diff --git a/interface/external/oculus/readme.txt b/interface/external/oculus/readme.txt
index 9b3b614631..c914f8faef 100644
--- a/interface/external/oculus/readme.txt
+++ b/interface/external/oculus/readme.txt
@@ -6,5 +6,8 @@ You can download the Oculus SDK from https://developer.oculusvr.com/ (account cr
 
 1. Copy the Oculus SDK folders from the LibOVR directory (Lib, Include, Src) into the interface/externals/oculus folder.
    This readme.txt should be there as well.
+   
+   You may optionally choose to copy the SDK folders to a location outside the repository (so you can re-use with different checkouts and different projects). 
+   If so our CMake find module expects you to set and ENV variable HIFI_LIB_DIR to a directory containing a subfolder 'oculus' that contains the three folders mentioned above.
 
 2. Clear your build directory, run cmake and build, and you should be all set.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/interface/external/sixense/readme.txt b/interface/external/sixense/readme.txt
index dd6cbdd96c..414ea22cb0 100644
--- a/interface/external/sixense/readme.txt
+++ b/interface/external/sixense/readme.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ Andrzej Kapolka, November 18, 2013
 NOTE: Without doing step 2, you will crash at program start time.
 
 1. Copy the Sixense sdk folders (lib, include) into the interface/external/Sixense folder. This readme.txt should be there as well.
+    
+   You may optionally choose to copy the SDK folders to a location outside the repository (so you can re-use with different checkouts and different projects).
+   If so our CMake find module expects you to set and ENV variable HIFI_LIB_DIR to a directory containing a subfolder 'sixense' that contains the folders mentioned above.
 
 2. IMPORTANT: Copy the file interface/external/Sixense/lib/osx_x64/release_dll/libsixense_x64.dylib to /usr/lib