how to save all data in as little storage as possible?

[patoka13]

sup, i'm not big into modding, so i've been wondering if i could save my FONV state with all the mods used to some kind of particularly small file or folder because i need to cut down on gaming and storage space on my computer and all of this is taking up by far the most space. idk when i'm gonna fire up FONV again next, who knows, maybe only in 10 years and the data should hopefully stay secure for that long in the cloud.

speaking of safe, i currently have 5 save states of 16.5 MB each, so any solution in that rough area would be greatly appreciated especially if it more or less all installed itself again. just writing down all mod and extension names on a piece of paper and then doing it all by hand again just means i'm probably never gonna go through all this again and will at best just play unmodded if at all.

in short, i need to stop playing and free up storage. would be great if i could just save my entire FONV game with everything attached to a 100-200 MB folder/file.

thanks so much in advance, cheers

[aurreth]

Storage is pretty cheap these days.  Pick up an external drive and move your game over to it, then move it back when you want to play.

[patoka13]

i'm restricted to a laptop, so it's probably a step or two more annoying than on pc

more importantly i dont wanna get even more STUFF that gets dusty and i forget what it is, lose it when moving and all that. also the computer is slow, moving 20 GB's or so would probably take half an hour and then back again, file corruption and so on

but most importantly i wouldnt even know what to move there and what to keep. games and other programs have a tendency to open new folders with files just about everywhere, so that's why i was looking for some kind of simple-ish software-based solution

eg. if someone talked me through how to save everything of importance into one folder, it could go like this how to get it all back

step 1: install FONV and vortex

step 2: open list of mods and plugins in vortex and install it all 1 by 1 in load order

step 3: move save files into folder xyz

step 4: update it all

step 5: ???

step 6: play the game like it was 2010

but honestly, i'm totally out of my depth here

Edited February 15 by patoka13
added disclaimer at the bottom

[7531Leonidas]

FYI - save files in Skyrim SE/AE are very compressible in 7 zip, or similar.  Maximum compression can be in the low 80% range (occupies 1/5 of the original).  I move all but the last three of my save files (and all of my screenshots - not so compressible) to a character-named folder and zip 'em up after every couple of sessions or so.  I bet that FONV is similar.

[patoka13]

interesting, but in the end probably not the most challenging part of the whole thing

thanks for the info anyway

[patoka13]

actually, scratch my original question. it's probably healthier for me to just cleanly uninstall the game, vortex and all their components, instead of keeping around all that dead data like a pet's paw.

here's the thing though: vortex seems absurdly complex to me. if i just to my apps in my settings and click uninstall on my games and in the end vortex, will that do the trick? or do i have undo all changes i've made one by one, so first also uninstall all mods, delete all saves and maybe screw around with the plugins and what not?