Running release and beta side by side

#Running release and beta side by side release and beta are config-compatible, no need to duplicate profiles, however it is strongly recommended to run Beta and Release separate from each other because a beta is a beta and bugs can and will happen. It will contain bugs, and depending on current source state it might take a week or two until a game-breaking bug is is fixed.

Preparations

Create a subdirectory somewhere where the beta-version will live (e.g. D:\SPAD-Beta)
Create a "bin" subdirectory (D:\SPAD-Beta\bin)
Create a "logs" subdirectory (D:\SPAD-Beta\logs)
Create a "conf" subdirectory (D:\SPAD-Beta\conf)
Optional: If you want seperate beta profiles:
- Create a "profiles" subdirectory (D:\SPAD-Beta\profiles)

Content copy

Copy all contents from %APPDATA%/SPAD.neXt/conf to D:\SPAD-Beta\conf
Copy the complete SPAD.neXt installation directory contents including subfolders (C:\Program Files\SPAD.neXt) to D:\SPAD-Beta\bin
copy "%APPDATA%/SPAD.neXt/SPAD.neXt.conf" to D:\SPAD-Beta
Optional: If you want seperate alpha profiles:
- Copy Documents/SPAD.neXt/profiles to D:\SPAD-Beta\profiles

Configuration Step 1

Open Windows File Explorer, navigate to "%LOCALAPPDATA%/SPAD.neXt"
Make a copy of the "RELEASE"-Folder and name it "BETA"
In BETA-Folder edit the file "directories.json" in you favorite text editor.
Change "Data" entry to D:/SPAD-Beta
Change "Logs" entry to D:/SPAD-Beta/logs
Change "Configuration" entry to D:/SPAD-Beta/conf
Optional: If you want separate beta profiles:
- Change "profiles" entry to D:/SPAD-Beta/profiles
Important: you must either escape "\" (backslash) by "\\" , or use "/" to separate path-fragments

Configuration Step 2

Edit "D:\SPAD-Beta\SPAD.neXt.conf" in your favorite text editor
Find the <Option Key="Application.UpdateChannel" Value="Release" /> line and change it to <Option Key="Application.UpdateChannel" Value="Beta" />

Profit

Start SPAD.next.exe from D:\SPAD-Beta\bin. It will automatically update
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