In need of an expert - The big backup question

[hielkeskyrim]

So, I feel like I've finally done it!

 

What I've done:

 

A couple of weeks effort resulted in:

- 1440p @ 60fps without lag or CTDs
- 296 mods, 213 plugins
- SKSE64
- SSE Engine Fixes
All working fine :smile:

 

 

My plugin list:

 

# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.
Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
HearthFires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
BSAssets.esm
BSHeartland.esm
RSkyrimChildren.esm
BS_DLC_patch.esp
Cutting Room Floor.esp
SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
SkyUI_SE.esp
FNIS.esp
Immersive Sounds - Compendium.esp
Vivid WeathersSE.esp
EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
Summermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim.esp
ELFX - Exteriors.esp
DeadlySpellImpacts.esp
DustEffectsSSE.esp
Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
Volkihar Knight.esp
ArcherCuirassUltimate.esp
Wandererarmor.esp
Ark_Battlemage.esp
Better Shrouded Armour - SSE.esp
Simple AUA.esp
iNeed.esp
iNeed - Extended.esp
CollegeOfWinterholdImmersive.esp
Verdant - A Skyrim Grass Plugin SSE Version.esp
MajesticMountains.esp
JKs Skyrim.esp
3DNPC.esp
InnCredible.esp
Prometheus_No_snow_Under_the_roof.esp
Book Covers Skyrim.esp
SoundsofSkyrimComplete.esp
Blues Skyrim.esp
JKs Skyrim_Dawn of Skyrim_Patch.esp
Obsidian Mountain Fogs.esp
JKs_Skyrim_No_Lights_Patch.esp
SimplyBiggerTreesSE.esp
EconomyOverhaulandSpeechcraftImprovements.esp
Eli_Breezehome.esp
DiverseDragonsCollectionSE.esp
VioLens SE.esp
NoBSAIProjectileDodge.esp
Dual Wield Parrying_SKSE.esp
TKDodge.esp
FNISSexyMove.esp
fastermining3-3.esp
Better Dynamic Snow.esp
CWIELnFXSEPatch.esp
ELFX - NoBreezehome.esp
OpulentThievesGuild.esp
Man Those Borders!.esp
Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim.esp
SkyrimIsWindy.esp
HarvestOverhaul_Redone.esp
HOR_OrdinatorPatch.esp
DCR_KingCrusaderMegaPack_SSE.esp
SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esp
Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
Point The Way.esp
Immersive Weapons.esp
Laundry.esp
Lore Weapon Expansion.esp
EconomyOverhaulandDawnofSkyrimPatch.esp
JKs Skyrim_No Snow Under the Roof_Patch.esp
Skyrim Better Roads and Bridges - All In One - Merged.esp
Cloaks.esp
fallentreebridgesSSE.esp
EmbersHD.esp
Hunterborn.esp
Immersive Patrols II.esp
Eli_Halla.esp
Eli_Routa.esp
Ars Metallica.esp
HarvestOverhaul_Redone_Creatures.esp
Dr_Bandolier.esp
ABT SE - Recover Ammo.esp
Realistic-Voice.esp
dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Realistic.esp
SimplyKnock.esp
Hunterborn - iNeed Patch.esp
Hunterborn - Soups and Stews.esp
PC Head Tracking - MCM.esp
PC Head Tracking - Patch.esp
Footprints.esp
AcquisitiveSoulGemMultithreaded.esp
Chesko_WearableLantern.esp
Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp
DivinePunishmentForArrowsToTheKnee.esp
Lore Weapon Expansion - Daedric Crescent.esp
Lore Weapon Expansion - Goldbrand.esp
Lore Weapon Expansion - Relics of the Crusader.esp
Unique Uniques.esp
Andromeda - Unique Standing Stones of Skyrim.esp
SkyHUD.esp
AHZmoreHUD.esp
ShowRaceMenuAlternative.esp
1nivWICCloaks.esp
Sleeved Guards.esp
Men of Winter.esp
The Ordinary Women.esp
Bijin Wives.esp
Bijin NPCs.esp
Bijin Warmaidens.esp
Bijin_AIO 2018.esp
CC'sEnhancedOreVeinsSSE-HearthfirePatch.esp
RUSTIC SOULGEMS - Sorted.esp
GQJ_DG_vampireamuletfix.esp
SparklesSE.esp
Volkihar Knight - Light Armor Option.esp
Animal Tweaks.esp
Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim.esp
dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp
Mortal Enemies.esp
InnCredible_3DNPC_Patch.esp
aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp
SkyrimIsWindy-SimplyBiggerTreesSE-Patch.esp
SkyrimIsWindy-HarvestOverhaul-Patch.esp
dD-Larger Splatter Size.esp
Lethal Traps.esp
Realistic Melee Range.esp
dD-No Spinning Death Animation Merged.esp
SoS_VividWeathers_Patch.esp
ISC Enhanced Blood Patch.esp
ABT SE - Faster Arrows Improved.esp
ABT SE - Faster Bolts Improved.esp
ABT SE - Loot Ammo.esp
TorchArrow.esp
Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp
ABT SE - Merchants Arrows.esp
ABT SE - Progressive Damage.esp
ABT SE - Renamed Bolts.esp
iNeed Bruma Water Patch.esp
Spells Emit Light - Dim.esp
Eli_Ruska.esp
notice board.esp
No Snow Under The Roof - CRF Patch.esp
HoldBorderBanners.esp
CollegeStudents.esp
Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim.esp
FireBurns.esp
Apocalypse - Ordinator Compatibility Patch.esp
icepenguinworldmapclassic.esp
CL BladeofSacrifice.esp
CL Nettlebane.esp
Cloaks - USSEP Patch.esp
RSChildren Patch - BS Bruma.esp
Brows.esp
Beards.esp
HallgarthAdditionalHair.esp
RSChildren.esp
Improved Eyes Skyrim - Vamp.esp
Improved Eyes Skyrim.esp
Sleeved Imperials.esp
WetandCold.esp
DragonRemains_SSE.esp
CRF - ShieldSpellFXS Restore.esp
No Edge Glow - Magic and Transformations.esp
Shout.esp
Cinematic Dragon Soul Absorbtion.esp
Ordinator - Beyond Skyrim Bruma Patch.esp
betterwards.esp
Backshields.esp
Iron_Dragon.esp
VisualAnimatedEnchants.esp
Animal Tweaks - SkyTEST Patch.esp
ProperBeastSizes.esp
Mortal Enemies Patch - Realistic Animals Predators.esp
Imperious - Races of Skyrim.esp
MLU.esp
MLU - Summermyst.esp
MLU - Immersive Armors.esp
imp_helm_legend.esp
MLU - Immersive Weapons.esp
MLU - Ars Metallica Patch.esp
MLU - Improved Closefaced Helmets.esp
MLU - Lore Weapon Expansion.esp
MLU - Unique Uniques Patch.esp
EconomyOverhaulandMorrowLootUltimatepatch.esp
EconomyOverhaulandOrdinatorPatch.esp
Men of Winter - MLU Patch Ulfric.esp
Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
Bruma - Alternate Start.esp
PCE - Live Another Life Patch.esp
Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul.esp
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul.esp
ELFXEnhancer.esp
Palaces Castles Enhanced.esp
PCE - ELFX PATCH.esp
SoS_ELFX+Enhancer_Patch.esp
EEKs Whiterun Interiors.esp
CFTO.esp
EEKs Whiterun Int - ICAIO patch v1.3.esp
PCE - Immersive Citizens AI Overhaul Patch.esp
Realistic AI Detection 2 SE Lite.esp
CFTO-JK-Patch.esp
Immersive Citizens - ELFXEnhancer patch.esp
PCE - 3DNPC Patch.esp
PCE - ELFXEnhancer Patch.esp
PCE - USSEP Patch.esp
PCE - RDO Patch.esp
EEKs Whiterun Int - Alternative Start patch v1.3.esp
RealisticWaterTwo.esp
JKs Skyrim_RWT_Patch.esp
RealisticWaterTwo+-+Verdant+Patch.esp
RWT Lod Fix.esp
Bashed Patch, 0.esp

 

 

The only thing left for me to do is find out how DynDoLOD works and get it to work with my mods (quite a lot of them) and I feel like I want to back up everything I have before installing DynDoLod. Not just because of that mod, I feel like it is time for a back up anyway.

 

I am using Mod Organizer 2. What is the best way to back up everything? I mean literally everything. I want to be able to stuff a backup onto an external HHD, forget about it for years and then when I find it collecting dust under my bed or something, I want to plug it in, move the game over to an SSD and have it working. Is something like this at all possible or is there a lot of work required?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated :smile:

[mtreis86]

My backup method is likely overkill but would satisfy your 'this will be recoverable in many years' criteria.

 

I create a multi-file 7z without much compression then run them through multipar (or another parity tool). Parity will let me later recover from bitrot assuming the drive doesn't fail. Back before torrent was used commonly, usenet was full of parity files to allow impartial downloads and uploads to be recoverable. Link to the multipar beta here https://www.livebusinesschat.com/smf/index.php?topic=6323.0

 

I open 7-zip file manager, locate my mod organizer folder, then click on add. Then in the 'Add to archive' window - I choose my backups folder, set 'compression' to fast (I get around 50% with this setting and it takes an hour to backup onto a platter drive), set 'archive type' to lzma2 (allows the cpu to use all cores while compressing), and set 'split to volumes' to DVD (optional but in the earlier version of parity the par file was always the same size as the largest of the input files so I am used to using split). Then hit OK.

 

When that is finished I go into multipar, and set 'use gpu acceleration' on in options if not yet set but I don't think this works with my GPU anyways. Then in the main window - set my backups directory to the one used in 7z, set 'Media Size' to DVD, and 'sizing scheme' to variable size. Then drag the redundancy slider up until the number of files that can be reconstructed reads 2-2. This means if you lost two of the 7z files they can be fully reconstructed. Then hit create.

 

At the end of this process I have compressed a 90 gig folder down to 50 and added back in 10 gigs of redundancy.

 

If I really want this to be recoverable I would burn the various files to M-Disk DVDs at the end so I wouldn't be relying on a magnetic platter.

Edited June 9, 2018 by mtreis86

[tomomi1922]

I think Mod Manager 2 is the solution to all your concerns. Skyrim is not the kind of game we play for 2 months and quit. So eventually we have new computers and there is no way to move the mod installation to new computers. All you can do is to move the Data folder which only carries the mods, not the installation. This is why I quit Skyrim and FO4 before: unwilling to go through the whole lengthy and painful mod installation again. But MO2 changed everything. Long story short, this is what I do with MO2: Download in portable version and run it in portable mode.

- Set all paths to be in that one Mod Organizer folder. Download, Mod, Save, etc...

 

- Download all utilities (like SSEEdit, Bodyslide, Nifskope, Wrye Bash, etc...) in a subfolder of this folder.

- Create a subfolder to save your enbseries.ini and skyrim.ini and skyrimpref.ini (have to do this manually).

This ONE folder is all you ever need. House on fire? Abandoning an old computer? Bring your game on the road with your laptop (or company laptop)? Bring this entire folder with your portable HDD. Install Skyrim SE on new computer, SKSE64, ENB, copy the saved .ini out, confirm file paths in MO2... and you are ready to play. Your saves don't even know you are playing on a brand new computer.

I create a completely different portable MO2 folder for FO4. This way, they do not tangle with each other. MO2 is amazing like this. Although you may have to deal with setting default program for which program will react to Nexus download. Need to do it once each time you switch game. Minor annoyance, unless you switch between SSE and FO4 10 times a day.

Edited June 10, 2018 by tomomi1922