Is there a way to move my modded SkyrimSE to a new drive without upgrading to AE?

[leithmc]

I just installed a second M2 drive on my box because the one with my OS and games was running out of space. I found this old guide on how to move your Vortex/Skyrim (Move Vortex mod folder to another drive - Page 3 - Vortex Support - The Nexus Forums (nexusmods.com)) but it requires either moving your Steam installation *and then starting Skyrim from the Steam client*, which will of course upgrade to AE, or else moving the game folder from within Steam, which Steam refuses to do without upgrading Skyrim. So it's a Catch 22.

 

Is there a work around?

The only one I can think of is to go ahead and upgrade to AE and then go through the pain of downgrading again, which I'd really rather avoid...

Or should I just finish my current playthrough and upgrade (and rebuild my mod list) before starting the next one?

 

Thanks

[Algabar]

You can try to set steam to offline mode. Not sure though, if you can move installed games offline.

 

On the other hand, the downgrade patcher still works. It's not soo much of a hassle to downgrade to SE, if you really want that.

 

Regarding upgrading to AE: I did it and I don't regret it. Performance is slightly better, also I get the benefit of not having to panic when I accidentally start the game trough Steam.

 

Whether AE is an option for you or not, depends largely on your mod setup: Which mods are "essential" for you? And do they work in AE?

 

For me, the answer to the last question was "yes" for almost all mods I'd like to use (and I found workarounds/alternatives for those, which don't work in AE), so that was an easy decision. Maybe looking at this list may help you decide what to do:

https://modding.wiki/en/skyrim/users/skse-plugins

[wfandrews]

The way I handle logging onto Steam without my SSE upgrading is to make steam>steamapps>appmanifest_489830.afc read only.. This is a tip I got from a post on this forum and I wish I could remember who it was from so I could give them a kudo, something I forgot to do at the time.

 

This will prevent SSE upgrading when you log onto Steam but if you want to launch SSE from Steam you will have to remove the read only. I just launch from SkyrimSE.exe if I want to make new ini files.

 

Whether this will work for what you want to do I do not know, might be worth a shot though.

[MarvMartian]

Steam>Library-right click game. Choose properties>Updates. Set to only update when game is launched.

 

I'm gonna assume you're using skse, so then that makes steam just a "legitimate copy" verifyer.

If you bought your game from steam of course. Don't know about purchased cd's if they still need steam or not.

 

As far as moving Vortex, what I did was to go into my username/appdata/roaming/vortex/downloads (default location) copied that folder to a new location, (this is all installed mods) then Uninstaller and reinstalled vortex where I wanted, made sure that vortex>settings>downloads was pointing to new download (archive) directory.

Can't remember if I had to actually reinstall or not, but at least you don't have to re-download all your mods.

Edited April 27, 2022 by MarvMartian

[MarvMartian]

+Forgot. There is a option in steam to move game directory.

 

https://www.purevpn.com/blog/move-steam-games-to-another-drive/#How_to_Move_Steam_Games_on_Your_Computer_3_Simple_Methods

[7531Leonidas]

FYI - that option only exists if you have more than one HD on your machine. Found that out the hard way, trying to help someone else.