it?

[crazedfred]

When I used this I had to delete the links to WoW.exe and copy-paste WoW.exe from master.
Then, run Launcher for a few minutes in each slave.

After that, things seemed to work.