{"id":177,"date":"2015-01-17T19:04:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-17T19:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.electrongoo.com\/?p=177"},"modified":"2017-02-13T10:05:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T10:05:10","slug":"how-to-update-unity3ds-default-project-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.electrongoo.com\/index.php\/how-to-update-unity3ds-default-project-location\/","title":{"rendered":"How to update Unity3d’s default Project Location"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unity3d Project Location:<\/h1>\n

Unity3d <\/a>is an excellent cross-platform tool for developing interactive content.\u00a0 Unfortunately some\u00a0desirable work-flow features are just\u00a0not available.\u00a0 One such feature is the ability to change the default Project Location where all new Unity projects are saved.\u00a0 With Unity, I find myself creating new projects quite often to test new features and ideas.\u00a0 Being able to\u00a0set a custom\u00a0default Project Location would be a great time-saver so I would not have to drill-down into a file dialog to locate a specific folder.<\/p>\n

While searching for a solution I found many others<\/a> looking <\/a>for the same feature.\u00a0 Unfortunately, no solutions were available.\u00a0 I found one mention of a registry key\u00a0which could be altered but that did not work.\u00a0 I used the Microsoft \u00a0Process Monitor<\/a> to view registry and file access by the Unity process but I never saw any\u00a0interesting data being read.<\/p>\n

After some quick tests I found that Unity always uses the personal documents folder.\u00a0 The personal documents folder is located by Unity using the Microsoft SHGetFolderPath <\/a>API.\u00a0 By default, Unity saves new projects under a folder named “New Unity Project (X)” under your personal documents folder.\u00a0\u00a0 So, the task is to get\u00a0Unity to read\u00a0a different value for the personal documents folder.<\/p>\n

The following details how to update Unity running on Windows.\u00a0 These steps are not valid for Unity running OSX or Linux.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Instructions:<\/h1>\n

In order to get Unity to display a custom Project Location folder when you select File | New Project …<\/strong> you must update a value in the Windows registry.\u00a0\u00a0To accomplish this,\u00a0create a simple Visual Basic script to update the personal folder name, launch Unity, then revert the personal folder name when Unity is closed.\u00a0 Here are the step-by-step instructions …<\/p>\n

Create a new empty document (e.g. within Windows Explorer Right-click New | Text Document<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

\"updateunityprojloc_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

rename the file LaunchUnity.vbs<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"updateunityprojloc_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Open the Windows registry (e.g. regedit.exe<\/strong>) and browse to the key named HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders<\/strong>.\u00a0 Find the value named Personal.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is the value returned by the Microsoft SHGetFolderPath <\/a>API.\u00a0 It should be of the form C:\\Users\\<yourname>\\Documents.<\/p>\n

Make a note of this value.\u00a0 You will use it later to update your Visual Basic script.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, right-click on your Unity3d icon and select Properties.<\/strong> Select the Shortcut tab<\/strong> and locate the Target<\/strong> textbox which contains the path\u00a0to Unity3d on your system.\u00a0 It should be of the form “C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Unity\\Editor\\Unity.exe”\u00a0 but can vary based on where you installed Unity and if you are running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows.<\/p>\n

Make a note of this value.\u00a0 You will use it later to update your Visual Basic script.<\/p>\n

\"updateunityprojloc_4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now create the Visual Basic script to update the folder name and launch Unity.\u00a0 Right-click on the “LaunchUnity.vbs” file you created and select Edit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"updateunityprojloc_5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copy and paste the following Visual Basic script code into the LaunchUnity.vbs file<\/p>\n

\r\nDim WshShell\r\nSet WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")\r\nWshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders\\Personal", "C:\\YOUR\\PROJECT\\FOLDER", "REG_SZ"\r\nsReturn = WshShell.Run("""c:\\Program Files (x86)\\Unity\\Editor\\Unity.exe""" , 0, True)\r\nWshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders\\Personal", "C:\\YOUR\\PERSONAL\\FOLDER", "REG_SZ"\r\n<\/pre>\n
Replace the three strings “C:\\YOUR\\PROJECT\\FOLDER”, “c:\\Program Files (x86)\\Unity\\Editor\\Unity.exe”,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0and “C:\\YOUR\\PERSONAL\\FOLDER”<\/strong> with the default path you want to save Unity projects, the path to unity.exe,\u00a0and your existing personal folder respectively.\u00a0 Warning: make sure you do not<\/strong> use a trialing \\ on the paths or that will break the vbs script.<\/p>\n
For example,\u00a0 here is my final vbs script using “G:\\UnityProjects” <\/strong>as my custom project location\u00a0and “C:\\Users\\andrew\\Documents”<\/strong> as my existing personal folder.<\/p>\n
\r\nDim WshShell\r\nSet WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")\r\nWshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders\\Personal", "G:\\UnityProjects", "REG_SZ"\r\nsReturn = WshShell.Run("""c:\\Program Files (x86)\\Unity\\Editor\\Unity.exe""" , 0, True)\r\nWshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell Folders\\Personal", "D:\\Users\\andrew\\Documents", "REG_SZ"\r\n<\/pre>\n
Launching Unity<\/h1>\n
When you want to use the new custom project location, simply launch Unity via the new LaunchUnity.vbs<\/strong> script you just created.<\/p>\n
Verify the custom project location<\/h1>\n
Launch Unity via the LaunchUnity.vbs<\/strong> script you just created.\u00a0 Unity should launch as usual.\u00a0 If it does not then go back and verify you followed all steps correctly.<\/p>\n
From Unity, select File | New Project …<\/strong> and you should see your new custom project location.\u00a0 Easy!<\/p>\n
\"updateunityprojloc_7\"<\/a><\/p>\n
While Unity is running, you can view the Personal<\/strong> key in Windows regedit.exe<\/strong>.\u00a0 Press F5 in regedit<\/strong> to refresh the view.\u00a0 You will notice that it is set to you custom folder name.<\/p>\n
\"updateunityprojloc_61\"<\/a><\/p>\n
When you close Unity, the Personal<\/strong> key will automatically revert back to its previous value.<\/p>\n
\"updateunityprojloc_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Wrap up:<\/h1>\n
So, when ever you want to create a new project in Unity, simply open Unity with the LaunchUnity.vbs<\/strong> script.\u00a0 As a benefit, once the new project is created, Unity will automatically close itself\u00a0and re-open so the Personal<\/strong> folder will be reverted back to normal after your new project is open!<\/p>\n
\u00a0Pros:<\/h1>\n