xLights just uses whatever files exist in the directory you switch to. If they don't exist it assumes you want to start in a new blank directory so you get a blank set of files created.
Thanks (Gil and Jon) - when I was testing this out for the manual a few weeks ago , it kept crashing with an unable to update rgbeffects as soon as I changed the directory , so I was not sure what it actually did and accordingly skimmed over that bit in the manual.
I do believe that the rgbeffects that was already there (in the second directory) was quite a bit older , so maybe that was the problem.
Will update the manual.
When you start xLights , where does it get the current show directory from ? (Windows)
I uninstalled xLights (and am pretty sure that the directory in C:\Programs\... was removed), renamed the show directory and yet when I installed a new version , it looked for the previous show directory.
(was testing out my initial setup instructions in the manual prior to publication)