Who came up with the A3 Mission Saving Scheme?

[meatball 25]

Man, I love A3, but the way the game handles saved missions is just ridiculous. A mission file can be saved in so many locations it makes it really hard trying to organize missions. Here's just a few of the locations that Arma may keep saved missions...

Single Player Missions

C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma3\Missions\ - SP games exported from the in-game editor as .pbo's are stored here.

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\missions\ - SP games created in the in-game editor with all files/folders are stored here.

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\Saved\missions\ - Folders appear to be created for every SP game ever launched and savegames are stored here.

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\UserSaved\missions\ - Same as above folder

Multi Player Missions

C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma3\Missions\ - MP games exported from the in-game editor as .pbo's are stored here.

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\MPMissions\ - MP games created in the in-game editor with all files/folders are stored here.

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\Saved\mpmissions\ - Folders appear to be created for every MP game ever launched and savegames are stored here.

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\UserSaved\mpmissions\ - Save as above folder.

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Arma 3\MPMissionsCache\ - Appears to be .pbo files you've downloaded from servers you've connected to.

Steam Workshop Subscribed Missions

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\Saved\steamMPMission - Appears to contain any missions you've subscribed to through Steam Workshop. Unfortunately it creates a separate folder for every subscribed mission, and names the mission files 'mission.pbo', which really screws up using these files on a dedicated server.

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Arma 3\ - Appears to contain a cache of the .pbo files for any Steam Workshop Subscribed Missions you've played.

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Arma 3\SteamMissionsCache - Once again, another cache of .pbo files related to Steam Workshop Subscribed Missions.

Other Unknown Folders

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\Saved\a3\missions_f - Various saved folders for scenarios / showcases, some completely empty

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\Saved\a3\Missions_F_Beta - Same as above

C:\Users\Username\My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\A3ProfileName\Saved\a3\missions_f_gamma - Same as above

I may have missed some, or mistaken the purpose of some of these folders, but am I the only one that thinks 15+ folders that can contain mission data is a bit much? :)

Edited September 30, 2013 by Meatball

[kylania 568]

You don't need to worry about 90% of those folders.

Your missions folder depends on your ArmA username.

If it's the same as your Windows username folders start in: \Documents\ArmA 3\

If you change your profile name in ArmA your folders start in: \Documents\ArmA 3 Other Profiles\

Missions made in the Editor end up as folders in: <the above>\Missions

Missions made in the MP Editor end up as folders in: <the above>\MPMissions

Missions you export as User Missions end up as a PBO in: Steam\Steamapps\ArmA 3\Missions

Missions you export as Multiplayer Missions up as a PBO in: Steam\Steamapps\ArmA 3\MPMissions

Missions you play online end up in: \Users\Yourname\Appdata\Local\ArmA3\MPMissionsCache

That's basically all you need to bother with. Everything else is automated and you don't need to mess with it.

If you want to pick apart a steam mission, subscribe then check: Steam\userdata\<userID>\ugc\referenced\<missionID> before playing it.