Some questions about "moving" Skyrim

[Deikun]

I'm in the process of reinstalling Windows on my laptop, and I'm curious how moving Skyrim and all of the mods I have for it would go. Specifically, will this mess with NMM at all? If I just moved the entirety of the Skyrim folder to a brand new location (my newly installed Windows for instance) and reinstalled Nexus, would it still recognize and identify the mods in the Skyrim folder, or would it act as if there were nothing there? I'm hoping to avoid spending the better part if a weekend redownloading and sorting mods if that's reasonable to do.

[Oubliette]

No. You'll need to move the mods folder and any ini's that NMM generates in order for it to recognize those files as NMM files. The mods folder is where NMM stores your downloaded mods during and after installation.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Oubliette

[bben46]

DON'T move Skyrim. It is tied to steam - Move Steam instead and Skyrim will go with it. :thumbsup:

 

Steam has actually made this easy https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?p_faqid=231

 

Then, you will need to tell NMM where the game is now located.

Open NMM.

At the top of the page, on the right side - find the dark green curved arrow and click on it -

in the drop down menu , select 'rescan installed games.'

 

It should find the new location. You may have to tell NMM where some things are ( your old mods )

Click on the gears icon at the top

under settings find the Skyrim tab and click it

You may have to manually change the directory where you store mods - or the directory where you install the Skyrim instill info

[Deikun]

DON'T move Skyrim. It is tied to steam - Move Steam instead and Skyrim will go with it. :thumbsup:

 

Steam has actually made this easy https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?p_faqid=231

 

Then, you will need to tell NMM where the game is now located.

Open NMM.

At the top of the page, on the right side - find the dark green curved arrow and click on it -

in the drop down menu , select 'rescan installed games.'

 

It should find the new location. You may have to tell NMM where some things are ( your old mods )

Click on the gears icon at the top

under settings find the Skyrim tab and click it

You may have to manually change the directory where you store mods - or the directory where you install the Skyrim instill info

 

Would this still need to be done if I move Skyrim to the same exact place? I don't plan on moving where the steam folder will be located when I reinstall windows, so no directories will be changed after all is said and done. I don't think that'll cause any issues, will it?

[bben46]

If you don't install it in the steam folder, then steam, and some other programs will not be able to find it. If Steam cannot find it, it will attempt to re-download it back into the steam folder every time you start the game.

 

There is a way, through the use of Junctions (AKA Symbolic links) - which is an advanced windows trick to fool windows into thinking a program is in one place when it is really in another. Not recommended for neophytes though.

here is an explanation - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365006%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

[Deikun]

If you don't install it in the steam folder, then steam, and some other programs will not be able to find it. If Steam cannot find it, it will attempt to re-download it back into the steam folder every time you start the game.

 

There is a way, through the use of Junctions (AKA Symbolic links) - which is an advanced windows trick to fool windows into thinking a program is in one place when it is really in another. Not recommended for neophytes though.

here is an explanation - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365006%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

 

 

It'll still be in the steam folder when I'm done moving it. I plan on moving the Skyrim folder (and some other things I plan on saving) to an external HD, then moving it right back where it was (same directory and everything) when I reinstall Windows, it won't be in a different folder or anything.

[bben46]

That may work - however, Not all of the game files are actually located inside the steam folder. :rolleyes: I would recommend running the Steam 'Validate Game Cache' tool afterwards. That will allow steam to fix any missing files.

 

You could move the entire steam to the external drive, (if it will fit) then moving it back after reinstalling windows. This may take a while though.