Project Space, Work Drive and Game Data

[Tom_48_97 523]

It’s been a couple of months since Work Drive has been introduced into Arma 3 Tools. This seems like an appropriate moment to give you some fresh information.
 
Project Space, huh?!
Don’t panic, you know this since the beginning (ages for the veterans): it’s the “P driveâ€. Like I explained in a previous personal blog, the P drive is a concept. In short, it’s the file structure for the game from the game perspective. To give an example, the file data_f_mark.pbo is physically located in \Mark\Addons in the file tree however, once loaded, the game will set its mounting point to \A3\data_f_mark, which corresponds to the prefix of the PBO file. To sum up, P:\ is a representation of the working directory of the game, from the perspective of the game.
 
What the heck is Work Drive? What’s new here?
It is a tool designed to replace the previously scripted systems in order to provide a more reliable way to manage the work drive (P) and its content.
Its first iteration was only able to manage the well-known P drive and to install Buldozer. This it did from any location (source/destination).
 
In the recent update, it received the ability to manage any substitute drive, meaning it can mount or dismount any drive from any letter and its core code was also consolidated to prepare for the future…
 
Speaking of future, here we are! With version 0.983.2 of the tools, Work Drive can now extract the entire data of the game to the Project Space, similar to FuturaToP but more efficient. The usage is simple, execute workdrive.exe /extractGameData.
 
By default, Work Drive will select the main install of the game as source and the destination directory will be the same as your project space, as defined from the launcher of the tools (Preferences->Settings (CTRL+E)). However, note that it will deny any attempt to extract the game data directory into the install directory of the tools to avoid any potential conflict with the updates of the tools.
 
But, you can use it as you want or need:
Command line: WorkDrive.exe /extractGameData <Source> <Destination>

• Source: A valid install directory of Arma 3
• Destination: An existing folder

Command line: WorkDrive.exe /extractGameData <Source>

• Source: A valid install directory of Arma 3
• Destination: Will be the default project space

Command line: WorkDrive.exe /extractGameData <Destination>

• Source: Will be the default install of the game
• Destination: An existing folder

 
The extracted data can be purged by using the startup parameter /purgeGameData. You can also target a specific project space by adding its path after purgeGameData. The purge is based on the TXT file created during the extraction process, meaning that you can save a folder from the purge by removing the corresponding TXT file. In example, removing someName.txt will save the directory someName from the purge.
 
Finally, you can also combine both parameters to refresh your game data by using work drive as follow. Note: The arguments of the parameter /extractGameData remain as described above.

Command line: WorkDrive.exe /purgeGameData /extractGameData

Random facts:

• It takes around 4 minutes to extract the game data from and to a SSD (~12 minutes with a HDD).
• Work Drive runs multiple tasks in parallel.
• The faster your hard drive, the faster the process will be.
• In case of an update of the game, it takes usually between 1 and 2 minutes to update the extracted data.
• Work Drive won’t update a folder which already is up to date.

  
 
Reminder:
Please carefully observe the licenses of any work you extract before using it elsewhere!

[John Spartan 89]

@Tom_48_97 ☠ this is a great progress to simplify work on the platform. So after this is completed can we expect some improvements/changes on packaging data process as well? Like rvmat & tga format handling by AddonBuilder.

[hoverguy 177]

Finally! Thanks for the effort you put in refactoring or should I say simplifying/standardizing the old "P Drive" management system. I'm eager to see what will come next.

 

Speaking of future, here we are!

[[evo] dan 79]

I noticed this in the tools, but even thougth I run the tools exe as admin, I still have to go through the install directory to get the drive to mount correctly as it doesn't seem to call it right via the tools. Also, I've got the auto mount ticked but always have to mount it manually. Am I missing something somewhere? This is on Win10

[Tom_48_97 523]

I noticed this in the tools, but even thougth I run the tools exe as admin, I still have to go through the install directory to get the drive to mount correctly as it doesn't seem to call it right via the tools. Also, I've got the auto mount ticked but always have to mount it manually. Am I missing something somewhere? This is on Win10

I have no issue with the last dev update of the tools. Also, the tools launcher shouldn't be run as administrator. What do you use to mount you project drive?

[[evo] dan 79]

After the tools failed, I ran DevP.bat manually from the a3 tools directory

[Tom_48_97 523]

The update 0.983.3 brought a better handling of PBO files (and a new mode for BankRev). 

 

After the tools failed, I ran DevP.bat manually from the a3 tools directory

Could you please, create a new topic here including your logs?

[[evo] dan 79]

The update 0.983.3 brought a better handling of PBO files (and a new mode for BankRev). 

 

Could you please, create a new topic here including your logs?

PM'd you my logs

[six_ten 208]

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[Jackal326 1181]

Move everything except for the tools themselves (so all of the extracted data, your project files etc.).