Save Storage space using Symbolic Links, in XPlane.

Create Symbolic Links, (Simlink).

This tutorial will focus on XP11 simulator.

Scope / Goal.

Save Storage space by using large directories / files into a Destination, from another Source location using Symbolic Links. Using simlinks you can have multiple versions using the same Storage location. Some Tiles can be as large as 40GB or larger.

Symbolic Links, also referred to as Simlinks, are glorified Shortcuts that get executed by your OS, in this case Win 7Pro 64, other OSs should work. They are Not specific to Simulators they can work for other applications

When the link is created, pointing to a Source, it behaves like that Directory / File is present in the Destination location, where the link is located.

If the Drive is properly Defragmented there should be no / very little performance loss.

Creating a "/ J link".

1-In your Destination / where links need to be created and other Scenery Source used, like in Custom Scenery>"scenery_packs.ini" file, include all the Scenery that you want to use from another location / Source. See other posts on Scenery priority, or let your XP create .ini file after you create the simlinks.

A general description:

mklink /J "C:\Link To Destination Folder" "C:\Users\Name\Original Source Folder"

Example:

....

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/CDB-Library/

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/yOrtho4XP_Overlays/

SCENERY_PACK_DISABLED Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+33-117/

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+33-118/

SCENERY_PACK_DISABLED Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+33-119/

SCENERY_PACK_DISABLED Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+34-118/

...

2-In your Source directory confirm that you have all the necessary Directories / scenery, all the physical / complete file, can be another version of XPl1, as shown below...

3-Create a Batch file, use Notepad or other Text editors, name it i.e. "XP11Links.bat", that has all the links you need from the Source.

Example:

If your Destination is in: I:\XPlane11\X-Plane 1111\Custom Scenery

and your Source is in: I:\XPlane1120\X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery

and the file you want to link to is "zOrtho4XP_+33-118"

The link will look like this:

mklink /J "I:\XPlane11\X-Plane 1111\Custom Scenery\zOrtho4XP_+33-118" "I:\XPlane1120\X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery\zOrtho4XP_+33-118"

Note: The quotation marks are necessary if a space exists in the Path or file name and confirm no space between " and the next character.

After you establish a working link, you may copy the line above as many times as you need, and just change the files you need to link, in this case "zOrtho4XP_+33-118", it can be "zOrtho4XP_+33-119"......

If your Scenery is _DISABLED as is in:

SCENERY_PACK_DISABLED Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+33-117/ the scenery will Not load.

If you already have a file with that name in the Destination, like"zOrtho4XP_+33-118" you will get an error when the Batch file tries to create the short cut / mklink.

4-To execute the Batch file. Go to your Command prompt, Start> type "command" and Right Click on "command.com" and Run As Administrator, navigate to the location where your .bat file is, and execute the Batch file 2xLClick. After you execute the .bat you will see a number of Shortcuts in your Custom Scenery directory. If you are logged in as Administrator you can execute the .bat from the location you saved it in by just 2xLClick. You only have to execute the .bat once, unless you add or change it.

5-Start XPlane and you will see the scenery from Source in your environment.

Note: The Symbolic link (/J) you created is being treated by the OS as a regular / physical file. Do Not delete that Shortcut / SimLink.

To safely delete the link you must go to your Source directory and temporarily Rename the Directory or File name in the source, for the Link name you want to delete, then you can delete the Symbolic link Shortcut, and then rename you original to the original name.