Is there a way to load a mod from an external filepath?

[MarioFanaticXV]

I'm trying to load the Caveman 2 Cosmos mod- but when decompressing it, I got an error stating that the filepath was too long for some of the files (seriously Microsoft? We're on Windows 10 and you still haven't increased the max filepath size?), and thus I can't install the mod into my Steam folder. Is there a way to put the mod somewhere else and load it from that location instead of having it in the actual BtS Mods folder?

And in case anyone is wondering why I'm getting this error, this is the path for the mods folder:

D:\Program Files (x86)\Games\DD\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword\Beyond the Sword\Mods

Reminds me of how much I miss being able to install things manually. Would have just installed it as "Civilization IV" myself instead of "Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword"... Civilization IV seems to do a great job of reminding me why I hate Valve so much.

 

[vincentz]

I believe you can just extract it elsewhere and move it after.
If it needs the exe file, just make a copy and move to the newly created folder.

 

[MarioFanaticXV]

I believe you can just extract it elsewhere and move it after.
If it needs the exe file, just make a copy and move to the newly created folder.

I don't think you understood what I was saying; Windows systems have a maximum filepath of 256 characters. When I attempted to extract it, the filepath for some of the files contained therein exceeded that limit. Extracting to another location I can do, but I can't then move it to the Mods folder because it'd still be the same problem- I need to be able to load the mod from the shorter location.

 

[Leoreth]

The actual answer is that you cannot, mods will only work if placed in the mod folder.

Steam might give you no control where its files are stored, but you have some degree of control for the mod itself. Stuff in modules, or long names for art assets are the usual culprit here. You can edit the name of module folders freely, as well as the name of the mod folder itself (if you adjust it in the mod's config file), which might give you some leverage to skirt around the Windows limitations.

I'd definitely contact the C2C team about this, though; I also had to fix some file names to make my mod compatible with the Steam version of Civ4.

 

[MarioFanaticXV]

Thank you, shortening the folder name to "C2C" seems to have been sufficient!

 

[Leoreth]

Good to hear!