After you have installed BFD we recommend installing your content onto an external SSD into a folder called "BFD Audio Data" in this article, we will go over how to do so.
For a video of this process please see: BFD | How to Install & Authorize a BFD Expansion
This article will cover installing BFD Audio Content and Expansions, not the BFD 3 software. If you are looking for help installing the BFD 3 software please see this guide: BFD | Installing BFD 3 Software
Contents:
- Setting a Default Download Location
- Creating a Master Audio Folder
- Downloading
- Installation
- Deleting The Installer
Internally, BFD is an incredibly complex program with many moving parts. During installation, we recommend installing the BFD 3 software to the default location dictated by the Install Wizard which will place the software on your local system drive (C:\ or Mac HD) and not within a partition.
The Audio Content is recommended to be installed to a folder called "BFD Audio Data" on the root or first level of an external SSD (a highspeed HDD will also suffice).
Setting a Default Download Location
When you press the Download button for a product, you are downloading the installer to the location predetermined by the Download Location, the Downloads tab will show the status of that download and when it is finished there will be a Play button to initiate that installer. We will cover all of this in greater detail in this article. This section will go over how to set that Download Location.
We will start by setting up the Default Download Location. This is found by pressing FIle>Options, or the Mac icon in the upper left corner>Preferences.
That will bring up a screen that looks like this:
I opted to leave the default download locations pointed towards my downloads folder because I have enough space on my internal drive, and I will just delete them after I am done. But you can instead make a folder on the external drive called "installers" and use the Browse button (outlined in red) to point the Default Download Location there.
(note: Once you have completed the Installation you may go back and delete the installer files.)
Creating a Master Audio Folder
The next step in preparing to install our BFD3 content is to make a Master Audio Content Folder. Due to the large size of the BFD Sample Content, we recommend this be on an external SSD. However, a highspeed HDD will suffice, and in the absence of those, we recommend creating a folder on your main system drive. The folder should be named BFD Audio Content or something to that effect.
In order to do this navigate to the location, you would like to create the folder and simply follow your Operating System's normal procedure for creating a new folder. At the end, mine looks like this (notice mine is simply titled "BFD") :
And everything is neatly installed into this folder looking as seen here:
Of course, Mac users' folders will look a little different.
Downloading
Now that we have the Download Location set we can start downloading our products. Whether it be the BFD3 Audio Content or an Expansion, once it is registered following the directions found in the BFD License Manager User Manual, the process is the same.
In this example, we will look at downloading the BFD JEX expansion.
First, highlight the product you would like to download (seen in red below), and choose Download in the bottom pane (seen in green below):
Next, let's click the Downloads tab to the right of the Licenses tab towards the top of the License Manager. You will then see your download progress as you see below. (Note: you can use the pause button to pause a download at any time, and the 'X' to cancel/ clear the download from the queue.)
Installation
Installation is a fairly straightforward process. In order to install your Core Audio Content/ Expansion Pack, you simply need to press the "Play" button (outlined in red above) to initiate the installation. No need to shut down BFD License Manager, though we do recommend keeping BFD closed so that the Content Locations Automatically find your new content on startup.
When you press the Play button you are presented with the Install Wizard as seen below:
Be sure to read along. Click next and agree to the terms and conditions, then highlight BFD3 Only in the BFD Family Platforms screen, and click next again.
The Next screen is the Data Location screen. This is where you choose where you want to install your Audio Content.
Click the Browse button (outlined in red below) and navigate to the BFD Audio Content folder we made at the beginning of this guide and click open.
Once you have pointed the installer at this folder please click install outlined in red below:
Once you have done this you will see the progress bar move forward until the installation is done, a green checkmark will indicate it is done, and you can click the done button.
Next, you can go back to the BFD License Manager and click the 'X' button next to the content you just installed in the downloads tab to clear it from your download queue. (seen outlined in red below)
Now you can open BFD 3 and you should be presented with this dialog:
When you click OK the content locations screen will show up and scan through your products, and another dialog box will pop up that says Your products have been scanned successfully.
If the content is not automatically found please open your set content locations screen by choosing that option from the tools drop-down:
Next, choose Search Folder... (outlined in red below)
Then Navigate to your "BFD Audio Content" folder and click Select Folder. Then your new content will be scanned in.
Deleting The Installer
Now that your content is installed, it is not necessary to keep the installer. In this section, we will go over how to delete it. note: some users may opt to simply leave the installer in the location they downloaded it to and that is fine too. Understand the installer does take up space, albeit a smaller amount than the installed content in most cases.
You will simply go to the location that we set as your Default Download Location in the beginning of this guide and find the newly installed content and simply delete it as seen below: