Permanently Extracting a VDF as a Scenario Folder

STK makes use of a file format called a Visual Data File (VDF). You might open a VDF if the scenario is write-protected. You can open a VDF and resave it as a VDF, but you can also extract or unpack its contents in the form of a scenario folder to move or reuse files contained within. In this respect, a VDF is much like a ZIP file. This will create a permanent scenario file complete with the children objects.

This procedure is written under the assumption that your VDF Base Directory and STK User folder are the same.

Follow these steps to extract the VDF data into a scenario folder:

1. In STK, select File > Save As....
2. Go to your STK User directory on the left.
3. Set the Save As dialog box to Details view to sort by date. You should see a new folder with the same name as the VDF. This is folder contains the temporarily unpacked VDF files.
4. Open the folder.
5. Change the Save As Type filter to be .sc.
6. Select the <your_scenario_name>.sc file and click Save.
7. When prompted, click Yes to overwrite. You now have a permanent copy of the scenario.

If you are not prompted to overwrite, it is possible that you selected a location that was not where the VDF was temporarily extracted. If so, this procedure did not capture the external files contained in the VDF.