diff --git a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/control/minimal_demo_file.txt b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/control/minimal_demo_file.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8db2621539988442dd84f09006b47d9b6ed08690
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/control/minimal_demo_file.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+just one demo line
diff --git a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/A0001.pkl b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/A0001.pkl
deleted file mode 100755
index 2bec5738cd61979d1887c8e6a66f398c8f4f161e..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Binary files a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/A0001.pkl and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/remote.pkl b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/remote.pkl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..424870abe4d235d40b0bc86884127247ace71cde
Binary files /dev/null and b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/remote.pkl differ
diff --git a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/A0001_tags.txt b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/remote_tags.txt
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
similarity index 97%
rename from wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/A0001_tags.txt
rename to wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/remote_tags.txt
index 6de32e2baa7f2271d6649facb844f22a2d58f337..21c9f3dd8e9452763faab41e0e8920e87c22a63d
--- a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/A0001_tags.txt
+++ b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/ref/prepost/remote_tags.txt
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
                         [wdir] : 0                   
                     [windramp] : False               
                   [wsp factor] : 1.0                 
-              [zip_root_files] : ['pbs_in_file_cache.txt', 'A0001_ErrorLog.csv']
+              [zip_root_files] : []                  
 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  opt_tags set
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@
                         [wdir] : 0                   
                     [windramp] : False               
                   [wsp factor] : 0.888888888889      
-              [zip_root_files] : ['pbs_in_file_cache.txt', 'A0001_ErrorLog.csv']
+              [zip_root_files] : []                  
 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  opt_tags set
@@ -175,4 +175,4 @@
                         [wdir] : 0                   
                     [windramp] : False               
                   [wsp factor] : 0.8                 
-              [zip_root_files] : ['pbs_in_file_cache.txt', 'A0001_ErrorLog.csv']
+              [zip_root_files] : []                  
diff --git a/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/source/control/minimal_demo_file.txt b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/source/control/minimal_demo_file.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8db2621539988442dd84f09006b47d9b6ed08690
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wetb/prepost/tests/data/demo_dlc/source/control/minimal_demo_file.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+just one demo line
diff --git a/wetb/prepost/tests/test_Simulations.py b/wetb/prepost/tests/test_Simulations.py
index f4c9cfa48cc7320772a29a6926b2f80b6b3b84b5..9d6ba1d06e9e1632252d41fbc9d66b3b498c739a 100644
--- a/wetb/prepost/tests/test_Simulations.py
+++ b/wetb/prepost/tests/test_Simulations.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ standard_library.install_aliases()
 import unittest
 import os
 import filecmp
+import pickle
 
 from wetb.prepost import dlctemplate as tmpl
 
@@ -26,29 +27,39 @@ class TestGenerateInputs(unittest.TestCase):
         # manually configure paths, HAWC2 model root path is then constructed as
         # p_root_remote/PROJECT/sim_id, and p_root_local/PROJECT/sim_id
         # adopt accordingly when you have configured your directories differently
-        p_root_remote = os.path.join(self.basepath, 'data/')
-        p_root_local = os.path.join(self.basepath, 'data/')
+        p_root = os.path.join(self.basepath, 'data/')
         # project name, sim_id, master file name
         tmpl.PROJECT = 'demo_dlc'
         tmpl.MASTERFILE = 'demo_dlc_master_A0001.htc'
         # MODEL SOURCES, exchanche file sources
-        tmpl.P_RUN = os.path.join(p_root_remote, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote/')
-        tmpl.P_SOURCE = os.path.join(p_root_local, tmpl.PROJECT, 'source/')
+        tmpl.P_RUN = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote/')
+        tmpl.P_SOURCE = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'source/')
         # location of the master file
-        tmpl.P_MASTERFILE = os.path.join(p_root_local, tmpl.PROJECT,
+        tmpl.P_MASTERFILE = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT,
                                          'source', 'htc', '_master/')
         # location of the pre and post processing data
-        tmpl.POST_DIR = os.path.join(p_root_remote, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote',
+        tmpl.POST_DIR = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote',
                                      'prepost/')
         tmpl.force_dir = tmpl.P_RUN
         tmpl.launch_dlcs_excel('remote', silent=True)
 
-        remote = os.path.join(p_root_remote, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote')
-        ref = os.path.join(p_root_remote, tmpl.PROJECT, 'ref')
-        cmp = filecmp.dircmp(remote, ref)
-        self.assertTrue(len(cmp.diff_files)==0)
-        self.assertTrue(len(cmp.right_only)==0)
-        self.assertTrue(len(cmp.left_only)==0)
+        # we can not check-in empty dirs in git
+        for subdir in ['control', 'data', 'htc', 'pbs_in']:
+            remote = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote', subdir)
+            ref = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'ref', subdir)
+            cmp = filecmp.dircmp(remote, ref)
+            self.assertTrue(len(cmp.diff_files)==0)
+            self.assertTrue(len(cmp.right_only)==0)
+            self.assertTrue(len(cmp.left_only)==0)
+
+        # for the pickled file we can just read it
+        remote = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'remote', 'prepost')
+        ref = os.path.join(p_root, tmpl.PROJECT, 'ref', 'prepost')
+        with open(os.path.join(remote, 'remote.pkl'), 'rb') as FILE:
+            pkl_remote = pickle.load(FILE)
+        with open(os.path.join(ref, 'remote.pkl'), 'rb') as FILE:
+            pkl_ref = pickle.load(FILE)
+        self.assertEqual(pkl_remote, pkl_ref)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":