Where did my Steam Workshop Mod folders go?

[autigergrad 2034]

What is the reasoning behind all of my Steam Subscribed mod folders vanishing from my ARMA 3 folder and into that parallel universe where my socks end up?

 

Very inconvenient for loading mods onto a server.

 

Where can I find these now?

[OMAC 254]

They are buried in here:

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\workshop\content\app#

[dscha 147]

....\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\107410\FoldersWithNumbers

[autigergrad 2034]

They are buried in here:

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\workshop\content\

 

So I found them...

 

HOLY GOD THIS IS AWFUL BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE

 

 

 

So...not only are all of these mods moved to that location...

 

BUT THE NAMES ARE ALL GONE....THE FOLDERS ARE ALL FREAKING NUMBERS.

 

 

Absolutely THE worst idea ever.  I now have around 50 Steam mods that I'm going to have to manually change back to the name of the mods instead of 124523454  and 24432345.

 

 

I'm speechless.

[Jackal326 1181]

HOLY GOD THIS IS AWFUL BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE

[...]

I blame Valve. If they ever get around to releasing Half Life 3, I hope it doesn't utilise the Workshop.

You can blame BI for a lot of things (such as going with STEAM as a digital distribution network and Workshop implementation in the first place - more people would complain if it didn't have it), but I think the book stops with Valve with regard to Steam's functionality.

[OMAC 254]

I was dismayed when my @mod folders for Workshop mods suddenly vanished from my Arma 3 profile folder a month or so ago.  There are the "Copy to a folder" and "Copy as a local mod" options for each mod in the launcher, although I have never tried them.

[the1krisrob 67]

I had one folder set for Steam addons and another set for local stuff that isn't available on the workshop.

Now the Steam addons folder is empty, if I go to the launcher MOD options it still says 

Steam Workshop mods location: G:\ARMA 3 Addons - Steam

And yet when I browse to that folder there's nothing there. So like autigergrad I'm now going to have to go through every folder, decipher what it is then rename it and then I can set about updating my server.

 

Someone dropped the ball here. I assume this was part of the fix to avoid 2 copies of every mod being on the drive, but I'd take that over nonsensical mod folders any day.

I hope this can be fixed soon. If not I'm just going to give up on workshop for ARMA and stick to manually downloading/updating mods like the old days. It's more work, but at least I end up with useful named folders where I want them  

[autigergrad 2034]

 

Hello,

it would be unwise to rename those folders. They are create by Steam client itself and as long as you have Workshop item subscribe, it will download it in the same folder again and again. Also it might prevent you from starting the game while it is re-downloading them. So in the end you will only end up wasting your disk space and bandwidth.   :icon_twisted:

 

More discussion on the matter: https://forums.bistu...t-to/?p=3032469

 

Hello,

yes it's a solution for the data duplication. It works fine for Launcher to do it's job as a game launcher. As I've written in https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/191137-launcher-doesnt-store-mods-where-i-told-it-to/#entry3032469we can work to accommodate your needs if you kindly share them with us.

 

 

 

Well I got 3 of the 4 mods I renamed back but CBA for some reason will not re-download..even if I delete the folder entirely and resubscribe.

 

Edit...after trying about 15 times...finally got it to "un" corrupt lol.

[n00ber_g00ber 10]

I can only hope that Valve and BIS get together and address this and future updates that make it more user friendly. 

 

Did I miss any documentation on this in a SIT or OPREP recently? If I did that's my bad, because I could of saved time and a headache too. But whatever, hope the future is a little less confusing with mods and workshop items...

[soulkobk 40]

Refer to my post -> https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/191137-launcher-doesnt-store-mods-where-i-told-it-to/page-3#entry3033318
 

A how-to on how to 'fix' the issue by simply creating directory junctions in your Arma 3 (or Arma 3 Server) root directory.

[Defunkt 431]

Not duplicating mods is patently a better default behaviour and is entirely transparent for anyone who exclusively uses the provided launcher. People who run servers or eschew the official launcher should *know stuff* - that's just how it goes with modded games on PC - including in this case how to create file system links which will yield the best of all worlds (single copy, updated automatically, visible in the A3 folder). I recommend Link Shell Extension; http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

 

One thing the launcher could do to make it easier to match workshop folders to mods is include a View Workshop Folder in Explorer widget in the panel for each subscribed mod. Ideally, rather than opening the mod folder itself, this would open the parent folder with the desired sub-directory highlighted using explorer's /select parameter;

explorer /e, /select, C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\107410\682496867

[graemeshute 218]

That sucks my mods are now "gone" and all numbers...Great after steam re-downloaded again like 20 gigs of mods a few days ago.

[OMAC 254]

 

Not duplicating mods is patently a better default behaviour and is entirely transparent for anyone who exclusively uses the provided launcher. People who run servers or eschew the official launcher should *know stuff* - that's just how it goes with modded games on PC - including in this case how to create file system links which will yield the best of all worlds (single copy, updated automatically, visible in the A3 folder). I recommend Link Shell Extension; http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

 

One thing the launcher could do to make it easier to match workshop folders to mods is include a View Workshop Folder in Explorer widget in the panel for each subscribed mod. Ideally, rather than opening the mod folder itself, this would open the parent folder with the desired sub-directory highlighted using explorer's /select parameter;

explorer /e, /select, C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\107410\682496867

 

I agree with this.  Adding the View Workshop Folder in Explorer option to Launcher would be the simplest way to make mod handling by Launcher more user friendly.  In general, after some initial confusion, I think the current Launcher setup for mod handling is fine and intuitive, and is certainly vastly preferable to mod duplication.  For situations where users must have mods in their normal A3 folder locations, or in custom mod folders, avoiding the Workshop and downloading normally from ArmaHolic, etc. is recommended.  Personally, I only use the Workshop for small mods like CBA, missions, and campaigns (Resist), and download the big stuff like CUP and RHS manually.

[bad benson 1733]

so do the clones you can make still update like the old ones? if not, why? why not keep that feature? i don't see a good reason to remove that very useful feature.

 

i'm totally fine with the cloning thing being an option and i get the reasoning behind it. but having to remove and recreate the clone folder everytime there is an update is a major regression to before.

[old_painless 182]

I am speachless about this, too. My named folders in the Arma3 folders have been deleted ?!?!?

 

I use the bloated Launcher because it seems to be the only way to update my Steam subscribed mods, but for the real Arma 3 launching I use a 3rd party launcher (Arma3Sync) which looks for @<name> folders in the Arma3 folder. That is now impossible, since I need to translate 2937239478 into CBA and so on.

 

Did you just kill off 3rd party launchers ?!

[Defunkt 431]

I am speachless about this, too. My named folders in the Arma3 folders have been deleted ?!?!?

 

I use the bloated Launcher because it seems to be the only way to update my Steam subscribed mods, but for the real Arma 3 launching I use a 3rd party launcher (Arma3Sync) which looks for @<name> folders in the Arma3 folder. That is now impossible, since I need to translate 2937239478 into CBA and so on.

 

Did you just kill off 3rd party launchers ?!

Wow. It's like you posted without reading anything already written in the thread.

[old_painless 182]

Wow. It's like you posted without reading anything already written in the thread.

 

Edit: never mind, the high road and all that

[Flax 397]

So there seems to be a new easier way to see mods with the current Dev Branch version. The game creates a !Workshop folder in the game root directory which contains shortcuts to all the mods. See below, this works fine with all 3rd party launchers I've tested it with.

 

[Phantt0m 0]

You can use a program such as File Viewer Plus to open the BIN files. By reading some of the code you should be able to get an idea on what the mod could be.

[MANofAWE 0]

Well I got 3 of the 4 mods I renamed back but CBA for some reason will not re-download..even if I delete the folder entirely and resubscribe.

 

Edit...after trying about 15 times...finally got it to "un" corrupt lol.

I came here to find a solution to this, if anyone else has corrupted mods and cant delete them, restarting the launcher after clicking delete will cause it to wipe the mod. :D

[crzbonkerz 0]

When I unsubscribe from a mod on Steam, it seems to still be on my system somewhere, because ARMA 3 folder still has the same disk space usage? Anyone familiar with this? 

[R0adki11 3949]

And with all these issues, its why i still manage my folders and addons myself. It worked fine since OFP, no need to change it now 

[thirith 27]

On 6/7/2016 at 0:01 PM, Flax said:

So there seems to be a new easier way to see mods with the current Dev Branch version. The game creates a !Workshop folder in the game root directory which contains shortcuts to all the mods. See below, this works fine with all 3rd party launchers I've tested it with.

 

This thread is relatively old, but I hope it's still okay to ask a follow-up question. Can this (the Dev Branch version and the !Workshop folder) be used in order to have a dedicated server use and update mods? (This would be a second PC I have at home, not a rented server.) Or are dedicated servers and Steam Workshop mortal enemies that will never cooperate in nature? (For context: I installed Arma 3 on the second PC yesterday and briefly launched TADST, but it didn't find any of the Workshop mods or missions.)

[Soapy_87 1]

This may help you guys out, you can find this by enabling hidden files or just use this path 

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\!Workshop

[thirith 27]

Thanks. I've found all the mod folders and many of the missions, but not all. Still, this gives me enough to work from.