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(SOLVED) GMS2's Windows Explorer & File handling Shenanigans

UPDATE: 4/17/21
YoYo QA Dept (YoYo Games Ltd.)

Apr 15, 2021, 11:54 GMT+1

Hello Jeff,

You should not need to enable anything in Windows, as GMS2's in-built use of the Windows subst command will usually deal with this issue for you. However, yes, if you have disabled the use of subst drives in GMS2's Preferences (or your Windows user account is not allowed to run subst), then you would fall foul of this. We would suggest that you do shorten your paths regardless, as we cannot guarantee what third-party SDKs will require (Android, for example, is definitely one which will currently always use subst to handle long paths).

To answer your question directly: GMS2 currently targets a version of .NET which does not have that same long path support in recent-ish WIn 10 releases. We aim to move up to the new .NET being released later this year, but until then your enabling long paths support externally would have no effect.

Thanks,
Dan
YoYo QA Department
@FrostyCat
In other words, GMS2 doesn't support long pathing now but will sometime this year.



UPDATE: 4/12/21
I see. I may have misunderstood the question and focused on something entirely unrelated. My apologies for that, and thank you for the clarification!

If I understand it correctly now, you are trying to use the paths returned by working_directory/etc. in a GML function of an extension to access a file. This function, however, is unable to access the file when running from within the IDE because it doesn't resolve the aliased path correctly.

For example, this path works as expected:
C:\Users\Tsuka\AppData\Local\GMS2TEMP\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\

... and this one doesn't:
Y:\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\

Is that correct?

If so, you can disable the aliasing of file paths to X/Y/Z drives under File -> Preferences -> General Settings -> Compiling -> Use subst for drive paths (or via my preferred method, Ctrl+T -> subst). This will result in working_directory returning paths in the style of C:\Users\Tsuka\AppData\Local\GMS2TEMP\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\, without any aliasing shenanigans.

This setting is mainly important for specific target platforms that tend to result in long file names during compilation (e.g. Android). Turning it off is safe, in the sense that you'll quickly notice if turning it off is a bad idea because your game would refuse to compile in that scenario.
Now GMS2 throws long path name errors (being > 260 chars, even if it's less than said # of chars) during development. Win10 officially supports long path and I'm unsure if GMS2 accepts & uses this long path support during development.

Now currently waiting to hear back from YYG support....Ticket # is: 181847





Hello everyone!

I am having some trouble with GMS2 to use windows explorer and I need some assistance please.

The goal:
To open the [working directory] folder that files are stored after building a game (before converting to .exe).

The problem:
Working directory will provide a file path that will not let windows' explorer open the folder the game is built upon.


[Some Visual Materials:]
EDIT_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.png


The attempt(s):
Since GMS2 comes lacking with file handing department, I have used the extensions named "Execute Shell" by Samuel and "Unboxed FileSystem" by kagmma.
While using Win10, by using these extensions, I was able to:
--Copy a file from one place to another.
--Open folders that are outside of the appfolder sections.
--Executed files (outside of appfolder)

[SEE IMAGE]
However, I've noticed that "working_directory" was giving me issues in the sense that I cannot access its folder path with windows explorer when building from ide.
It gives me a directory of "Y:\" and I cannot access this folder through GML, which it holds 'included files' The other appdata folder contains other content, say generated images.

As one can see from this image, I'm having troubles with Game_Save_Id, & Working_Id, which gives me issues with opening folders w/ win explorer.
On the right side I have the game compiled into the .exe and gives me no issues.

Now, where I want to open the "Y:" directory, gamesave-id & working directory fail to work as I think it would except when compiled to .exe
Since my project is located in the desktop, I went ahead and changed the ide's settings path where it recognizes and uses a folder in desktop to store some items, but working id still generates a file path for working directory folder, while letting the appdata forlder do nothing of its work at this moment....
I feel like the placing of items at different locations would make me mistrust in where things go if compiled to exe...

Has anyone tried working around this?
[Like stopping GMS2 from aliasing the file path for working directory?
Thanks for the update @rytan451]


Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Added more clarification and update to main post.
 
Last edited:

rytan451

Member
What's happening is that there's aliasing going on. X:\ is the directory that contains loads of things for the build, while Y:\ is the directory that holds the working directory. This is done to prevent problems if the path length is too long; however, without knowing what the alias means, it's impossible to open the directory using explorer.exe.
 
What's happening is that there's aliasing going on. X:\ is the directory that contains loads of things for the build, while Y:\ is the directory that holds the working directory. This is done to prevent problems if the path length is too long; however, without knowing what the alias means, it's impossible to open the directory using explorer.exe.
Hello my good sir!

Thanks for your reply.
I wasn't expecting GMS2 to be adding aliasing for lengthy file paths but if that's the case...

EDITED_2_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.png

Then there's some inconsistencies with such aliasing. It seems to me that it only occurs with Working Directory and Program Directory, not for other options.
Game Save id and Temp Directory will return a full file path, which no aliasing file path will occur.


For the working directory, for this project I know where it is located and I know the file path, but I want GMS2 to return the full file path instead of aliased file path.
Now the question is, can I stop GMS2 from aliasing the file path of working directory?


EDIT: Completed message after prematurely posting it.
 
Last edited:

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
I don't think there is going to be any legit way of accessing the "in-progress" files like you want. Maybe if you tell us what you are actually trying to do we can figure out an alternative or a better way to handle it(if such exists).
 
I don't think there is going to be any legit way of accessing the "in-progress" files like you want. Maybe if you tell us what you are actually trying to do we can figure out an alternative or a better way to handle it(if such exists).
Thanks for your reply. I have whipped up a quick doodle to help explaining what I want to do.
3_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.PNG
I hope this explanation helps...


In the original post, I've tried to work around this using a custom .batch file.
The .batch file that I've included with GMS2, is intended to open the current directory that is in, which should be the Y:\project name.

GMS2 has no problem copying files from working directory to the AppData\Roaming folder (with extension) and generating files inside said roaming folder ('vanilla/default' GMS2).
But when trying to open the batch file with [extended] GML, which should open the folder it's currently stored in (inside the working directory), windows explorer fails to open (due to the path alias).
However, opening the batch file outside of GMS2 works as intended.

Filename_path & and filename_dir of any file inside "working directory" will return the alias path instead of the full path windows explorer can use..... :(

I don't know what to do at this point with this direction. Do you have any ideas?

EDIT: correction to path & dir line
 
Last edited:
That really is not what I was looking for...I'm wondering more of WHY you want to directly access the folder. What do you intend to do with it?
I am going to deduce that my intentions for accessing said GMS2 folder stem from following what I used to do with GMK8 projects for file & folder management.
EDITED_4_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.png

With GMK8, I could create a gmk8 project file inside a folder and then create sub folders that categorizes external assets that I'll use for a gmk8 project.
With GMK8's ide, it'll use this folder as a working directory and I can manage external files this way. If something's going weird with some files, I could specify a folder
to open with windows explorer and inspect the files while running the game.

Now with GMS2, the file management seem to split, which makes it more difficult to manage. I was trying to use Included Files the same way as I do for GMK8 projects.

If something's odd with some external (included) files or directory is moved, I want to pull up the folder's full file path that windows explorer can use w/out issues through GMS2' GML instead of clicking through folders manually.

If the game's compiled into an .exe, I'll have no issues with working directory. However, I'm building the game from ide and I have issues with GMS2's working directory aliasing the file path.

Do you have any ideas for this minute predicament, my good sir?
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
If something's odd with some external (included) files or directory is moved, I want to pull up the folder's full file path that windows explorer can use w/out issues through GMS2' GML instead of clicking through folders manually.
Can you explain what would be doing the moving, etc...? Is it the game itself that would be doing it? What are you worried about being "odd?"
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
The problem:
Working directory will provide a file path that will not let windows' explorer open the folder the game is built upon.
Why is this a problem? What stops you from opening these folders? I can open them just fine.

If something's odd with some external (included) files or directory is moved, I want to pull up the folder's full file path that windows explorer can use w/out issues through GMS2' GML instead of clicking through folders manually.

If the game's compiled into an .exe, I'll have no issues with working directory. However, I'm building the game from ide and I have issues with GMS2's working directory aliasing the file path.
After running your game, scroll up in the output log. The first couple of lines tell you what X:, Y: and Z: are mapped to.
 
Can you explain what would be doing the moving, etc...? Is it the game itself that would be doing it? What are you worried about being "odd?"

I'm more thinking to handle cases where if users where to move files & folders around (when they're not supposed to), if some included files inside folders have issues during run time, and what not.
The intention of this whole thread is to have more control of where things are needed to be, like how GMK8 does and provide myself with more ways for automated debugging.

I hope this clarification helps...
 
Last edited:
Why is this a problem? What stops you from opening these folders? I can open them just fine.


After running your game, scroll up in the output log. The first couple of lines tell you what X:, Y: and Z: are mapped to.

I do not have issues opening the working directory & sub-folders by manually clicking through.
What I do have issues is that I cannot use windows explorer to open working directory when building the project from IDE because GMS2 aliases the file path.
I know where the X Y Z folders are located and I can open them manually [outside of GMS2], but the intention is to have windows explorer open these folders through GMS2' [extended] GML for more automated debugging & control purposes for my end....

I want the full file path that X Y Z are given, not the alias file path when calling working_directory when building the project from IDE.

Do you have any ideas of how I can achieve this, my good sir?
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
I see. I may have misunderstood the question and focused on something entirely unrelated. My apologies for that, and thank you for the clarification!

If I understand it correctly now, you are trying to use the paths returned by working_directory/etc. in a GML function of an extension to access a file. This function, however, is unable to access the file when running from within the IDE because it doesn't resolve the aliased path correctly.

For example, this path works as expected:
C:\Users\Tsuka\AppData\Local\GMS2TEMP\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\

... and this one doesn't:
Y:\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\

Is that correct?


If so, you can disable the aliasing of file paths to X/Y/Z drives under File -> Preferences -> General Settings -> Compiling -> Use subst for drive paths (or via my preferred method, Ctrl+T -> subst). This will result in working_directory returning paths in the style of C:\Users\Tsuka\AppData\Local\GMS2TEMP\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\, without any aliasing shenanigans.

This setting is mainly important for specific target platforms that tend to result in long file names during compilation (e.g. Android). Turning it off is safe, in the sense that you'll quickly notice if turning it off is a bad idea because your game would refuse to compile in that scenario.
 
I see. I may have misunderstood the question and focused on something entirely unrelated. My apologies for that, and thank you for the clarification!

If I understand it correctly now, you are trying to use the paths returned by working_directory/etc. in a GML function of an extension to access a file. This function, however, is unable to access the file when running from within the IDE because it doesn't resolve the aliased path correctly.

For example, this path works as expected:
C:\Users\Tsuka\AppData\Local\GMS2TEMP\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\

... and this one doesn't:
Y:\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\

Is that correct?


If so, you can disable the aliasing of file paths to X/Y/Z drives under File -> Preferences -> General Settings -> Compiling -> Use subst for drive paths (or via my preferred method, Ctrl+T -> subst). This will result in working_directory returning paths in the style of C:\Users\Tsuka\AppData\Local\GMS2TEMP\TunaGame_4AC6CF85_VM\, without any aliasing shenanigans.

This setting is mainly important for specific target platforms that tend to result in long file names during compilation (e.g. Android). Turning it off is safe, in the sense that you'll quickly notice if turning it off is a bad idea because your game would refuse to compile in that scenario.
Not to worries. I understand there's possibly some confusions with my posts.

Yes, you are definitely correct with the expected and received paths from working directory.
After re-reading your post, I didn't even even know there was an option to turn off the path aliasing on GMS2.
I was under the impression that GMS2 does things that I didn't have control over and needed some funky work around.


I have turned off the aliasing and did get that long file path error, but I was relieved that I had control over this.
I wasn't expecting such an error to occur. I guess I'm sort of out of touch when it comes to these things to occur.
Luckily for us, @FrostyCat just suggested to enable long file name support for win10

I would also suggest enabling long file name support in Windows 10 along with disabling subst on builds.
I didn't know this was even a thing in the first place. I'll be back with an edit to update with you guys.
 
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@FrostyCat @TsukaYuriko

Thanks for your helps earlier. I do appreciate it!

I have unfortunately encountered another error.....
I have unchecked the path aliasing, turned on long path path option, restarted and GMS2 was still giving me issues with longpath.

I've also done this where I enable NTFS (and restarted after)
.

and GMS2 is still throwing the long path error.


Any ideas on this issue, my good sirs?
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
I don't have any ideas on fixing this problem, but I have to make this comment.

I'm still unclear what exactly you are trying to do. You mention something about users of your game moving files around where they shouldn't. But by the time the users have access to the thing, you should be able to use just the normal working_directory folder. This building process, the aliasing, etc... none of this is happening on the users machine. So I'm not getting what is going on.

I'm also still not sure what you are even trying to do in the first place. The working_directory variable works just fine to access the files the game needs when it is running(in GML), including if the files were added via the included files, or saved later. And unless you have a bug, that works fine when testing in the IDE the same way.

Final point, I'm also unclear why you are worried about what the users do in the first place. In my opinion, if the user fools around with files that they shouldn't be touching, it is their own fault if things mess up. They can either not mess with what they shouldn't like 99% of the users, or they can re-install/re-download-restore from backup if they mess things up.
 
I don't have any ideas on fixing this problem, but I have to make this comment.

I'm still unclear what exactly you are trying to do. You mention something about users of your game moving files around where they shouldn't. But by the time the users have access to the thing, you should be able to use just the normal working_directory folder. This building process, the aliasing, etc... none of this is happening on the users machine. So I'm not getting what is going on.

I'm also still not sure what you are even trying to do in the first place. The working_directory variable works just fine to access the files the game needs when it is running(in GML), including if the files were added via the included files, or saved later. And unless you have a bug, that works fine when testing in the IDE the same way.

Final point, I'm also unclear why you are worried about what the users do in the first place. In my opinion, if the user fools around with files that they shouldn't be touching, it is their own fault if things mess up. They can either not mess with what they shouldn't like 99% of the users, or they can re-install/re-download-restore from backup if they mess things up.
I'm aware of of the end user messing up and having to re-install and/or re-download components, but thanks for the refresher.

I cannot blame you for this sounding odd, but keep in mind that this is intended for debugging purposes on my end & preferences.
All I needed was for windows explorer to open the xyz paths that gms2 uses and thanks to you all, I learned that there was an option to turn it off.
I understand the reasoning for path alias, but for this project, I'd like to stick with non path alias when testing project from IDE...Perhaps I'll enable it in the future but for now, I'm relieved from this alias

Now I have that 260 character limit for paths from GMS2, despite enabling long-path supports on Win 10. I do not know if GMS2 allows this support or not.

If you have any tips, please send them my way, my good sir!
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
So first you said it was about your end users...now you say it is intended for debugging purposes on your end. I still don't know what is actually going on, and I guess you don't really want to explain it better. That is OK, of course you aren't obligated to explain anything :) I'll just leave it at that since I really don't know how to help without knowing what the actual goal of the thing is. I can say though that this is the first time I've ever known of somebody needing access to the files mid-build. I've seen lots of things where people access and modify project files and similar, but never actual build files, at least until the build was done(most commonly HTML/Javascript stuff).
 
So first you said it was about your end users...now you say it is intended for debugging purposes on your end. I still don't know what is actually going on, and I guess you don't really want to explain it better. That is OK, of course you aren't obligated to explain anything :) I'll just leave it at that since I really don't know how to help without knowing what the actual goal of the thing is. I can say though that this is the first time I've ever known of somebody needing access to the files mid-build. I've seen lots of things where people access and modify project files and similar, but never actual build files, at least until the build was done(most commonly HTML/Javascript stuff).

I do apologize if I didn't explain my intentions clearly here.

Allow me to clarify:

Intention was to have GMS2 use Windows Explorer to open game directory folders.
--I was planning to use this for automatic 'debugging' and show users the folder contents inside of them (in case if something goes wrong by user's end or not) and/or at user's request).
I can achieve this with a game converted to exe, but not from building with IDE, due to the path alias.

I posted on this thread looking for a solution for the path alias and resolved this issue, thanks to everyone posted here.

However, GMS2 is now giving me the long path issue despite Win10 supporting long paths.
Now I do not know if GMS2 supports long path with some tinkering if used inside Win10 environment or GMS2 doesn't support long pathing at this time.

I have been googling about this and can't seem to find a direct source stating if GMS2 supports it or not.

I do hope this clarifies your confusions and I was not aware that it was uncommon for people needing access to files mid-build.
Thanks for letting me know about this @kburkhart84
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
Wait...so the "users" you are referring to are compiling games? You are making something like code or an extension for GMS2 instead of a game?
 
Wait...so the "users" you are referring to are compiling games? You are making something like code or an extension for GMS2 instead of a game?
No, I'm planning to make a game, with sub folders that contain game assets that are generated by me (and some generated by users/players).
I was thinking to give users/players in-game options to open these folders w/ windows explorer.
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
OK, so if a game is the final thing, you really shouldn't have any issues just using the working_directory then. If you use that in the IDE, it works the exact same way as it does in a build. I'm not sure why you need access to the files that are in-progress builds at all. Any files like what you describe should be put in the working_directory, in some subfolder of it as it makes sense. The build folders are completely separate from that. And that build folder won't exist anyway for the players of your game since they aren't compiling the game at all.
 
OK, so if a game is the final thing, you really shouldn't have any issues just using the working_directory then. If you use that in the IDE, it works the exact same way as it does in a build. I'm not sure why you need access to the files that are in-progress builds at all. Any files like what you describe should be put in the working_directory, in some subfolder of it as it makes sense. The build folders are completely separate from that. And that build folder won't exist anyway for the players of your game since they aren't compiling the game at all.


Thanks for letting me know about this., I appreciate it and I do appreciate you being patient despite the different perspectives that we have.


Unfortunately I did have a bit more issues with working_directory recently. In a nutshell, I can't seem to write into working directory from building from IDE, but I can copy files in and out of working directory through GML, like this user:



This thread is from 2019. I thought this was fixed since then?
EDIT: Didn't see the next page. I don't know why I didn't at the time. Turns out that it's intended for not to be purely sandboxed...

Anyways, I believe the reason why I needed access to files from in-progress builds is that I come from a background of needing to know of where all the project files are and keeping them into one place, (i.e. in one folder with multiple subfolders) both when developing and testing as user. The fact that GMS2 creates xyz directories instead of just keeping everything into one folder (i.e. how GMK 8 builds) when building from IDE makes me a bit worried and to keep everything to one folder. I understand the reasoning for this xyz (based on other threads that I've been reading), but if I have the option to keep everything together and not separated during build (as long as it'll work the same way when built into .an exe), then I'll take it that option.


In other news, I have some strange news for you.
I've sent in a request to YYG support asking if GMS2 officially supports long path if tweaked and resides in enviroment that supports it (Win10), since I can't seem to find any online documentation about this.
Since I haven't done much with the previous project, I've started a new project and just shorten the paths, which GMS2 doesn't throw me long path errors. This works for the timebeing, but I'm waiting to hear
back from about this.
I double checked with the file path lengths from the previous project and they individually added up to less than 260 chars, so I don't know what was going on there. So I've given up since I'd rather focus more on the project for the time being.

Thanks for your support. I appreciate it, @kburkhart84 !



Since you're more familiar with GMS2, I have some questions for you if you don't mind.

In GMK8, I was originally planning to create two seperate projects inside the same folder.
The intention of this for this is because I was following how CoD World at War was built. (See image below)

EDITED_5_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.png

Cod WaW has two seperate .exes, 1 for multiplayer and 1 for singleplayer.
I plan to have 1 project dedicated with all assets intended for offline use and the other for online such as like this:
-Folder for Online Stuffs
-Folder for Offline Stuffs
-Online.exe
-Offline.exe

I then realized that GMS2 creates folders and puts in working assets inside of them. If I were to do this, I would probably have folder/file conflict(s)?


What do you think of this?

EDIT: Added corrections
 
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kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
Unfortunately I did have a bit more issues with working_directory recently. In a nutshell, I can't seem to write into working directory from building from IDE, but I can copy files in and out of working directory through GML, like this user:
Both of these are the program directory, not the working directory. Those are two different things. Even if you disable the sandbox, the program directory is off limits in GMS2. You would have to find an extension to modify the files there. That said, any files that need to be modified, changed, added, etc... can all simply use the working directory. There isn't any reason for you to need to go into the program directory that I know of. And furthermore, the working directory will be the same place, whether you are in the IDE built testing mode or in the project as already compiled into an .exe. I'm guessing you are trying to do things the old way where you could access the program directory, but that is no longer the case and it is better off that way.

The fact that GMS2 creates xyz directories instead of just keeping everything into one folder (i.e. how GMK 8 builds) when building from IDE makes me a bit worried and to keep everything to one folder. I understand the reasoning for this xyz (based on other threads that I've been reading), but if I have the option to keep everything together and not separated during build (as long as it'll work the same way when built into .an exe), then I'll take it that option.
For what purpose? The project files ARE all together in the project folder. All these other files you are worried about accessing aren't actually part of the project at all. They are temporary files created for the build process and only serve that purpose. They won't be around once you compile a game for the player anyway.

What do you think of this?
Yup, you won't be able to easily put two projects in the same folder. I wouldn't be surprised if the developers of that game you show also had two separate projects. If I personally needed multiple projects to be part of the main project(like multiple executables), I would make two separate projects as is needed there to get two executables, and then in final form on the player's machine just have them as two separate executables in two separate folders. You can customize installers to handle that kind of thing easily enough. That said, if the two projects are using any of the same code or data, you could possibly keep them as the same project and just set up project configurations to change macros, which would then control which version of the project actually runs. You could then build one version, grab it, and then build the other. You still need separate directories for it though as the data.win files are what really determines what the game is, while the executable is generally the same for everybody's projects. I haven't messed with the YYC versions of builds yet so they may compile differently.

Since you seem to be concerned with online/offline stuff, you should probably look at how other games in GMS2 handle it. I don't think they mess with having two separate executables at all. I'm thinking more likely it is all in a single executable and you simply have different code paths depending on what the player does, if they open up the online menus or the single-player ones once they open the game. I think most games do it this way instead of having separate executables, even ones not made in GMS2.
 
Both of these are the program directory, not the working directory. Those are two different things. Even if you disable the sandbox, the program directory is off limits in GMS2. You would have to find an extension to modify the files there. That said, any files that need to be modified, changed, added, etc... can all simply use the working directory. There isn't any reason for you to need to go into the program directory that I know of. And furthermore, the working directory will be the same place, whether you are in the IDE built testing mode or in the project as already compiled into an .exe. I'm guessing you are trying to do things the old way where you could access the program directory, but that is no longer the case and it is better off that way.

For what purpose? The project files ARE all together in the project folder. All these other files you are worried about accessing aren't actually part of the project at all. They are temporary files created for the build process and only serve that purpose. They won't be around once you compile a game for the player anyway.
Woops! I may have gotten the working_directory and program directory mixed up with one another. Sorry about that!
Another good explanation as to why I wanted to have direct assess with program directory & working directory and have them all together instead of having GMS2 separate files when building is because I guess it messes with the mentality of program flow. Everything stays in one place and nothing goes in/out unless I choose to, as shown below.

6_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.PNG

EDITED_7_to_request_assistance_from_yy_forums.PNG

I guess a lot has changed since GMK8 but I'll keep trying with GMS2.
Anyways, I feel like I'm going a bit in circles here, so I'd ask that we can put this behind us please and focus other matters.

Yup, you won't be able to easily put two projects in the same folder. I wouldn't be surprised if the developers of that game you show also had two separate projects. If I personally needed multiple projects to be part of the main project(like multiple executables), I would make two separate projects as is needed there to get two executables, and then in final form on the player's machine just have them as two separate executables in two separate folders. You can customize installers to handle that kind of thing easily enough. That said, if the two projects are using any of the same code or data, you could possibly keep them as the same project and just set up project configurations to change macros, which would then control which version of the project actually runs. You could then build one version, grab it, and then build the other. You still need separate directories for it though as the data.win files are what really determines what the game is, while the executable is generally the same for everybody's projects. I haven't messed with the YYC versions of builds yet so they may compile differently.

Since you seem to be concerned with online/offline stuff, you should probably look at how other games in GMS2 handle it. I don't think they mess with having two separate executables at all. I'm thinking more likely it is all in a single executable and you simply have different code paths depending on what the player does, if they open up the online menus or the single-player ones once they open the game. I think most games do it this way instead of having separate executables, even ones not made in GMS2.
Thanks for letting me know about this. I appreciate you helping me out here.
I'm aware of the differences of games out there using 1 exe instead of 2 but I'll be giving some looks around here to see what's up.
Thanks again, @kburkhart84!

I'll post here when I hear back from support about my long path question.
 
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