Installing Skyrim to SSD trouble

[Layia28]

Hi there. I'm not entirely sure this is the correct category to post this question in (I hope it is), but if it isn't if someone could kindly direct me to the correct place to post this question, I would really appreciate it. This is going to be an extremely detailed problem, but I figured giving as much detail as I can is the only way I'm going to get a solution.

 

Here is my seemingly complex problem. Recently, I bought a 128gb SSD card with the intentions of installing all my steam games on it, but especially Skyrim. I'm aware that doing so doesn't improve FPS or performance. It does, however, reduce screen loading times and I've heard a large number of people say that it drastically reduced the random crashes they'd been experiencing which is what I hope it will do for me as well.

 

I successfully installed the SSD and then looked for instructions on installing Skyrim and Steam to it. I followed the instructions to a T, loaded up an old save, noticed a huge difference in load times. I played for awhile to make sure everything was running smoothly and didn't experience any crashes. Then, I exited the game, launched Nexus, installed three new mods (I'm still in the process of installing mods 1 or a couple at a time until I find a collection that runs smoothly and doesn't cause crashes). Anyway, I launched Skyrim, and it crashed before I even got to the Continue/New/Load screen. I uninstalled the mods one by one and it kept crashing. For the life of me I could not figure out what was causing the crash. I hadn't changed a single thing except installing those three mods which I promptly uninstalled. Fed up, I reinstalled Skyrim and it finally let me load, but it crashed after only a couple minutes. It may be important to note that when I checked the papyrus log after it was unusually extensive considering I'd only played for a couple minutes.

 

Now, I didn't have these problems with crashes until I installed Skyrim and Steam to the SSD and I think that might have something to do with it. I'm aware that most crashes are caused by mod incompatibilities or mod issues, but after I completely uninstalled and reinstalled Skyrim to the SSD I only installed a handful of mods that I know to be stable and not cause crashes, but it continued crashes.

 

Here are a couple more important factors. Despite Skyrim being installed and launching from the SSD it still used the Skyrim.ini and Skyrimpref.ini that was located in my documents in my C drive and not the ini files that I have place onto my SSD card. I also installed Skyrim Performance Moniter on my SSD and set it to launch the game from SKSE, but it kept launching it from Steam instead - even if I launch directly from skse_loader.exe. This is another big problem for me as I have been launching Skyrim from SKSE for over a year and want to continue doing so.

 

The bottom line is that even though I installed Steam and Skyrim to the SSD along with the ini files and the performance monitor Skyrim is still pulling quite a lot from the old files on my C drive and it won't launch from SKSE even though it set up to do so and SKSE is properly installed.

 

I could be wrong, but I have this nagging feeling that Skyrim still pulling information from the C drive has something to do with my recent problem with random crashes (In the entire time I've owned Skyrim I'ver never had it crash this often and this consistently. Usually I can play anywhere from 45 min at minimum to a couple of hours before it crashes)

 

While I was googling and trying to find a solution last night I found out that often when Skyrim and Steam are moved to the SSD drive there are registry files that are left behind in the C drive that can cause problems and that the only way to fix it is to thoroughly uninstall Steam with uninstall software like Max Uninstaller, but I don't want to cause any damage or a whole new slew of problems which is why I'm posting on here in the hopes that someone can tell me what the right course of action is.

 

Thank to you anyone who responds ahead of time.

[rhowington]

Actually, your problem stems from not having your OS on the SSD with Skyrim. You are right about a lot of things. Skyrim when launched is looking for your Skyrim.ini and Skyrimprefs.ini in your Documents\Games folder on your c drive. To use the SSD effectively you need to transfer your OS to the SSD. I am not talking about a complete new install, there is software that will do it for you. Other than that, I don't know of a way to trick it so it will operate the way you want.

 

Let me say though, there may be others on Nexus that have figured out how to make it work, so don't take my reply as a definitive answer. Wait and see if others have better advise.

 

Good luck.

[Layia28]

Thanks for the response. I've heard that the SSD needs the OS installed, but I hesitated because - this might sound like a totally stupid noob thing to say -, but I wasn't sure if I could transfer or install the OS to the SSD without removing the OS from my hard drive, the C drive, because I'm going to use the C drive for everything except my games so I need it installed on the hard drive as well. And I certainly didn't want to have to buy windows 7 after I just shelled out money to buy the SSD.

 

Do you know if its possible to transfer the OS to the SSD and still have the OS on the hard drive? Also, you mentioned a software that will do the transfer for you. Do you have the names of any of those or a link to them?

 

Thank you again.

[rhowington]

No the OS will either be on your hard drive or SSD not both. Only one OS operates at a time unless you dual boot. But to do that you would have to buy a new copy of Win7.

[PunisherX100]

Rhowington is right. You cannot have two drives with the same copy of the OS on them. I just built a new rig and am in the provess of moving Skyrim over to it, so I am doing similar research. Still not sure how to do it just yet.

 

Norton Utilities and CC Cleaner have registry fixers. I like Norton.

 

You can move your OS, but it is definitly NOT worth it. You would have to uninstall it from the one drive (which will kill that drive so do not do it unless you get everything you need off of it because you will have zero access to it if you remove the OS. You would also have to reformat the SSD because the OS has to go on first. There is no reason for all this work since all you will save is some time loading the OS on boot because SSDs are faster. I installed a new OS (Win 8 with Retro UI to kill Metro which I despise) on my new SSD to avert the problem.

 

I think you have three problems.

First take out things that complicate the issue, like your performance monitor.

 

Secondly, Those two . ini files are in two locations, not just the one rhowington menitoned above. I forget where the other one is right now and I don't have Skyrim on this system yet to look for it, but you can easily find out by searching the wiki for the game. They have to match.

 

A third problem is probbly with SKSE. Many people have had a similar problem, including myself, and it had nothing to do with SSD s or the OS. SKSE is a common denominator since you probably have it installed regardless of readdressing the mods individually. Take it out and all mods, clean your registry with a utility program, and see what happens. You said it worked once. What were those conditions? If the game is still screwed it is the OS issue. If not:

You must install SKSE EXACTLY according to the directions. Silverlock lists them as do some of the bigger mods that require it. You can't just run it as an administrator, you have to go through all the steps. Check the directions for the SkyUI mod, they are good and too long to post here.

Edited June 5, 2013 by PunisherX100

[dave1029]

Oddly enough I just talked to a guy who is installing a SSD on my computer. Here's some interesting info, the OS can be moved to the SSD without problems so don't worry about that. Also you want all of your games, the files the games use, and the OS on the SSD for it to work properly. Hope that little bit of info helps.

 

@punisher- That's not entirely true. Your old hardrive becomes a large internal flashdrive basically. Great Storage for Music for example. It just can't be accessed as easily as before. Treat it like a flashdrive and you're good to go.

[Layia28]

First, I want to apologize to everyone who took the time to offer their advice for not responding and saying thank you sooner, but I haven't been able to be online much lately. With that said,

 

@Rhowington: Thank you for clearing that up for me. I couldn't seem to find a 100% straight answer via google searches. It seems I have a decision to make then.

 

@PunisherX100: I really must thank you for giving such a detailed response. It's been a huge help to me. I'm honestly not sure I would have been able to fix the problem without your advice. And, after spending several hours following all of your advice, I seem to have fixed the problem. Skyrim will still freeze or lag occasionally, but it hasn't crashed since. The first thing I did was take out the performance monitor. Then, I uninstalled SKSE, read the directions and did a fresh install of it. Finally, I clean my registry and, while the removing the performance monitor and reinstalling SKSE seemed to help, what really fixed it and made the biggest difference was cleaning out the registry. I had more registry errors than I ever expected to have and once I cleaned the ones that were safe to clean, no more crashes.

 

I'm also glad you told me that moving the OS isn't worth it and, essentially kills the hard drive or, at the very least, makes it harder to access. The only thing I've put on the SSD card are my games and while those are important, the truly important things such as projects and work related files are in my hard drive so moving the OS from it is not an option.

 

I do, however, have one question about what you did to avert the problem. Hopefully I don't sound like a total stupid noob asking this. You said you installed a new OS (Windows 8) onto the SSD. I currently have Windows 7 installed on my drive. So could I install a new OS of Windows 8 onto the SSD? I mean, would having Windows 7 on my hard drive and Windows 8 on my SSD work? Could they coexist like that? Would that be my best option? Also, I'm aware that the SSD works the best with an OS installed on it, but would not having an OS installed on the SSD cause Skyrim crashes?

 

@dave1029: Thank you for the extra info. I'd prefer to keep my hard drive functioning as a hard drive and not a flash drive. Especially since I got a relatively small memory SSD and it can't possibly hold everything I would need to move from the hard drive onto it. When you say I want all the files the games use does that also include software like NNM or just the Skyrim and Steam files?

 

Again, thank you everyone who contributed. I really appreciate it.