Change the directory that Launchbox moves new games to upon new platform creation

[LegzRwheelz]

Hey guys, I hope all is well! Ok...so I used to keep everything centralized within my launchbox directory but eventually I ran out of space (cause I am a data hoarder) moved my games to separate drive. Well I am now adding more systems and have to add to another new drive and I want LaunchBox to default to that directory when I create a new system and impot new titles, I want it to default to"M:\Games\[System name]" and ask me if I want to move it there instead of assuming I want the games imported to "\Games\[System". I know I can manually change it to whichever directory I so choose after importing a title or 2000 as well as telling it to just leave them where they are currently being added from. I know I can symlink the games folder to my drive but then I would have to manually edit the paths for ~80 systems that are already configured, same goes with mounting the M drive to the games folder but that is additional setup in the future if I should happen to need to reinstall windows, being able to do it like I am asking is the most desirable option for me. I really hope I get the answer I am so desperately wanting😅😬

[joseph9936]

I want to do something similar but with map the art work to another USB drive

[LegzRwheelz]

With that, I would suggest you Symlinking it. If you aren't careful, you will lose data, if you do it right, it works flawlessly. There is a symlink tool that I found that makes it dead simple, it is called Link Shell Extension. To symlink properly, you need to be working with EMPTY folders. Make sure you read all of this completely and thoroughly until you understand the risks involved with this "dirty hack". Read the disclaimer at the end as well.

To symlink a folder on another drive you need to do the following:

• Install Link Shell Extension from the link above.
  • Note: you may or may not need to turn off One Drive backup & sync as it looks in the User folder that is stored on your One Drive account rather than "This PC". You will know if you need to disable One Drive when you are prompted by the little folder explorer window and see none of your drives. This may be a deal-breaker for you, it was not for me as I sync to my GDrive. There are plenty of tutorials online on how to disable One Drive backup.
• Navigate to the NEW LOCATION that you want to store your files in, name it to whatever the folder that you are wanting to symlink. ie: "Images">Right-click the newly created EMPTY folder>Select "Pick Link Source".
• Head over to "..\Launchbox\Images">rename the Images folder to whatever, something like "Images1"
• Next, you need to right-click in a blank space, ensuring NO folders are selected>move your cursor down to the "Drop as..." flyout menu>select "Symbolic Link".
• You will see what appears to be a shortcut to inplace of the "Images" folder. This is what you want.
• Enter the folder you renamed ie: "Images1">Select all files/folders with Ctrl+A>press Ctrl+X or right-click>select "Cut">go back and into the "Images" symlink folder that you just created>press Ctrl+V or Right-Click>Paste.
• Let the process complete and if you did this correctly and followed my instructions correctly, your files should be stored in the other location without ever having to do anything inside the LB program.

It really was THAT simple.

NOTE 1: This works for any folder you may want to symlink. Just remember that the empty folder that you're symlinking needs to be the same name as the one you just renamed because we are tricking the program (in this case LB) into thinking that the symlinked folder is the real folder and it actually kind of is, it is just SYMbolically LINKed to the folder on the other drive. Hope that makes sense. This folder MUST be left empty during this entire process, lest you want to lose your data.

Note 2: I am not responsible for any mistakes you may make that results in data loss, nuclear war or the zombie apocalypse. You are doing this at your own risk and what I am suggesting is only that, a suggestion. A workaround for our 1st world problems that I have already circumvented. I hope this helps.