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About the Reloaded Virtual FileSystem

Info

Below are some characteristics of the virtual filesystem.

Compared to Windows symlinks/hardlinks:

  • Links are only visible to the current application.
  • Write access to game folder is not needed. Can even link new content into read-only folders.
  • Administrator rights are not needed.
  • Can overlay multiple directories ontop of the destination.

And with the following benefits:

  • Easy to use API for programmers.
  • Practically zero overhead.
  • Can add/remove and remap files on the fly (without making changes on disk).

👍 Also supports Wine on Linux.

Limitations

Info

Write functionality in VFS scenarios can be ambiguous.

For example, if you save a new file, where should it go?

  • Original Folder?
  • Some Mod's Folder?
  • What if a folder is shared amongst multiple mods?

To avoid these complications, Reloaded VFS only implements well defined functionality, effectively becoming a read-only VFS.

Question

But what does this mean?

Well, quite simply. Any write operations, such as creating a file are unaffected.

If a game wants to write a new file (such as a savefile), no action will be taken and the file will be written to the game folder. If a native DLL plugin wants to write a config file, it will write it to the game folder, as normal. That simple.

Warning

Caution

Proceed with care if any of the following applies:

  • If your game's modding tools operate on a modified game directory (e.g. Skyrim xEdit), using VFS is not recommended as new files might be written to the game folder.

  • Do not use VFS to redirect files deleted and then recreated by games; you will lose the files from inside your mod.

Error Cases

Failure

Using this VFS is not appropriate for your game if any of the following is true.

  • This VFS does not handle child processes. Do not use VFS for games that can run external tools with virtualized files.

Information

Info

The following limitations should not cause concern.

  • Reloaded VFS does not support Reparse Point Tags.
    • However, this shouldn't cause issues with mods stored on cloud/OneDrive/etc.
  • Reloaded VFS does not return 8.3 DOS file names for virtualized files.

File Write Behaviours

Info

Reloaded VFS is a read-only VFS, so what happens when you try editing files?

Description Action Performed
File Deletion Delete the mod file instead of the original file
New File Creation Create new files in the original game folder
File Editing Edits the redirected file
File Delete & Recreate (New) Delete the overwritten file and place the new file in game folder
Renaming Folders to Other Location Either move the original folder or files in original and overlaid folders (depends on how API is used)