Can I place the Mods folder where I want ?

[Grumf5]

Hi,

 

I'm going to install the Nexus Mod Manager but before I do it, I need your help.

 

In a video about the installation of Nexus Mod Manager, Gopher says that the best place for the Mods folder is on the same partition (HDD or SSD) than the games.

 

My games are on a SSD - partition C:\Program Files

I would like my Mods folder to be on another SSD (E:\Games\Skyrim SE\Mods)

Why ? Because I want to have on partition C only programs and the operating system. Nothing else, if possible.

 

So voila, what do you think ?

If my Mods folder is not on the same partition than my games, my games will be slow ? Or that will create some problems ?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

 

[L3s7ing]

Due to the fact that nmm just holds copies/backups of the mods in the Mod folder (hope i'm saying this right) and the actual mods are being installed in your Skyrim directory there should be no problem.

I did the same thing for the "normal" Skyrim Edition and never had any problems.

Edited November 12, 2016 by L3s7ing

[Grumf5]

...and the actual mods are being installed in your Skyrim directory there should be no problem.

I did the same thing for the "normal" Skyrim Edition and never had any problems.

Sorry, don't know if I understand well but that's what I want to avoid, if possible.

My Skyrim game is installed on C:\Program Files and I don't want to install my Skyrim mods on C:\Program Files.

I would like to install my Skyrim mods on another SSD.

But ok, that's maybe what you are saying, I just understand everything wrong. :wink:

[L3s7ing]

Maybe it's me :sweat: english isn't my native language.

But if I understood you correct. You want to use NMM, without the mods being in your Skyrim directory and that's as far as I know not possible. Whenever you add a mod to nmm, the programm stores this mod in your mods folder (for me D:/NexusModManager/SkyrimSE/Mods) and if you then install the mod, it will be unpacked into your Skyrim directory. There's no way around them being copied into the skyrim data folder.

I used Mod Organizer for some time due to that "double storage" (mod organizer only loads your mods into Skyrim when you start it, so your data folder stays clean), however I think there's no real support for SkyrimSE in Mod Organizer.

So the only way I see, for your C to stay "clean", is that you install SkyrimSE on your E drive too.

 

If someone knows a better solution, or if I'm wrong about NMM please correct me, I'm no complete expert on nmm :sweat:

Edited November 13, 2016 by L3s7ing

[Grumf5]

I usually speak French but it seems we understand each other, that's cool. :-)

 

L3s7ing, I just have seen this info on the reddit.com forum :

 

"While it is not a good idea to install the program NMM on a separate drive from your Skyrim directory, one thing you can do is have the Mod directory for NMM saved on a separate drive. This eliminates NMM from taking up place on your SSD with its mod files."

 

But not easy to know what is 100% sure or not. Some people are saying : do not install your mod directory on another drive ! The game will be slow. And some other people are saying : No problem. My Skyrim game is on a drive and my mod directory is on another drive and all is working perfectly well.

Anyway, I would like to avoid to do bad choices. I'm totally newbie about NMM and Skyrim mods. :thumbsup:

[Grumf5]

Here are some infos on reddit.com :

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/2ic46a/skyrim_on_an_ssd_mods_on_an_hdd/

 

Infos on steamcommunity.com :

http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/613936039460667332/

[L3s7ing]

"it depends what you mean. Do you mean download zipped/rarred mods to one place but get your mod manager to install them to skyrim as normal? Or do you mean install the mods to a different location altogether?
With NMM you can install IT to another drive no problem. Set it to download mods to another drive no problem too... but you can't get it to install mods to a location other than the Skyrim installation dir.
With Mod Organizer you could probably do all of it since it doesn't actually edit Skyrim's data directory, but you will run into performance issues. I don't personally know how bad they'd be. If it worked properly, I doubt they'd affect gameplay. I expect loading times would increase." - perilousrob


"So my Skyrim is installed on my SSD, and my mods are installed on my HDD, thanks to Mod Organizer. NMM won't be able to do like that, cause it installs mods into Skyrim folder. MO installs the mods in its own folder, so it doesn't take space on Skyrim folder." - Tiwenty

 

Hope it's alright if I quote this two here... (it's from the reddit thread you linked)

This maybe explains better what I wanted to say ^^

With nmm there's no way to install mods outside of your Skyrim Folder... With MO it's possible, but I think there's no support for SkyrimSE.

However, installing NMM on another drive would be no problem and could save space with it on your main drive.

[Grumf5]

Did I say it already ? Thanks for your help, L3s7ing ! It is really appreciated for a newbie like me. :thumbsup:

 

What Twenty says in his post is no more true, no ? I think that's an old post. NMM is now able to manage a Mod directory that is located on another drive (if I'm not wrong).

What Perilousrob says is really interesting. But a bit too complicated for my English level, not sure I understand it well.

What I understand is something like that :

 

1. The place where you put the downloaded .zip or .rar files (mods) does not matter. Ok.

2. NMM allows you to install your mods on the drive you want. Ok. (Or not ok ?)

 

"... but you can't get it to install mods to a location other than the Skyrim installation dir." - perilousrob

That's Chinese to me. Does he just mean that the mods have to point in direction of the Skyrim installation directory ?

[L3s7ing]

1. ok

2. not ok. and that's exactly what the quote says. the mods can only be installed in the Skyrim folder. There's no other way. That's not an old post, it's just the way it is ^^ The only way around I know is Mod Organizer

[Grumf5]

Ok. So I finally have installed the Mod folder on the default location : partition C. What a big s#*! ! GRRRR ! :laugh:

 

During the installation of NMM, you can choose the location of several repertories (and the location of the Mod folder too) and so, yes, you think you can put all that stuff on the drive you want but in fact, no. If you change the default locations, a warning message allways say something like : if you do that, baf ! explosion !

So voila, you have the choice but please, don't change anything. Hahaha !

 

Anyway, your help was great. Friendly thanks from a guy who speak English like a French cow. :thumbsup: :wink: