1. #1

    Start WoW & Delete Cache Combo

    Greetings fellow earthlings,

    Recently I've started farming 'rares' for achievements and decided to write a two-line batch file to automatically delete WoW's cache folder and then start the game.

    While nothing particularly spectacular, I realised that there is probably at least one other person out there who might find this useful and so I've posted it here.

    For those who do not know, a windows batch file (.bat file extension) is a small plain-text 'script' that can perform basic windows tasks very quickly.

    Reasons for deleting your WoW Cache prior to running the game vary, but for me it relates specifically to the 'rares'. Each time WoW 'discovers' a character inside of the game and sends that information to your computer it is saved inside the cache for easy reference the next time you see that NPC. For AddOns like _NPCScan, this can hinder their performance as they will only alert you when an NPC is added to the cache and so will have no effect if you've already seen that NPC before.

    To create a batch file:
    Right-click inside of an explored folder (or on your desktop) and select 'New > Text Document'. Once the document is created, type in a name (it can be almost anything) and hit enter.

    Next, open the file in your preferred plain-text editor (Notepad works well) and add the following two lines:

    Code:
    rmdir /s /q "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Cache"
    START "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Wow.exe"

    Now save and close the document.

    For the final step, you need to rename the document from a .txt file type to a .bat. This can be done either by clicking the file twice with a short delay, or 'Right-Click > Rename'.

    Now you should have a .bat file that when run, will automatically delete your WoW's Cache folder and then start WoW in 32-bit.

    Important Notes:
    The file contents shown above are for the default Windows 7 installation of World of Warcraft. If you've installed WoW to a custom location, you'll need to change both file paths to match. To do this, navigate to the folder in windows explorer, then copy the file path out of the address line at the top of the window and paste it between the "" at the end of each line.

    If you run WoW in 64-bit, simply add '-64' before the .exe of 'Wow.exe' in the line above.

    Code:
    START "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Wow-64.exe"

    Advanced:
    Create a shortcut:
    Open Windows Explorer (Right-Click Start > Open Windows Explorer) and navigate to your batch file
    Right-click the file > Cut
    Navigate to your WoW installation folder > Right-click inside the folder > Paste
    Right-click the file > Send to > Desktop (Create shortcut)
    (Optional) Rename the new shortcut to something more suitable (Right-click > Rename)

    Pin to Taskbar/Start Menu:
    Create a shortcut as outlined above
    Right-click shortcut > Properties
    At the start of the 'Target:' box (selected by default) add 'explorer ' (including the space, but not the ' marks)
    The 'Target:' box should look similar to: explorer "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Launch.bat"
    Click 'Apply' and 'OK'
    Right-click > Pin to Taskbar/Start Menu

    Note: After pinning a shortcut to the Taskbar or Start Menu, it is safe to delete the original shortcut, as windows makes its own copy.

    Change Icon:
    Create a shortcut as outlined above
    Right-click > Change Icon > Browse to your WoW folder, double-click Wow.exe
    Click 'OK'
    Click 'Apply' and 'OK'

    Troubleshooting:
    If you cannot get the batch file to work correctly, double check that you are displaying file extensions. By default, windows hides file extensions (the letters after the . at the end of a file) for common file types. To change this, open windows explorer 'Right-Click Start > Open Windows Explorer > Press 'Alt' > Tools > Folder Options > View > Un-tick 'Hide extensions for known file types''

    Hopefully someone else will find this information useful; if you have any issues or questions, feel free to reply to this thread or PM me here on the forums.

    Cheers.
    -Vin-

  2. #2
    Bloodsail Admiral Supakaiser's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Emerald Dream
    Posts
    1,008
    Should also delete C:\ProgramData\Blizzard Entertainment\ as well as any *.bak, *.old, *.tmp files inside the WTF folder. Also the Errors folder and Logs (optional) folder.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Supakaiser View Post
    Should also delete C:\ProgramData\Blizzard Entertainment\ as well as any *.bak, *.old, *.tmp files inside the WTF folder. Also the Errors folder and Logs (optional) folder.
    Could do, although I figured my post was already relatively complicated for someone unfamiliar with the technology; so I decided to keep it relatively simple.

    Thanks for the input, though. I'll look into adding that to mine.

    Cheers.
    -Vin-

  4. #4
    I just empty the cache folder and that works fine.

  5. #5
    Deleting the .bak files is not necessary.
    They can be useful sometimes as a means of recovering previous addon settings.
    I just delete two files from the cache folder, but I only really needed to do that for NPCScan.
    Error and Logs folders can be useful for troubleshooting purposes, so those and the .bak files might be better handled by a separate batch file, one that is run specifically for that purpose.

  6. #6
    This was very helpful for getting Glorious!

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Does this work with the new battle.net client?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by T Man View Post
    Does this work with the new battle.net client?
    Apologies for the late replay, T Man; I am unfamiliar with the new Battle.net client, however after a quick google I have surmised that the batch file will indeed work with the new launcher; however you will need to change the following line from:

    Code:
    START "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Wow.exe"

    To:
    Code:
    START "" "<Battle.net Launcher filepath>"

    <Battle.net Launcher filepath> refers to the folder location for the .exe file of your battle.net app. Then, when you run the batch file, instead of clearing your cache and opening WoW, it will clear your cache and open the launcher.

    Example:
    Code:
    START "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Battle.Net Folder\Launcher Name.exe"

    Hopefully you find this information useful.
    -Vin-

  9. #9
    If you're talking about using npcscan having "logged" you seeing the rare then surely you can just turn off the remember option without the need to constantly remove cache files.

    Should be something like warn anyway even if seen before option within it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Equim View Post
    I really don't see anything wrong with playing what you enjoy. Be it Frost, Fire, Arcane or Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Salystra View Post
    If you're talking about using npcscan having "logged" you seeing the rare then surely you can just turn off the remember option without the need to constantly remove cache files.

    Should be something like warn anyway even if seen before option within it.
    No, because the cache is a feature of the game client rather than the addon itself.
    The game will cache a seen creature or NPC to avoid having to ask the server for all of the same information again each time it encounters it.
    Therefore by querying the game for information on that NPC, the addon can determine when you are close to that NPC by when the game actually returns the information it is being asked to.
    That is why you clear the cache, or the game client will always return that information and so the detection would cease to function.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by ComputerNerd View Post
    No, because the cache is a feature of the game client rather than the addon itself.
    The game will cache a seen creature or NPC to avoid having to ask the server for all of the same information again each time it encounters it.
    Therefore by querying the game for information on that NPC, the addon can determine when you are close to that NPC by when the game actually returns the information it is being asked to.
    That is why you clear the cache, or the game client will always return that information and so the detection would cease to function.
    You aren't listening, npcscan has an option to "alert" despite being in the cache and previously seeing the mob so you don't have to delete the cache everytime.
    Quote Originally Posted by Equim View Post
    I really don't see anything wrong with playing what you enjoy. Be it Frost, Fire, Arcane or Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Salystra View Post
    You aren't listening, npcscan has an option to "alert" despite being in the cache and previously seeing the mob so you don't have to delete the cache everytime.
    Pretty sure you're wrong, because the addon does not work that way. There is an option to "Search for completed Achievement NPCs", meaning it will search for ones you've already killed before - as long as it isn't cached. If it's a cached NPC, NPCscan will not alert.

    NPCscan USES the cache system to alert in the first place, so if you aren't clearing your cache, there's no way for the addon to function.

    But, if you still think you're right, PLEASE upload a screenshot of your NPCscan menu and show me where this option is located, I've been wanting it for years.
    Last edited by Daerio; 2013-09-23 at 09:37 AM.

  13. #13
    I advise you check, I still get rare alert warnings thanks to this option despite seeing them previously.

    I even get spammed about Garalon and that's hardly a "rare" anymore.
    Quote Originally Posted by Equim View Post
    I really don't see anything wrong with playing what you enjoy. Be it Frost, Fire, Arcane or Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Salystra View Post
    I advise you check, I still get rare alert warnings thanks to this option despite seeing them previously.

    I even get spammed about Garalon and that's hardly a "rare" anymore.
    Yep, it still isn't there. Feel free to upload that screenshot pointing it out for me.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Salystra View Post
    I advise you check, I still get rare alert warnings thanks to this option despite seeing them previously.

    I even get spammed about Garalon and that's hardly a "rare" anymore.
    The addon can't work this way, it depends on the cache to give the alerts. Perhaps your cache is set to read-only or something?

  16. #16
    Will double check this evening as I know there's an option there, looking at the below image however it might be the top check box in this

    Quote Originally Posted by Equim View Post
    I really don't see anything wrong with playing what you enjoy. Be it Frost, Fire, Arcane or Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

  17. #17
    Deleted
    There is a eaiser way to fix this problem

    simply delete the creaturecache.wdb and npccache.wdb file
    and then create folders with the same names including the extension then write protect them.

    Last edited by mmoc6413bbb95d; 2013-09-23 at 12:25 PM. Reason: Added image

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Salystra View Post
    Will double check this evening as I know there's an option there, looking at the below image however it might be the top check box in this

    image snip
    Nope, sorry. That checkbox just makes it so that if you've gotten achievement credit, the addon won't ignore that mob. Some people just get it to complete the "kill all rares" achievement and don't want to be bothered being alerted by rares they've already killed. NPCScan not being able to find cached mobs is detailed in the addon description by the author himself. That's the entirety of what the addon works around.

    Details

    The Cache

    This addon doesn't use nameplates or mouseover units to find rares. Instead, it checks your creature cache for the moment a rare mob is found. There is one catch to this technique however: Once a mob is “found”, _NPCScan won't be able to find it again until your cache is cleared. If you find a rare mob's corpse—Dirkee for example—you would have to clear your cache before _NPCScan would find Dirkee again. Thankfully, clearing your cache is a safe and simple matter.
    Main - Spirál - Hunter

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Salystra View Post
    Will double check this evening as I know there's an option there, looking at the below image however it might be the top check box in this
    As the previous poster stated, all that does is determine if you are alerted about those for which you already have kill credit towards achievements.
    Personally I make the decision on a per-rare basis since some drop notable loots, or sometimes it just depends on my mood if I want to kill it or not.
    Therefore I choose to be alerted, even if I have killed it previously.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •