PSA: How to use ComfyUI's extra_model_paths.yaml

[roget]

If you're like me and have downloaded a ton of models and use several UIs, then this may interest you.

ComfyUI supports models in alternate locations, but the docs suck and the example file is worthless.

This is what you need to know if you'd like to put your models (checkpoints, lora, etc.) on different drives


Using extra_model_paths.yaml

1. The scanner does not recognize files or sub-directories in root directories. If you've placed a LORAS directory on the root of a nice fat drive, you're fucked. ComfyUI won't scan its files or sub-directories. To make this work, you need a root directory with one sub-directory, then you must place all your lora files and any additional sub-directories in that sub-directory. Comfy can scan x:/dummy/lora/<all this shit>, but can't scan x:/lora/<any of this shit>.
2. Windows users should use forward slashes. You don't need to double them for the drive letter.
3. If you have stuff on multiple drives, make an additional custom_ui entry for each drive letter.

This ComfyUI's extra_model_paths.yaml works:​

#config for comfyui
#your base path should be either an existing comfy install or a central folder where you store all of your models, loras, etc.

comfyui:
     base_path: F:/ComfyUI_windows_portable_nvidia/ComfyUI_windows_portable/ComfyUI
     checkpoints: models/checkpoints/
     clip: models/clip/
     clip_vision: models/clip_vision/
     configs: models/configs/
     controlnet: models/controlnet/
     embeddings: models/embeddings/
     #loras: models/loras/
     upscale_models: models/upscale_models/
     vae: models/vae/

other_ui:
    base_path: E:/
    #checkpoints: models/checkpoints
## STUPID code so bad it can't scan a top-level directory. You guys ought to be soooo fucking embarassed. 
    loras: stupid/lora    # I have bare files and dozens of sub-directories here and they're all scanned

other_ui2: # Note the addition of a new custom_ui entry. Repeat each time you use a new drive
    base_path: G:/
    checkpoints: models/checkpoints