Installing Skyrim+Mods on SSD vs HDD

[xJaegermeifter]

Title.

 

Im wanting to do SkyrimSE on SSD to help with load times and all that, and im assuming that if i mod the hell out of it, this will help in that case.

But i have limited storage on my SSD as its only 500gb while my HDD is 1TB, Is there a way for me to install NMM on the HDD with the mods, but have skyrim on my SSD?

[WastelandAssassin]

technically , there is such a way

if you use Mod Organizer (I believe 2 is better for SE , but check to make sure) , you can set the installation folder to be on your HDD , while you install the game to your SSD

it only requires a very basic set up to do (it's really easy to work with MO , and there are plenty of tutorials for this online)

 

I'm pretty sure this cannot be done without MO or MO2 (maybe Vortex , but I don't really know , and it's still being built)

but again these are really good tools for this

 

not sure if this will actually have a negative effect on your game

on one hand , it does split the pressure to two drives rather than one

on the other hand , with each drive having a different reading speed , it might be a bit weird

honestly I don't know , nor can I actually test this

but you should really give this a try , and report your findings back (I'm sure other people will want to know the same)

[xJaegermeifter]

technically , there is such a way

if you use Mod Organizer (I believe 2 is better for SE , but check to make sure) , you can set the installation folder to be on your HDD , while you install the game to your SSD

it only requires a very basic set up to do (it's really easy to work with MO , and there are plenty of tutorials for this online)

 

I'm pretty sure this cannot be done without MO or MO2 (maybe Vortex , but I don't really know , and it's still being built)

but again these are really good tools for this

 

not sure if this will actually have a negative effect on your game

on one hand , it does split the pressure to two drives rather than one

on the other hand , with each drive having a different reading speed , it might be a bit weird

honestly I don't know , nor can I actually test this

but you should really give this a try , and report your findings back (I'm sure other people will want to know the same)

Right, i really dont want to "spend hours just to throw it all away in the end".

 

In my "theory" it would be better to have it all on a SSD for obvious better loading speads.

 

But with Texture mods or even script mods like Frostfall, DSR, and even down to just eye/grass mods, would it be better to put them on my larger HDD with 900gb room to download stuff, or cram it into my SSD.

[WastelandAssassin]

the beautiful thing with MO , even if putting the mods in different drives don't work , it's just a simple matter of moving the files to the different drive , and setting MO to load the mods from the new directories

so you won't actually lose anything , as long as your hard drive will have enough space for the mods (if it doesn't work from different drives , which I really do believe it should work)

 

now , unless a mod can't be installed by MO (I think that mods with SKSE plugins and such can't be installed via MO , but you might want to check on it to make sure) , you shouldn't have any problem installing all mods to the different drive

the only problem I can think of is mods with script plugins , because these need to go to a very specific directory inside your game's folders

but even with these , you could probably just install the specific plugins manually after installing with MO (basically the files that go under SKSE -> Plugins)

I believe that these are the only files you may need to move to your game's directories , but everything else should work wonderfully

 

the best thing you can do is just install the game to your SSD , install MO and a few basic mods that you can easily test to your HDD (like an alternate start mod , or something that will take you a little time to test) , and see if it all works properly

if not , either you made some mistake in the set up , or it just won't work properly for some reason

and if it does work , continue installing and setting up your game , and have fun playing it :)

[3aq]

if you are still following this thread.. copy pasta from what I wrote a lil while back https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/6426361-beauty-mod-help/

 

Here's how, assuming you haven't done anything, go into your NMM folders and locate the category and profile folder/files and delete them; those categories will do you more to confuse you more than anything. Fire up NMM let it do its things, when prompted to associate categories click no, again don't use the category. Afterwards, left click the Unassigned category and click new category and title it "Installed via NMM" category will manage where things that aren't capable of being installed through MO2 vfx, such as TK Dodge, goes.

 

Use your NMM as the main download manager / file bank, and your MO2 as your game manager. Port only the files you will be actively using to MO2 and remove those that you don't from it. When used properly, becomes an especially powerful and equally beneficial to you because you will no longer be forced to store all your files, both file bank (aka the originals) and vfx (the virtual copies) in the same drive, effectively doubling your storage capabilities. It also has the secondary effect of improving your overall file integrity if you should mistakenly f' up along the ways with SSEDIT/the like and mistakenly (quite easily might I add) wipe out your file bank's files. (And should that happen, MO2 will still show your install folders regardless of whether the files are inside them, so you simply have to rightclick and reinstall, no huss, no fuss, whereas if you were just MO2, you'd be pretty much be s*** out of luck).

 

I personally been using this method. I store all my mods into my external backup SSD where Nexus mods is located, and port the mods I use to MO2 which is stored on my internal SSD.

[hamletsdead]

You can set up MO2 to download all your mods to your D drive (e.g., an HDD) and then install the game on you main C drive (on an SSD). It plays just fine that way. I set my game up that way initially and just moved over all the files from D to C to see if the game plays and loads better/faster, but I'm not seeing vast improvements by consolidating them all onto the C drive.

 

And just a word to the wise for people moving their mods from one drive to the other with MO2. Make a backup of you load order for both panes and save it on your desktop, as MO2 automatically changes the priority of mods and alphabetizes them when you make this change. I learned the hard way -- took me hours to get my load order back to (approximately) where it was.

[carter15626]

Is it possible to split mods between 2 HD with MO2?

If so what mods are most benefited by SSD? I assume the stuff with textures and sound would be the largest and most frequently accessed. BUT As I recall from my 1st 2011 play through map load screens were the most annoying delay I experienced. I replayed with mods in 2015 but I'm not sure if it was Open Cities or my new SSD that eliminated load times. Currently working on extensive mod list for my 3rd play through but I'm running out of SSD space before I even started on graphic mods!

[JimmyRJump]

The OP asks if it's possible to have the game on a different drive than NMM and everybody talks about Mod Organiser 2. With NMM, it doesn't matter where the game is installed, as long as in NMM you set the correct path to where the game is installed so that NMM knows where the plugs are.

[smith1999]

I run both (Mods and Skyrim Se) off of a 500G SSD , have 250 mods via Mod Org 2 and it's very stable. with 400 Gigs still free.

[JimmyRJump]

Title.

 

Im wanting to do SkyrimSE on SSD to help with load times and all that, and im assuming that if i mod the hell out of it, this will help in that case.

But i have limited storage on my SSD as its only 500gb while my HDD is 1TB, Is there a way for me to install NMM on the HDD with the mods, but have skyrim on my SSD?

You'll have to install Skyrim SE on the SSD before uninstalling the game on hard drive and to which the path in NMM points. Otherwise you'll get an error from NMM saying the game's exe is missing and it can take a few twists and turns before NMM finally gets that the game has been moved.

 

After having installed the game on SSD, open NMM and hit the cogwheels at the middle-top and in the pop-up menu set the path to the new install in the 'Skyrim Special Edition' tab in the "Skyrim Special Edition" box (third from the top). Leave the top two entries on that tab alone. They are for NMM and those paths stay the same. Close and restart NMM. Now you can safely uninstall SSE from the hard drive.