Can Vortex manage hardlinks behind/below a reparse point?

[VulcanTourist]

If a particular (Steam) game is moved from its original install directory and replaced with an NTFS junction or symbolic link, can Vortex still successfully place NTFS hardlinks in the new location targeted by the reparse point, or does the reparse point thwart/confuse it?

 

(I realize that I could test this theory, but I'm just hoping someone on the dev team has already considered this condition and knows the answer. It's not an entirely uncommon tactic, since Steamtool uses reparse points to perform its magic.)

[rmm200]

The only hard links requirements are those imposed by Windows.

If Windows supports hard links past the junction, Vortex should also.

Note that this in no way implies hard links working across a junction.

Both the source and target must be on the same physical partition.

No way you are going to know for sure unless you try it. But this is my best shot.

[VulcanTourist]

My intuition whispers that it should work, but I haven't yet tried it. It would offer extra choices if it does, and I like choices.

[Pickysaurus]

I'm fairly sure the only limitation is that the mod staging folder and the destination of your junction are on the same HDD.

[VulcanTourist]

I'm fairly sure the only limitation is that the mod staging folder and the destination of your junction are on the same HDD.

Yes, that's a given, owing to the nature of hardlinks.

What brought this up was considering a plan to use a same-volume junction to relocate SSE out of the Program Files (x86) directory and the UAC Hell that goes along with it. Yes, I know Steam allows relocating the entire Library, but that is monolithic and how would doing so affect Vortex and everything else that I've done that relies on that default Steam pathing? No, if it's feasible I'd rather just relocate the one game that seems to need it with a junction. (I have an SKSE plugin that is apparently crying foul because of the inherited file access restrictions in Program Files (x86).)

 

[VulcanTourist]

My intuition whispers that it should work, but I haven't yet tried it. It would offer extra choices if it does, and I like choices.

 

I went ahead and did it, after making a backup of the SSE directory. (I also got pissed at Microsoft and kicked TrustedInstaller to the curb and took Admin ownership of the entire Program Files (x86) tree, but that's another story.) It worked, and Vortex is clueless about the redirection and continues to work as if it never happened.

 

I do think it might now be noticeably slowing down game loading, though, which worried me before I began. In most instances the use of a junction or symlink would be imperceptible to performance, but in this instance there are thousands of files that must be accessed in very short order through that redirection, and it seems to have made a difference. It's a subjective conclusion, though, as I haven't done any before-and-after load timing.