Skyrim mods on hdd, game on ssd

[Baffje]

I posted to the feedback with the following:

 

 

Recently wanted to play skyrim and came looking for mods on NM. I have been using modorganizer previously which allows me to have my mods on a HDD while keeping the game on my SSD, reducing loadtimes. With vortex I now have to choose between relocating my game to the HDD or making more space on my SSD for the possible ridiculous amount of mods I might end up having. For me this will put me off using vortex for the time being however I hope you will find a way to enable mods to be stored on other disks than the base game.

 

 

Got told

 

Not a suggestion - it's a misunderstand with Vortex.

Please post on the forums for more help: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/forum/4306-vortex-support/

 

eventhough I looked at the options the app gave me, which all did not fit what I am asking for and the documentation states that symlink isnt available for gamebryo titles. Through pressing the fix in the app it seems that there is also something called "Null deployment" which is not available. A different person in the same feedback thread said something about VFS, in the documentation it stated

 

This is not to say that using VFS is worse or bad, simply that Vortex did not opt for this as a default deployment method.

under hardlink vs vfs, however I have not been able to find a way to choose vfs as deployment method in vortex.

 

So after getting sent from https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/1?tab=description feedback section, to the app, to the actual feedback section, to this forum, I once again try to describe my problem/feedback/suggestion as clear as possible. Is there a way to enable vfs as deployment method? Is there a way to make symlink work with skyrim? Can someone give a solution that is not "just put it all on the same disk", cause in that case I would just rather choose to do all the order/conflict myself and use mod organizer, which is made by one of the persons developing vortex.

[HeyYou]

With Vortex, your mod staging folder needs to be on the same drive as the game. Your downloads folder can be anywhere.

[showler]

Vortex can't do what you're asking.

 

If you have a large amount of mods having them in your HDD is going to slow the game down even with the vanilla game on an SSD. It all comes down to how much data it is loading from either drive.

[InDarkestNight]

I keep my mod archives stored on an external HDD, but I have my mod organizer fully installed on my main computer. I admit though I have no idea if this thing has an ssd or an hdd in it. I have thought about putting MO's mod folder onto the harddrive and running it from there, because the damned thing is taking up too much of my storage space. Plus, my anti-virus literally takes almost an entire day just to scan that stupid folder. That was actually the main reason I got the external hard drive in the first place, though strangely it made little difference. Despite all those archives taking half my computer's storage space, strangely when I deleted them from my main computer after copy-pasting them all to the hdd only about a third of my data vanished, its like what I had left expanded to fill the space! Still, watching my anti-virus its obvious its taking up all its time just scanning MO's mod folder. Also, the storage space everything its taking up is only getting bigger. My data on this thing keeps getting bigger as I install more mods into MO, and the data on my external harddrive now rivals what I have on this thing. Back on point, I've never been able to get anyone to tell me if you could even run MO from an external harddrive of any sort. I mean, I connect it to my main computer through the USB port. That's clearly not the same thing as the cable going into my computer's storage drive w/e it is. I really have no idea if it could even be done. Maybe you could set up a multiple hard drive thing, though mine doesn't have the proper plug for such a thing. And as stated, you may need to make sure you're running two drives of the same time. Two hdds or two sdds, you can't mix and match. Either way, I'm going to assume a storage drive connected through a usb port can't keep up with a drive plugged in through the proper cable.

[HeyYou]

You can add an exception for various folders to your anti-virus...... Also, some AV suites are a LOT less intrusive than others..... I am on windows 10, and I just let Defender do its thing. There is zero need for any third party AV software....

 

Harddrives including SSDs, have gotten dirt cheap of late. Not too much of an ordeal to upgrade either. Lots o' software out there (for free) to make it easy. I use Macrium Reflect at work, and there is a free version you can download, to clone your existing drive to a larger SSD. Works a treat.

[InDarkestNight]

How can I even tell which I already have? I know for a fact my external hard drive is an HDD. I know this because I specifically requested it (I was planning on using it as an archive), and it even said so on the box. Also, the thing makes the typical spinning noise when I plug it in too. I have no idea how to determine this for my computer though. System information says nothing on the matter. Also, if I didn't know better, I would've assumed my external drive was an SSD due to how small it is. All I know is the external and internal drives have similar amounts of storage space. The internal one is 899 GB, the external one is 931 GB (I think they're actually supposed to be 1 terabyte, but you can't use the entire space in other for some reason). I don't know if hdds and sdds differ in how much they can store. All I know is ssds load far faster but don't last as long, and when they do go out your data can't be retrieved. That's why I specifically asked for an hdd external drive, and the employee didn't blame me for it. There's been a lot of complaints about the switch to ssds. Tech is just becoming more and short-lived. Its actually easier to find computers from the 80s that still work than from the 90s, despite the fact that far, far more computers were sold in the 90s. Don't recall ever hearing about a computer from the 2000s that still works. Before a computer could last a decade before frying, now its only about 5 years. Yeah, f*#@ modern tech.

[Guest deleted34304850]

all that stuff you posted about ssds and their limited lifespan is utter bullshit.

[rmm200]

VFS is not part of Windows. It is a virtual file system coded into MO 2. MO 2 has to be running when you play for this reason.

 

Hard links are a facility built into Windows that Vortex uses. Use a Windows facility - play by Windows rules. Vortex has to play by Windows rules.

Because Hard Links are a Windows facility, Vortex does not need to be running when you play your game.

[AugustaCalidia]

In regard to ssd's, I have several working Samsung ssd's that are eight to ten years old. In regard to disk capacity (hdd and ssd), there are two standard but differing ways of expressing disk size. The Windows OS reports disk size via a binary calculation which is translated into a decimal number. Disk manufacturers report disk size via a decimal calculation. Thus 931MB disk space (Windows) is the same as 1TB disk space (disk manufacturer).

Edited June 22, 2023 by AugustaCalidia

[rmm200]

I finally replaced the last HDDs in both my gaming computer and laptop with SSDs.

I never expect to buy another spining HDD. Could not be happier. 2TB is my largest.