How do I change the path when downloading Content Samples?

Hi,

I’m trying to installed some of the sample assets but running into an issue with drive space. My C:\ drive is a small SSD so space is very limited and when I try and install a sample asset like the Shooter Game, it gives me an error due to the size. Is there any way to change the path these samples download to? I have plenty of space on other drives (including the drive I installed UE4 to in the first place!).

Thanks.

I have had success with UE3, using a Junction Point to relocate data that the engine is looking for to another location. Basically, install this

Link Shell Extension

and then move your Unreal Samples directory wherever you want it to go, then as it says on the page for that utility you can set the new location as the target, and drop a Junction Point back into your original location. As far as the engine is concerned the files are still where it wants them, but they’re actually being stored elsewhere. Its still a dirty hack, but it doesn’t affect other aspects of your environment.

Thanks. Using NTFS junctions/symlinks totally slipped my mind. I’d be nice to actually change the path without having to go through that though.

Yeah having it customizable would be far more convenient, this is reliable enough to function in the interim. At least the projects are in a single folder rather than the 4 locations files needed to be scattered around in the UDK folder structure…

Hello,

We are looking into a solution for sample content automatically downloading to the C: drive. In the meantime, you are welcome to use twiddle’s recommended solution of Junction Point, or you can choose to use mklink which is included with Windows.

We have not determined a workaround for the Mac OS.

Windows Instructions.

  1. Close Unreal Engine 4 and the Unreal Engine Launcher
  2. In Windows Explorer, browse to My Documents
  3. If you have an “Unreal Projects” folder, rename it to “Unreal Projects old”
  4. Open a command prompt. (Start Menu, type ‘cmd’ in the run box)
  5. mklink /J “[Fake_Location]” “[Where_you_actually_want_the_files_to_be]”
    a. Example: mklink /J “C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Unreal Projects” “D:\Unreal Engine”
  6. It should respond with “Junction created for…”
  7. In Windows Explorer, browse to My Documents
  8. Move the files and folders from the “Unreal Projects old” folder to the “Unreal Projects” junction folder.
  9. That’s it. Your projects should be visible in Unreal Engine 4, and new projects should default to this location.

If you ever decide to remove the junction, you can by:

  1. Considering backing up your data somewhere else before doing this.
  2. Browse to My Documents.
  3. Delete the Unreal Projects junction folder:
  4. If it worked properly, your data should still be in the “[Where_you_actually_want_the_files_to_be]” folder.

During our tests, the following scenarios did not experience any issue:

Scenario 1: “I put UE4 on my D drive, but My Content stuff is going to my C drive. Not what I want.”

Scenario 2: “I put UE4 on my C drive. I have more space on C, but I want My Content elsewhere anyway.”

A third scenario does have some added challenge, although there is a workaround. Ultimately, we urge our users to ensure that they have enough space on their C drive to complete the download.

Scenario 3: “I put UE4 on my C drive, and now it’s almost full!! How do I get this other stuff on my D drive?”

If UE4 is on C, the download will take place entirely on C. Then, the data usage will shift over to the desired drive. The workaround for this is using the same mklink command on another folder where the download takes place: “C:\Program Files\Unreal Engine\Launcher\PatchStaging”. So, that would look like…
mklink /J “C:\Program Files\Unreal Engine\Launcher\PatchStaging” “D:\Whatever folder I want”