Author Topic: Vista File Location  (Read 8044 times)

ScottBroker

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Vista File Location
« on: July 21, 2007, 01:16:56 PM »
For some reason in Vista, the Saves file is sent to Cyberia.  Is there a way to find it, and put it back where it should be, or a directory I can eaisly find?

Corey Cooper

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2007, 06:59:05 PM »
Apparently, on some copies of Vista the operating system intervenes and even though the TD thinks it is saving files to the same place the software is installed ("C:\Program Files\The Tournament Director 2" by default), it actually saves somewhere else.  Try looking in:

C:\Users\<your login name>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\TournamentDirector

Might not be exactly that, but that gives you somewhere to start.

Not sure why it does this, or on which versions of Vista (there are so many versions...).  It doesn't do it on my copy, so I don't have any first-hand experience with this.

ScottBroker

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2007, 01:26:01 AM »
Is there a way to stop this, and or get it to save to a directory of my choice?

Corey Cooper

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2007, 09:57:08 AM »
Like I said, I haven't yet experienced this so I cannot unfortunately give any help.  I'll do some research and see what I can find out.

ScottBroker

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2007, 10:01:38 AM »
FYI,

I have Vista Ultimate

hawklight

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2007, 01:22:10 PM »
The problem is that Vista (I guess not all versions - I have ultimate too and I have the same issue) doesnt like programs updating  folders under "program files" - it considers this potentially unsafe. When it detects this it saves them to a virtual store that mimics "program files" so that the program in question is fooled into thinking everything is hunky dory. However, of course, when the program subsequently looks for it it isnt there.

In explorer you can see where this has happened as a button on the toolbar appears labelled "compatability files" when a folder is selected that has had this happen. Clicking on this shows the files that were "naughty" and moved elsewhere in the virtual store. You cant switch off the feature I don't think - but you can manually move stuff around.

I guess Vista is just (rightly or wrongly) encouraging software developers to not "save" / "update" in program files - in fact theres a folder now called program data - suspect thats where they want that stuff to go - so maybe best to chnage the "saves" location to somewhere not under program files

ScottBroker

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2007, 02:20:39 PM »
So I should just make a tdsaves directory, and move all the data there?

hawklight

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2007, 05:36:39 AM »
yes - try that - I have a C:\tdsaves folder. That should sort that out - however - other updates to the TD files such as prefs or templates or db etc may also seemingly "disappear" becuase they are still all under program files at some point.

Maybe Corey will allow a config option that allows all updateable / dynamic areas of the program be pointed at from somewhere else of the user's choosing? I notice that the default saves folder uses a <tdfolder> token to presumably mean "C:\program files\tournament director 2\" - if this a reference that the user can modify - or maybe the creation of a new token, say <tddynamic> that refs this user updateable area.

Of course - the easiest answer is to backup all, uninstall, and re-install under somewhere other than program files  :-)

ScottBroker

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2007, 06:09:55 AM »
I just moved everything to a c:\td2 directory.  THen I copied the files from the phantom saves, db....

hawklight

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2007, 06:17:29 AM »
hmmm may not be the way to do it - corey will say i guess if bad - but safest thing is to backup, unnstall - and reinstall but chnage the install location to be not under program files - then restre ur backup and all is then as is and will work fine. If you just "move" everything it may not like that very much.

ScottBroker

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2007, 06:24:34 AM »
So far all looks well.  Ran a dummy tourney.  All my players are there, all the 46 tourneys, and all the stats....

Corey Cooper

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2007, 11:35:36 AM »
Moving everything is just fine.  The software doesn't make any attempt to "remember" where it is installed.  Think of it as "portable".  When you run the program, it immediately tries to determine where it is running from, and that's where it will look for the database, preferences, etc.

If Vista just tries to be "smart" about programs putting things in "C:\Program Files" (or %PROGRAMFILES%), then what Scott did seems to me to be the best solution.  Put the software somewhere else so Vista doesn't mess with it.

ScottBroker

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Backup / restore
« Reply #12 on: August 01, 2007, 06:27:01 PM »
How do I restore everything?  I have TD on 1 laptop, and I want to restore all the data from the 1 laptop to my other one.

Corey Cooper

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #13 on: August 01, 2007, 07:36:14 PM »
It's outlined in the user manual.  Just follow the directions in there.  You'll need a utility that can unzip a ZIP file (like Winzip or 7-zip).  Look in the user manual in the Database section.

hawklight

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Re: Vista File Location
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2007, 03:40:08 AM »
Corey -  if the whole TD folder is "moved" to a new location AFTER a "normal" installation, whilst you say all is well because TD does not actually care where it resides, I presume un-installing (should you need to - I know, unthinkable) will fail then as it will not find what it is looking for in order to uninstall successfully?