Question about launching clients from single folder

[Cptan]

Greetings,

I tried HKN codes recently to made performance comparison with AHK. From the sample codes, it seems to suggest launching the clients from same WOW folder. Is this the case? I have the impression that it will slow down the clients because of mulitple write access to same file. Maybe it is all right if we keep as few addon as possible, or avoid file write hungry addons totally? Anyone of you have the answer?

I do hope launching all clients from the same folder is feasible since it minimizes maintenance effort. And right now I am looking at script based software only.

Thanks.

[MiRai]

People have been launching multiple game clients from a single folder for quite some time now. The main
reason people were launching from separate folders was if they wanted separate config.wtf files for each
of their characters. It's actually faster for the disk to read what it needs to read from one folder versus
multiple folders because of disk caching and queues.

The only writing to any files should be (quickly thinking off the top of my head):

1) Cache folder. If you've cleared your cache for whatever reason I would recommend launching one client
and letting the cache rebuild itself a bit so you aren't trying to write to the cache directory 4, 5, 10 times at
once. Otherwise, your cache folder is only being read.

2) Config.WTF file -- ISBoxer's file virtualization fixes that problem but, I don't know what HKN has to offer
along those lines since I'm not savvy with the software myself.

3) Add-on Lua files. 90% of add-ons should be character specific through profiles and those add-ons that
aren't (that I've come across) are usually kept the same on all clients anyway.

[Khatovar]

Well, most people seem to run from a single folder using virtual config or one for the master and one for all the slaves with junctions or symlinks. I don't see many people using individual folders.

I'm not the technical guru that a lot of other people here are, but I would guess that the performance {and ease of use} gain from using fewer folders {all data being pulled from one location instead of pulling the very same data from 5 different locations all at once} is the bigger gain. AFAIK, and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, addon writes are only done during logout, which is why if you force the game to shutdown instead of doing a proper logout, changes don't save. At any rate, the performance lost, if any doesn't seem to be a big enough deal to cause most people to want to spend disk space on multiple installs.

[Cptan]

Well, most people seem to run from a single folder using virtual config or one for the master and one for all the slaves with junctions or symlinks. I don't see many people using individual folders.

I am using symlink for all clients to point to the main WOW folder. But not a very ideal solution since I am not able to link all program files.

I mentioned addon because of occasional weird behavior of Recount. When it decides to throw tantrum, it will halt the client during loading. It is not frequent, and people put the blame on the huge amount of data that it needs to log and manage. If it causes problem to one client, can't imaging what it will does to 9 accounts... I am not sure really, never spend my time looking at the code.

2) Config.WTF file -- ISBoxer's file virtualization fixes that problem but, I don't know what HKN has to offer
along those lines since I'm not savvy with the software myself.

Oh yes, the WTF folder. I forgot about it totally, lol. Now this may be a problem since I do not have a superb graphic card .

I can only think of 3 solutions

1) Create my own virtual files for each client. Not sure how tho, lol
2) Get a good graphic card that allows same setting to all clients without sacrificing performance
3) Change client setting after launch

If you have better suggestion, please let me know.

Thanks

[Khatovar]

Why would you need to link "all program files"? The only things I symlink are the Data and Interface folders.

I have 1 full sized folder that the main runs from. She runs at very high quality settings, 60+FPS, DX11 and all the bells and whistles.
1 folder for my healer. She runs at the same high settings, except she uses 30FPS and DX9.
1 folder for my other slaves. They run at low settings, no bells and whistles, DX9 and FPS capped at 20.

Those settings are all saved in the WTF folder in the Config files. If you symlink the WTF folder, you can't have different settings. You may as well be running all from one folder.

I can't comment on Recount. I don't use it because people are always complaining about the performance hit from it. Try something else, like Skada or TinyDPS.

[Cptan]

Why would you need to link "all program files"? The only things I symlink are the Data and Interface folders.

Blame on my laziness. File copy is easy task, but....

I have 1 full sized folder that the main runs from. She runs at very high quality settings, 60+FPS, DX11 and all the bells and whistles.
1 folder for my healer. She runs at the same high settings, except she uses 30FPS and DX9.
1 folder for my other slaves. They run at low settings, no bells and whistles, DX9 and FPS capped at 20.

Indeed that is a good suggestion. /bonk myself for having individual folders for all

Anyhow, I have managed to rewrite my scripts to launch all clients from same folder, but with individual config.wtf. The rest of files under the WTF folders will still be shared by all. Conducted some tests, results seem good. No more copying of files after patch. Will continue to observe if there is any problem with this setup.

Thanks Khat and Mirai

[valle2000]

I use Hotkeynet and have two folders, one for my master with higher gfx settings and one for my four slaves with lower settings and lower framerate.

[Sam DeathWalker]

I use IsBoxer and run everything from a single folder, each wtf file is individual so there is no problem whatsoever, for 7 or more characters per computer.