How to share WoW settings across multiple machines...and rebuilds!

Hello,
It's been a while since my last post...I've been on my wow-cation and finally coming back I think.

In case you haven't noticed, Microsoft has released Windows 8. Why do we care...well I care because I'm going to reinstall my computer with it, but need to make sure all my settings are saved, including (especially?) my WoW settings.

I currently use a combo of RealUI and have for quite some time along with a number of other highly useful addons. Because of that, I do not want to re-download and reconfigure all of them which would just be guaranteed to break something. So, a while back, I figured out an alternative solution using cloud storage to save my WoW settings elsewhere. At the time, I did it because I have both a Windows desktop and a Mac laptop that I play WoW on. Now, I need to figure it out again to ease my upgrade to Windows 8 and thought I'd share my process with the world by writing it down!

Requirements:

• World of Warcraft
• A form of cloud storage that uses a local version synced with the cloud. Examples would be Dropbox, Skydrive, etc. both of which are free for a certain size. I currently use Dropbox and will refer to that, but it doesn't matter which service you use.
• Ability to use the command line/terminal on your computer. It's ok, I'll tell you what to type.
• *Understand that <username> is meant as a variable for you to replace with your own info.
• *Understand that over the 6 years of WoW, Blizzard has used multiple different install directories and you should be able to locate yours.  Mine is currently in "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft".

Step 1: Determine your Dropbox folder location.

The default install location for Dropbox is in your user directory, which is dependent on which operating system you're running.

• In Windows 7, it would be C:\Users\<username>\Dropbox.
• In Windows XP, it would be C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Dropbox
• On OS X, it would be /Users/<username>/Dropbox

Step 2: Find the WoW user settings folders

For reference, WoW puts your game settings in two different directories and these are both automatically created upon installing and then logging in to WoW.



• C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\Interface
• This holds all of the addons installed in WoW.  Most of them go into a sub-directory, Addons, but some other config files can be right in this Interface folder as well.
• C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\WTF\Account\<AccountName>
• This holds you're account and toon specific variables and data.  For example, if you use ArkInventory, you're inventory database is held inside here.
• Make note of the actual <AccountName> here as you will need it later.

Step 3: Create the target directory

Inside of that directory, create a WoWConfigFiles folder (or call it whatever you want), like so:

So the file path would be C:\Users\<username>\Dropbox\WoWConfigFiles.

 

Step 4: Make a backup of these 2 directories!

I can't stress this enough!  My preferred and easiest method is to right-click on each of the settings folders and choose "Send to..." then "Compressed (zipped) folder".  That will make a zip file of the whole folder.

 

Step 4: Copy the WoW folders to the Dropbox subfolder

Make sure that WoW is not running nor are any addons like Curse or anything else relating to WoW.  Then using Windows Explorer, copy the Interface folder and you're <Accountname> folders (as listed above) into the newly created WoWConfigFiles directory in Dropbox.

 

Step 5: Delete Folders from WoW directory

Ok, now I know that sounds scary, but it'll be ok as long as you...MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP FIRST! 

So, as it says, delete the Interface folder.  Then, delete the <AccountName> folder.
...Scary isn't it?

Step 6: Create the symlinks to the folders in Dropbox.

Now you need to use the command line; to do so, click on the start menu and type 'cmd' and press Enter.  It should open a window that looks like the following.

1. Change to the WoW directory by typing this command and pressing Enter.

cd c:\users\public\games\World of Warcraft

2. From here, either copy and paste or type in the this line (on one line):



mklink /d Interface C:\Users\%username%\Dropbox\WoWConfigFiles\Interface

2a. It should respond back start with "symbolic link created for...". 
3. Now we repeat this for the <AccountName> folder inside WTF.

cd c:\users\public\games\World of Warcraft\WTF\Account

4. Then we actually create the link.  Remember to replace <AccountName> below with your actual account name that you copied earlier.

mklink /d <AccountName> C:\Users\%username%\Dropbox\WoWConfigFiles\Account\WTF\<AccountName>
 

Step 7: Test

So now that your symbolic links are setup, you should be able to double-click on those WoW folders in Windows Explorer and you will get automatically redirected to the appropriate folder on Dropbox.  Also, for the very observant, the linked folders inside the WoW directory now have a little shortcut arrow on them!

Step 8: Repeat on other machines.

So for any other machines you have, you can repeat just Step 5 and 6 and now your WoW config files will be available there as well. 

Conclusion

So now, since you really only have a single source of data, if you play on your desktop, then travel somewhere and want play on your laptop, the settings and data are exactly as you left off on your desktop. And when you return home, the desktop will be automatically updated again as well...all utilizing the power of the cloud storage sync app!

Good luck and leave comments for any parts that are confusing, etc.

Chondrius

*Note: Chondrius is not responsible if you break your wow installation...so make sure you make backups!

Why to Love ArkInventory - Sort by ItemStatLevel

So, another reason to love ArkInventory...

 I don't know if you're like me, but often times when I look at my bank or bags, things get lost, even when categorized by ArkInventory. I tend to be very organized when it comes to things technology-wise, especially my file naming and folder structures and this extends to items in game.  I have lots of "categories" in ArkInventory

So the above snippet comes from my bank where I store all the "Expansion Specials" that I'm not using.

(Expansion Specials is what I called the items that you need for crafting mats that came with the different expansions...Motes/Primals, Crystal/Eternals, and now Volatiles. Clever I know).

For those who look closely you'll see that the items above are organized by expansion so that I can see them easily lined up and neatly organized when I look at the bag/bank. Volatiles come before Eternals before Crystals before Primals, etc down to Classic (or as some call it "Vanilla") WoW items.

Now I know its easy enough to do searches and find things, which I do all the time (also built-in to ArkInventory), but when you actually get to the bank or toon that has the 3 Volatile Fires you need, where are they...what actual square are they in?  This helps.

To set this up, you'll need to create a custom sort method inside ArkInventory config.  Do this by typing (or copy & paste) into a message window:

/arkinventory config

Once the config window comes up, select Sort Methods and you'll see the following window (or similar based on your window "skinning" addons):

Then give under Add Sort Method, type in a name and click OK:

Once the new method is created, you just need to check the boxes next to the stats you want to sort by and order them.  As you can see above, I chose "Item (stat) level" and then "Item name".  Also note the "Direction" field of "Descending". (In ArkInventory, its a little funky how it handles ascending vs descending...this actually means to descend from the anchor point of that group (e.g. Expansion Specials) which can be customized by group). Just flip it how you like it...I wanted higher level items to be "higher" in the list.

Now to apply it to the group:
(For instructions how to create a new group see my other article Why to Love ArkInventory - Categorizing)

1. Open your bag/bank.
2. Click the cog to go into Edit mode.
3. Right-click the Bar that you want to modify
4. Scroll down to Sort method
5. Slide over to to the popout menu and choose the new sort method that you created.

(if you ever want to switch back to the Default method, just do steps 1-4, but then select the Default again).

So that is how you setup custom sorting in ArkInventory and apply it.  I hope this helps.

Happy Sorting,
Chondrius

P.S. For those of you who don't want to bother with the hassle of setting everything up in ArkInventory, you're welcome to use mine, that I've linked in my other article: Why to Love ArkInventory - Categorizing

Why to Love ArkInventory - Categorizing

ArkInventory has revolutionized how I handle my bags and bank.  I tend to be very organized with my items in game and before having a bag manager addon (ArkInventory), I had specific places for specific things and would have to move new items shortly after looting, etc. so they wouldn't get "lost".  Also so when I went to vendor items, nothing important got lost.  'Twas all very manual and at times tedious.  Then comes ArkInventory.

Side note: I actually only started using ArkInventory when I installed an "addon pack" as they're now known called RealUI, which thankfully had alot of groups already setup so that I could see the value in using it...and very soon, customize it. Thank you Nibelheim and RealUI! (click here to check it out)

So by default, when you install ArkInventory, it doesn't have any categorization or groupings (they're called "Bars" but that isn't very descriptive). What you would see is something like this:

...not very helpful.

If you click on the cog (or Engineering) icon in the top right, you'll get something like this:

To create a categorization, while in Edit mode, right-click one of the Bars, then select the category that you want to apply. Below I've chosen Trade Goods > Metal & Stone.

Now, you might be wondering how to tell what category and item belongs to.  Easy.  Right-click on the item in question and then choose Debug Info.

As you can see, this is the full item Debug Info for a Silver Bar.

So, by using some creativivity, you can get all sorts of crazy with your inventory organization so eventually your bank could look like this (or better)(yes its in edit mode to show you the groupings):

I hope this help people to better understand bag management and ArkInventory.  Again, thanks to Nibelheim from RealUI and the makers of ArkInventory

Later,
Chondrius

***
EDIT: If you'd like to just use a configuration that is already setup with some pretty good/common rules, you're welcome to use my file located HERE.  Again, I've only modified the config file provided by RealUI, but I've added some additional sorting and categories.  Be sure to select the RealUI profile in the ArkInventory config. Enjoy.