SSD or HDD Install ?

[PunkSteve]

Hi, i have a new ssd with around 350gb of empty space, so should i install Fallout: New Vegas on the ssd, or on the hdd ?
I read that it'd make all of the loading screens zoom by fast if installed on a ssd, but other than faster loading i won't see any other improvements/benefits. Is that true ?

Thanks for any answers.

[yjzep]

No diff in gameplay other than loading. I actually miss the loading screens sometimes lol, especially when they are informative. Gameplay is driven by memory, ram or gpu. HDD speed effects loading. The differences for me was enormous. A typical 10-15 second loading screen is sometimes less than a second now, maybe 2 or 3 tops. In a game like this it is very noticable considering the amount of loading screens..

I always put the game I'm currently playing on the ssd. Games with less system req don't need it, or games I only play here and there so those stay on my hdd. I use steam mover to shuttle back and forth.

[baddude1337]

This isn't the type of game to really warran putting it on An SSD. HDD will be fine.

[yjzep]

really? Every time you load, save, travel, open doors into buildings,open new areas inside buildings, there is a loading screen. This game has well over 100 hours of gameplay. The difference in loading time of 8 seconds vs half of 1 second is substantial enough to take a minute to shuttle it over to that HUGE ssd. This is exactly the type of game that warrants putting on the ssd.

Originally posted by baddude1337:

This isn't the type of game to really warran putting it on An SSD. HDD will be fine.

[PunkSteve]

@ yjzep: cool, thanks for the info m8. I thought that there'd be a lot of loading screens, so figured it'd be suited to the ssd.

My ssd is a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB. It's my 1st ssd, & i was blown-away by how fast Win.7 starts compared to before the ssd upgrade.
I did have a problem with the Samsung Magician software though. It was making any game that used DirectX not start. I un-installed the program & all of my games were sudenly playable again. Apparently it's a known issue, & is fixed by removing the program from Start-Up, so i should probably re-install it & do that.

[yjzep]

I have a crucial 256 GB forgot the specs it's been 18 months lol. I think of it like keeping the book I am reading on the bedside table while my library stays in the bookshelf. And yes, the diff in Windows startup is sick. I'm on steam in seconds after hitting power, instead of 5 minutes...

Originally posted by LoneWolf:

@ yjzep: cool, thanks for the info m8. I thought that there'd be a lot of loading screens, so figured it'd be suited to the ssd.

My ssd is a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB. It's my 1st ssd, & i was blown-away by how fast Win.7 starts compared to before the ssd upgrade.
I did have a problem with the Samsung Magician software though. It was making any game that used DirectX not start. I un-installed the program & all of my games were sudenly playable again. Apparently it's a known issue, & is fixed by removing the program from Start-Up, so i should probably re-install it & do that.

[PunkSteve]

ah, that's an awesome way of looking at hard-drives, & it makes great sense, thanks again.

[talgaby]

An SSD won't speed up loading significantly, it's not the hard disk read speed that makes the engine load slow, but the memory use of it. And you cannot make it better no matter how godlike RAM and motherboard you have. Even if you could put this game on a RAM drive, it would still load slowly.

[yjzep]

I switch back and forth and time the loading screens. I think this is not exactly true. Maybe with the fastest 10k rpm hdd, but a normal 7200 rpm hdd vs a nice ssd is a huge diff. This from someone who playes the same games off of both. When I get annoyed with loading screens I open steam mover. It definitely makes a difference.
The entire game does not load onto ram. It loads from the disk onto the ram for usage. it's not loading the engine, but the assets. The entire purpose of a loading screen is transfer of data from the hdd to the ram., with the main bottleneck being the physical limitations of a spinning hdd.

There are memes dedicated to the plight of not having enough time to read the tips on loading screens anymore due to ssd. Do you have an ssd??

Originally posted by talgaby:

An SSD won't speed up loading significantly, it's not the hard disk read speed that makes the engine load slow, but the memory use of it. And you cannot make it better no matter how godlike RAM and motherboard you have. Even if you could put this game on a RAM drive, it would still load slowly.

[yjzep]

Why people who have no idea what they are talking about feel the need to be so sure of what they do not know is beyond me. I have been building PCs since the 80s
here

And that hardware is old and crap compared to now. My ssd is lightning compared to that one..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQpiZ44GyYU

[PunkSteve]

@ yjzep: well, that vid proves it for me, thanks for sharing it m8

[Line of the Sun]

games like )))

[yjzep]

keep in mind that vid is 4 years old. While hdd technology hasn't budged, SSDs have increased their performance significantly. Obviously the rst of the system has a bearing, but expect an even larger difference than that video. I know I see a larger one. Have fun!

Originally posted by LoneWolf:

@ yjzep: well, that vid proves it for me, thanks for sharing it m8 :ss13ok::cybereye:

[FiftyTifty]

SSDs are pretty damn handy for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. Each time a new cell is loaded, the HDD/SSD is put into action; you'll notice this occurence as a minor stutter/freeze when traversing the world.

An SSD using the Sata II will have a moderate decrease in this stutter, whereas an SSD using Sata III will have a heavy reduction in stutter.

[Catatonic Twitch Streamer]

fallout is probably the only game that could slightly benefit from a ssd besides loading screens since the engine is that old and the game that unoptimized which is also the reason why i believe to some extent it will remain unfixable anyhow because it can barely make use of the hardware. there is mods that can raise the ram limitation to at least 4gb which probably proof useful and several others dedicated to improve stuttering and crashes and just the overall wonky code only. u could also try to edit your ini files. ssd alone will also probably not stop your auto and quick saves from becomming corrupt. i would install it on a ssd if i had one but also give mods a try. maybe you will be able to get a nearly lagfree experience good luck xD

[PunkSteve]

@ Filthy Peasant: i don't know much about Mods, since i've only been PC Gaming for 1yr. I've installed some mods on Torchlight, & it was very easy (just un-zip & copy into mod folder), but haven't yet looked into mods for Fallout. Any sugestions ?