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TECHREP #00030

reported by Julien Vida on May 30, 2016

FROM: Tools Commissar
TO: Arma 3 Modders
MATERIEL CATEGORY: Tools
CIRCUMSTANCES: Update 0.984 (Work Drive, Project Space)
SIZE: ~4.6 MB

STATUS

Across the past releases, we've shared our intention to tackle the P drive concept (including all the scripts used to maintain it). To deliver on this, we introduced Work Drive late last year, which has been updated over the past month and it is now the only tool to prepare and maintain the Project Directory. All previously used batch scripts are now simply calling Work Drive with the appropriate parameters.

Speaking of the Project Directory (Drive); it's a new term to designate something most of you know: it’s the substitute drive P known as "P Drive". As 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's perspective, P being its root directory. 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.

Like previously mentioned (in various places like the forums or older TECHREPs), Work Drive 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. It did this from any location (source / destination). In the recent development updates, the tool received more abilities:

  • Mount and Dismount any substitute drive (mapDisk)
  • Maintain Buldozer (DevP)
  • Extract game data to any Project Directory (FuturaToP)
  • Create the symbolic links (mapFolders)

An important note is that Work Drive will select the main install of the game as source. The destination directory will be the same as your project space b y default , as defined from the launcher of the tools ( Preferences->Settings - CTRL+E). However, unlike the previous behavior (using the install directory of the tools), if no custom directory is defined, a default one will be used in the document folder of the current user (...\Documents\Arma 3 Projects). This is done in order to avoid any potential conflict with the updates of the tools.

A few facts about Work Drive:

  • 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.

In the upcoming updates, this new default environment will be adjusted and polished. Your user feedback is valuable - if you have any feedback, please come and share it in this forum topic.

Besides the above, some other tools have been updated. There isn't anything major to report on, only small adjustments that can be consulted in the change log below. In the event you would like to share your feedback or report an issue, the forums and the Feedback Tracker are at your disposal.

CHANGELOG

TOOLS:

  • Work Drive
    • Added: A default Project Directory (%userprofile%\Documents\Arma 3 Projects)
    • Added: An ability to extract game data (/extractGameData /purgeGameData)
    • Added: Support for symbolic link creation and destruction (/linkFolders /unlinkFolders)
    • Added: Termination of sub-threads on exit
    • Added: Print loaded assemblies on start-up
    • Added: Display of a warning if Work Drive is elevated without parent
    • Added: On error, F1 can be used to open the online help
    • Added: Tobii.EyeX.Client.dll is now copied during the install of Buldozer as an optional file (needed for the current development branch of the game)
    • Added: Better error handling
    • Added: A possibility to switch into debug mode (by creating an empty file named __DEBUG__ in the Work Drive folder)
    • Changed: Startup arguments can start with a - or /
    • Changed: Work Drive will refuse to use the install directory of the tools as project directory
    • Changed: Colors of the logger
    • Fixed: The uninstall process of Buldozer was not removing the property files of the Core and Bin folders
    • Fixed: When elevated, Work Drive was sometimes displaying the target for the drive to mount as undefined
  • Game Updater
    • Fixed: The default destination path was systematically replaced by the default value even when it was a valid directory
  • Arma 3 Tools Launcher
    • Added: Extended support for Work Drive
    • Changed: Cleaned Project Drive management
    • Changed: Some labels and icons have been changed due to the level up of Work Drive
    • Changed: Any attempt to use the install directory of the tools (from the option form) as project directory will be denied
    • Fixed: The option to mount the drive P on start-up was fired even when the Project Drive was already mounted
    • Tweaked: Reworked Option form
    • Tweaked: Various labels were updated
    • Removed: Option to change the default log folder
    • Removed: About box
  • DSUtils
    • Added: Ability to use the newly generated key to sign PBOs (check-box from the key generation form)
    • Changed: The signature check know remembers the last paths used
    • Fixed: Potential CTD while generating the info file of the key
  • Addon Builder
    • Changed: Maintenance update
  • Render Worlds
    • Tweaked: Configs have been updated
  • FSM Editor
  • Publisher
    • Added: Error details are now provided when an asynchronous operation performed on Steam fails in Publisher
  • BankRev
    • Added: A new startup parameter -prefix to extract the data to Destination\Prefix\Data instead of Destination\PBOName\Data
    • Added: UI, ability to use the PBO prefix to determine the final destination directory
  • BinMake
    • Added: New EXE to handle the rules generation (Arma 3 Tools\BinMakeRules.exe)
  • MapDisk
    • Changed: Functionality fully transferred to Work Drive
  • FuturaToP
    • Changed: Functionality fully transferred to Work Drive
  • MapFolders
    • Changed: Functionality fully transferred to Work Drive
  • DevP
    • Added: Warning on startup
    • Note: DevP is no longer maintained
  • TexView 2
    • Added: Link to the online help (Top menu>>Help)
    • Added: Shortcut to save as (CTRL+SHIFT+S)
    • Changed: Assembly information
    • Changed: User settings are now stored in HKCU\Software\Bohemia Interactive\texView
  • Steam configuration
    • Changed: Incremented version to reflect the current stage (0.984)
    • Removed: The second install step (starter) is no longer needed

NOTES

  • More information about the update of Work Drive can be found here.
  • In case of any issue, please, let us know on our usual channels: Feedback Tracker or the forums.
  • You can subscribe (for free) to the Tools and Samples packages from the Steam store. Once done, you will find these application in your Steam library (switch the filter to "Tools").
  • You will need to start the primary tool once to add all needed registry entries.

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