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

[Chorizotarian]

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.

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.

[Duomages]

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

[Ðeceased]

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

[Chorizotarian]

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.

[infra]

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.

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.

[konraddo]

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.

[ZorbaTheGeek]

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.

[DyzzyD]

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.

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.

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.


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.

[DyzzyD]

I found a website to do symlinks (how-to geek) and ran

C:\mklink /D C:\wow2\Data C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Data 

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] 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:

"$env:ProgramFiles\World of Warcraft" 

to:

"c:\Program Files (x86)\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:

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. 

I end up getting a new wow2 folder containing a WTF folder and Launcher.exe

Any suggestions or insight?

[DyzzyD]

/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?