In several topics I read about people duplicating video files to support multiple versions of the same script. The obvious downside here is the additional disk space used.
I wanted to share a better way which is just as fast, by making symlinks (a reference to a file that behaves as a copy of said file). You can create them from a terminal window, but to make it easy there is the following program:
Windows Option Note: Only works on NTFS filesystems.
You can rename the symlink to your alternative script, with the end result being as follows: Note the Symlink takes up no space. All video players will treat the .symlink as if it is the linked MP4 file.
Thanks for bringing this ability to have symlinks on windows to my attention! I don’t know why I never thought of looking for something like this it’s always been something that bugged my with NTFS. Will be very helpful for scripts and equally helpful for my day to day life!
I’m able to use the symlinks to have a renamed copy of the file, and play the file. But VLC and MPC-HC use the name of the source file, not the symlink. This means when linking to something like MFP, the scripts for the original file will be loaded, instead of the alternate scripts.
I can’t comment on MPC-HC, but it does kinda work with when using VLC+ScriptPlayer. The trick is that the video file (symlink) has to be “pull into” ScriptPlayer (drag/drop opening in ScriptPlayer).
If you’ve already linked VLC and ScriptPlayer, the video will still play in VLC (ScriptPlayer on its own isn’t a good video player…). Doing it in this order will play the correct script. Opening the symlink normally will just play the file (as the original name) in VLC with the original script.
Different problem…Does anyone know how to get symlinks to work for VR videos. DLNA won’t see the symlink files at all on DeoVR or Herespher. SMB on Herespehere is funny…the symlinks show up as folders…and when clicking on the folder, its says:
Can’t access SMB share files with the current user. Please verify the current user has acces to these SMB share files.
I’m able to access the entire directory via SMB except for these folder/symlinks. Anyone got a clue how to get this working? Maybe @HereSphere can chime in if no one else has any input?
